Top 5 Cameos of DOOM - #1: The BFG is Everywhere

It doesn’t take much for a major pop culture franchise like DOOM to spread its influence.

Let’s take a look at some of the series’ more interesting (or just flat-out odd) cameos, both within and outside the sphere of video games.

1. The BFG is Everywhere

We wrote previously about SpaceX’s memorably named rocket, but when you consider the BFG in reference to other weapons, you can argue it’s made more cameos in other media – be it games or otherwise – than just about any other individual element of the DOOM series.

Consider gaming: In the whacky Unglued expansion for Magic: The Gathering, players can summon the BFM, or Big Furry Monster. Fellow shooter Halo 3 bears a description for the second part of the mission “The Storm” that reads “Scarab. BFG. End of World,” with the BFG describing a massive anti-air cannon the player encounters.

Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm features a character with a devastating ability called the “Blunt Force Gun” while fellow MOBA League of Legends features an item called the “B.F. Sword”. Indie darling Starbound includes a “Doomcannon,” which looks exactly like the BFG and tells players that “…in the end, DOOM is all that counts.” And let’s not forget about the Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal level “The Nefarious BFG.”

Enough games for you? References to the BFG in television and film have been spotted everywhere from sci-fi action movies like Jason X and Soldier (the latter film indicating that Kurt Russell’s character is proficient with a weapon called the “DOOM Mk. IV BFG”) to the early CG-animated cartoon ReBoot, where a character plays a “Big Fancy Guitar.”

Of course, this leads us to the 2005 DOOM movie. Officially, the BFG that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wields is short for “Bio Force Gun,” but they made sure to include a line letting you know what it really stands for.