Lore Review for Pride Month: Futures Past - Overwatch 2
In honor of pride month this year, I thought I’d go over some recently dropped lore on an LGBT character from Overwatch, Soldier 76 aka Jack Morrison.
Although I’m not the biggest fan of first-person shooter (FPS) games, I’ve always appreciated how inclusive Overwatch is with its diverse cast of characters.
Futures Past
Back in 2019, a short story revealed that Soldier 76 is a gay man who dated someone named Vincent in his youth. The recently released Futures Past short story expands upon their relationship.
Vincent and Jack’s Meet Cute
This new short story shows Vincent to be an archaeology student. Him and Soldier 76 met when Vincent accidentally caused an explosion in a lab while trying to recreate a theorized method of perserving beer. He was researching possible ways that ancient Egyptians made beer. The two immediately hit it off and started dating after Vincent offered Jack to try some of the beer.
Time to take a chance, Jack thought. “Would it be a date?”
Vincent’s smile widened. “God, I hope so.”
Parallels with Illari’s story
Futures Past goes back and forth between Jack’s past with Vincent and the present Jack’s infiltration to an Oasis research facility with Illari. Illari is another playable character in Overwatch 2. She opens up to Jack about her own past.
Illari is the last surviving Inti Warrior, a powerful group that derived their powers from the sun. During her intiation, she attempted to complete the ritual by channeling the power of the sun and accidentally created an explosion of solar energy, leading to the demise of her people.
Jack was tasked by Sombra, a famous hacker, to break into the Oasis research facility with Illari. His motivation for infiltrating the facility was to possibly gain more intel on who blew up the Swiss HQ, which was the culmination of Overwatch disbanding. Jack said he owes it to the people affected by the HQ explosion to find out what really happened.
Illari’s motivation parallels with Jack’s in how she similarly feels the need to honor and protect the legacy of her people, the Inti Warriors. The Oasis facility was harboring data on her people and their power, so she aimed to steal it back with Jack.
The circumstances were different, but an organization dedicated to bettering humanity, protecting people, decimated in a single massive explosion . . . he’d want to check that out.
He looked at Illari, lost to the past as he was. Having given her life to a cause that no longer existed, as he did.
I thought it was interesting how both of them are, in a way, haunted by their former associations, and how it ended up literally exploding in their faces for both of them. Lots of explosions in this short story.
The Breakup
The story flashes back to Jack visiting Vincent. Despite Vincent claiming the war has ended, Jack refused to retire and chose to remain as a strike commander for Overwatch. Vincent wanted to start a family together, but the war wasn’t over yet for Jack. Although he also wanted a family, he felt a stronger obligation to Overwatch where he could do everything in his power to create a world where Vincent was safe. This conflict led to the two of them breaking up.
“If you ever figure it out—who you are after your war ends—give me a call. I’d like to meet him,” Vincent said, and turned away.
Jack watched him dissolve into the fog, then reached for his phone. Seven missed calls, all from Overwatch. He thought this was what was right for the world.
If only it didn’t feel so empty.
Story Conclusion
Back in the present, Jack and Illari were able to successfully take back the stolen data the Oasis facility had on the Inti Warriors. After their successful mission, Jack advises Illari that she does not have to continue watching over the graves and ruins of her people. He shares some of his own regrets, referencing Vincent:
Illari refused that notion, stating the her job of protecting her people’s legacy is not done. Jack quietly understood, so he wished her luck and they parted ways. He then started to imagine what his life would have been like had he chosen to stay with Vincent but still acknowledged that he made his choice. Jack was starting to realize that he now had the option to let that past go and choose something new.
The story ends with him letting the wind blow away the photo he was holding of him and Vincent (The one at the top of this page). The last page is a letter Jack wrote to Vincent to let him know he survived the HQ explosion and admit that Vincent was right. Jack did need to start imagining a future beyond the war.
Reception and Reaction
Many Overwatch fans criticize that this short story did not do much to progress the narrative. It still maintained much of the status quo. Others countered that fans may be more critical of any story content surrounding Soldier 76 due to the fact that he’s a gay man.
Regardless, I’m of the opinion that short stories like this are more about fleshing out the world and giving its inhabitants more characterization. It’s unlikely that they would drop any major story beats in an optional 32-page pdf that most people won’t bother reading. I could see it being difficult to tell a narrative in a multiplayer shooter game where the main focus is the competitive gameplay, but it still would’ve been nice if they made bolder attempts to expand the story.
While I do enjoy lore tidbits like this, I will say that it seems like Overwatch has been very stagnant plot-wise, despite being out since 2016. I feel that it’s a shame to have so much worldbuilding that people enjoy and then not do anything with it narratively. I’ll be honest, I don’t even play Overwatch, but I always enjoy learning about its characters.
Plus, Soldier 76’s representation as a member of the LGBT community is much needed in a video game genre known for having bigoted fanbases. I appreciate how we finally got closure on Jack and Vincent’s relationship. It also helped flesh out Illari a bit too and establish her connection with Jack. Overall, Futures Past did a good job at demonstrating the theme of how being overly self-sacrificing and clinging to the past are ultimately destructive behaviors that lead to regret.
I’m hoping that Overwatch will get a show or something, like how League of Legends was able to create the critically acclaimed TV show Arcane. The potential is definitely there for Overwatch as well.
Anyways, there’s a lot of different parts of the lore I missed in this post because I wanted to focus on Jack, Vincent, and Illari’s characterization, but I suggest checking out more Overwatch stories on their website if this interested you. And I should probably start actually playing Overwatch after writing this whole essay about it lol. Happy pride month, everyone!
