[Theory] How McCree lost his arm & why he betrayed his gang

Hello partners!

I wanted to share with you two theories that occurred to me the other day.

First of all, excuse my English, it is not my first language. I’m so sorry if you find any weird written words or phrases. My apologies! I will try my best!

Theory nº1: How McCree Lost His Arm


A bit of context in the lore and game


Officially we know that McCree still had his left arm when he joined OW and we are sure that on the Uprising mission he still had his arm:

https://i.ibb.co/gyzYqJG/uprising.png

And from what Echo says when he saw the cowboy’s mechanical hand, until she was disconnected, he still had his limb.

Echo: “What happened?”
McCree: “Well, that’s a story for another time.”

https://youtu.be/PKYVvPNhRR0?t=415

And although in-game interactions may not be canon, to Torbjorn’s surprise at seeing McCree without his arm we could say that the cowboy possibly kept his hand until he left OW.

Torbjörn: “McCree, what happened to your arm?”
McCree: “I always admired yours. Figured I’d get one of my own.”

Continuing with the interactions we also have another in-game quote with Genji, where he comments that the loss of his limb was hard for him:

McCree: “Genji, how’d you ever get used to… You know… It was hard enough for me and it was just the one arm.”
Genji: “It was a long and difficult road, but now, I feel at ease in my own body.”


About the lost arm


He lost the left arm up to the elbow.

https://i.ibb.co/KxfJ48T/690562-1433477066-8.jpg

On that part of his body he had Deadlock’s tattoo.

https://i.ibb.co/NnzLKrZ/Captura.png

And he has this tattoo from his days in the gang (and after the events of the novel “Deadlock Rebels”):

https://i.ibb.co/Ksh4cYR/ben-zhang-deadlock-mccree.jpg

The tattoo he had was not of the band’s ordinary logo, he had the eyepatched “est. 1976” version.

https://i.ibb.co/FzP21R0/tumblr-inline-ppxgc78-Nk81qzzxm8-1280.png

This tattoo is more personal and special , it’s related to Ashe and the founding of Deadlock.


Theory


What if he lost his arm when confronting a member of Deadlock? What if he met another of the founding members on his subsequent trips before he leave Blackwatch and in a fight his former partner cut off McCree’s arm because he doesn’t consider the cowboy worthy of had the gang’s logo?

Let’s not forget that McCree is a traitor in the eyes of his gang…

And speaking of betrayal…


Theory nº 2: Why McCree betrayed his gang


We officially know that…

“McCree had already made a name for himself as a member of the notorious Deadlock Gang, which trafficked in illicit weapons and military hardware throughout the American Southwest, when he and his associates were busted in an Overwatch sting operation. With his expert marksmanship and resourcefulness, he was given the choice between rotting in a maximum-security lockup and joining Blackwatch, Overwatch’s covert ops division. He chose the latter.”

Reyes made him an offer, either he would join Overwatch or he would rot in jail.

But after meeting the young McCree from the novel this doesn’t quite fit. McCree couldn’t so easily betray his friends and join Overwatch. There had to be another reason…

In Route 66, Soldier:76 says:

Soldier:76:"Reyes should’ve cleaned up the Deadlock Gang a long time ago."


Theory


If Reyes’ mission was to dismantle the gang, why didn’t he do it?

He could easily do it. Deadlock would have nothing to do against Overwatch or Blackwatch special forces. So…

What if did Reyes promised McCree to leave Deadlock alone if McCree joined Blackwatch? He would become part of Blackwatch and Overwatch would not destroy the gang. Ashe and the others would be safe and nobody, including him, would end up in jail.

The McCree we know could end up making this deal to save his friends from a life behind bars. He will become a traitor to their eyes but they would be free people. And for this reason this gang still exists on this days and was not exterminated by the old guard.

7 Likes

Maybe he was sleeping, one of his gang members accidentally ran over his arm, so he later betrayed them as vengeance for his lost limb!

2 Likes

First off, I love your usage of sources and evidence to try and create this theory. That is a very good first step to building one!

Your second theory makes a lot of sense. His bio never explicitly says the rest of the gang was arrested. It just says that the gang was busted in a sting operation, and that McCree specifically was given the choice between Overwatch and jail. I thought it implied that everyone else busted went to jail, but you do raise a very good point that it could just be McCree himself being the sacrifice to protect his gang’s way of life. I like that theory a lot.

The first one…Its plausible. I don’t see it as likely or unlikely, it could happen. I do not agree with the reasoning, but I can see it being him losing his arm to a member of the gang. We do know 2 more points.

1 - Reunion was the first time that Ashe and McCree met each other since he was arrested. (“Promised you’d write” implies he promised he would write to her from jail/Overwatch, but he clearly never did.)

2 - Ashe is not surprised to see him having lost his arm like Echo was. (Her only remark is threatening to rip off the other arm. Its possible she knew about it prior, since he had both arms in his more televised tenure of Overwatch.)

So it is a decent possibility that it was removed by another member of Blackwatch sometime between Uprising and the present day.

7 Likes

LOL. A really tragic story XD

Thanks you very much! I love OW lore and theories. And one picture says more than a thousand words…Ah, I really miss have here a level 3 member for can put images and links. In the meantime I use preformatted text although it is less visually beautiful.

I agree. The first one is the most weakess theory. Ain’t still completely conform/happy with this and I must work more on it. There’s loose threads. :confused:

Oh Yes. Y’re right! I really forget put that info in this thread. I put this in a mirror thread in our spanish forum but I completely forgot put it here. Sorry :sweat_smile: : https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/es/overwatch/t/teor%C3%ADa-c%C3%B3mo-mccree-perdi%C3%B3-su-brazo-y-por-qu%C3%A9-traicion%C3%B3-a-su-pandilla/10885

There are current photos of the cowboy spread out on Route 66.

  • Panorama Diner: https://i.ibb.co/2q3sST6/diner.jpg
  • Defending side behind the Deadlock Gang Bar: https://i.ibb.co/ZXtrHdt/WaAM1AA.jpg
  • At the defender’s spawn and inside the Gang’s bar dartboards: https://i.ibb.co/KWGvMxQ/diana.jpg

And with this last one we have an interaction:

Ashe: “Brave of you to show your face around here, Jesse.”
McCree: “Well, I know how much you missed me. Still have a picture of me at the hide-out, I hear.”
Ashe: “On the dartboard.”
McCree: “Bet you look at it every day. Flattering, really.”

So, even though she hadn’t seen him in person since he was joined BW, she definitely knows what McCree looks like today and the lost arm info.

https://i.ibb.co/nLry68L/arm.jpg

She may know this information for two reasons (both inclusive):

  • Who cut off his arm told her about this.
  • McCree is a wanted outlaw, his face and features (like the lost limb) will be everywhere.

Did one of the traitorous members of BlackWatch that Jesse was investigating? Could be. :thinking:

I hope the OW team resolve some of these questions at the end of the year, when the cowboy’s new name was revealed in the narrative arc.

Maybe they show what our gunslinger made after “Reunion” animate short. What was these bussines…

Echo: “Jessie, wait. What are you going to do?”
McCree: “I’ve got some bussines to attend to.”

https://youtu.be/PKYVvPNhRR0?t=436

4 Likes

there is also the theory that he lost his arm during the explosion at the Swiss base, only to flee before things got worse by having to provide information on what happened. which would explain why McCree is listed as a “wanted” rather than a former Overwatch agent under investigation following the retribution events.

but also the theory that some member of the deadlock band makes sense. the problem perhaps lies in the fact that we do not know when he met a member of the Gang or what he was actually doing in these years. he may have also taken it away from a possible new mercenary that could be added to Ow’s roster. anyway, your theory makes a lot of sense.

I personally like to think that it is because of a gambling game that ended badly: maybe someone caught mccree cheating ( needed money to earn a living) and decided to cut his arm, taking a vague quote in one of the standard skins.

2 Likes

This is good one. I like it and this can be possible to.

I was thinking about who can be…

Deadlock Rebels Spoiler Frankie didn't seem like the type to dismember people. And Ashe much as she is very hurt with McCree, I do not see her capable of cutting off her arm (as much as she yells at him at the end of the short Reunion XDDD, she is more like a barking dog).

However, we saw / knew so little about Bez and for this reason, I wouldn’t dismiss him so easily. Yes, he didn’t agree with hurting Frankie, but she was his friend. He seemed to appreciate her very much. With McCree we don’t know how the relationship was. Also, for Bez the gang is everything: they was his family (much like Ashe now) and he did not hesitate to betray his previous boss (the head of the Diamondbacks) for the good of the gang.

So if McCree was a “traitor” in the eyes of Deadlock, it may be that this character amputated his arm as a kind of yubitsume* considering him unworthy of wearing the gang’s logo on his body.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yubitsume

This could be reinforced with the cowboy belt. You can notice his gang logo on this one while still had his arm (even though he’s already a member of Overwatch). However, since he only has the mechanic arm he only wears the “BAMF” belt.

https://i.imgur.com/Xt897ee.jpg

It is true that he began to wear BAMF’s belt before losing his arm. But despite being in BW this he did not deny his origins and wore the logo of his old gang on the belt of his official uniform.

https://i.imgur.com/4BMtt97.jpg

However, he no longer wear it (both in OW1 and 2). Perhaps could be speculated that it is that he already left that time behind (turned the page) … but it may also be that he was forbidden to wear it. Like who is exiled.

He probably had existential doubts like Genji but because of the bad things he saw and/or did in the last days of Blackwatch (guilty feeling and/or problems of conscience?).

There are a theory that said that after leaving OW McCree, he tried to do the right thing by bringing justice (like a lone ranger) and incidentally earned some money as a bounty hunter.

And sometimes doing what is right or fair is not the same to do what is legal (and for this reason he’s wanted by the justice :sweat_smile:).

He didn’t learn the lesson (?) XD

https://i.imgur.com/vjWRMtt.png


Edit:
:bulb: :thinking: Thinking again…

If I discarded Bez there are still two characters that we have not valued in the equation and they have even stronger reasons to cut off an arm with Deadlock logo from McCree…

Julian and/or Marcos

Deadlock Rebels spoiler

The last we heard from them is that they were brought to justice by Ashe and his gang. It is normal that both, especially Marcos, have a strong hatred for McCree and the Deadlock logo.

I can easily imagine McCree finding out that Julian got out of jail and he’s trying to smooth things over with him. Or even that in his travels our cowboy found Julian in trouble and he tries to give him give a helping hand and, like the treacherous rat that Julian is, this man betrays McCree was given to Marcos who has sworn revenge on him, Ashe and his gang.

Marcos catches him, cuts his arm hating the logo and when Julian sees that things got out of hand… never better XDDDD he decides to help McCree to escape.

1 Like

Theory number 2 sounds likely.

I am not a fan of theory number 1. They seem to be a bunch of losers (Ashe included…). I don’t see any of them being able to fight McCree on equal terms tbh.

McCree appears to be very exceptionally talented. He often gets praised by other heroes as if he is some kind of legendary gun slinger (and those interactions must hold some truth).

Idk about the book, though. I did not read it. Maybe I am underrating Ashe.