Blizzard Entertainment just dropped a new piece of information about one of the major characters in Overwatch, so fans of the video game need to add this to their canon:
Soldier: 76 is gay.
— Your friendly neighborhood Ed. (@Edward4711) January 7, 2019
The news was embedded in a new short story from the Overwatch universe titled ‘Bastet’. In the 14-page story, former sniper Ana finds a wounded Soldier: 76 and takes him to her hideout for safety. While there, she catches him looking at an old photo of himself with Vincent, who is apparently an ex-lover.
“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.
BASTET: A fierce protector arises from the shadows . . .
? https://t.co/YLLH1vb5XB pic.twitter.com/OcA6mceQP1
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) January 7, 2019
Lead writer on Overwatch, Michael Chu, posted a tweet confirming that both Jack and Vincent identify as gay, and there are a lot of people excitedly embracing the news of another queer character confirmed in the video game’s universe.
Thanks for all the messages about “Bastet”!
Jack and Vincent were in a romantic relationship many years ago. Both identify as gay. ❤️
— Michael Chu ⚽️???️? (@westofhouse) January 7, 2019
Just over two years ago fans erupted in excitement when the game revealed in a comic that the speedy, time-warping Tracer was happily in a relationship with another woman.
Overwatch has made being actively queer-friendly a niche in the video game world that it happily strives to fill, and people are eating up the news of Soldier: 76’s newly confirmed sexual orientation.
My contribution to the good news in the OW fandom today!#Overwatch #soldier76 pic.twitter.com/j7VfJWgqTF
— RottingDonut (@Rotting_Donut) January 7, 2019
canon gay soldier 76 is kind of cool when you think about the fact that he’s supposed to be the tough guy war hero
— rory (@houstonoutIaws) January 7, 2019
Gays picking Soldier 76 in Overwatch after he got confirmed as LGBT pic.twitter.com/yXvpjB8NVN
— Kevin Gibson (@kaydigi) January 7, 2019
Big love to Soldier: 76 and we hope he finds a nice man to settle down with eventually.
As a side note, the story also gave us a look at the new Bastet Ana skin which is set to come out. She’ll wear the black and gold cat goddess mask that we see, hoping it will become a guardian figure for the people of Egypt that she wants to protect.