‘Overwatch’: Soldier: 76 Middle Name Revealed

Overwatch’s FPS-style hero Soldier: 76’s middle name is Francis, a previously unknown detail revealed by the game’s lead writer.

Michael Chu, lead writer for Overwatch, responded to a player’s question on Twitter (via PCGamesN) who asked what the soldier’s dog tags had printed on them when it came to the character’s middle name. Chu responded to give a one-word answer with no explanation to say that Soldier: 76’s middle name is indeed Francis.

Up until this point, the only information known about the hero’s name was that it was John “Jack” Morrison, but players can now refer to the hero by his true full name of John Francis Morrison. There’s still the question of how Blizzard landed on that name though seeing how the rest of Soldier: 76’s name takes inspiration from other well-known figures. Created by Overwatch’s creative director Chris Metzen, the character’s name pulled inspiration from John Wayne and Jim Morrison, so there’s the question of where this Francis inspiration came from if there was indeed a story behind the middle name.

While there’s a backstory for each one of Overwatch’s heroes that intertwine them with other characters and events from the game’s lore, Chu wasn’t parting with any more information other than Soldier’s middle name. Another Twitter user tried their luck at prying some information about McCree’s lost arm out of Chu, a hero with a mechanical arm but little information revealed to explain how he lost it. There’s thought to be some connection with Torbjorn in the heroes story, but Chu wasn’t letting any of that information slip.

Mostly all of the Overwatch heroes have some sort of real name, or at least another name that they go by, but looking at the rest of the heroes’ names, Soldier: 76 appears to be one of the only ones that has his full name revealed. Lucio, the DJ support hero who heals teammates and speeds them up with his music, has also had his full name revealed, but everyone else appears to only have a middle and a last name with no middle name on record.

John Francis Morrison hasn’t made the news lately other than the reveal of his middle name with Soldier: 76 not making a splash in the game’s PTR update, but Torbjorn certainly has with his rework detailed here.