Characters of Overwatch

Major and recurring fictional characters from the first person shooter game Overwatch are listed below, organized by the roles they play in that game: Offense (damage dealer), Defense (snipers and heavy weapons support), Tank (damage absorber), and Support (healer). Thus far, Overwatch is the only game of the series, though one character, Tracer, appears in Heroes of the Storm along with characters from other Blizzard Entertainment franchises. The story of Overwatch takes place on Earth in the "near future" in the years after the "Omnic Crisis", a period where robots (called "omnics") rose up in rebellion worldwide, and the United Nations formed an elite group called Overwatch to combat them. Overwatch was disbanded years later in a cloud of suspicion, but its former members have returned to the fore in light of new threats to humanity.

Offense

Genji

Genji Shimada is a 35-year-old Japanese cyborg ninja. He uses shuriken against his targets, and his "ultimate" ability (charged up over time in combat) allows him to make killing strikes with his katana.

Genji was the youngest son of the master of the Shimada clan, a guild of assassins based out of Hanamura in Japan. While he excelled in his combat training, he preferred not to get involved in the family's crime ventures and developed a reputation as a carefree playboy. When his father died, his elder brother Hanzo demanded that Genji take a more active role in the clan. Genji refused, resulting in a duel between the two brothers. Hanzo left believing that he had killed his brother, but Genji had survived and was rescued by Overwatch, rebuilt into a cyborg warrior. He then set out to completely dismantle his family's criminal empire. Once this was done, Genji - repulsed by his mechanization - abandoned Overwatch and wandered the world in search of meaning. After encountering the omnic monk Zenyatta, who became his mentor, he grew to accept his dual existence as both man and machine.

In the animated short "Dragons", Genji reveals himself to Hanzo at their family castle. After a brief skirmish, Genji tells Hanzo he has forgiven him for what happened, and admonishes him to forgive himself.

Genji is voiced by Gaku Space.

McCree

Jesse McCree is a 37-year-old American bounty hunter with a Wild West motif. An expert marksman, he wields a Peacekeeper six-shooter and flashbang grenades. His ultimate ability is "Deadeye", which allows him to hit every enemy in his line of sight.

Based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, McCree is a former member of the Deadlock Gang, a group of traffickers in military hardware operating in the American Southwest. He and his fellows were captured in an Overwatch sting operation, and he was given a choice: prison, or serving in Blackwatch, the black ops division of Overwatch. He chose the latter, believing he could make amends for his past crimes, and revelling in the lack of bureaucratic oversight. When Overwatch began to collapse and Blackwatch sought to reform it to its own ends, McCree went underground, resurfacing years later as a gunslinger for hire.

McCree is voiced by Matthew Mercer.

Pharah

Pharah (real name Fareeha Amari) is a 32-year-old Egyptian security officer. She wears the Raptora Mark VI, a combat suit which includes a jetpack, and wields a rocket launcher. She has a Wedjet (Eye of Horus) tattoo around her right eye. Her ultimate ability is a rocket barrage, an explosive area-of-effect attack.

Fareeha Amari is the daughter of Ana Amari, one of the founding members of Overwatch. She served as an officer in the Egyptian Army and aspired to follow in her mother's footsteps, but Overwatch was disbanded before she could join its ranks. After leaving the army, Pharah took a job with Helix Security International, a private security firm contracted to protect an artificial intelligence facility below the Giza Plateau.

Pharah is voiced by Chloe Hollings.

Reaper

Reaper (real name Gabriel Reyes) is a mercenary and terrorist, originally a founding member of Overwatch. He is attired in a black hooded trenchcoat with a white skull mask, wields twin Hellfire shotguns, and is able to enter "wraith form" (making him briefly invincible) and teleport short distances through the shadows. His ultimate ability is "Death Blossom", which empties the clips of both of his shotguns as it fires in all directions for massive damage.

Born in Los Angeles, Gabriel Reyes was a veteran officer of the United States Armed Forces who was subjected to a "soldier enhancement program", where he and the other selectees were genetically enhanced to become "perfect soldiers". When the United Nations formed Overwatch to combat the Omnic Crisis, Reyes was one of the two men from the program on the shortlist to join up, and was initially tapped to lead it. However, he was passed over in favor of his friend Jack Morrison, causing a rift between the two men. Reyes was named commander of Blackwatch, Overwatch's black ops division, but his rivalry with Morrison eventually tore Overwatch apart, resulting in a battle that destroyed their headquarters in Switzerland. Both men were believed dead.

Reyes resurfaced years later as "the Reaper", a mysterious mercenary responsible for terrorist attacks all around the world. He has developed the ability to steal life essence from his enemies, and also become incorporeal to avoid harm. His true identity is unknown to the rest of the world, as are his motivations, though a pattern of his movements indicates that he is hunting down former agents of Overwatch. He appears in the cinematic trailer, teamed with Widowmaker in a raid in the Overwatch Museum to steal Doomfist's gauntlet for the Talon organization. He also appears in the animated short "Recall", where he raids Winston's lab at Gibraltar to steal his list of Overwatch agents.

Reaper is voiced by Keith Ferguson.

Soldier: 76

Soldier: 76 (real name John "Jack" Morrison) is a soldier-turned-vigilante, and a founding member of Overwatch. He wears a mask that covers his entire face, and carries an experimental pulse rifle that also launches rockets. His ultimate ability activates the visor in his mask, allowing him to always hit his targets for a brief period.

Jack Morrison was born in rural Indiana, and enlisted in the United States military when he was eighteen. His bravery and work ethic earned him the attention of the "soldier enhancement program", and he later joined Overwatch alongside his friend Gabriel Reyes. His contributions to its success in ending the Omnic Crisis led to his being granted command of the task force, leading to a rift between him and Reyes. As Overwatch came under world-wide scrutiny due to allegations of corruption, the tensions between the two men came to outright conflict, resulting in the destruction of Overwatch headquarters. Morrison was believed to have been killed in the explosion, and was reportedly buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Six years later, however, Morrison resurfaced as the vigilante "Soldier: 76", becoming the focus of an international manhunt following a series of attacks against former Overwatch facilities, stealing weapons and advanced technologies. He wages a personal war to discover the truth behind the events that led to the fall of Overwatch.

Soldier: 76 is voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

Tracer

Main article: Tracer (Overwatch)

Tracer (real name Lena Oxton) is a 26-year-old British adventurer. She carries two rapid-fire pulse pistols, and has the abilities to blink forward and to "rewind" herself in time to recover from damage. Her ultimate ability is a high-explosive pulse bomb that can attach to its targets.

Originally from London, Lena Oxton was the youngest test pilot in Overwatch's experimental flight program, and was tapped to test the "Slipstream", a fighter that used teleportation technology. During the test flight, a malfunction caused the craft to vanish, and she was believed dead. She reappeared months later suffering from "chronal dissociation", her molecules desynchronized from the normal flow of time, as a result of the accident; she could not maintain a physical form and disappeared for hours or even days at a time. The enhanced gorilla scientist Winston was able to develop a "chronal accelerator" to anchor her in the present, and allows her to briefly speed up or even rewind her own timestream.

Tracer features in the intro cinematic, teamed with Winston as she tries to stop Widowmaker and Reaper from taking Doomfist's gauntlet. She also appears in the cinematic short "Alive", as she unsuccessfully tries to stop Widowmaker from assassinating the omnic monk Tekhartha Mondatta in London. Tracer is featured on the game's cover art, and is a playable hero in Heroes of the Storm.

Tracer is voiced by Cara Theobold.

Defense

Bastion

Bastion is a 30-year-old combat robot-turned-explorer. It is outfitted with a submachine gun, and can also transform into a stationary turret form equipped with a Gatling gun. Its ultimate ability allows it to turn into a tank, able to move and fire high-explosive rounds for a short period of time.

Bastion is a SST Laboratories Siege Automaton E54, a battle automaton originally designed for peacekeeping purposes; during the Omnic Crisis, they were deployed against their human makers becoming a symbol of the horrors of the war. Bastion was severely damaged in the field during the final days of the war, and was left dormant and exposed to the elements. For more than a decade, it became overgrown with plant life and the nests of small animals, until it mysteriously reactivated. It had developed a fascination with nature, but its combat programming still took over whenever it encountered anything it perceived as a threat. Due to conflicts with fearful humans, Bastion largely avoids populated areas in favor of exploring the wild.

Hanzo

Hanzo Shimada is a 38-year-old Japanese assassin and mercenary. He carries a bow which fires specialized arrows, including sonic arrows to detect enemies and scatter arrows to hit multiple targets. His ultimate ability is "Dragonstrike", in which he summons a spirit dragon that can travel through walls to hit its targets.

Hanzo is the elder brother of Genji, and the heir to the head of the Shimada clan. He was trained from an early age to take over the clan, becoming an expert strategist and tactician, as well as a skilled warrior and marksman. When his father died, Hanzo was directed by the clan elders to bring Genji into line; when Genji refused, the two brothers battled, resulting in what appeared to be Genji's death. Guilty and grief-stricken, Hanzo abandoned the clan and travelled the world in an effort to restore his honor.

Hanzo is the focus of the animated short "Dragons", where he visits his family's castle on the day of his duel with Genji, leaving offerings at the castle shrine to honor Genji's memory.

Hanzo is voiced by Paul Nakauchi.

Junkrat

Junkrat (real name Jamison Fawkes) is a 25-year-old Australian scavenger, mercenary and anarchist. He carries a frag grenade launcher, and also uses steel spike traps and remote-detonated concussion mines; when he is killed, he releases several grenades to take down anyone in range. His ultimate ability is the "RIP-Tire", a spiked tire filled with explosives.

After the Omnic Crisis, an "omnium" - an A.I. controller that directs omnics as part of a hive mind - was destroyed in the Outback, turning it into an irradiated wasteland. Living in the ruins are the Junkers, a group of scavengers and mercenaries; Junkrat was among their numbers. The effects of the radiation awakened a sense of madness which soon developed into pyromania. In the heart of the destroyed omnium, Junkrat found a valuable secret, making him the target of bounty hunters and rival gangs. He made a deal with the Junker enforcer Roadhog, who agreed to become his personal bodyguard in return for a 50-50 share of the profits from their finds.

Junkrat is voiced by Chris Parson.

Mei

Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou is a 31-year-old Chinese climatologist and adventurer. She wields an Endothermic Blaster that freezes enemies (similar to the freezer guns used by Mr. Freeze or Captain Cold), and has the ability to create walls of ice to block attackers, and to encase herself in ice to heal injuries. Her ultimate ability calls down a blizzard with a modified weather modification drone.

Mei was employed by Overwatch to find the cause for the planet's changing climate, which had been variously blamed on industry, the increasing omnic population, and increased consumption of natural resources. While deployed at an Overwatch base in Antarctica, Mei and the other scientists there were trapped by a polar storm that damaged the facility. Lacking sufficient resources to wait for a rescue, Mei and the others entered cryostasis. Mei was the only survivor when she was found years later; by that time, Overwatch had disbanded, and all of the bases set up to monitor the climate crisis had stopped functioning. Mei elected to carry on the work alone.

Mei is voiced by Zhang Yu.

Torbjörn

Torbjörn Lindholm is a 57-year-old Swedish engineer and weapons designer, and a founding member of Overwatch. His armor comes equipped with a mobile forge, and he carries a rivet gun and a forge hammer. He constructs turrets which can be upgraded, and also provides armor upgrades for his teammates to give a boost to their health. His ultimate ability is "Molten Core" (a reference to World of Warcraft; his appearance is also similar to that of dwarves in that game), which overheats his personal forge, granting a speed bonus to turret construction and repair, as well as a damage bonus.

Torbjörn believes that technology should serve a better vision for humanity, putting him at odds with his employers, who wanted to control the weapons with artificial intelligence. His deep-seated fear of sentient machines, dismissed at first as paranoia, became reality during the Omnic Crisis, during which he was recruited by Overwatch. His engineering knowledge proved invaluable to achieving Overwatch's aim of ending the Omnic Crisis. After Overwatch was disbanded, his weapons were stolen or stashed away, and Torbjörn has set out to ensure they are not used to harm the innocent.

Torbjörn is voiced by Keith Silverstein.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker (real name Amélie Lacroix) is a 33-year-old French sniper and assassin. She carries a versatile rifle that fires on full automatic in close-range, and can convert into a sniper rifle for long-range kills. She also uses a grappling hook to reach high ledges and poison mines to disable enemies. Her ultimate ability activates her recon visor, which allows her and her teammates to see enemies through walls.

Amélie was the wife of Gérard Lacroix, an Overwatch agent heading operations against the terrorist organization known as Talon. When their assassins were unable to get close to Lacroix, they kidnapped Amélie and reprogrammed her as a sleeper agent. She was found and returned home by Overwatch agents, unaware of what had happened; two weeks later, she killed her husband in his sleep. Returning to Talon, she underwent extensive training in the covert arts, and her physiology was altered to slow her heart, turning her skin blue. Her emotional responses numbed by the conditioning, she feels little more than the satisfaction of the kill.

Widowmaker appears in the intro cinematic, teamed with Reaper to steal Doomfist's gauntlet from the Overwatch Museum; a boy visiting the museum uses it against her. She is also featured in the animated short "Alive", on a mission to assassinate the omnic monk Tekhartha Mondatta, an advocate for peaceful human-omnic relations.

Widowmaker is voiced by Jen Cohn.

Tank

D.Va

D.Va (real name Hana Song) is a 19-year-old South Korean mecha pilot and former pro gamer. She pilots a combat mech with twin fusion cannons and rocket boosters to launch into the air, as well as a defensive system to shoot projectiles out of the air. Her ultimate ability self-destructs her mech, damaging all enemies in its radius. If her mech is destroyed (either by her ultimate or in combat), she uses a mid-range blaster until she can resummon her mech.

The South Korean army developed automated battle mechs to protect its cities against a massive omnic that rose from the East China Sea. As the omnic learned from its battles with the South Korean military, it disrupted the mechs' drone-control abilities, forcing the army to turn to human pilots. They elected to recruit professional gamers, who they believed possessed the necessary skills to pilot their mechs. D.Va was the reigning world champion at the time, with a reputation for playing to win at all costs and showing no mercy to her opponents. She has since become a global icon, streaming footage of her combat missions.

D.Va is voiced by Charlet Chung.

Reinhardt

Reinhardt Wilhelm is a 61-year-old German soldier, and one of the founding members of Overwatch. He wears a heavy suit of powered armor, and carries a rocket-powered warhammer. His armor also incorporates a temporary hard-light shield and rocket boosters that allow him to barrel into enemies and crush them against the wall. His ultimate ability is "Earthshatter", where he slams his hammer into the ground to knock over and damage all enemies in front of him.

Reinhardt is a decorated Bundeswehr veteran from Stuttgart who lives under a knightly code of chivalry. He served with distinction as part of the original Overwatch team and remained in service well into his fifties, his code of ethics and his blunt honesty making him a respected member of the team. Forced into mandatory retirement, Reinhardt was forced to watch as Overwatch collapsed, but refused to abandon its ideals as the world returned to chaos.

Reinhardt is voiced by Darin De Paul.

Roadhog

Roadhog (real name Mako Rutledge) is a 48-year-old Australian enforcer and bodyguard. He carries a scrap gun that fires shrapnel in short-ranged bursts, and carries a chain hook to pull opponents to him. His ultimate ability allows him to put a top loader into his scrap gun, turning it into a machine gun.

Mako Rutledge lived in the Australian Outback in the period after the Omnic Crisis. The government of Australia, in an effort to make peace with the omnics, allowed them to take possession of the omnium and the territory around it, displacing the human residents. The angry humans formed the Australian Liberation Front to strike against the omnium and the omnics that resided around it. In the end, the ALF overloaded the fusion core, destroying the omnium and turning the Outback into a radioactive wasteland. Mako donned a mask and took to the broken highways on his chopper, forsaking his humanity little by little until he became a ruthless killer.

Roadhog is voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

Winston

Winston is a 29-year-old genetically engineered gorilla scientist and adventurer. He wears armor that incorporates a jet pack, allowing him to leap forward short distances, and he carries a Tesla cannon. He can also activate a temporary shield bubble to protect his teammates. His ultimate ability is "Primal Rage", in which he gives in to "the beast within" and goes on a rampage, making him all but invulnerable and increasing his melee damage.

Winston was among a group of genetically enhanced gorillas living at a colony on the Moon, intended to test the effects of prolonged habitation in space. He took his name from his mentor and caretaker, Dr. Harold Winston, the colony's chief scientist, from whom he also gained his signature eyeglasses. When the other gorillas rose up, killed the human scientists, and took over the colony, Winston escaped to Earth in a rocket he crafted himself. He later joined up with Overwatch, offering his scientific expertise to the team (such as Tracer's chronal accelerator). When Overwatch disbanded, Winston went into seclusion at an old Overwatch base in Gibraltar.

Winston appears in the intro cinematic, as well as the animated short "Recall". The short recalls how he gained his glasses from Dr. Harold Winston, as well as fending off Reaper and agents of Talon who attempt to hack his database of Overwatch agents.

Winston is voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Zarya

Aleksandra "Zarya" Zaryanova is a 28-year-old Russian soldier. She carries a particle cannon and comes equipped with a personal shield, which she can also project onto her teammates. Her ultimate ability is a gravity bomb that immobilizes and damages opponents in its range.

Zarya's village in Siberia was on the front lines of the Omnic Crisis, which devastated the region. As she grew older, she swore to gain the strength to protect her people and homeland. She became a bodybuilder and weightlifter, expected to break a number of records in the world championships, but the dormant omnium in Siberia awakened on the eve of the tournament, and she withdrew from the competition to join the local defense forces.

Zarya is voiced by Dolya Gavanski.

Support

Lúcio

Lúcio Correia dos Santos is a 26-year-old Brazilian DJ and freedom fighter. He is armed with a sonic amplifier gun, which can be used to damage and knockback enemies. He uses music to either heal his teammates or increase their movement speed. His ultimate ability uses sound waves to grant him and his teammates with shields.

Lúcio grew up in Rio de Janeiro during the financial upheaval caused by the Omnic Crisis. He turned to music to lift up the spirits of his disheartened people, performing on street corners and at block parties. When the Vishkar Corporation, a multinational conglomerate, moved in to redevelop Rio, they began to crack down on its citizens with curfews and began to exploit them as cheap labor. Lúcio rose up and stole a Vishkar sonic weapon and used it against them, rallying the people to rise up and drive Vishkar out of their neighborhoods. His leadership made him a global celebrity, and he began to perform in filled arenas worldwide.

Lúcio is voiced by Jonny Cruz.

Mercy

Mercy (real name Dr. Angela Ziegler) is a 37-year-old Swiss field medic and first responder. She wears a Valkyrie suit, with wings that allow her to fly towards allies and slows her falls from high places. She carries a Caduceus staff that alternately heals her teammates or boosts their damage, and also carries a Caduceus blaster as a sidearm. Her ultimate ability allows her to resurrect fallen teammates.

Angela Ziegler was head of surgery at a Swiss hospital when she developed specialized nanotechnology to heal injuries. Her work earned her the attention of Overwatch, who recruited her as their chief medical researcher; the Valkyrie suit she wears was her own design. When Overwatch disbanded, she dedicated herself to helping those who were affected by decades of global war.

Mercy is voiced by Lucie Pohl.

Symmetra

Symmetra (real name Satya Vaswani) is a 28-year-old Indian architech. She carries a photon projector that fires a short-ranged beam at enemies, doing more damage the longer the beam is connected, and also deploys sentry turrets and shields for her teammates. Her ultimate ability is a teleporter pad, which connects her current location to her team's closest spawn point, allowing respawning teammates to return quickly to the fight.

The Vishkar Corporation, based in southern India, created hard light technology that allowed it to build cities, and trained its elite architechs to bend the hard light into any shape needed for that purpose; with this technology, they built the city of Utopaea to serve as their base. Satya Vaswani's potential was discovered at a young age, and she was taken from a life of poverty to train at Vishkar's architech academy in Utopaea. Becoming one of the top students in her class, she combined the light-bending technology with the traditional dances of her homeland. Given the name "Symmetra", Vishkar dispatched her on clandestine missions around the world to oversee their corporate interests.

Symmetra is voiced by Anjali Bhimani.

Zenyatta

Tekhartha Zenyatta is a 20-year-old omnic monk and wanderer. Rather than running on foot, he floats across the ground in a meditative pose. He is surrounded by a circle of metal orbs (resembling prayer beads), which he can use to heal teammates, amplify damage taken by enemies, or directly damage his targets. His ultimate ability is "Transcendence", which makes him temporarily invulnerable and heals both himself and any teammates in his radius.

Zenyatta belonged to the Shambali, an order of omnic monks that had settled in a monastery deep within the Himalayas in northern Nepal, after experiencing a "spiritual awakening" that led them to believe that, like humans, omnics also possessed a soul. Their leader, Tekhartha Mondatta, sought to heal the breach between humans and omnics and bring them into societal harmony through the spreading of their peaceful message in public rallies (one of which resulted in Mondatta's assassination by Widowmaker in London). Zenyatta disagreed with this approach, believing that only directly engaging humans and connecting with them person-to-person will bridge the divide between man and machine. He left the Shambali monastery and wandered the world, seeking to help those he meets find inner peace (such as his encounter with the cyborg warrior Genji).

Zenyetta is voiced by Feodor Chin.

See also

• Characters of StarCraft, one of the four primary franchises of Blizzard Entertainment
• Characters of Warcraft, one of the four primary franchises of Blizzard Entertainment
• Characters of Diablo, one of the four primary franchises of Blizzard Entertainment