Delta Force in popular culture

Delta Force soldiers pictured deep behind Iraqi lines during the 1991 Gulf War

The US-Army special mission unit commonly known as Delta Force has been portrayed often in popular culture in novels, films, television, and games.

Books[]

Several Chris Ryan novels, though told from the POV of Special Air Service troopers, make casual references to Delta Force. In one of the books, the main protagonist has an acquaintance who is a former Delta Operator working with the CIA. This is plausible, as Delta Force and the SAS often work in tandem.
In the novel Ice Hunt by James Rollins, Delta Force is a major antagonist, trying to wipe out the entire ice base. Given the Drift is a naval post, a team would most likely be a SEAL Team, not Delta, however it is not impossible for Delta to be involved.
In the novel Deception Point by Dan Brown, Delta Force plays a major antagonist role.
The book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, describes the real-life attempt by Delta Force and the US Army Rangers to capture a Somalian warlord, Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Much of the Delta portions are based on the accounts of Paul Howe.
In the novel by W.E.B. Griffin, Delta Force plays a significant role.
In the novel by Stephen Hunter, several major characters are Delta Force members. The leader of Delta Force in the novel is a man named Richard Puller, who bears many similarities to Charlie Beckwith.
In several of the Vince Flynn novels, Delta Force works with CIA operative Mitch Rapp.
In the Alex Berenson novel The Shadow Patrol Delta Force plays a significant role and a Delta sniper is one of the main antagonists.
In the novel Mission Compromised, Delta Force plays an important role. The main character is a former member and the task force he commands is made up of many Delta members.
In the book Kill Bin Laden, author "Dalton Fury" (pen name) factually recounts the Battle of Tora Bora and hunt for bin Laden from the perspective of a Unit assault troop commander.
In the Tom Clancy novel Rainbow Six, some of the Rainbow operatives are former Delta operators.
In the Jeremy Robinson novels Pulse and Instinct a team of Delta Force operatives are the main protagonists.
In the Brad Thor novel The Athena Project Delta Force's Operational Support Troop provides most of the protagonists.
In the Stephen Coonts novel Wages of Sin, Joe Billy Dunn, Tommy Carmellini's colleague-turned-nemesis, is an ex-Delta Force Operator.
In the Tom Clancy novel Command Authority one of the main characters, Barry "Midas" Jankowski, is a member of Combat Applications Group (Delta Force), and leads several AFO-Delta-Teams in the fight against Russian troops and mafiosi.
In the Tom Clancy novel True Faith and Allegiance by Mark Greaney, ex-Delta Operator Barry "Midas" Jankowski gets recruited for the highly secretive intelligence unit named "The Campus". He also appears in the following Tom Clancy novels set in the Jack Ryan Jr. Universe.
In his book Drone Warrior, Brett Velicovich describes his time as a member of a small element within Delta, which is specialized in search and kill missions using UAV's.
In the novel series Bourne, his protagonist David Webb is an ex-Delta assassin.
John Gilstrap's protagonist Jonathan "Digger" Grave is a former Delta Force operator.

Film[]

Operation Delta Force is a TV movie released in 1997, directed by Sam Firstenberg. It stars Ernie Hudson and Jeff Fahey, and spawned four sequels.
The film The Delta Force, starring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin, features Delta Force operators intervening in a hostage situation on a passenger aircraft, as well as its sequels, Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection and Delta Force 3: The Killing Game.
The movie Black Hawk Down is based on the book; Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon are identified, but Norm "Hoot" Gibson (Eric Bana) and Jeff Sanderson (William Fichtner) are fictional characters based on two Delta operators named in the book.
in the 1985 film Commando, the main protagonist, retired Colonel John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is depicted as an ex Delta Force operator.
Delta Farce starring Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy.
The Hunted features several characters that are Delta operators, including Benicio del Toro's character, Aaron Hallam. The special features on the DVD present a few Delta tactics, including Kali knife fighting.
In American Ninja 4: The Annihilation a team of the Delta Force is ambushed by Ninjas, leaving only four left that are held as hostages till they are liberated by the American ninja Joe Armstrong (Michael Dudikoff).
In the movie Three Kings, George Clooney plays a Green Beret Major and Delta Operator, Archie Gates.
In The Punisher (2004 film) it was mentioned that Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), was an ex-Delta Force Soldier.
Spartan opens with scenes involving Delta selection. The Curtis character is evaluated for potential admittance to the unit, though it is unclear if he is accepted. Former Delta operator Eric Haney was a technical advisor for the film.
In the action film The Condemned , Stone Cold Steve Austin portrays Jack Conrad, an American imprisoned in El Salvador after a failed Black Ops mission who is then purchased by a wealthy television producer for a game show which involves himself and 9 others to fight to the death to win their freedom. Conrad is later reveled to be a former Delta Force operative.
In the 2007 Science fiction horror film, 28 Weeks Later, Jeremy Renner portrays Sergeant Doyle, A Delta Force Sniper assigned to guard district 1, from people infected with the highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus called "Rage".
Green Zone features Delta operators on the hunt for high-value targets in Iraq; similar to the real-life TF 88.
Eagle Eye features Delta operators deploying a Predator SUV drone on top of a hill in Afghanistan at the beginning of the film.
Bad Boys II features an ex-Delta operator joining the police rescue team to Cuba.
The Dark Knight Rises shows Delta Operators escorting Bane on a flight.
In the film White House Down, Delta operators are seen attempting to secure the White House, and Jason Clarke's character Emil Stenz, the mercenary leader, was an ex-Delta operator who was disavowed and burned on a mission.
In the 2015 film Sicario, Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), a CIA officer with the Special Activities Center leads a team of DEA agents, U.S. Marshals, and Delta operators to retrieve a high-profile drug cartel leader. The operation is shown from the perspective of an FBI agent, played by Emily Blunt.
The film Spectral features a scientist joining a Delta Team that is dispatched to fight supernatural beings.
In the film London Has Fallen, a Delta Force team is sent to rescue The President, but terrorists posing as Delta Force Operators arrive instead. Later real Delta operators, along with the SAS are seen as they rescue the president.
In the film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, two Delta force operators join the Tripoli team to rescue the Americans stuck in Benghazi.
In the film Triple Frontier all five protagonists are implied to be ex-CAG.
The film Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw reveals that Air Marshal Dinkley, portrayed by Kevin Hart, was a former Delta Force operator for a compartment element for JSOC in what he reveals as "Sabre Squad Echo, 24-7, baby."

Television[]

In the television series War of the Worlds from 1988, one of the main characters, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ironhorse (Richard Chaves), is a Cherokee Vietnam veteran and Delta Force special forces officer. He is in command of a Delta team that provide security and tactical support for the Blackwood Project task-force fighting the aliens.
In the television series 24, agent Jack Bauer is noted to have previously been a member of Delta Force and achieved the rank of captain. Delta Force also plays a key role in the third season of 24.
The CBS television show The Unit centers around a fictionalized Army special operations unit based on Delta Force. It is based on the book Inside Delta Force (ISBN 0440237335) by the show's producer Eric Haney, who is a former Delta operator.
The television show Army Wives features a character, Chase Moran, the husband of Pamela Moran, who is frequently deployed with Delta Force.
Michael Westen, from the TV show Burn Notice, has mentioned himself as an ex-Delta Force operator.
In the Cinemax TV series Strike Back, one of the main characters Damian Scott is an ex-Delta Force operator who was dishonorably discharged for possessing drugs. It was later discovered that it was part of a framing due to Scott's question of WMDs in Iraq.
Several characters in the television series Nikita are ex Delta Operators.
In the television series Intelligence one of the main characters is an ex-Delta Force operator. Also some of the recurring cast are also operators.
In the 2011 TV series Homeland, Gunnery sergeant Nicholas Brody, a United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Scout Sniper, along with his partner, Corporal Tom Walker, are taken prisoner by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein near the Syrian boarder then sold to Al-Qaeda commander Abu Nazir. In the pilot episode, Delta Force operators can be seen conducting a raid on a Al-Qaeda compound in Afghanistan, where they find and rescue Brody after 8 years of being a POW.
In the fifth season of the 2014 FOX TV series Gotham, Delta Force is under the command of Eduardo Dorrance/Bane whose funding is provided by Secretary of Homeland Security Theresa Walker.
In the 2016 reboot of MacGyver Jack Dalton is a former Delta Force soldier.
In the television show NCIS: Los Angeles, two episodes involve Delta Force as a key storyline. In season 6, episode 5, the team attempts to track down a rogue Delta unit. Early in the series, during season 2, the eighth episode features the team investigating the apparent murder of a Delta Force operator who retired the same day.
In the 2016 television show Colony, some of the bodyguards are ex-Delta Force.
In the 2016 TV series Timeless Wyatt Logan is a U.S. Army Delta Force operative on the "Lifeboat" team.
In the 2017 The CW TV series Valor shows a team of Delta operators on the rescue team including Sgt Adam Coogan, played by Bryan Craig.
In the 2017 NBC TV series The Brave, main character Captain Adam Dalton is referenced to be a former Delta Force operator.

Video games[]

Delta Force series which spawned nine sequels.
In F.E.A.R., the player is assisted throughout most of the game by Delta Force operatives. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin puts the player in the role of Delta Force operative Sergeant Michael Beckett.
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, several missions feature Delta Force; in most of them, the player assumes the role of Sgt. Derek "Frost" Westbrook, codenamed "Metal 0-4", a Delta Force operator. Players also assume the roles of Delta operators in Spec Ops mission and survival games modes, and some multiplayer maps.
According to his bio in Call of Duty Modern Warfare, the playable character “Alex” was a member of Delta Force before joining the CIA.
In Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, the main character Frank Hayden and his squads are from the 1st-SFOD-Delta team.
Crysis - Team Raptor was a Delta Force Unit outfitted with Nanosuits as well as main character Nomad.
Medal of Honor (2010 video game) - AFO Wolfpack's members were Delta Force operators as well as playable character Deuce.
Medal of Honor Warfighter featured returning AFO Wolfpack member Dusty, now an ex-Delta operator working with the CIA's Special Activities Division.
Spec Ops: The Line. The game centers on Cpt. Martin Walker who leads a three-man Delta Force team to recon a post-natural disaster Dubai.
Resident Evil heroine Jill Valentine was trained in Delta Force, gaining hand-to-hand combat and weaponry training, specializing in bomb disposal, before being scouted for the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (STARS). She would eventually go on to become a founding member and field operative for the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).
In the final mission of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, a Delta Force Sniper Team assists Sam Fisher and Fourth Echelon in eliminating terrorist leader Majid Sadiq's men before they can escape the airport with the hostages.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow also features Delta Force carrying out a hostage rescue operation at The American Embassy in Dili, East Timor.
Chris Jacobs, a playable character in the Mercenaries series, is a former member of Delta Force.
In the first two games of the Conflict series, Conflict: Desert Storm and Conflict: Desert Storm II (both set during the Gulf War), the player can choose to control either a Delta Force or British SAS squad.
In Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Delta Force member Maverick is a playable Operator. He was introduced together with the Scotland Yard officer Clash in the Year 3 Season 3 update "Grim Sky" in mid-2018.

Delta Force in popular culture

Contents

Books[]

Film[]

Television[]

Video games[]

References[]

See also[]