Blizzard Confirms Second LGBTQ+ Character With Latest Short Story

Blizzard Entertainment confirmed Monday that “Overwatch” character Soldier: 76 is now the second LGBTQ+ character in the game’s universe.

Until this week, Blizzard has kept mum on anything regarding Soldier: 76’s personal life in the lore surrounding the game. When contacted for comment, a Blizzard Entertainment rep directed Variety to Michael Chu’s Twitter account, which confirmed that Jack and Vincent were in a “romantic relationship” many years ago. “Both identify as gay,” Chu confirmed.

A rep also told Variety: “Yes, Soldier: 76 (aka Jack Morrison) identifies as LGBT. It was revealed in our latest short story, ‘Bastet,’ that Jack had a male love interest named Vincent.”

The character, whose real name is Jack Morrison, appears in a new short story called “Bastet,” which features the character Ana. The former sniper finds a wounded Soldier: 76 while wandering the streets of Cairo and takes him to her hideout to recuperate.

While Soldier: 76 is rifling through some photos in the short story, an image reveals that he’s lingering on one featuring him and a young dark-haired man named Vincent. The exchange between Ana and Vincent implies that Jack was once in a relationship with the mystery character Vincent, as detailed below:

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“Vincent…I haven’t thought about him in years,” Ana said. “Still keeping a candle lit for him?”

Jack shook his head. “Nothing like that.”

“You’ve never looked in on him? You must have been curious. All the surveillance power in the world. I bet Gabe would have put a Blackwatch agent on him if you asked,” Ana said.

Jack glared at her.

“Okay, touchy subject.”

Jack laughed. “He got married. They’re very happy. I’m happy for him.”

“Vincent deserved a happier life than the one I could give him.” Jack sighed. “We both knew that I could never put anything above my duty. Everything I fought for was to protect people like him… That’s the sacrifice I made.”

“Relationships don’t work out so well for us, do they?” Ana said, unconsciously running her thumb over where her wedding ring used to be.

The snippet appears to indicate that Soldier: 76 has been a queer character all along, though this is the first concrete reference to his sexuality. Two years ago, Blizzard revealed in the “Reflections” holiday comic that the popular character Tracer had a girlfriend and was spending Christmas with her. The same photograph Soldier: 76 is gazing at in “Bastet” can be seen there, as Polygon points out.

“Overwatch” is a popular hero shooter with 29 playable characters, including the most recent addition to the team, the Damage hero Ashe. The series is known for its diverse cast of characters, each with their own rich personalities and back stories, such as LGBTQ+-friendly characters like Tracer and Symmetra, who has autism.

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Reinaldo Massengill

Update: 2024-04-16

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