Overwatch Story Reveals Soldier 76 Is a LGBTQ Character

There’s a new Overwatch lore story that suggests Soldier 76 once had a boyfriend named Vincent. The story, titled “Bastet,” includes a scene in which Ana and Soldier 76 (one of the best characters for new players, btw) take a moment to reminisce. Ana spots a photo of a much-younger Soldier 76 with his arm around a man she identifies as Vincent. While her interaction with Solider 76 (real name John Francis “Jack” Morrison) doesn’t spell out what the relationship between John and Vincent was, it is strongly implied that they were lovers at one point. 

For instance, the subject of Vincent is described as a “touchy subject” for Jack, who says that Vincent later got married and that he is very happy for him. Jack also says that Vincent “deserved a happier life than the one I could give him,” and that Vincent knew that Jack “could never put anything above my duty.” The most telling moment occurs when Ana notes that “Relationships don’t work out so well for us, do they?” before touching her wedding ring. This would seem to suggest that the relationship between Jack and Vincent was more than platonic. 

The rest of the story is somewhat uneventful as it mostly deals with Ana and Soldier 76 reuniting after quite some time and catching up. However, it does seem that this story serves as our first preview of a pretty awesome looking new (though not yet released) Ana skin. 

Soldier 76 isn’t the first Overwatch character to be revealed as LGBTQ. In a previous Overwatch comic titled “Reflections,” we learned that Tracer has a girlfriend named Emily. Interestingly, some fans have noticed that the picture of Jack and Vincent shown in this latest story was actually shown in “Reflections” (although the context of their relationship wasn’t provided at that time.)

Blizzard continues to elect to expand Overwatch‘s lore largely outside of the game itself (via stories, comics, and shorts) despite some fan pleas for more in-game PvE content and other more narrative-based modes. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.