Gabriel Reyes / Reaper

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"You can't escape death."

Species: Enhanced human
Age: 58 (1), 60 (2)
Birthday: December 14th
Occupation: Mercenary
Base of Operations: Unknown
Affiliation: Overwatch (formerly), Talon (currently)
Appearances (shorts): Cinematic Trailer, Recall, Soldier: 76 Origin Story (cameo) Ana Origin Story (cameo) Infiltration, Moira Origin Story, A Great Day
Appearances (comics): "Old Soldiers" (focus), "Reflections" (cameo), "Uprising", "Masquerade", "Retribution" (focus)
Appearances (Archives events): Uprising (on comms), Retribution
Appearances (short stories): "Code of Violence" (focus), "Valkyrie" (cameo)

"Death walks among you."

Voiced by: Keith Ferguson (English)^note

Reaper is a black-robed terrorist of unknown origin. His identity and motives are a mystery, but he serves as one of the deadliest mercenaries on Earth. Ruthless, he's fought in many battles and wars over the past decades, showing no allegiance or cause.

Survivors have described a black shadow ghosting unscathed through the most hellish battlefields. The few bodies recovered of those he kills are pale, empty husks drained of life, their cells showing signs of intense degradation. It is possible that he is a byproduct of failed genetic alteration which forces his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.

Those attempting to track his movements have begun to see a pattern in his appearances. They believe that Reaper is hunting former Overwatch agents and systematically eliminating them.

In truth, Reaper is none other than the former co-founder of Overwatch (and head of its covert ops), Gabriel Reyes. A ruthless soldier who would do anything to get the job done, he was given leadership of Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis, where he helped lead mankind's fight against the Omnics. When the war was over, he was happy to let his friend Jack be the public face (and ultimately responsible one)

while he ran the Blackwatch division. Over time, Reyes became responsible for several incidents that caused people to severely lose trust in Overwatch, and he and Jack eventually came to blows at Overwatch's Swiss HQ. The ensuing battle eventually triggered an explosion that seemingly killed both of them and caused the dissolution of Overwatch. However, something had happened to him after the explosion; his body became an empty but quickly regenerating husk, making every second of his new life painful. He eventually came to relish his evil ways and took the identity of "Reaper", spreading terror in cahoots with the Talon organization and trying to make sure the world will finally recognize his deeds.

Reaper is built for ambushing enemies and quickly bursting them down from up close.

His Hellfire Shotguns will quickly tear apart anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by them at close range.
Wraith Form turns him into an ethereal figure, briefly making him invulnerable and able to move through foes. It also replenishes his ammo after use,
His Shadow Step allows him to teleport to any location within sight in a huge radius after a small delay.
His passive ability, The Reaping, allows him to gain health from his enemies every time he lands a hit on them.
His ultimate, Death Blossom, turns him into a whirlwind of death, quickly unloading his shotguns in all directions around him and dealing devastating damage to nearby enemies.

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A-H

AB Negative: His blood type according to the dog tags on his Soldier: 24 skin.
Actually Pretty Funny: He premptively warns Echo not to imitate him...which she does immediately after. He's all set to threaten her again, before conceding, "That's....not bad, actually..."
Always Someone Better: To Sombra. While he is hardly as tech-savvy as her, he reveals in the Doomfist comic that he's been keeping tabs on Sombra and knows about her blackmailing of Volskaya.
Animal Motifs: Ravens; his mask also resembles the skull of a raven, ravens can be heard cawing after each Shadow Step, and he spreads his arms out like wings when he goes into Wraith Form. The motif is especially pronounced in his "Plague Doctor" and "Nevermore" skins gaining raven skulls on his shoulders and guns, as well as his coat becoming adorned with feathers. The raven is a common death motif in many cultures, which fits in with the "death incarnate" image that Reaper likes to present.
Ambiguous Situation: According to his profile, the myth of Reaper has been around for decades, but Gabriel could have only been Reaper for 6 years at most. It has been confirmed that the wording is intentional.
Arch-Enemy: Being one of the major villains of the setting, he has many.
- Jack Morrison, now known as Soldier: 76. They have a long history together that dates back to the first Omnic Crisis. However, while they were once friends, their relationship soured some time after Jack Morrison was made the leader of Overwatch while Reyes was put in charge of Blackwatch. While public perception of his attack on the Swiss HQ was over jealousy, considering he did not want the strike commander promotion that had happened over 20 years before, there are likely other reasons for the attack. Their relationship has not changed since.
- Winston. He never wastes a chance to Kick the Dog, employing Fantastic Racism by calling him a "monkey" and insulting him for his appearance, while having shown a clear desire to end his life in both the cinematic trailer and Recall. Unlike Jack, there's no indication that Reyes and Winston had any real history together (apart from Reyes attending his graduation ceremony, while looking rather unhappy), and his only real beef apart from being on opposing sides seems to be rooted in his aforementioned speciesism.
- Cassidy. Reaper was Cassidy's commanding officer, his teacher, and, as seen from the Retribution comic, a friend. Now the two hate each other and will insult each other before a match. Cassidy also makes it very clear to Reaper that he follows a different path than his mentor. This goes a step further in the Retribution special event, where Cassidy spends the whole mission in livid rage at his commanding officer, and not without good cause. We hardly ever see any emotion out of Cassidy other than amusement, but Reaper seems to be enough to actually make Cassidy angry. Any faith or trust the two had in each other is completely shattered and the two will try and kill each other on sight.
Authority Equals Asskicking: One of Talon's leaders, and one of the most dangerous individuals in the setting, capable of taking on dozens of normal soldiers all by himself.
Awesome, but Impractical: Not the character himself, but his teleport can be, given that it's practically telegraphed where you'll reappear, and it requires that you stand immobile while preparing it; furthermore, there's a brief delay between choosing a destination and actually performing the teleport, and another brief delay between executing the teleport and being able to act. Don't expect to use it to get the drop on people by appearing in front of them; it's meant to cross large gaps that can't simply be jumped over in order to reach advanced locations on the map or take shortcuts, or to go from one point of cover to another without crossing the open ground that Reaper's most vulnerable in.
Ax-Crazy: He doesn't seem to have any solid motivation for fighting in so many wars and killing so many people and seems to do it to satisfy his desire for death and destruction. Or it could just be Revenge. It's hard to say.
Reaper: Die! DIE! DIE!
Badass Bandolier: Wears a belt holding shells, which is odd considering he doesn't reload.
Badass Biker: His Biker skin.
Badass Boast:
- When he respawns.
  "The grave cannot hold me."
- Delivers one in a bit of pre-battle banter with Soldier: 76.
  Soldier: 76: One of these days, someone's gonna put an end to you.
  Reaper: I invite them to try.
- When a friendly Reaper uses Death Blossom.
  "Clearing the area..."
- When he's on fire.
  "I'm on fire. Better stay out of my way."
Badass Cape: His Biker skin replaces his Badass Longcoat with a long, black one.
Badass Long Coat: He wears a long black coat used to store an endless amount of shotguns.
Balance Buff: Reaper was infrequently picked in higher-levels of play due to how clunky Shadow Step was to use and the fact that he was stuck in Wraith Form once it was used until it wore off, which made him predictable in one-on-one duels. But after some quality-of-life fixes (i.e. making his Shadow Step lines and footsteps quieter and allowing Wraith Form to be canceled and having it automatically reload his ammo for him when he exits it), he's a far more dangerous and tricky duelist who can easily turn an unprepared team into swiss cheese.
Bald of Evil: As seen in one piece of official artwork◊, he used to keep his head shaved, and even back in those days, while he was on the force of good, he was still a ruthless soldier not known for his 'nice' personality.
Bandito: His "El Blanco" and "Mariachi" skins seem to be partly based on this, as they have a Dia de los Muertos-themed vaquero look, complete with sombrero.
Baritone of Strength: He has a very deep, rasping voice with an otherworldly reverberation to it. The Uprising event reveals that he also had this as Reyes, though it was far smoother and more natural-sounding.
Beard of Evil: Subverted when he was Gabriel Reyes, as he had a beard but was not evil... but he was ruthless enough to be something like a Token Evil Teammate amongst the Overwatch leadership. It's currently unknown if he still has a beard after he became Reaper, but we can assume it's hidden underneath his mask.
Becoming the Costume:
- His "Mariachi" and "El Blanco" skins (where he has a guitar on his back) adds a pre-game line: "First you listen, then I kill" in a Spanish accent.
- His "Nevermore" and "Plague Doctor" skins gives him a bonus Elimination line: "Nevermore."
- When his Junkenstein's Revenge counterpart named "The Reaper" first appears before the team, he will say "The Reaper comes for your souls!" In his "Pumpkinhead" skin that uses the exact same model, this line becomes one of his new respawn quotes. He also gains a few miscellaneous Halloween-themed lines, including "Trick or treat." This is extend to his "Dracula" skin as well.
Beta Outfit: Reaper's "Dusk" skin represents his appearance during "Code of Violence", in turn his early stints in Talon. Considerably more drab and utilitarian than his refined present-day look, it also features an early version of his skull mask where Reyes' eyes are still visible.
BFG: Wields the Hellfire Shotguns, a pair of deadly double barrel shotguns.
Big Bad: He is one of the principal antagonists in Overwatch alongside Doomfist, having been one of the people responsible for Overwatch's initial downfall and a member of Talon's inner council of leadership.
Big Bad Duumvirate: With Doomfist, given that they're both part of Talon's inner council of leaders.
Black Cloak: Complete with a hood.
Blessed with Suck: Having the ability to turn into a wraith and come back from a One-Hit Kill? Cool! Having a severely screwed-up body where your cells die and grow at the same time, giving you excruciating pain all the time? Not so cool.
Blood Knight: It's implied that he takes a little too much satisfaction in his job.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: His "El Bianco" skin adds golden ornament to his shotguns.
Body Horror: The bodies of his victims have been described in his biography as pale, lifeless husks with signs of intense physical degradation. This could also apply to Reaper himself. In the comic "Old Soldiers", when Ana rips his mask off, she looks horrified to see his face and asks what happened to him.
Boring, but Practical: He has a period of invulnerability, a long-range teleport, and some shotguns. Despite his ult being much flashier than his other abilities, he doesn't have anything exceptionally unique to work with. What he does have, however, is high survivability, insane damage output, and incredible flanking potential.
Bottomless Magazines: Usually averted, but played straight when he unleashes his ultimate.
Busman's Vocabulary: Even when using what can only be described as supernatural powers, he still uses military terms and call-outs, such as saying "Clearing the area..." when performing his Death Blossom, or "Repositioning..." when teleporting.
By "No", I Mean "Yes": One of his voice lines that also doubles as a Shout-Out.
Reaper: I'm not a psychopath. I'm a high-functioning psychopath.
Calacas: His El Blanco and Mariachi skins replace his standard skull mask with a more elaborate calavera one.
Card-Carrying Villain: Despite his sympathetic backstory, it's clear that he really enjoys being a villain.
Casting a Shadow: Can become a shadow to teleport, become Immune to Bullets, or unleash a barrage of his own.
Close-Range Combatant: His Short Range Shotguns are his only firepower and they rapidly become ineffective at longer distances. However, he has lots of options for moving along the flanks and closing in on the enemy while intangible, and he boasts some of the highest damage in the game at shorter ranges, shredding through tanks with ease and taking down valuable targets like Mercy in as few as one or two shots.
The Comically Serious: Reaper never loses his dark, angry demeanor. Not even when Sombra pranks him with a door, or when he tries to steal Santa's cookies.
Cool Helmet: Wears a biker helmet in his Biker skin.
Creepy Crows: His "Nevermore" and "Plague Doctor" skins are heavily crow-themed, with feathers decorating the fringe of his coat, shoulder armor that looks like crow skulls, and a Plague Doctor-esque mask.
Crippling Overspecialization: He's very good at killing people that get too close, especially Tanks (his Life Drain gets more mileage when his pellets hit their large hitboxes), but his shotguns don't have the range for anything other than point-blank combat, making him a poor choice for handling objectives and pitched firefights.
Cursed with Awesome: So he claims, but his words may actually have some merit; because his body is in a rapid state of regeneration and decay, he can come back to life From a Single Cell. It's implied that he feels every moment of it, and it's excruciatingly painful.
(after respawning) This... is my curse...
Cutscene Power to the Max: In the Infiltration short, Reaper manages to One-Hit KO several footsoldiers, even at longer distances, while gameplay requires a minimum of three shots for an elimination at close range, and his shotguns are somewhat ineffectual at long range. This could be a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation, or a showcase of just how powerful the Overwatch members are in comparison to regular humans.
Dark Is Evil: An imposing, Grim-Reaper-esque figure that appears to be actively hunting and murdering ex-superheroes.
Dark Is Not Evil: As Gabriel Reyes, during his stint as a Blackwatch operative. As shown in Soldier: 76's Origin trailer, he was part of Jack Morrison's original strike team during the Omnic crisis. The Halloween and Retribution comics shows he used to be just as warm to his friends as he was ruthless to his enemies. Upon turning into Reaper, however, only ruthlessness remained.
Deadpan Snarker: Surprisingly, despite how serious he normally acts, he still has time for a few occasional quips when speaking to teammates.
Mercy: What happened to you?
Reaper: You tell me, Doc.
Death by Irony: Should he be Killed Mid-Sentence while using his Ultimate.
Reaper: Die! Die! Di—aurrrggh!
Desert Skull: His mask can be construed to resemble one of these, fitting in with the Western motif his student Cassidy has, and that he might fit into as well.
Developer's Foresight: One of Reaper's taunts has him throw his guns on the ground, do a gesture, and pull out a fresh pair. This actually reloads his guns, as his usual reload animation also includes throwing away and busting out new guns.
Did You Die?: Can be asked this by Soldier: 76 before the start of a match.
Soldier: 76: Aren't you supposed to be dead?
Reaper: Didn't take.
Difficult, but Awesome: His teleport is tricky to use. Use it where someone can see it and Reaper may arrive with a Bastion's assault cannon or Widowmaker's sniper rifle trained on him, but if he can close in to enemies from their backs with it, Reaper can blast them back to the spawn point before they can react or drop down from a ledge right into the enemy team with his Ultimate in full swing.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Reaper was first presented as a dreaded mercenary/terrorist who owed loyalty to nothing and no one; it was implied that he was merely an associate or favoured bounty hunter for Talon. When Talon's character roster was expanded and its hierarchy was ironed out, Reaper was instead shown to be one of its highest leaders, sitting on its high council alongside Doomfist, Moira, and other villains. In a way, though, his behaviour as a "mercenary" — fighting in a string of wars, for different sides, and creating a vacuum of chaos and conflict — was actually quite in line with Doomfist's ideology for Talon.
- In his very first appearance in the cinematic trailer, Reaper briefly utilised the bandolier at his hip to toss about grenades. This ended up not being a part of his moveset.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: A closer look at Reaper's biceps show that they are scarcely covered in straps, revealing deathly white skin. His appearance before his transformation shows that he has (or had) dark-colored hair.
Emergency Transformation: Downplayed in that he was already afflicted by unnatural changes, but after the explosion at Overwatch's HQ mortally wounded Reyes, he was revived by Moira using a "juiced-up" version of the substance that gave him his form-shifting powers. This greatly worsened Reyes' genetic instability and made him closer to the ghastly form of the present-day, but Moira insisted it was necessary for him to survive.
Empowered Badass Normal: Subverted. As Gabriel Reyes, he was made into a super soldier just like Jack Morrison, but these only increased his speed/strength/stamina/etc. After he was "resurrected" as Reaper, he gained additional abilities such as being able to turn into mist and to teleport.
Enemies List: Occasionally references one in various pre-game interactions and combat quips.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- "Bastet" and "Code of Violence" confirm that Reyes had a wife and son long before he descended into villainy, with the latter story demonstrating that even during his start in Talon, he kept them in his memory, lamenting needing to abandon them with his current trajectory in life. Their current fate is unclear, though in the "Reflections" comic, Reaper is seen quietly watching a happy family from the shadows, with Michael Chu confirming "It's not a random family." One of his interactions with Widowmaker in Overwatch 2 does seem to imply that at least his wife is still around.
- Very, very downplayed, as he does still intend to kill her, but he is depicted as taking it a little easier on Ana. In addition to their history together, he pretty much tells her that she reminds him of himself.
Evil Former Friend: He's Gabriel Reyes — Jack Morrison's best friend-turned-villain.
Evil Gloating: Reaper's key flaw as a soldier is that whenever he has the chance to win the day, he instead takes the time to rub salt in the wound, which often costs his mission success. He delivered a Pre-Mortem One-Liner to Winston and Soldier: 76, giving the former a Heroic Second Wind while giving Ana enough time to save the latter, whereas in the cinematic trailer, Reaper triggered Winston's Berserk Button by stepping on his glasses when he had him at his mercy. If Reaper could stop letting his arrogance get the better of him, he could very well be a much more successful Talon agent.
Evil Is Petty: Goes out of his way to step on Winston's glasses in the cinematic trailer. True to the trope, it bites him in the ass.
Evil Laugh: He lets out a pretty deep and sinister chortle from time to time.
Evil Mentor: He mentions teaching Cassidy "everything he knows" — whether or not he was actually evil when he taught him these things is still up in the air.
Evil Sounds Deep: He speaks in a very deep, baritone voice with an ethereal quality to it.
Evil Wears Black: His outfit is primarily black with touches of red and silver, and he's one of the nastiest villains in the game. Subverted as Gabriel Reyes, who wore black but was one of the founders of Overwatch and the former commander of Blackwatch.
Face–Heel Turn: His true identity is Gabriel Reyes, a former commander of Overwatch and head of Blackwatch. The comic "Old Soldiers" implies some of what might be behind the betrayal. When Ana asks what happened to him, he vaguely alludes that Overwatch made him what he is now and abandoned him. Whether this is true or perhaps a misunderstanding has yet to be explored.
Fallen Hero: Formerly one of the heads of the heroic Overwatch and its Blackwatch division, but at some point became one of the world's biggest villains, and one of the leaders of Talon.
Fantastic Racism:
- He refers to Omnics as "tin cans."
(Upon killing Bastion, Zenyatta, or Orisa): Tin cans. A dime a dozen.
- If his interactions with Winston are anything to go by, he doesn't hold intelligent gorillas in high regard, either. He constantly refers to him as a "monkey" in a derogatory manner.
(Upon killing Winston): Stupid monkey.
Fatal Flaw: Blizzard has said that his skills as a soldier are what people hired him for before he became Reaper, not his personality. Evidently, he hasn't gotten any better; in both the Cinematic Trailer and Recall, Reaper has Winston set up for the kill, but both times, he decides to rub salt into the wound first. He breaks Winston's glasses in the Cinematic Trailer and gives a Pre-Mortem One-Liner in Recall. Both times, Winston got a Heroic Second Wind and drove him off.
Fate Worse than Death: Gabriel Reyes survived the explosion in the Swiss HQ that killed many others, but at great cost. Revived as an undying wraith through a combination of his stunted Super-Soldier genetics and Moira's experimentation, now he lives in a state of constant agony and is wishing that he could die. Additionally, it's implied that he's become so disfigured by both the explosion and the procedure that he can't remove his mask, or people would be terrified by what they see. This means he can't even go out in public anymore, forcing him to live the way he does. Yes, he's a bad guy, but having to live like that is something that no one deserves.
Fire-Forged Friends: With Jack Morrison and Ana when they were younger. While he was presumably a cold and distant towards most of his teammates, he befriended Jack and Ana because they fought in the Omnic Crisis together. After Overwatch's destruction, his friendship with Jack soured to the point of nonexistence, though he is willing to be more civil with Ana.
Flashy Teleportation: His ability Shadow Step allows him to mark a location in his field of sight and teleport there, with animations on use and arrival, though, it's not intended be used in combat or as a direct initiation, but to safety cross open ground, or reposition to an otherwise unreachable or out-of-the-way area.
Foreshadowing:
- Soldier: 76's origin story video, which aired before Reaper's true identity was revealed, shows Reyes during the heyday of Overwatch.
- If one looks at his character reference sheet on the official Overwatch website, an inverted Overwatch symbol can be seen hanging from his belt.
Friendlessness Insult: An interaction between Cassidy and Reaper in Overwatch 2 has Cassidy say that a friend (implied to be Sombra) told him that Reaper was getting rusty. Reaper, who has openly despised Cassidy since the fallout with Blackwatch, ignores the second half of the comment, instead responding with "You don't have any friends".
The Friend Nobody Likes: In-game, when everyone is on the same team. Only 76 and Cassidy actually take Reaper seriously due to having a personal relationship with him — everyone else either hates him, ignores him, rebuffs him, or (in the case of Junkrat and Tracer) mocks him. Averted by Ana, who's at least still civil with him, and Widowmaker, as a strictly professional relationship.
Frontline General: Reaper (or Reyes) isn't the type to let others do his dirty work. As the leader of the original Overwatch Strike Team, he personally led the group into battle against the berserk omnics, and is implied to have personally led/participated in several clandestine operations as the commander of Blackwatch. Now he is a member of Talon's highest leadership, but that doesn't stop him from spearheading assaults himself. So far, he has personally led the attacks on Watchpoint Gibraltar, the Overwatch Museum, Volskaya Industries, and the Helix Security prison holding Doomfist. Besides these, he has personally ambushed Soldier: 76 and Ana in Giza, and he personally took part in Doomfist's "house cleaning" of Talon members who did not share their vision.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: His "Nevermore" and "Plague Doctor" skins give him rather piercing purple/green glows coming out of his mask's eye holes. Same with his Halloween skin.
Guns Akimbo: He dual-wields shotguns.
Gun Fu: His Death Blossom ultimate looks like something out of John Woo's movies.
The Gunslinger: The "Vaporizer" type. In the cinematic trailer, he was shooting everywhere trying to kill Winston and Tracer, not caring that there were children in the area, and his ultimate even has him spraying bullets in hopes that his target(s) would die from the rain of fire.
Hammerspace: There is no explanation for where he keeps all those shotguns. In the animated shorts, they just sort of appear in his hands whenever they're offscreen or behind his back.
Handicapped Badass: His physical state is unique because of Moira's experiments, but he's in constant pain and agony whenever he uses his abilities, his face is also said to be so deformed and mutated that it even horrified Ana. His abilities can make him difficult to deal with and he's succeeded in killing some former Overwatch agents.
Hand Signals: One of his intros and emotes has him doing the 'throat slash' gesture.
Hero Killer: In-universe; it's believed by some that he is hunting down and killing former Overwatch agents. The reason why is unknown, though his old ties to Overwatch may have something to do with it.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: He used to be best friends with Soldier: 76 before the rift in their relationship formed, sticking with him through pretty much everything (the army, the first Omnic crisis, Overwatch).
He Who Fights Monsters: He was the original leader of Overwatch, fighting for a more peaceful and stable world and standing on the ideas of heroism and justice. But when he was reassigned to be the leader of the secretive black ops branch, Blackwatch, due to the necessity to help keep the world stable and peaceful, as well as Talon's rapid escalation as a threat that couldn't be solved within the law, his tactics became more brutal and not something that most people would call heroic. Now Reaper is a force of disorder, chaos, and terrorism, seeking to destabilize the world he once helped.
Hidden Depths:
- The Halloween special reveals that in life, Gabriel Reyes had a passionate interest in costume design and was able to tailor elaborate costumes for the occasion. Mercy even suggests that he use his gift to design their uniforms. This, of course, takes a darker twist when it leaves the implication that he made his Reaper getup.
- In-game dialogue, the comics, victory poses, and some sprays also hint that Reyes was once a far more affable man, even a bit of a goof to those close to him (when not on assignment). Some even pointing out that his Reaper garb is an extension of his former goofy personality, being edgy to the point of humor.
Humanoid Abomination: Although it's clear that his powerset is something relating to a wraith, no one knows what he truly is, although the theories of what he is don't point to anything natural or remotely human, either.
Hunk: Not currently (presumably), but his past life as Gabriel Reyes shows that he used to be ruggedly handsome.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Reaper can allow Sigma's Gravitiv Flux give him a strong boost upwards. Activating his Wraith Form in the right time will allow him to use it as a ramp with many possible tactical applications. If the Reaper player manages to do that, the Sigma better hope that his Death Blossom isn't ready.
Hyperspace Arsenal: The guy seems to have an endless supply of loaded shotguns.
Hypocritical Humor:
- He mocks the outfits and appearances of both Cassidy and Winston in his pre-match banter. They shoot back, naturally, and have a lot of material to work with.
  Winston: I don't think even children are afraid of you.
- For all his talk of wanting to stick as close to the plan as possible, Retribution shows that before he became Reaper, Reyes did not stick to the original details of the mission, instead going rogue and killing the target he was supposed to be apprehending.

I-Z

I Did What I Had to Do: His rationalization behind killing Antonio.
Reyes: We followed the original plan, and infiltrated the manor. From there, I evaluated the situation and made my decision. And I stand by it. When you're on operation, things don't always go according to plan.
Immune to Bullets: His Wraith Form ability temporarily makes him immune to damage, though it leaves him unable to attack.
Implacable Man: Outside of gameplay, almost nothing has any real effect on him. Getting slammed into a concrete floor by Winston does nothing, a hit from a Humongous Mecha seems to hurt him but doesn't do any real damage, one of Ana's sleep darts have no effect, nor does pushing him off a two-story wall. Only Winston's Tesla Cannon has done any real damage to him by vaporizing Reaper, but even that doesn't keep him down for long, since dark vapor can be seen condensing and leaving the watchpoint by the end of the cinematic.
"Instant Death" Radius: Let's just say, if he ever performs Death Blossom in the middle of your team without interruption, you will all end up very dead in very short order. It's telling that he's one of the more popular characters featured in frag vids, wiping entire teams single-handedly.
In the Hood: He wears a black executioner-type hood as part of his "Grim Reaper" get-up. An old photo from Ana's Origin trailer showed that he already wore the hood back when he was still with Overwatch.
Insistent Terminology: One of his voice lines has him insist that he's not a psychopath, but a "high-functioning psychopath".
It's All About Me: His in-game quips implied that he expected decent folks like Cassidy and Ana Amari to side with him, simply because he was their mentor (in Cass's case) or good friend (in Ana's case). In "Old Soldiers", he assumed that Ana was left behind to die, just so that he can use a "Not So Different" Remark. He didn't know that Ana deliberately chose to hide her survival. In addition, he believes that every misfortune that befell him, from losing his few remaining friends and his transformation, was all a deliberate attempt to ruin his life either by Jack Morrison or Overwatch.
Jerkass: Even when Reaper's not killing people, he's still very arrogant and condescending.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Gabriel Reyes wanted to do good, but the flawed world set before him set him on the path to making increasingly bad decisions that sent him over the edge. He became a Super-Soldier and co-founded Overwatch to combat evil around the world, but became increasingly impatient by the fettered nature of the organization and began working on darker acts for "the greater good". When that still left him no closer to stopping the cycles of suffering around him, he began pushing his luck even further, committing even darker acts that led Overwatch to completely falling apart. By the time he was recruited into Talon, Reyes Stopped Caring about the limits of heroism and decided that if whatever he does next in the name of a better world will get him cast as a villain, so be it.
Kick the Dog: Does this to Winston by deliberately stepping on his glasses as he moves to finish him off. It backfires spectacularly, since it only triggers Winston's Berserk Button.
Knuckle Cracking: After seeing how worthless his men are in Recall, Reaper cracks his neck before going to fight Winston himself.
The Lancer:
- Gabriel Reyes was formerly this to his friend, Jack Morrison (Soldier: 76), when they led Overwatch together both during the Omnic Crisis and after. While Jack was the head and public face of the organization, Reyes was the leader of its dark side: its black ops branch, Blackwatch. He contrasted his friend with his more brutal, anti-heroic tactics.
- With the return of Doomfist to Talon's council, Reaper now fills this role in the organization, while still the same rank as Doomfist. Reaper is more concerned with destroying the last sparks of Overwatch's light and deploys Talon's forces for this agenda (always leading them from the front), while Doomfist handles the more long-term, diplomatic, and financial side of the organization.
Laughably Evil: Downplayed; he's taken pretty seriously as a villain and he doesn't carry anything inherently humorous about him (at most, he's usually treated as The Comically Serious), but there is an occasional spotlight placed on just how Obviously Evil he is, even compared to other Talon baddies. A few other heroes poke fun at him for his over-the-top presentation (upon taking him down, Tracer gives out a mockingly gravelly "Death comes!"), and Blizzard occasionally releases artwork and voice lines that play up his reputation as a stereotypical "edgelord".
Reaper: (to Cassidy) You look ridiculous.
Cassidy: Heh, looked in a mirror lately?
Life Drain: He regains a fraction of damage dealt to enemies as health. Previously, his passive skill caused enemies that died near him to drop a glowing red orb that restored some of his health.
Light Is Not Good: When equipped with the "Wight" or "El Blanco" skins, which are colored white.
Like Brother and Sister: The narration in "Bastet" mentions that Ana, Jack, and Gabriel were like siblings to each other during Overwatch's golden years.
Looks Like Orlok: His Vampire skin is fashioned after the likes of Bram Stoker's and Castlevania's Dracula^note, but the lack of nose, long fangs, and pointed skull shape of his mask definitely evokes this trope.
Malevolent Masked Men: Wears a skull-themed White Mask of Doom, and he's a Villain Protagonist.
Malicious Misnaming: He occasionally refers to Winston as "Monkey" (when he's clearly a gorilla).
Man of Kryptonite: His shotguns rip Tanks apart. Tank characters have huge hitboxes to make it easier for them to lead the charge and defend allies, so they'll eat the full brunt of his shots. And at close range, those shots hurt.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Only because nano-superscience is considered "mundane" in the setting. It's not clear if his powers are purely through scientific exploits, or if something more supernatural is going on.
Meaningful Echo: Before the attack commences, Reaper may tell a friendly Cassidy that he didn't teach the latter all his tricks, to which the cowboy replies that he still has a few tricks of his own. If Reaper kills an enemy Cassidy, one of his possible Bond One-Liners is him repeating that he didn't teach him all his tricks.
Meaningful Name: Reaper is a very obvious reference to The Grim Reaper. His real name, Gabriel Reyes, consists of the name of an archangel and the Spanish word for "kings", respectively.
Multi-Directional Barrage: His ultimate involves spraying the surrounding area with shotgun shells.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Reaper, as in Grim Reaper, is an enigmatic assassin who specializes in taking down the former agents of Overwatch, who were some of the greatest super soldiers in the world. His Hellfire Shotguns, which can turn Humongous Mecha into scrap, are also a notable example.
Neck Snap: Reaper performs one on an unsuspecting Russian soldier in the Infiltration short, who was distracted by Widowmaker. The deed itself is hidden from view, but we see him grab his victim by the chin and temple and hear the guy crash to the floor.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Retribution shows that in killing Talon agent Antonio, Gabriel Reyes not only caused Blackwatch to be exposed publicly and Overwatch to come under scrutiny by extension, but he also helped Talon expand its ranks by creating a power vacuum that resulted in multiple new agents and leaders appearing to take his place, such as Maximilien and Doomfist.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the cinematic trailer, his Multi-Directional Barrage knocked Winston down and disabled Tracer's equipment, rendering both of them helpless. Then he stepped on Winston's glasses. In Recall, it is his failed assault on Winston's base that pushes Winston to reactivate Overwatch.
Nightmare Face: The audience doesn't get to see it, but judging by Ana's reaction, whatever's underneath that mask ain't pretty.
No-Sell: In the "Old Soldiers" webcomic, Ana hits him in the neck with a sleep dart, but he pulls it out with no ill effect. (Fortunately, the darts do affect him as they should in-game.)
Not So Above It All:
- In the Summer Games event, he gets an Olympic based spray and pose just like everyone else, and his Olympic voice line has him quote sportscaster Chick Hearn.
- Likewise, in the "Junkenstein" comic, he appears in the end in a costume that he made himself to mess with Reinhardt. Another line implies that he made all the costumes seen in the comic.
Obviously Evil: Practically everything about his design has a clearly "evil" connotation. His outfit is all black leather and scuffed chrome, with shiny metal claws, four different belts, and no exposed skin. He dual-wields weapons called the "Hellfire Shotguns." His voice is low, gravelly, monotone, and very bitter. He can also dissipate into black smoke. While even Roadhog has been shown with cute plushies and vegetarian flair, Reaper is about as evil as it gets.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
- In the Infiltration short, Reaper is floored by a Humongous Mecha and leaves the rest of the assassination mission in Sombra's hands. When we catch up with him, the robot is a pile of smouldering rubble with Reaper casually departing the scene.
- Reaper broke Doomfist out of prison, curb-stomping over a dozen heavily-armed guards. We didn't get to see that outside of a news report, though.
Old Soldier: Aged 50 as of the Venice Incident, putting him at 58 in the present day. Not that it slows him down in the slightest.
Owl Be Damned: His mask resembles a stylised barn owl face and he resembles a flying owl while he's in wraith form (which would also fit with a silent, swooping killer motif). This would fit with background material indicating that Reyes is part of LA's large Latino population if this theory is correct, as the barn owl is a symbol of death in Mexican culture.
Perpetual Frowner: While he can occasionally be seen smiling in the game's lore, his default expression is an angry scowl.
Pet the Dog: His interactions with Ana are relatively civil, all things considered. This may be due to her personality, rather than his.
Plague Doctor: His "Nevermore" and "Plague Doctor" legendary skins give him the aesthetic of one.
Power Echoes: Reaper possesses incredible powers of regeneration. His voice also has an otherworldly reverb in it.
Powerful and Helpless: Reyes believed himself to be this, a major reason for why he fell so hard as he did. "Code of Violence" details that he used to be a cop, but felt he and the police could do little to fix the widespread systemic problems of the world around him, and even after he became a Super-Soldier and co-founder of Overwatch, that only formed a larger cage to be stuck in where they remained no closer to directly fighting the root causes of suffering, corruption, etc. His descent into nominal heroism in Blackwatch towards villainy among Talon is built on a belief that it's the only way he can meaningfully change the world.
Psycho for Hire: He's now preoccupied himself with selling his services out to various organisations around the world, and he enjoys what he does.
Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
- When he used his ultimate in the beta, he said, "Time to reap." Come the official release, it was changed to "Clearing the area…"
- The enemy team hears "Die! DIE! DIE!"
Pumpkin Person: Reaper's Halloween outfit has a jack-o-lantern for a head. Reyes wore this costume back during the Overwatch days, though in the present day, he's found a way to make the pumpkin light up.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: His "Mariachi" skin's color scheme consists of mainly black and red.
Sarcastic Clapping: One of his unlockable emotes in-game, appropriately titled "Slow Clap", makes him do this.
Secret Identity: To the general public, at least. Despite what some of the in-game dialogue suggests, Word of God confirms that the only characters in-game who currently know that Reaper is Gabriel Reyes in-canon are Jack/Soldier: 76, Ana, and Sombra.
See You in Hell: One of his Anniversary-exclusive voice lines is the always-classic "I'll see you in hell."
Short-Range Shotgun: Like Roadhog, his shotgun's extreme damage kicks in only when he's rather close to his target(s), turning most heroes into swiss cheese with a few well-placed shots. However, at longer range, the incredible spread and damage falloff means that Reaper will only be doing negligible damage, forcing him to sneak around to close the distance.
Shotguns Are Just Better: At first, he'd seem like your typical assassin-type character, with the ninja-esque mask and dark cloak. Then he whips out the twin shotguns and all expectations go out the window, though they do make up for it in doing very high close-range damage.
Simple, yet Awesome: Unlike most other damage-focused heroes, Reaper's only real way of dealing damage consists of his trusty dual shotguns, which don't have any fancy abilities other than firing in all directions during his Ultimate. They deal ridiculous damage up close, quickly turning anyone who makes the mistake of getting in front of him into Swiss cheese.
Skill Gate Characters: Like Soldier: 76, Reaper isn't mechanically difficult and can easily decimate newer players who attempt to fight him at close range one-on-one, and his ultimate also remains one of the most effective ways to clear an objective or a payload due to the fact that the enemy team is bound to stick close to it. However, he lacks mobility outside of his rather slow Shadow Step, meaning that he suffers if he can't properly close the distance and/or gets shot from out of his range. His duelling power can still be threatening in higher levels of play, it's just easier to punish and can require some sneaky tactics and coordination to get around.
Spectacular Spinning: Death Blossom consists of him spinning around in a circle while rapidly unloading his shotguns in every direction.
Spin Attack: Death Blossom has him spin around while rapidly firing his shotgun. Done right, it can quickly kill off every surrounding enemy.
Start of Darkness: The Venice mission in Retribution proves to be this, marking the first first time he's murdered a person in cold blood, overstepping the fettered nature of Overwatch's modus operandi and staking a path of becoming even worse. "Code of Violence" additionally marks the point where he eschews "heroism" altogether, accepting his new role in Talon as a Reaper to uphold a new vision for the world.
The Stoic: His dance emote seems to invoke this even more than others. Reaper just simply folds his arms and repeatedly taps his foot. Even characters like Hanzo, Roadhog, and Soldier: 76 have more animated dances than him.
Stuff Blowing Up: Fires grenades from his shotguns in the cinematic trailer. It's likely that he had the ability to fire grenades at some point in development, but it was later removed.
Super-Soldier: As Reyes, he was part of the same super soldier program as Morrison, giving him speed, strength, and reflexes superior to that of a normal human. However, while Morrison made it out fairly stable, Reyes was dealt a much more mixed bag that informs his current "Reaper" abilities, namely his ability to transform into a semi-tangible, smoke-like entity. The reason he hired Moira during his time in Blackwatch was because even back then, his genetic instability was already such a pertinent issue, but after he was nearly killed from the decimation of Overwatch's HQ, Moira juiced his body up with experimental treatments that revived him, but further worsened his stability and made him even more wraith-like.
Super Smoke: The cinematics depict his wraith form as a trailing smoke cloud, while in-game, he retains a fairly humanoid shape.
Surrounded by Idiots: He gives this sort of expression in the Recall trailer when one of the Mooks he brought along to deal with Winston goes flying through the window of the room he's in and smashes into a table. He's able to do this despite wearing a completely static mask.
Take Our Word for It: Ana once tore his mask off and got a good look at whatever is left underneath; the panel cuts away to make sure the audience doesn't see. Even Ana, who's Seen It All, is left horrified.
This Is Gonna Suck:
- He's clearly exasperated when one of his men is hurled across Winston's lab and he realizes that he has to deal with the problem personally.
- In the animated short Infiltration, the way he pauses as he looks up at a Mini-Mecha seconds before being thrashed into a wall just screams, "I'm doomed."
Throw-Away Guns: He doesn't reload his shotguns; he simply discards empty ones and then draws another pair from within his coat. If playing on the same team, Cassidy may call him out on this, saying that the mercenary wasn't allowed to carry weapons to "toss 'em around like trash." Reaper, on the other hand, completely dismisses him in an arrogant tone.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After infamously getting worfed numerous times with no major successes to his name, Reaper finally got an awesome moment when he broke fellow Talon councilman Doomfist out of prison in a Curb-Stomp Battle. This gave him a major success that eluded him for so long, as Doomfist is being set up as being one of the current Big Bads and his return will make Talon an even bigger threat than before. We didn't get to see him actually do it, though.
- The Masquerade comic also retroactively added some successes to his prior defeats: He got part of the agent list in Recall when it previously looked like Winston was able to shut him out, and he knows that Sombra was double-crossing Talon in Infiltration.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In "Junkenstein", we see that Reyes used to be a much nicer and happier guy than what we've seen in other media (usually taking place at least midway or towards the end of Overwatch's first run; if not, then there wasn't enough material to provide more evidence of nice guy Reyes), as the comic presumably takes place earlier on in Overwatch's glory days.
Trademark Favorite Food: According to a stop motion short, he really likes cookies.
Tragic Villain: Once in life, Gabriel Reyes was a genuine hero. (And, as the Bastet story mentions, he had a family too.) However, as conflicts escalated and things went increasingly wrong for Overwatch, Reyes became more ruthless and extreme, especially when his friend Gerard was put in mortal danger and Overwatch's hands were tied; this caused Reyes to snap and kill a target on mission. Between his past and the time of the game, something happened to Reyes that made him go from a man to Reaper, an Ax-Crazy terrorist defined by being bloodthirsty, vengeful, and spiteful. In the Reflections comic, this is cemented with Reaper standing in an alley, watching a family on Christmas, unable to interact with them at all after his descent.
Trenchcoat Warfare: One of his unique sprays◊ shows where he keeps his guns.
Undeathly Pallor: From what can be seen of his skin (his exposed upper arms), his skin is extremely pale white — a far cry from his originally dark skin tone.
Understatement: He announces to his teammates that he's "clearing the area" when using Death Blossom.
Unorthodox Reload: When his shotguns are emptied, Reaper just drops them and pulls out new ones. In-gameplay, he also fully reloads whenever he exits Wraith Form or finishes using Death Blossom, even though the latter just had him riddle everything within eight meters of him with bullets. Cassidy will comment on how wasteful this is in practice.
Cassidy: You weren't given those guns to toss 'em around like trash.
Reaper: I don't take lessons from you.
Villainous Cheekbones: Though not to the extent of Moira's, he has pretty prominent cheekbones.
Villainous Underdog: In the Infiltration short, Reaper is knocked away by a Humongous Mecha made for fighting enemy Omnics with far greater firepower. It possesses a particle beam larger than Reaper's whole body, a copy of Reinhardt's shield, and who knows what else. Meanwhile, he has to fight him while injured and only possessing a pair of shotguns (or several). He wins.
Villain Protagonist: He's unambiguously a villain, yet he's one the playable characters.
Vocal Dissonance: A rather glaring example occurs between current Reaper and when he used to be Reyes. In-game, the Blackwatch Reyes skin (depicting Reaper as Reyes when he was still in charge of Blackwatch) speaks with the exact same deep and growly voice as Reaper. However, as was later revealed during the Uprising event, which takes place when that skin would be canonically accurate, his voice was much more normal-sounding and nowhere near as guttural.
Was Once a Man: His abilities notwithstanding, Mercy's in-game dialogue indicates that she, a professional doctor, can't tell what had happened to him.
We Used to Be Friends: A former teammate and friend of Jack Morrison, aka "Soldier: 76." It's implied through pre-match dialogue that 76 already knows this, with the "Old Soldiers" comic implying that he discovered Reaper's true identity during their first post-Switzerland reunion. Surprisingly, Jack reacts less with fiery rage and more with passive, venomous hatred.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite what Reaper's profile says, it's implied that Gabriel wasn't always as ruthless as he seemed, but when Talon's attacks against Overwatch became increasingly brazen and was killing its members, Gabriel's fury got the better of him. He believed that if he didn't play by Overwatch's rulebook like Talon did, he'd be able to deal a crippling blow to them. Unfortunately, when he finally had Antonio, the Talon member responsible, in front of him, knowing that he couldn't secure the man without Talon's connections allowing him to walk later, Gabriel snapped and crossed the one line even Blackwatch didn't cross. He murdered Antonio in cold blood, the fallout of which exposed Blackwatch publicly, and began not only Overwatch's fall, but his transformation into Reaper.
What the Hell, Hero?: Is called out by Cassidy after he murders Antonio in the Venice mission, since not even Blackwatch was supposed to kill their targets in cold blood.
White Mask of Doom: Reaper wears an off-white mask that resembles a barn owl's face. Barn owls are a symbol of death in Mexican culture, which fits his bloodthirsty character.
The Worf Effect:
- The shorts and comics released shortly before and after the game's release don't do Reaper's reputation any favors. He's failed to steal the gauntlet, failed to extract the information on the Overwatch agents, and failed to kill Jack and Ana (though it should be noted that he had Jack dead to rights until Ana showed up). It seems his main purpose is to give the good guys someone strong to thrash. Compared to his counterpart Widowmaker, who's shown to be effective at almost everything she's done at an almost frightening level, this can leave something to be desired.
  - The "Masquerade" comic states that at least some of the information on the agents was downloaded successfully. And he has taken members out — offscreen, though. He also wasn't fooled by Sombra's clandestine meet-up and is keeping tabs on her actions.
- Reaper himself uses this trope in his favor in Infiltration, when he (off-screen) reduces a Humongous Mecha to a flaming pile of rubble with only his shotguns. The mecha in question is was supposed to tip the war between Russia and the omnics in the former's favor.
- Finally averted when he broke Doomfist out of maximum-security prison. He killed over a dozen heavily-armed guards with ease and freed Doomfist, which allowed them to propel Talon into further power. Finally, he got a major success that eluded him for so long.
Would Hurt a Child: In the Cinematic Trailer, he performs his Death Blossom ultimate with no regards for the children within the area.
Xanatos Gambit: Talon's original mission to assassinate Katya Volskaya would have guaranteed a second Omnic Crisis if it was successful, but thanks to Sombra going behind Talon's back, she managed to blackmail her and keep her alive instead. However, Reaper wasn't fooled by it and in fact, is taking advantage of the deal to further Talon's goal, but is still keeping track of Sombra in case she does something funny.
You Are Number 6: His Soldier: 24 skin indicates his designation of the same name for the experimental super soldier program that he and Morrison were part of.
Your Soul Is Mine!: His old passive caused any nearby dead enemies to drop "soul globes", which Reaper can pick up to recover health. Lore articles about him also mentioned that his victims were left as pale, desiccated husks, as if someone had ripped their souls right out of their bodies.

Characters / Overwatch: Reaper

Gabriel Reyes / Reaper

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Gabriel Reyes / Reaper

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