Timeline / Overwatch

Timeline:

2014 - 2043, Pre-Omnic Crisis

2014

• Siebren de Kuiper is born in The Hague, Netherlands.

2015

• Reinhardt Wilhelm is born in Stuttgart, Germany.

2016

• Ana Amari is born in Cairo, Egypt.

2018

• Gabriel Reyes is born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

2019

• Torbjörn Lindholm is born in Gothenburg, Sweden.

2021

• Jack Morrison is born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States.

2028

• Omnica Corporation is founded as a lead in the robotics industry in response to the rise of automated workers.
• Mako Rutledge is born in Australia.
• Moira O'Deorain is born in Dublin, Ireland.

2032

• Omnics begin to be produced by the Omnica corporation.
• Akande Ogundimu is born in Nigeria.

2036

• Omnics are used as a free labor source by humans, allowing humanity to prosper at the expense of Omnic servants.
• Mei-Ling Zhou is born in Xi'an, China.

2038

• Hanzo Shimada is born in Hanamura, Japan.

2039

• Cole Cassidy is born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.
• Angela "Mercy" Ziegler is born in Zürich, Switzerland.

2040

• Many begin to wonder about Omnic capability for souls. The Omnica Corporation is shut down after revelations of fraud, and the factories turned off. Omnics are kept in servitude.

2041

• Genji Shimada is born in Hanamura, Japan.
• Jean-Baptiste Augustin is born around Port-de-Paix, Haiti.

2043

• Amélie Guillard is born in Annecy, France.

Sometime in this era

• Reinhardt joins the Crusaders, and is personally trained by General Balderich von Adler during his time with the Crusaders.

2044 - 2050, Omnic Crisis and the beginning of Overwatch

2044

• Omniums come back online, and they begin to crank out Omnics (mostly Bastion units) to wage a massive war against humanity. Forces held by guerrilla tactics used in strike forces sparks the war. The Omnic Crisis begins.
• Fareeha Amari is born in Giza, Egypt.

2045

• Overwatch founded in response to the Crisis. The strike team consists of Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes, Ana Amari, Torbjörn Lindholm, Reinhardt Wilhelm, and Liao.
• Omnic Crisis is at its peak. God programs are online and is in full force. Omnics begins to lose control to the God programs.

2046

• SST Laboratories Siege Automaton E54, or "Bastion", is created.
• Olivia Colomar is born in Dorado, Mexico.

2047

• Winston is born on the Horizon Lunar Colony.

2048

• Satya Vaswani is born in India.
• Aleksandra "Zarya" Zaryanova is born in Russia.

2050

• The Omnic Crisis ends. Humanity begins to rebuild and get back to their normal lives. Peaceful Omnics are spared but treated as second-class citizens in some places. Golden age begins.
• Bastion is deactivated, left seemingly forgotten in the forests of Germany.
• Lúcio Correia dos Santos is born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Lena Oxton is born in London, England.

Sometime in this era

• The Battle of Eichenwalde ensues. Almost all of the Crusaders that defended Eichenwalde, including General Balderich von Adler, sacrifice themselves so Germany would have enough time to formulate an air strike against the Omnic forces.
• With the loss of almost every member of the Crusaders, including von Adler himself, Reinhardt leaves the Crusaders and joins the Overwatch strike team in Balderich's place.
• Bastion is severely damaged during the war and is abandoned and forgotten in the forests near Eichenwalde.
• An omnic named Aurora suddenly gains sentience, she embarks on a pilgrimage - her first destination being Suravasa in India. With each journey, she grew and eventually, she reached her "Shambali" and according to the Shambali monks, transcended existence itself for the chance to give her fellow omnics sentience. What exactly transpired at the time of her transcendence is unknown.
• The Awakening occurs, causing many omnics to spontaneously gain sentience. Among these omnics were the Caledonia family butler B.O.B, who suddenly vanished from the Caledonia estate for almost a decade before returning as a sentient being.

2051 - 2068, Golden era of Overwatch

2051

• Jamison Fawkes is born in Australia.

2052

• Jack Morrison becomes Strike Commander of Overwatch, and tension grows with Reyes.
• Ana Amari becomes second-in-command.
• Gabriel Reyes is put in charge of Blackwatch.

2056

• Australian government forms a deal with the Omnics to allow them to reside in the Outback at the expense of the current residents. Civil war breaks out between the Australian Liberation Front, a rebel faction consisting of the local human populace, and the Omnics, leading to the destruction of the Australian omnium and the Outback being turned into an irradiated wasteland. The Junkers form from the remains. Sometime after this point, Mako Rutledge and Jamison Fawkes become known as "Roadhog" and "Junkrat", respectively.
• Omnic outcasts experiencing a vision form the Shambali, begin mediation on spiritual existence.
• Tekhartha Zenyatta is created.
• A colossal Omnic rises from the seas of East China and attacks South Korea. This attack repeats itself every few years. MEKA is formed as a response to this and begins a project that sees unmanned drones going into battle against the Omnic.
• Cassidy — under the alias Jesse McCree — is apprehended and forced to join both Overwatch and Blackwatch.
• Somewhere around these years, the Vishkar Corporation takes notice of Satya's talent in light-bending. They take her from her life of poverty, and train her to be their top enforcer known as "Symmetra". With her help, they manage to complete construction on a city made of hard light called Utopaea.

2057

• Hana Song is born in Busan, South Korea.

Sometime between 2057 and 2063

• Overwatch sets up global eco-Watchpoints.
• Mercy, at the time a head doctor of a Swiss hospital, is sought out by Jack Morrison to join Overwatch.
• Mei joins Overwatch and is assigned to work at Watchpoint: Antarctica.
• Baptiste joins the Caribbean Coalition, a military force composed of a number of Caribbean nations.

2063

• Hammond is born.

2066

• Somewhere around this time, Winston escapes the Lunar Colony after the other gorillas kill all the humans and take over the station, while Hammond fashions himself an escape pod hooked onto Winston's. Winston crash-lands on Watchpoint: Gibraltar while Hammond's pod detaches and crash-lands near Junkertown, Australia, Hammond uses an AI and the escape pod from the station to construct a mech under the name of Wrecking Ball
• Hanzo and Genji's father dies. The former "kills" the latter at the orders of the elders for his "disobedience". Afterwards, Hanzo leaves the Shimada clan and travels around the world while at the same time avoiding Shimada assassins who tried to kill him for abandoning the clan.
• Genji is rescued by Overwatch in an operation led by Mercy, and made into a cyborg. He then joins Overwatch and Blackwatch.
• Some time around 2066, the Antarctica Ecopoint is hit by a catastrophic polar storm that batters the installation and leaves the facility badly damaged, forcing it to shut down and leaving the scientists there stranded in the base. The scientists that worked there, including Mei, try to hold on for as long as possible, but eventually their supplies run out, forcing them to enter hibernation.

2068

• Lena Oxton joins the Overwatch Flight Program and tests the ill-fated Slipstream. The result leaves her stuck outside of time until Winston invents her chronal accelerator. Though her days as a pilot are over, she becomes a field agent and is given the callsign "Tracer".

Sometime in this era

• With every battle between MEKA and the Omnic ending with a stalemate, chiefly due to the Omnics having successfully adapted to MEKA's strategy of using unmanned drones to attack them, MEKA begins a project that sees their unmanned drones replaced by human-controlled mini-mechas in hopes of gaining a victory against the Omnics.
• Wrecking Ball becomes Junkertown's champion.
• Bastion is unexpectedly awoken after a decade of inactivity and explores the Earth with its bird companion Ganymede in tow while also keeping a low profile to the humans.
• Odessa Stone and her family are evicted from Junkertown by Junker King Mason Howl. 13 years after the fact, Odessa returns to Junkertown after surviving many trials in the Wasteland to participate in "The Reckoning", defeating Mason, Geiger and Meri in combat. Odessa crowns herself as the Junker Queen and exiles Mason to the Wasteland. With Geiger and Meri as her close accomplices alongside Wrecking Ball.

2069 - 2077, Rise of Talon, disbanding and reformation of Overwatch

2069

• Terrorist organization Talon emerges with the intent of throwing the world into more chaos. However, they are thwarted by Overwatch member Gérard Lacroix at every turn.

2070

• After failing to directly kill Gérard multiple times, Talon turns their attention to his wife. Amélie Lacroix is kidnapped by Talon and neurally reconditioned. She is rescued by Overwatch agents, seemingly no worse for wear, and returns to her normal life. Two weeks later, she kills Gérard in his sleep. Amélie returns to Talon, and is biologically altered and trained to be the perfect assassin. She is given the codename "Widowmaker".
• The Omnic Uprising is conducted in King's Row by the Null Sector. Overwatch intervenes despite orders not to get involved.
• In pursuing the arrest of Doomfist, Overwatch instead targets the Talon accountant/co-leader Maximilien in Havana, sending out a strike team of Tracer, Winston, Genji, and Mercy to capture him. During interrogation, he informs them of Doomfist's presence in Singapore in the near future, in exchange requesting that Overwatch does not tell Doomfist of his betrayal.
• Doomfist meets with the unnamed Omnic leader of Null Sector in Cairo, arranging the possibility of collaborating with Talon.
• An Overwatch strike team of Tracer, Winston, and Genji locate and do battle against Doomfist in Singapore, leading to his defeat and imprisonment, at some point transferred to a maximum security installation managed by Helix Security International.

Sometime between 2069 and 2071

• Gabriel visits the imprisoned Doomfist. Doomfist asks Reyes what he has truly accomplished in ridding the world of injustice with all of the organisations he has worked for. Akande's words plants doubt within Reyes' mind, a seed of vengeance that would soon blossom into the Reaper.
• Gabriel Reyes forms a secret anti-Overwatch faction within Blackwatch with the intent of overthrowing the main branch led by Jack.
• Cassidy/McCree, wanting no part in the conflict, leaves the organization.
• The Shimada clan is effectively dismantled by Overwatch with the help of Genji. The Hashimoto clan of Kanezaka swoop in to take over the now vacant territory.
• Dr. Mina Liao creates Echo, but is killed during an attack on her Overwatch lab. The Echo project is discontinued and Echo herself is quarantined.

2071

• Reyes leaks Overwatch intel and exposes Blackwatch's activities to the public out of spite to turn public opinion against Overwatch.
• Ana Amari is "killed" by Widowmaker during a Talon hostage operation while acting as the head of operations. She decides to fake her own death.
• Reinhardt is forced to retire following the failure of the mission and supposed death of Ana.
• Morrison and Reyes battle each other at Overwatch's Swiss HQ, resulting in the explosion of the base. Both are listed as casualties. In actuality, both survived.
• Overwatch is officially disbanded by the United Nations, made illegal by the PETRAS Act.
• With Overwatch being made illegal, Talon rises in power, free to reign terror as they please.
• Gabriel Reyes becomes Reaper, officially defects to Talon alongside the remains of Blackwatch and gets a seat on their inner council of leaders.
• Junkrat discovers an unidentified secret treasure in Australian omnium, causing him to be hunted by the Junkers. Knowing he can't survive alone, he then hires Roadhog as his bodyguard in-exchange for a fifty-fifty split of the profits, and they begin a worldwide crime spree.
• Reinhardt comes out of retirement to fight again.
• Hana Song starts her undefeated streak record in Mecha Guardian V.

Sometime between 2071 and 2073

• MEKA, running out of options for who is going to pilot their human-controlled mini-mechas because of the immense level of reflexes required to pilot them, turns to professional video gamers and enlists their help to join the battle against the Omnics.
• Baptiste completes his service in the Caribbean Coalition completes, and struggling to find demand for his unique skills, joins the Talon mercenary group along with many of his former squad mates.

2072

• A squad of Talon soldiers — including Reaper, Sombra, and Widowmaker — locate and successfully extract Siebren de Kuiper — aka "Subject Sigma" — from an undisclosed facility.

2073

• Hana Song becomes an undefeated Mecha Guardian V player for three years in a row. Eventually, alongside her teammate Yuna Lee and eSports rival Kyung-soo Hann, she leaves the eSports scene to join the MEKA and defend her homeland from the Gwishin Omnics. She is given the codename "D.Va".
• Vishkar Corporation competes with Calado Corporation for improvement within Rio de Janeiro, but the people of Rio and its mayor prefer Calado. Vishkar sends Symmetra to investigate its dirty records, she finds none and they resort to setting fire to its main headquarters, thereby asserting its dominance and forcing the people to submit to its designs. In the process, a community there is damaged due to the fire. Vishkar promises better living to the people, but all that happens is people being forced into labor work.
• After participating in increasingly questionable missions, Baptiste realized Talon's true intentions and went AWOL after a failed assassination mission in Monte Cristi. He's briefly confronted by his longtime ally, Mauga, attempting to convince him to stay, but after Baptiste makes his mind, Mauga chooses to simply report to Talon that Baptiste is MIA, allowing him to escape to Tortuga, Haiti.

2074

• The second Omnic Crisis begins in Siberia. Zarya abandons her bodybuilding career in order to defend her home.
• Vishkar Corporation is forced out of Rio de Janeiro after DJ and freedom fighter Lúcio, in response to the false promises and forced labors above, steals their sonic technology and leads a rebellion against the company. This makes him a recognized hero, which also gives more attention to his music career.

2075

• Soldier: 76 appears as a vigilante, roaming the world in search of both revenge and answers regarding Overwatch's downfall. Unbeknownst to the public, Solider: 76 is actually the presumed dead leader of Overwatch, Jack Morrison.
• Lúcio releases debut album Synaesthesia Auditiva to massive success and becomes a worldwide superstar.
• Fareeha Amari joins Helix Security International. She is given the callsign "Pharah".

Sometime between 2071 and 2076

• Kurjikistan is under siege by a titanic Omnic piloted by weapon engineer Sven. Torbjörn travels there and puts a stop to his actions.
• Cassidy loses his left arm and had to replace it with a bionic one.
• Vishkar begins development in the city of Roshani, this triggers a tremor that damages the neighbouring village of Suravasa, including breaking a statue of Aurora, the first sentient omnic. Symmetra is sent by Vishkar to ease relations with the villagers, and along the way meets Omnic pilgrim Tekhartha Zenyatta. Moved by Zenyatta's words, Satya eventually performs a dance to repair the statue of Aurora with hard light.

2076

• Reaper invades Watchpoint: Gibraltar in an attempt to extract the data of all former Overwatch agents on the behalf of Talon in order to assassinate all former members. Winston prevents them from accomplishing their task, and defeats Reaper.
• Winston officially reinstates Overwatch, fully knowing the illegal nature of the operation. Besides Winston, members of the newly-reformed Overwatch that were called back include Tracer, Cassidy, Genji, Mercy, Torbjörn, and Reinhardt, as well as many yet-to-be-identified operatives.
• Peaceful monk leader Tekhartha Mondatta is assassinated in King's Row, London by Widowmaker on Talon's behalf, despite interception from Tracer. Widowmaker escapes unharmed. King's Row is turned into a cesspool of racism and cruelty towards Omnics.
• When Hanzo sneaks inside to the Shimada temple in Hanamura as part of his yearly prayer following his "killing" of Genji, Genji confronts Hanzo, revealing that he survived his attack and that he has forgiven him for his actions. Genji then informs Hanzo that the "world is changing once again, and it is time to pick a side" before leaving.
• Soldier: 76 busts an illegal operation by Los Muertos in Dorado. However, a young girl named Alejandra is nearly caught in the crossfire, and he's forced to abandon his mission to protect the innocent child.
• Lúcio begins world tour to promote Synaesthesia Auditiva.
• Roadhog and Junkrat rob Banco de Dorado in Mexico.
• Bastion arrives in Sweden after walking under the ocean for a period of time. Torbjorn Lindholm is tasked by the authorities to subdue the wandering Bastion unit. But he realises this certain Bastion seems to have strayed from its original programming. They make peace after a series of capture attempts and Bastion and Ganymede stay with Torbjorn.
• Reaper and Widowmaker raid a museum in an attempt to secure the powerful Doomfist for Talon. They are prevented from acquiring the weapon by Winston and Tracer, while two kids named Brian and Timmy witness the event.
• The God Program Anubis, contained by Helix Security International breaks free and controls several Omnics to attack humans. Pharah manages to stop the program with the help of her team.
• Soldier: 76 is confronted by Reaper in Egypt and saved by Ana, who has come out from faking her death.
• LumériCo's classified documents detailing the corruption of CEO Guillermo Portero are leaked to the public by the hacker known as Sombra, who claims to be "only acting in the public interest".
• LumériCo CEO Guillermo Portero "temporarily" steps down in the midst of the controversy.
• Talon sends operatives Reaper, Widowmaker, and Sombra to Volskaya Industries to assassinate CEO Katya Volskaya. The mission becomes a failure when Volskaya "escapes" because Sombra sabotages the mission and personally blackmails Katya in exchange for her services.
• As a result of Sombra's blackmailing, Katya Volskaya calls Zarya to help her eliminate Sombra.
• Mei is awoken from cryostasis, and later receives Winston's recall message. After barely escaping from Ecopoint: Antarctica, she sets out to rejoin Overwatch.
• Mercy — while working at an aid camp in Cairo — reunites with Jack and Ana, all aware of Winston's recall, with the latter two suggesting that Mercy rejoin. After fighting and warding off a sudden Talon invasion, Mercy parts ways with the pair for the new Overwatch.
• While working at a clinic in Port-au-Paix, Baptiste unexpectedly reunites with Mauga and Talon operative Trung Le Nguyen, stringing him onto a mission to locate and extort Vernand Sainclair of Sainclair Pharmaceuticals the money he owes to Talon. During the mission, Baptiste discovers that Overwatch has been reinstated and that Talon was pursuing further agents, and after escaping yet again, he finds information on Mercy and heads to Cairo in order to warn her of Talon's pursuit.

2077

• Doomfist is broken free from prison by Reaper.
• Doomfist attacks Numbani International Airport. No casualties are suffered, but several OR15 robots are destroyed. Shortly afterwards, he steals back his gauntlet. Sometime later, Numbani resident and preteen genius Efi Oladele, who witnessed the assault and was inspired by the heroes of Overwatch, modifies an OR15 chassis that she bought with her genius grant money alongside many other parts and christens her creation "Orisa".
• Efi and Orisa become acquainted with Lúcio, partnering together for a Unity Day event in Numbani. Doomfist attacks the event but is successfully repelled and forced into a retreat. Soon afterwards, Orisa receives an important notification and brings Efi along to meet someone waiting for them.
• Doomfist rejoins Talon and discovers that fellow councilman Vialli has steered the organization into a profitable direction away from Doomfist's goals of making the world stronger. A civil war ensues, ultimately ending in Doomfist killing Vialli. When all is said and done, Doomfist declares that there is a war to start.
• Zarya confronts Sombra after having tracked her with the help of omnic hacker Lynx Seventeen. She narrowly escapes.
• Cassidy locates the still-dormant Echo on a train in the continental US near Route 66. Through manipulation of his former Deadlock Gang (still led by Elizabeth Ashe), he successfully reactivates Echo and sends her off to reunite with Winston's newly-reformed Overwatch, while he heads to Cairo to respond to a mysterious tip.
• Cassidy arrives at Cairo and reunites with Ana, who passes on information crucial to Overwatch's reformation and instructs him to answer the recall with new blood. During the time in Cairo, Ana reunites with Pharah and Cassidy is pursued by Baptiste, both discussing the possibility of rejoining Overwatch. Pharah strongly considers it, while Baptiste is kept in touch.
• Gwishin Omnics attempt a skirmish on Busan when D.Va and her childhood friend and mechanic, Dae-Hyun, end up spotting them on their radar whilst the other MEKA squad members were healing from the previous battle with the Gwishin. D.Va takes on all of them and prevents Busan from being attacked again, although her mech was destroyed and she suffered some injuries.
• Cassidy makes his way to Siberia, Russia, specifically towards the Russian Defense Forces outpost where Zarya is based. After meeting up and together defending her home village of Novoanskoye from a mysterious omnic force — unbeknownst to them, a newly-reformed Null Sector — Cassidy offers Zarya the option to join the new Overwatch, which she accepts.
• Null Sector, thought to have been neutralized 7 years prior, attacks Paris. Winston, Tracer, and Mei attempt to fight them off but are overwhelmed when a Null Sector Titan appears. They are then joined by Genji, Reinhardt, Brigitte, Echo, and Mercy, and with their combined effort, they manage to destroy the giant robot and drive Null Sector away from Paris. Overwatch's return is publicly confirmed by Winston.
• The Gwishin mounts another high-scale assault on Busan, prompting retaliation from the combined forces of MEKA and Cassidy's ragtag group (including Pharah, Zarya, and Baptiste). After negotiating with her commander, D.Va is officially dispatched to join Overwatch, and its new members set course for Gibraltar.
• Null Sector attacks Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Lúcio is assisted by Overwatch in fending them off.
• Null Sector attacks Toronto, where Vivian "Sojourn" Chase leads a newly-formed Overwatch team to facilitate the escape of many omnic citizens, and rescue two omnic individuals, but they fail to prevent a large number of omnics from being subdued by Null Sector with strange helmets.
• Null Sector attacks Gothenburg, Sweden, and Torbjörn must defend his hometown from the attack with the help of Reinhardt, Bastion, and Brigitte.

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