History Fridge / Overwatch

* One thing about Bastion: throughout the entire beta and well into the full release, it was often considered to be the cheapest, most overpowered hero, but Blizzard never touched it even amid the cries for nerfing. As time went on, it became apparent that it is a full-on SkillGateCharacter that few play competitively without getting shouted down by the entire team or, if they make it past that, destroyed by even the slightest amount of teamwork involving one of its counters as soon as they stop being surprised that someone actually picked Bastion. This is actually a perfect parallel to the Omnic Crisis itself: The blitzkrieg from the Omniums hit even the Crusaders' homes like a train, but no amount of Bastions could stand up to a sufficiently coordinated team of the long-ranged Soldier, the hard-hitting Reaper, and the bullet-absorbing Reinhardt.

* Beside the Support Hero Kiriko having a supportive call-out to contrast the aggression of the Damage-oriented Genji and Hanzo, the Shimada brothers also have a notable contrast between each other in that while Hanzo invokes his dragons to simply attack his foes, Genji invokes his to give him the power to become one. With Season 7, their roles are further contrasted with the themes of their respective mythic skins. Both Genji and Hanzo gain demonic appearances - Genji's cyber demon is given a cyberpunk-esque appearance to contrast the more traditional image of Hanzo as an ''onryo'', while Kiriko gains the appearance of ''the'' mother goddess herself.

* Junkrat has an ability that counters Roadhog; if Roadhog uses his hook to drag Junkrat to him, then there's a small chance that Junkrat will kill him as well due to his Total Mayhem ability. In terms of the lore, Junkrat and Roadhog seem to be [[ChaoticNeutral chaotic neutrals]] as they show no alignment to Overwatch or Talon, they seem to be two friends who discovered a world-changing secret and got caught up in the war between the two factions. Junkrat is on the run for his discovery of the Omnium secret and Roadhog begrudgingly agreed to protect him from bounty hunters, junkers, or other criminals. Junkrat will need a backup plan in case Roadhog decides to betray him or receives a better offer from a second party.

Or, even worse, that [[KickTheSonOfABitch nobody]] ''[[KickTheSonOfABitch wanted]]'' [[KickTheSonOfABitch to rescue North Korea]] — everybody just sat back, watched, [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing and laughed]] as North Korea was completely obliterated. [[WesternAnimation/TheCritic And nothing of value was lost.]] The rest of the world — ''even'' China (North Korea's long time ally mind you) — currently regards North Korea as a real-life instance of TheScrappy ''[[TheFriendNobodyLikes at best]]'', or a potential threat to civilization at worst.

* D.Va's animated short, ''Shooting Star'', is already not that nice with how she's pushing herself to the limit to protect South Korea while getting none of the rewards that the news claims she's getting. But thinking about the news brings up some pretty disturbing implications about South Korea in ''Overwatch''. For this to be what people are being told, the government must be controlling exactly what's reported in authoritarian fashion. Seeing how South Korea was historically dominated by authoritarian presidents and military dictatorships (which is why conscriptions are SeriousBusiness), it paints a rather unnerving picture of South Korea by ''Overwatch's'' timeline.\\\

** Beside the Support Hero Kiriko having a supportive call-out to contrast the aggression of the Damage-oriented Genji and Hanzo, the Shimada brothers also have a notable contrast between each other in that while Hanzo invokes his dragons to simply attack his foes, Genji invokes his to give him the power to become one. With Season 7, their roles are further contrasted with the themes of their respective mythic skins. Both Genji and Hanzo gain demonic appearances - Genji's cyber demon is given a cyberpunk-esque appearance to contrast the more traditional image of Hanzo as an ''onryo'', while Kiriko gains the appearance of ''the'' mother goddess herself.

* D.Va's home is listed as Busan, '''South''' Korea, ''not'' Korea. This means that, in spite of the Omnic Crisis, ''nothing about the political situation in the Korean Peninsula has changed'', and, most likely, [[KarmaHoudini Kim Jong-un or his successor is still in power and still committing horrible human rights violations]]. An alternate and less scary, though still ultimately sad, explanation would be that the two Koreas have diverged so much by the time the Kim regime falls that at least one half has grown to see reunification as simply not being worth the trouble, even despite the Omnic Crisis.
** Or, more optimistically, that Korea has reunified, but retains the distinction for familiarity's sake, or ease of transition. (No mass address changes, general populace doesn't have to adapt, etc.) Or both Koreas still see themselves as distinctive entities with different backgrounds and histories, and so retain the distinction for semantic and sentimental reasons.
** Alternatively, and possibly the most horrifying of all, there ''is'' no more North Korea. Real-life North Korea is decades behind the rest of the world technologically and militarily, and very likely still would be in 2044. It's entirely possible that North Korea was simply too weak to resist the Omnic forces, and was overwhelmed before anyone else could spare the forces to rescue them.
*** Or, even worse, that [[KickTheSonOfABitch nobody]] ''[[KickTheSonOfABitch wanted]]'' [[KickTheSonOfABitch to rescue North Korea]] — everybody just sat back, watched, [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing and laughed]] as North Korea was completely obliterated. [[WesternAnimation/TheCritic And nothing of value was lost.]] The rest of the world — even China — currently regards North Korea as a real-life instance of TheScrappy ''[[TheFriendNobodyLikes at best]]'', or a potential threat to civilization at worst.

** There is a disturbing idea that many seem to have forgotten, Talon has its own militia and since they used brainwashing to create Widowmaker, it makes you wonder if some of the soldiers of Talon are innocent people who were BrainwashedAndCrazy. It makes [=McCree=]'s "Train Hopper" comic have a disturbing edge, as [=McCree=] may have just shot and killed drafted brainwashed soldiers.
*** Then again, it's questionable if Talon would bother with such tactics for their rank and file soldiers. Widowmaker was kidnapped and brainwashed as the lynchpin of an elaborate plan to assassinate her husband, who was very high on Talon's list of enemies, [[AssassinOutclassin and had proven to be an extremely hard target to take out]]. And while Widowmaker is no doubt an effective asset for them, it took more then mere brainwashing to make her so. It clearly took a lot of effort and resources, including altering her physiology, to make her the killing machine she is today, and if Talon could afford to make all of their foot-soldiers as capable as Widowmaker, they would have taken over the world by now. There's not much point in putting in the time and effort required to create a large force of disposable brainwashed mooks, when Talon can just as easily (if not more easily) hire people.

* While plenty of characters have either fought Omnics head-on or expressed virulent anti-Omnic sentiments, Zarya is the only character so far who is indicated to have been born and grown up in a front-line region during the first Omnic crisis, in Siberia, and whose driving motivation has always been to become strong to protect her loved ones, to the point where she threw away fame and fortune when the Siberian Omnium re-activated and her village was in the firing line. The Siberia that Zarya grew up in was a devestated war zone; the Russian Defense Force is stated to have rejected Overwatch's assistance and relied on their own personnel and technology to defeat the Omnic threat, but evidence indicates that Overwatch's asymmetric warfare approach was a lot more successful in countering the Omnic threat than the RDF's go-it-alone approach, meaning that Russian citizens may have suffered needlessly. To top it all off, the Volskaya level appears to feature state-sponsored anti-Omnic propaganda posters in the Soviet graphic style. Why is Russia apparently actively encouraging anti-Omnic paranoia in its citizens…? If it is, that draws a disturbing parallel to the history of Russian anti-semitism (The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was originally a propaganda stunt meant to enhance the Czar's reputation by exploiting hatred of Jews and encouraging it…)
** The alternative is that things in Russia are as bad as the Russians are reporting it, due to the [[RobotWar active Omnium there]]. While this would diminish the horror above, it would lead to a whole host of other, terrifying questions regarding the casualties…

* Reaper is widely mocked in and out of game for being overly edgy and trying too hard with his dramatic costume and overdone gravely voice. But when one stops to think about it, these Narmish traits make him even more terrifying, because this whole thing is an image Gabriel Reyes constructed for himself to carry out his quest for revenge, in contrast to the more sensible military gear he dressed in as leader of Blackwatch. The fact that he deliberately dresses himself like this before attempting to kill everyone he feels has wronged him paints a picture of Gabriel as a PsychopathicManChild with a very juvenile and violent idea of what is cool and badass. He's basically every edgy emo teenager or wannabe school shooter, but with the skill, firepower, and connections to make his fantasy of ultra-violence come true.
** His motives for turning against Overwatch are a textbook case of an "injustice collector" — which matches perfectly with the psychological profile of the pseudo-commando spree-killer, ala The V-Tech Massacre, Columbine, and the Isla Vista Rampage. Which in itself might explain ''why'' he went for such an appearance in the first place. By now, the public at large has come to associate someone dressing in such a manner as a possible danger, and Gabriel Reyes grew up with these traits being associated with these killers. So when the time came to become Reaper, he remembered those reports from his childhood and became what we have now.

* [[ItMakesSenseInContext The gorillas on the Moon.]] A lunar research facility, Horizon, was conducting genetic therapy tests on gorillas to increase their intelligence, raising them to the level of a human genius (if Winston is any indication). Unfortunately, many eventually rebelled, slaughtering the human researchers, and Winston was the only gorilla who kept his cool and escaped. Of course, there's still a base on the moon inhabited solely by angry, genius gorillas that nobody has the time or resources to address.
** However, the gorillas were not without reason to revolt, considering that despite being of equal or greater intelligence than the average human, they were still being experimented on and confined to their cells. Winston knew from his conversations with the humans that they meant no harm, but the other gorillas were understandably angry at the humans for what could be seen as unethical testing.

--> '''Timmy:''' [[FridgeHorror They said he could level a]] ''[[FridgeHorror skyscraper.]]''

* Also from "Retribution", the Talon EliteMooks Reyes's team fights through appear to have similar abilities to Overwatch's members: the Sniper teleports onto the scene in a similar fashion to Reyes[=/=]Reaper, Assassins can "blink" just like Tracer, and Heavy Assault Units can charge like Reinhardt. It seems ''somebody'' is leaking information on Overwatch members' equipment and capabilities to Talon…
** The Assassin deserves some special mention. Considering how difficult it is to procure a perfectly brainwashed soldier on the first attempt, it's likely Widowmaker wasn't their first attempt.
* D.Va's animated short, ''Shooting Star'', is already not that nice with how she's pushing herself to the limit to protect South Korea while getting none of the rewards that the news claims she's getting. But thinking about the news brings up some pretty disturbing implications about South Korea in ''Overwatch''. For this to be what people are being told, the government must be controlling exactly what's reported in authoritarian fashion. Seeing how South Korea was historically dominated by authoritarian presidents and military dictatorships, it paints a rather unnerving picture of South Korea by ''Overwatch's'' timeline.
** Added to that, the short reveals that the omnic attackers are getting harder to fight, and the time between attacks is getting shorter. Odds are good that eventually there's going to be an attack too big to stop or cover up, and people lulled by their own government into a false sense of security, and they'll be completely taken by surprise.
* Many of the heros on the current roster are in their thirties. Ommnic crisis ended 30 years ago, as of the current times plot. This means all of these characters were still very young kids during a global war against machines. Canon sources state that millions of children across the world were orphaned, and at least three of the characters playable as of now (Mercy, Sombra, Baptiste) are confirmed to have lost their parents during the Crisis. Mccree also likely either lost his parents and had to fend for himself or was under the care of someone who wasn't that attentive, seeing how he became a notorious criminal at less than 17. It seems like the best hand was delt to the heroes who come from rich families, like the Shimada brothers and Ashe, who grew up in relative luxury and with people taking care of them (Shimadas had at least a father and elders of the clan, while Ashe's parents, while neglectful, were alive when she was growing up, and she was taken care of by B.O.B and likely other staff in her family home). Pharah has both parents, but she likely doesn't really remember anything from that era, since she'd be only two at the end of the Crisis. It seems like in this universe, more current adults didn't have parents than did.

-->'''Moira''': How are you feeling, commander?
-->'''Reyes''': Fine. No ill effects so far.
-->'''Moira''': Let me know if that changes.

---> '''Hanzo:''' ''Let the dragon consume you!'' (Dragonstrike takes the form of two giant spirit dragons baring their teeth; hence, "consuming".)
---> '''Genji:''' ''The dragon becomes me!'' (Dragonblade is a SuperMode wherein Genji discards his shuriken to wield his dragon-themed katana.)
---> '''Kiriko:''' ''Let the kitsune guide you!'' (Kitsune Rush causes her fox spirit to create a spectral pathway of torii gates which buffs allies who move along it.)

* D.Va's home is listed as Busan, South Korea. ''South Korea.'' This means that, in spite of the Omnic Crisis, ''nothing about the political situation in the Korean Peninsula has changed'', and, most likely, [[KarmaHoudini Kim Jong-un or his successor is still in power and still committing horrible human rights violations]]. An alternate and less scary, though still ultimately sad, explanation would be that the two Koreas have diverged so much by the time the Kim regime falls that at least one half has grown to see reunification as simply not being worth the trouble, even despite the Omnic Crisis.

** Besides the Support Hero Kiriko having a supportive call-out to contrast the aggression of the Damage-oriented Genji and Hanzo, the Shimada brothers also have a notable contrast between each other in that while Hanzo invokes his dragons to simply attack his foes, Genji invokes his to give him the power to become one.

* Kiriko's moveset as a ninja-styled Hero who makes use of thrown weapons evokes Genji's, which makes sense from a lore perspective. While she shares a good relationship with both Shimada brothers as part of their "honorary uncles/niece"-type relationship, she's specifically noted to be closer to Genji than to Hanzo due to their shared interests and temperament, which may explain that her way of fighting may have been her way of paying respect or otherwise was the natural conclusion to being so alike to someone she respects greatly. To that effect, recall that one of Kiriko's movement abilities ("''Swift Step''") has a name similar to one that Genji uses ("''Swift Strike''"). As such, it's not surprising to see that Genji is by far [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration one of the best heroes for Kiriko to support]], given that their near-equal mobility and ability to assassinate unaware foes means Kiriko can easily follow Genji in diving backlines and leaving immediately after securing their kills. Genji's Dragonblade pairs up incredibly well with Kiriko's Kitsune Rush on top of that, giving him more attacks before his time limit runs out.

---> '''Genji:''' ''The dragon becomes me!''(Dragonblade is a SuperMode wherein Genji discards his shuriken to wield his dragon-themed katana.)

* Kiriko's moveset as a ninja-styled Hero who makes use of thrown weapons evokes Genji's, which makes sense from a lore perspective. While she shares a good relationship with both Shimada brothers as part of their "honorary uncles/niece"-type relationship, she's specifically noted to be closer to Genji than to Hanzo due to their shared interests and temperament, which may explain that her way of fighting may have been her way of paying respect or otherwise was the natural conclusion to being so alike to someone she respects greatly. To that effect, recall that one of Kiriko's movement abilities ("''Swift Step''") has a name similar to one that Genji uses ("''Swift Strike''").
** In addition, Kiriko also notably synergizes better with Genji than with Hanzo as far as their toolkits are concerned.

** Not only that, but their English call-out lines for their respective Ultimates act as {{Foil}}s to each other in addition to Hanzo's, with all 3 of them invoking their respective spirit animals in turn that speak to how their Ultimates are used.
---> '''Hanzo:''' ''Let the dragon consume you!'' (Dragonstrike takes the form of two giant spirit dragons baring their teeth; hence "consuming".)

*** Besides the Support Hero Kiriko having a supportive call-out to contrast the aggression of the Damage-oriented Genji and Hanzo, the Shimada brothers also have a notable contrast between each other in that while Hanzo invokes his dragons to simply attack his foes, Genji invokes his to give him the power to become one.

---> '''Hanzo:''' ''Let the dragon consume you!'' (His Ultimate takes the form of two giant spirit dragons baring their teeth; hence "consuming".)
---> '''Genji:''' ''The dragon becomes me!'' (His Ultimate is a SuperMode wherein Genji discards his shuriken to wield his dragon-themed katana.)
---> '''Kiriko:''' ''Let the kitsune guide you!'' (Her Ultimate causes her fox spirit to create a spectral pathway of torii gates which buffs allies who move along it.)