Michael Chu said in a tweet that its only been about 5 years since the Fall. Now this is really weird because when you look at Reaper’s bio it says he has been appearing in armed conflict for decades. The implications of this are crazy!
What if this was the real cause of the fall was? Just imagine, Overwatch has been attempting to track down this ghostly entity named Reaper for quite a few years. However it seems hes always a step ahead of them. Why? Because hes Gaberiel Reyes, a founding member as well as a high ranking member of Overwatch. Now get this, Jack Morrison finds out and confronts him about it. Creating a large conflict that destroys the base they’re in as well as making the rest of the world think they’re both dead. Now with his previous identity gone Gabriel can now take on his Reaper identity full time. Leaving us with present day Reaper.
One theory about it that I particularly like is that Reaper was an urban legend, based on Reyes’ activity in Blackwatch - a merciless killer with no allegiance to anyone, and when Reyes gained his wraith powers, so did the story.
So, when things went south, Reyes adopted the Reaper persona for himself. Easily explains how “Reaper” has existed for decades but Overwatch only fell 5 years ago.
Well, so far we can say for almost certainly, that Gabriel was not a bad guy during Overwatch. We know he got his smoky powers (or at least had them “refined”) a few years before the fall thanks to Moira.
The wording in the bio states that “Reaper” was around for decades, it doesn’t specify that Gabriel was Reaper.
And you can’t convince me Gabriel willingly joined an organization he spent a lifetime trying to take down. There is something else involved.
For those saying it couldbe a mantle like Doomfist. Its worth noting that in the same feed he says the wording in Reaper’s bio is intentional. So I think that rules out “Reaper” being a title passed down.
This is only me theory crafting so it could be that this is some legendary title passed to successful mercenaries through the centuries. However this is specifically mentioned in his bio, as in Gabriel Reyes. Which is what leads me to believe its been him the whole time.
I don’t think its a discrepancy though. Because Michael Chu specifically said that the bio of reaper was worded that way for a reason. He also said right before that phrase that the fall was only 5 years before current Overwatch. So it more than likely points to 1. A previous Reaper or 2. Gabriel Reyes has been reaper for a lot longer than people realize and that is how he took matters into his own hands when Overwatch couldn’t do anything.
Reaper’s bio doesn’t mention Gabriel Reyes - we know it’s him, but the public of the OW universe doesn’t. Reaper could have been other people before Reyes became him.
That is true! Do you think maybe there are multiple people acting as Reaper currently? Its not out of the realm of possibility that Moira has illegally cloned Reyes and gave them all the same abilities. Or maybe even people jusglt having a voice modifier to make them sound like him.
He got recruited by Reyes ~20 years ago, and left Overwatch/Blackwatch just before it disbanded ~5 years ago. We don’t know when he helped found the Deadlock gang. I don’t see any conflicts.
The earliest the Reaper could have possibly existed is after Retribution. Assuming Reyes was working for Talon while he was part of Overwatch, the earliest time he could have been Reaper was… ~7 years ago.
Also worth mentioning that there are two common explanations for the decades thing I see. The first is
The other is that this was simply retconned out of existence, much like a lot of small details in bios (Mei being found asleep vs looking for someone herself. Bastion being damaged in the end of the war vs actually being leftovers from the start/middle before Overwatch came to be)
Hmmmm, I’m not too convinced on the myth part. From what we know about ‘Reaper’ he’s been fighting in armed conflicts for decades. It states it as a fact instead of something akin to what you’d hear about a myth or urban legend. For a myth or cryptid one would say something similar to “reports have stated” or “some people say”. Yet the grammar states it as a fact, placing Reaper as a merciless killer through several decades.
Not 20 years in OW - recruited 20 years ago. He was 17 when Reyes brought him in.
We know this because he’s seen in a group picture from Ana’s origin trailer, which was taken 20ish years ago and includes 11-12 year old Fareeha Amari.
We are breaking down the 20yrs?
Alright then if he was 17 when he got caught by Reyes does mean somehow from the age of 10ish to 17ish he met Ashe and formed a gang which proceeded to operate for years and rise in notoriety.
Only one problem.
Ashe is only 2 years older than Mcree and she met him when she was a teen/young adult. Which would make her 16 to 20ish.
We are really, really cutting it close.
How does mcree mature to such a great marksman and notorious criminal at such a young age?
It would make more sense if he was recruited at 27 rather than 17.
