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Doomfist’s Origins short and the Developer Update introduced us to Overwatch’s new hero and answered a lot of questions we had about the mysterious Successor. At the same time, these updates gave us more questions to ponder on. What does Doomfist think of Reaper? How many Council members are there, and what are their individual goals?
Doomfist: Masquerade answers not only these questions, but calls back to some of the mysteries of Sombra’s short, Infiltration. This is one of the meatiest lore comics yet.
The comic begins immediately after Doomfist’s origins animation. He walks out of his jail cell and encounters no guards, just Reaper and a ride. The two of them talk about the current landscape, specifically the events of Alive, Recall, Infiltration, and the spring event Uprising.
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From here, we’re hit with a ton of revelations. One, Talon — or at least Reaper and Widowmaker — know that Sombra is playing them. They know about the Volskaya switcharoo Sombra pulled. Doomfist doesn’t mind either; he likes the prolonged conflict that’ll emerge from a Volskaya led Russia.
Widowmaker’s assassination of Mondatta still has London smoldering. The human/omnic conflict is at its hottest there.
Finally, while we assumed Reaper’s mission in Recall was a total loss, he actually got part of the database and some names. The only thing we know about this is who he didn’t get: Morrison and Amari. Doomfist reminds him not to be sentimental. It looks like Reaper won his Talon council spot by being the anti-Overwatch expert, and this has... troubling implications we’ll discuss below.
Meanwhile, Team Talon heads on to meet Maximilien, a profit driven omnic who is absolutely down with Doomfist’s plans to start that war between omnics and humanity. Even though a lot of his people will likely die in such a class, Maximilien probably recognizes he can make a lot of money.
Before the two can go too in depth on their thoughts on policy and global warfare, another Talon leader, Vialli, interupts the meeting with a care package of hired goons.
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Finally, Team Talon come together for one last mission. This time, everyone works together, and Doomfist is here! They head to Venice, the HQ of the last Talon council member in their way, a gentleman named Vialli. The gang dresses up in Venetian festival garb, get to Vialli, and then chuck him off a bridge. Once the business is done, Doomfist heads into a meeting of Talon Council Leaders.
There are some faces, both human and omnic, we don’t recognize sitting at the table, suggesting there are at least two or three more leaders of Talon. We also see Maximillien at the table, confirming at least three of Talon’s leaders to us: Maximillien, Reaper, and Doomfist.
This is one of the biggest lore dumps on Talon since the game’s launch, and what really sparks my interest isn’t Doomfist. Sure, he looks slick in a suit and he has a war brewing, but that’s all very within his wheelhouse. Here’s the real question about Talon: What’s up with Widowmaker?
We all know the basic bare-bones story: Widowmaker was once Amelie LaCroix, a ballet dancer. She married Gerard LaCroix, an Overwatch agent on anti-Talon measures. Talon kidnapped her, reprogrammed her, and allowed her to be “rescued”, at which point she murdered her husband and returned to Talon for further reprogramming.
The big question, especially now that we know Talon is made up of a council, is who gave that order?
It doesn’t seem like Doomfist’s style! He probably would have loved to test himself against LaCroix’s anti-Talon program again and again.
It definitely wasn’t Maximillien! The costs of reprogramming a human being are through the roof, and the guy is saving up for his next suit.
We don’t know about the shrouded figures at the table, but out of the council members we do know, the most likely suspect is... Reaper. Reaper is the guy with the Overwatch inside information. It looks likely he was dabbling in double agency while he was working with Blackwatch, he’s still looking to take down Overwatch members, and he’s totally cool with attacking kids at a museum.
Team Talon are re-united and working with the rest of the council to start a war. The only problem is those cracks of distrust and individual ambition spreading through the foundation.