[jwplayer 91I9RIGm]
Overwatch might be the name of the Blizzard FPS we all know and love, but as time has gone on and more characters have been added, it’s become more and more of a misnomer, since most of its heroes aren’t part of the organization at all.
As we know from the game’s opening cinematic, Overwatch is the name of the worldwide peacekeeping organization Blizzard’s hit FPS draws its name from. You might think most of its heroes would obviously be a part of the team then, but in reality, less than half actually are.
Even if you don’t actively keep up-to-date on the lore (what little there actually is), the game’s Archives event has actually done a decent job of explaining the conflict between OW and the international crime syndicate known as Talon.
So, sorting heroes into Team Overwatch and Team Talon might be pretty simple, but what about everyone else, like D.Va, Junkrat, or Orisa? To make things clear where each hero stands, one player decided to divvy them all up once and for all.
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First off, the official Members of Overwatch should be obvious, as should the members of Talon, since each hero (ie. Reinhardt and Doomfist) have had their allegiances made clear through the cinematics over the years.
Then we get to everyone else, mostly the heroes that haven’t been graced with much of their own lore from Blizzard (looking right at you, Zenyatta). Everyone’s favorite MEKA pilot D.Va for example, isn’t associated with either Talon or OW, as she’s a member of the South Korean military.
Lucio, Bastion, Orisa, and Torbjorn are classed as “civilians”. “Hold on,” you might be thinking. “Isn’t Torb a member of Overwatch?” Well yes, he was, but has since technically retired, leaving the fighting to his daughter Brigitte at the point in the story we’re at now ahead of the release of OW 2.
There are actually as many “outlaw” characters as there are actual members of Overwatch. You could make the argument that Ana and Soldier: 76 should be put with the latter faction, but both of them have made clear that they don’t consider themselves to be part of the organization after its first downfall.
Blizzard developers and Jeff Kaplan have hinted that they have much more lore in store for fans in the future. This is great to hear, because so far several heroes like Lucio, Zarya, and especially Zenyatta have almost no backstory other than brief character descriptions – and fans have been begging for more practically since release.