- "Field Report: Final entry. Well, this is it. The end game. I know what I have to do. Richtofen's barely holding it together, but I gotta believe he can go the extra mile. None of us really know how this is gonna play out, but we all know it's the only way forward. I can only hope that our souls may find a better future."
- ―"Tank" Dempsey.
Corporal "Tank" Dempsey was an American Marine who fought in the United States Marine Corps, and is a playable main character in the Zombies game mode. His player indicator color in World at War and Black Ops is white (shared with John F. Kennedy and Sarah Michelle Gellar), but is randomized in Moon and all subsequent maps. An alternate version of Dempsey is introduced in Origins, and reappears in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, in The Giant, Der Eisendrache (which features the Original Timeline "Tank" Dempsey), Zetsubou No Shima, Gorod Krovi, Revelations, and Blood of the Dead. This version also appears alongside the original version in the ending cutscene for Classified. Both versions are playable in Alpha Omega, and both versions appear in the cutscenes for Tag der Toten.
Biography[]
"Tank Dempsey: American hero. Hand him a loaded weapon, a good woman, and something to shoot at and he is happy. Enrage him and he will rip your guts out and use them as a bandolier.
Dempsey was selected for this mission after he showed his true grit at the battle for Peleliu. Remarkable though it may seem, his unit was captured during the early raids before the main invasion, and he spent 2 weeks in a rat infested bamboo cage submerged in malarial water. Well that did not stop The Tank. After he gnawed his way through the cage, he then gnawed his way through his captors armed only with a Bobby pin and his Medal of Honor which he keeps secreted in various body cavities.
Now you know there is no before the war for Dempsey, and there is no after. There is only the legend of Tank Dempsey, and how he will win the war for the rest of us."
— Tank's bio added with Map Pack 2 in Call of Duty: World at War.
Personality[]
Ultimis Version (Original Timeline)[]
He has aggressive behavior and often breaks the fourth wall such as talking directly to the player and very aware that he is in a game, which often used as comedic relief. He highly prefers the German made weapons and often uses derogatory terms to refer to the zombies such as “maggot addict” and “bone junkie”
He is shown to be suspicious toward Richtofen. And trying to figure out what happens before the event of Shi No Numa. He is unaware that he got captured in Verrückt.
He hates Richtofen which in return shares the same feeling, has a Mutual bond with Nikolai and has the highest respect for Takeo.
Primis Version (Alternate Timeline)[]
The Primis Dempsey still shares similar traits with his Ultimis counterpart. Except that Primis Dempsey is shown to be much less aggressive , talking much more sense and more focused to the mission as he often was seen taking update of the situation.
As he has never met Richtofen before, Dempsey doesn't have any hatred towards Richtofen. He will compliment Richtofen if he fights good and tolerate him if he is bad. However, he once again developed suspicion towards Richtofen after Origins and The Giant and again, show less tension after Der Eisendrache after finally learning Richtofen's true motives. He also tries to co-operate with his other team members, often trying to calm Takeo and Nikolai while the situation is going out of hand.
Original Timeline[]
As an adult, Dempsey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He became well known for his physical prowess, earning him the nickname “Tank". He trained extensively with his arms in particular. He earned the world record for the most consecutive one armed push-ups. He was also able to throw a grenade farther than a major league baseball player. In 1942, Tank had to leave his young child behind in the United States as he was sent to fight the Japanese in the Pacific. He later lead a Marine Recon team into the Verrückt asylum to extract Peter McCain, an American OSS spy. Tank rushed ahead of his squad and was captured by the Nazis, believing he was the spy. His entire unit was killed. He was to replace the Mexican that Richtofen accidentally killed during testing. Tank was experimented on by Richtofen at the Siberian outpost along with Takeo and Nikolai. He was very aggressive and had to be held down during experimentation. He had his memory wiped due to large amounts of Element 115 used on him. He later had a portrait of himself painted by an artist, who hung the portrait in Kino der Toten to commemorate the experimentations. After Griffin Station was overrun with zombies and Samantha became the Demonic Announcer, Richtofen decided to bring Tank, Nikolai, and Takeo with him to the accompanying sites of Nacht der Untoten and Verrückt to see what had happened. They arrived at Shi No Numa and while there, Richtofen retrieved his Diary to form his grand scheme to defeat Samantha. They escaped and teleported to Der Riese, finding it also overrun. Dempsey acquired the Wunderwaffe DG-2 and fired it inside the teleporter overloading it. They were teleported from Der Riese in 1946, to Kino der Toten in 1968. They found several radios and tapes. They then used the teleporter to teleport to the Baikonur Soviet Cosmodrome in 1963. There they fixed the Casimir Mechanism to help free Gersh, a Russian scientist trapped in the Aether. Tank realized that his memory was lacking, and Takeo managed to regain some of his memories of what Richtofen did to them. Richtofen teleported him and the others once again where they ended up at the Siberian outpost where the film Call of the Dead was being filmed. They were trapped in a locked room and enlisted the help of the celebrities there to free them. Tank became suspicious of Richtofen and asked why Richtofen had a Golden Rod in his pocket. Richtofen brushed his questions off and they teleported to Shangri-La. They find out about two explorers, Brock and Gary, who needed help escaping the temple. After numerous attempts at saving them, the Focusing Stone caused time to reverse, putting the explorers in a time loop. Richtofen obtains the Focusing Stone and the crew finds a spare teleporter. Dempsey accidentally fires the 31-79 JGB-215 whilst the teleporter was activating, sending them to the Pentagon. Whilst there they reverse engineered the teleporters there to send themselves to Area 51 and then to Griffin Station on the moon. Here, Richtofen enacts his Grand Scheme. He takes over the MPD on the Moon, switching bodies with Samantha, and becomes the Demonic Announcer. Tank and the others try to stop Richtofen by launching three missiles towards the Earth, from Maxis' demands. Instead of stopping Richtofen, the missiles blow the Earth up. They try to escape via the teleporter but end up getting captured by the scientists at Area 51. Upon being rescued by the Primis Crew coming from Blood Of The Dead, they seek to retrieve the Elemental Shard at Camp Edward in Alpha Omega while also sending the Avogadro to the Broken Arrow Facility in Green Run. After this they go to the frozen forest, but along with his comrades, Ultimus Dempsey is poisoned to death by Primis Nikolai.
Alternate Timeline[]
In an alternate timeline that takes place within the World War I era, Group 935 discovers Element 115 while excavating in France. The United States learned about this and sent an operative to confirm the validity, Corporal Tank Dempsey. On November 19th, 1917, Tank estimates he'd been in the area for a few weeks. Major outbreaks occurred near the excavation sites, and Tank independently arrived to investigate. He rode in on an MK IV Tank and arrived at a bunker where he witnesses Richtofen cutting out Maxis' brain from his body, along with Nikolai and Takeo. Dempsey wanted to take Richtofen into custody back to America, but Richtofen convinced them to remain focused on the present threat of the undead. They discover a little girl trapped in Agartha and set out to free her by crafting and upgrading the four elemental staffs. After crafting the Maxis Drone and freeing Samantha Maxis, the heroes enter a portal.
Quotes[]
See: Dempsey Quotes
Appearances[]
- Nacht der Untoten (Black Ops and Black Ops III only)
- Verrückt (Black Ops and Black Ops III only)
- Shi No Numa
- Der Riese
- Kino der Toten
- Ascension
- Call of the Dead (Voice only)
- Shangri-La
- Moon
- Origins
- Der Eisendrache
- Zetsubou No Shima
- Gorod Krovi
- Revelations
- Blood of the Dead
- Classified
- Alpha Omega
- Tag der Toten (Cutscenes only)
Trivia[]
- Dempsey is voiced by Steve Blum, who also played the voice of Captain Foley from Call of Duty and Call of Duty: United Offensive.[1]
- Dempsey hates Doctor Richtofen, who in turn hates him as well, similar to Nikolai and Takeo.
- Dempsey seems to disrespect Nikolai Belinski, however he doesn't seem to actually hate him. As they often share a drink. An example of this is present in Call of The Dead where they both sing 99 Shots of Vodka together, he scolds Nikolai if he messes up, where they restart the song.
- In the Original Characters Trapped Easter Egg, Dempsey and Nikolai appear to be drunk together, demonstrating how Dempsey doesn't actually hate him.
- Dempsey treats Takeo Masaki with much respect, but Takeo does not seem to return the same feeling.
- Dempsey's favorite weapon seems to be the M16A1
- Dempsey often calls the Wunderwaffe DG-2 the “Wonder Waffle."
- Rarely, while using the Pack-a-Punch machine, Dempsey will sing the jingle for Juggernog.
- Dempsey was featured in Treyarch's Shi No Numa example map, nazi_zombie_kyassuru.
- By the time of Kino der Toten, Dempsey has grown a small beard, and by the time of Ascension he is covered in dirt and blood. This blood is gone in Shangri-La and Moon.
- In a file on the computer terminal, it says that part of Dr. Maxis' super-soldier experiments were Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo.
- Along with Takeo Masaki, Nikolai Belinski and Edward Richtofen, he is found in Call of the Dead involved in the Easter Egg.
- In Call of Duty: World at War and most maps in Call of Duty: Black Ops, the player who is Dempsey will always be the host of the game, while in Moon, it's randomized. Additionally, if the player is playing on Shi No Numa or Der Riese on Solo in World at War, they will always be Dempsey.
- Dempsey's favorite Perk-a-Cola is Juggernog and his least favorite is Quick Revive because of the fishy taste, which he describes as fermented herring dipped in cat urine. He later mentions that he misses the female that sings the jingle to Juggernog.
- Dempsey has a five year old child.
- Dempsey also says the "Sw-eet!" strikingly similar to one of marines in WAW's Verruckt proving this right.
- According to a quote in Blood of the Dead, Dempsey once dated a girl that was vegan, to his confusion. (Had a girl try to turn me onto stuff like this, said it was vegan. Whatever that shit means.")
- According to one of his quotes in Blood of the Dead, Primis Tank is Irish.