Recently released Overwatch comic Uprising showed off more of the heroes’ pasts. A juicy lore revelation and slick character design for Genji has captured fan’s imaginations, inspiring theories and lots of amazing art.
Uprising focuses on the Overwatch team as a crisis erupts in London. Overwatch is barred from intervening and must decide if they will watch the situation unfold or take action anyway. They choose the latter. Commander Jack Morrison (aka Soldier:76, the most boring man in the world) decides to add Tracer to the strike team that will head to London. He discovers her in the training room facing off against...
Holy shit, that’s Genji! Everyone’s favorite cyborg ninja is looking pretty sleek, showing muscle and a darker design. The major thing to notice is that he has a Blackwatch logo on his armor. Blackwatch was Overwatch’s covert team, headed by Gabriel Reyes, who as we all know goes on to become the villainous Reaper. It’s a development that expands Genji’s story, giving him a direct connection to one the game’s main villains. Before now, his story mostly concerned his life of death clash with his brother, the noted scrub support pick Hanzo.
The comic also shows a different side for the character. Genji is usually shown to be calm and precise. He’s angrier here, aggressively beckoning Tracer to attack him. Fans have noted the difference.
“If I were in Genji’s possible robo shoes I would be angry and lashing out,” one fan noted in a thread on the official forums.
“He’s not the Genji we’re familiar with,” another said on Reddit. “Looking at his eyes, comic Genji is filled with revenge.”
It’s a fandom tradition to make a lot out of a little and fans certainly haven’t slowed down here. The additional dynamic with Tracer gives him a more optimistic and energetic character to pair with in fan creations. Placing him into Blackwatch also feels like a point in favor of those who ship him romantically with former Blackwatch member (and large sized hat enthusiast) Jesse McCree. The new design and new dynamics have inspired a lot of reactions on social media.
First off, Genji just looks really cool.
This is also prime time for pairing him with other characters:
He and Hanzo have something in common:
Basically, Genji’s pretty great and it’d be a sin if we didn’t get some new skins for the looks that he and Tracer are rocking in this comic. With an upcoming event teased, fans are excited as ever to see where the story of Overwatch might go. Even a small costume change and tiny bit of background can ignite the community and it’ll be interesting to see what comes next.