7

Soldier 76 is Jack Morrison. After the death of Overwatch, Morrison was presumed dead when in reality he was in hiding. He raided multiple corporations that had profited from the downfall of Overwatch, and stole their tech, including his tactical visor and the Heavy Pulse Rifle he wields. However, I'm curious about the origins of his new name, Soldier 76. Is this just an arbitrary number he is given? Or does the number 76 have more significance?

2
  • It's probably his clone number. If you're lucky, you can also spot Soldier 77, Soldier 78, etc. including Soldier 81 in one single game. :D
    – Mario
    May 23, 2016 at 7:07
  • 3
    I have no idea why this was closed. Back open.
    – DCShannon
    May 23, 2016 at 19:34

6 Answers 6

11

The most accurate guess to this is because:

Before long, he earned a coveted position in the government's controversial and still-classified (but widely acknowledged) "soldier enhancement program." Source

He is assumed to be the 76th Soldier to be accepted into this program.

His origin story is highly classified and there is no definitive proof as to what 76 means, but this is the closest answer in my opinion.

5
  • Can't decide if I should upvote. You're probably right, but it's just a guess.
    – DCShannon
    May 23, 2016 at 19:37
  • @DCShannon Couldn't decide whether or not to post this as an answer, but it's the best answer I could come up with after researching the question. So I figured it would be the best answer available.
    – FoxMcCloud
    May 23, 2016 at 19:39
  • Yeah, I don't know if it's 100%, but I guess I'll upvote it for being "useful". The link to the bio helps.
    – DCShannon
    May 23, 2016 at 19:40
  • I believe that this is correct - that he was the 76th soldier to enter that program, but I think it is important to note that "76" was likely chosen due to 1776 being such an important year in American history. The legendary skin (used to be Spirit of 76, now Daredevil: 76) definitely points in that direction.
    – cottog
    Jun 6, 2016 at 17:22
  • As of the 2018 Archives event, we know that Gabriel Reyes (AKA Reaper) was Soldier: 24 as he has a skin named as such. This was actually hinted at in the Oasis map in 2017.
    – Powerlord
    Nov 14, 2018 at 13:06
6

If you go into a custom game with multiple Soldier 76s, their number values will increase. It may be a hint from blizzard that he is a clone. (Or just an easter egg)

2

His name's obviously a reference to USA's founding year 1776. The character had been conceptualized and named by Metzen long before Overwatch existed.

2
  • 4
    Do you have an proof, or is this just speculation?
    – Dragonrage
    Jul 12, 2016 at 3:05
  • Proof that he's over a decade old character: Metzen interview in Kotaku article. The founding year thing, though... couldn't find anything about that. So I'm not sure "obviously" is the right word to use here.
    – DGarvanski
    Jul 12, 2016 at 6:57
-2

The 76 in Soldier 76 may refer to his combat mission kills. This may be like Zarya's 512 tattoo (that's how many kilograms she can lift, her world record). Once more, his story is classified, so no one knows for sure.

1
  • 3
    Guesses and pure speculation don't make for very good answers.
    – Vemonus
    Jan 27, 2017 at 0:45
-2

It could be just a random number to hide his identity and because he's already obviously into being american, judging by his default red, white and blue clothes, he could've chosen that number because of 1776.

-3

I disagree. If you've adopted a new identity, to throw people off of your trail, why would you use such an obvious reference?

I think Soldier is one of many clones of Morrison. The 76th, in fact. This jives with the "easter egg" of numerically sequential Soldiers in 'bot matches.

1
  • You have any evidence to support this?
    – Dragonrage
    Jul 11, 2016 at 18:38

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