Since the launch of Overwatch 2, Overwatch has had a bit of a resurgence both in a good and bad way. For those that don’t know, the original story behind Overwatch and its 35 heroes was set more than 60 years prior to the game. To find the story you’ll need to watch a smattering of video clips and online webcomics to piece all of it together. So those that have just started playing may not realise how in-depth the story of Overwatch actually is.
Be we at Unpause have got your back and have summarised the story of all the heroes in this nifty piece! But because there are so many heroes we’re dividing up into different pages. First up are the tanks.
Roadhog
| Name: Mako Rutledge | Codename: Roadhog |
| Nationality: Australian | Age: 48 |
| Occupation: Bodyguard | Former: Enforcer |
| Affiliation: Junkers, Australian Liberation Front |
Origin Story
After the Omnic Crisis, the Australian government gifts their omnium land to the Omnics in hopes of establishing peace. This arrangement permanently displaced Mako Rutledge and a large number of the Outback’s residents. Furious over the loss of their homes, Mako and the others turned to violent rebellion.
Together they formed the Australian Liberation Front to take back the lands that had been stolen and destroy the Omnics. Events continue to escalate until the rebels eventually sabotage the omnium’s fusion core. This results in an explosion that destroys the facility, irradiates the region and litters the Outback with twisted metal and wreckage.
Mako watched as his home became an apocalyptic wasteland, and he was forever changed.
Adapting to his environment, he donned a mask and took to the broken highways of the Outback on his ramshackle chopper. Fighting hard and forgetting his humanity, eventually, the ruthless killer Roadhog was born. He continued to dwell on his farm, which was located on the outskirts of Junkertown.
Enemy of Junker Queen
At some point, while having a drink in Junkertown, he overhears some Junkers confronting Junkrat about what treasure he’d found. Junkrat then points to him and says he could offer a friend some of the share for his help. At first, Roadhog ignored this but eventually helped incapacitate the Junkers threatening Junkrat.
In the end, Roadhog grudgingly agrees to be Junkrat‘s bodyguard in exchange for a 50/50 share of the spoils.
Eventually, their antics get them kicked out of Junkertown, following a string of incidents that included stealing the Junker Queen‘s money, blowing up her summer shack, and a bar brawl.
International Crime Spree
After that, the pair embarked upon an international crime spree leaving nothing but havoc and bedlam in their wake. They were responsible for a string of robberies, arson, murder, and other crimes stretching from Sydney to King’s Row. They had a creed of “no job too big, no score too small” kinda mentality.
And some of their reported heists include breaking into the bank of Dorado by digging a tunnel. While in the United Kingdom, they stole the crown jewels. Eventually, the bounty on their heads from the British, French, and Latin American authorities reached $25 million.
Hyde Global
At some point during their escapades, Roadhog and Junkrat were offered a job by Hyde Global. The corporation is involved in the manufacture of automated robots. They claimed that a factory of theirs in downtown Sydney had been attacked by Omnic terrorists and that his workers were taken, hostage.
They wanted to keep the police out of it, so they wanted to hire them. The pair accepted the job and true to form ended up with them bringing the whole factory to the ground. As Roadhog reminded Junkrat, there were meant to be hostages, except there were none. And the robots they’d destroyed weren’t Omnics, but cop bots. The pair realised that they’d been set up.
Needless to say, they were unhappy with the representative from Hyde Global and ended up stringing him up on a crane to watch (and die) as they destroyed the entire Hyde Global building.
Return To Junkertown
Their worldwide heist complete, Junkrat and Roadhog returned to Junkertown, to blow up the Queen’s throne. The plan however wasn’t made with the brightest of bulbs and they were left stranded outside of Junkertown.
Sigma
| Name: Siebren de Kuiper | Codename: Sigma |
| Nationality: Dutch | Age: 62 |
| Occupation: Astrophysicist | Former: – |
| Affiliation: Talon |
Origin Story
A brilliant astrophysicist, Dr Siebren de Kuiper was dedicated to devising a way to harness the power of gravity. A pioneer in his field he was equally known for his groundbreaking research and eccentric personality. His research eventually culminated in his attempt to command a black hole.
He performed his experiment outside of Earth at the International Space Station. However, something went terribly wrong. The field containing the experiment began to fail, and De Kuiper was exposed momentarily to the power of the black hole for a moment. The area around him began to experience strange fluctuations in gravity, peaking and dropping in time with his reactions.
He was evacuated immediately to Earth and quarantined in a secret government facility. It wasn’t just his body but his mind took a severe mental hit. Between his ravings about the patterns of the universe, the psychic damage he sustained, the gravitic anomalies happening around him, and concerns for his mental well-being. De Kuiper was deemed a danger to himself and others and detained under the name “Subject Sigma“.
Rescued by Talon
The terrorist organisation Talon eventually discovered De Kuiper’s existence, and believing him to be an asset to their cause, they infiltrated the facility and broke him out. After being rescued De Kuiper slowly gained control of his powers. He found that he could control gravity. But the same experiment that had opened his mind had also fractured it, and he struggled to keep the pieces together.
De Kuiper continued to develop his powers in hopes of unlocking the secrets of the universe, unaware that Talon was using both him and his research. He spent most of his time working off-site in a Talon lab.
Winston
| Name: Winston | Codename: Specimen 28 |
| Species: Gorilla | Age: 29 |
| Occupation: Scientist, Adventurer | Former: Test Subject |
| Affiliation: Overwatch, Lucheng Interstellar |
Origin Story
The Horizon Lunar Colony is a moonbase established for humanity’s exploration of space. Among its residents was a group of genetically enhanced gorillas that were intended to test the effects of prolonged habitation in space. Amongst them was a super-intelligent, genetically engineered gorilla originally designated Specimen 28.
Specimen 28 displayed such rapid brain development from the gene therapy that he was taken under the wing of Dr Harold Winston. He taught him science and inspired him with tales of human ingenuity. He grew up enjoying life at Horizon and regarded the human scientists as his family. In time, he also became good friends with Specimen 8, or “Hammond“.
One day his life was thrown into chaos when the other gorillas led an uprising, killing the mission scientists, and claiming the Horizon Lunar Colony for their own. With nothing left, and unwanted by his fellow gorillas, the ape took on the name of his beloved human caretaker “Winston.”
Winston built a makeshift rocket and landed at Watchpoint: Gibraltar. There he found a new home with Overwatch, an organisation that represented everything he had come to admire about humanity.
Overwatch
While in Overwatch, Winston became close to Ana Amari. And he designed the chronal accelerator that helped provide a solution for Tracer‘s chronal disassociation.
Under the command of Captain Sojourn six years before the present day, Winston took part in an operation in Havana alongside Mercy, Tracer, and Genji. Their objective was to apprehend Maximilien, who was travelling through the city in an armoured convoy. The Overwatch team engaged, with Winston destroying Maximilien’s limo, but when Winston got to the wreck, he found that the Omnic had fled.
The team tracked Maximilien down and in exchange for leniency, he agreed to arrange a “meeting” with Talon leader Doomfist, who would be in Singapore in three weeks.
Alongside Genji and Tracer, Winston fought Doomfist in Singapore. Winston eventually defeated Doomfist who ended up imprisoned.
Post-Overwatch
After the fall of Overwatch, Winston again went into seclusion, once again cut off from the world he believed in, but longing for the days of heroism to return. In the years that followed, he saw that the world’s problems were growing, and saw Overwatch (or rather, its return) as the solution to all of them.
While in his lab at Watchpoint: Gibraltar the base came under attack by Talon operatives led by Reaper. With Winston distracted by Talon, Reaper infected Athena with a virus and attempted to download the Overwatch agent database, which would give the current location of any agent.
Winston managed to best the operatives and stop the download, quarantining the virus at the last moment. After the close call and restoring the system, he made his decision and initiated the Overwatch Recall.
Tracer was the first to call.
Overwatch Recall
With the intent of reforming Overwatch, Winston prepared a speech to try and get its former agents to come back to the organisation. After spending most of his day trying and failing to deliver it, Winston delivered the frank truth that while the world had turned against them, the state of the world showed the need for Overwatch to return.
Set to repeat on the Overwatch emergency frequency, the signal reached the damaged satellite dish at Ecopoint: Antarctica and brought Mei out of cryostasis.