With Marvel's shadow looming large over pop culture, it's difficult not to look at the roster of a hero-centric shooter like Overwatch 2 and draw comparisons between the characters found there and the decades-old superheroes that now also dominate the box offices. It's hard to say with absolute certainty that particular Overwatch 2 characters were inspired directly by Marvel, but many seem to be at least built around tropes that established themselves in Marvel's works.
For what it's worth, Overwatch has never been shy about paying homage to the source material that inspired its characters. For instance, Genji's recent Genjiman skin and the earlier version, Sentai Genji, are undisguised nods to Super Sentai—the Japanese television series that acted as the source for Power Rangers. Perhaps, a future collaboration between Marvel and Overwatch could reveal which characters truly pulled their inspiration from Marvel.
Winston and Beast
It's hard to ignore the similarities between Marvel's Beast and Overwatch's Winston. Yes, Winston's origin story differs slightly from Beast's, but not in a significant enough way to ignore the obvious parallels. At their core, Winston and Beast are essentially the same. They're both genius scientists with a penchant for rage. While Beast may not literally be an ape, depending on the artist, his appearance can be so close to Winston that a color swap would leave the two looking indistinguishable.
The genius bruiser is a fairly common comic book trope, especially when it's used with hyper-intelligent gorillas, so it's hard to link Winston directly with Beast, but the two are remarkably similar in terms of mannerisms, appearance, and origins. It's just as likely, however, that Winston could have pulled inspiration from DC's Gorilla Grodd—a genius gorilla that often faces off against the Flash. Maybe, Winston could even be inspired by the Hulk, or further inspired by the Hulk's own inspiration, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Soldier 76 and Captain America (with a dash of Cable and Cyclops)
Of all the Overwatch 2 characters, Soldier 76 has most often been singled out as having Marvel-inspired roots. While Overwatch 2 shifted Soldier 76's look and story a bit, the character's origin feels remarkably similar to that of Captain America. Jack Morrison is a super soldier just like Steve Rogers. His in-game banter with Ana even confirmed that he was injected with a serum that enhanced his physical abilities.
The major difference between the two is their attitudes with Soldier 76 being decidedly more bitter and morally questionable than Captain America. While Captain America stands as an obvious starting point as the inspiration for Soldier 76, the character also seems to draw inspiration, at least in terms of appearance, from other Marvel characters like Cable—the giant gun and white hair—and Cyclops—the visor.
Ramattra/Zenyatta and Magneto/Professor X
When Ramattra was unveiled, fans began immediately drawing similarities between the Omnic duo and the X-Men. Like Charles Xavier and Magneto, Ramattra and Zenyatta's story sees their relationship fractured over their disagreement about how to deal with the oppression of their people. Like Xavier, Zenyatta advocates for peace and cooperation whereas Ramattra and Magneto see it as necessary to fight back. If the word mutant is replaced by Omnic and vice versa, the stories are more or less interchangeable.
In terms of their respective powers, there isn't much to compare. Zenyatta's powers are a far cry from Xavier's mind control and Ramattra's kit is only distantly reminiscent of Magneto's arsenal. If a comparison was to be made only strictly on their powers, Magneto would probably align most closely with Sigma, despite Sigma's abilities being centered around black holes and gravitational pull rather than magnetic fields.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
