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Overwatch Unintentionally Causes Gay Fan Art Revolt

News RoomBy 4 Mins Read
Overwatch Unintentionally Causes Gay Fan Art Revolt

As Overwatch renews its focus on narrative, the Overwatch Undivided web comics continue to be the source for a lot of the hero shooter’s relationship-building. While the audio dramas and cinematics you’ll find in the game’s Story menu are actually moving things forward, Undivided has been focusing on the new generation of Overwatch agents, adding some color to their connections as they try to navigate their newfound responsibilities and also budding friendships.

After months of fan speculation, the comic has confirmed that the water-bending support hero Wuyang has developed feelings for the socially awkward Martian Juno, breaking the hearts of anyone who shipped the boy with another man.

For whatever it’s worth, Wuyang and Juno are cute together. I am pro adding more gay characters and ships into Overwatch but I am not blind. These dorks are both trying to learn the ropes as heroes and finding comfort in one another. It’s sweet. In a series where most relationships have a lot of angst, trauma, or long histories to sort through, it’s nice to have something that’s just simple and cute as shit. 

But what about the fans who shipped Wuyang with the other twink, Mizuki? What are they supposed to do now that the ex-Hashimoto agent is on the same team as Wuyang and the two aren’t kissing? Revolt with gay fan art, of course.

While the merits of a Mizuki and Wuyang ship are one side of the discussion (the two have only recently met in the lore, while Wuyang and Juno have been together since they both joined Overwatch), the uptick in canonical straight relationships within the playable cast draws attention to the fact that the queer ones have all been between an in-game hero and an NPC who only appears in external media. This was also made apparent when, earlier this year, Lifeweaver officially became romantically involved with his assistant Palak during the annual Pride event, seemingly killing a years-long ship between him and Baptiste, who was confirmed to be bisexual in Overwatch’s first Pride event back in 2023 and had flirted with Lifeweaver in pre-match banter. 

Though Overwatch has gotten a lot gayer in recent years, there are still a lot of people who question if the decision to relegate all its queer relationships to NPCs rather than anything between playable characters is a cop out to not showcase same-sex couples in the game itself. Voice lines and cosmetics make it impossible to avoid several of the queer characters’ identities in-game, but as Overwatch starts leaning harder into romantic pairings with Wuyang and Juno, Reinhardt and Ana, and Freja and Emre, it does merit some discussion. I was hoping that Baptiste and Lifeweaver would be the first canonical queer pairing between heroes, but despite the flirting, the two have actually not met in the Overwatch lore yet, so here we are.

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