Blackwatch was the covert operations arm of Overwatch. It operated under the radar and beyond the reach of any red tape.
Overview[]
Blackwatch was established after the end of the Omnic Crisis. Gabriel Reyes oversaw its operations and trained its agents. Some of its members were former outlaws, like Jesse McCree.
Before Overwatch's’ downfall, an operation was executed by Gabriel Reyes and 3 other Blackwatch agents: Genji Shimada, Jesse McCree, and Moira O'Deorain. The operation was dubbed 'The Venice Incident' as it included an unplanned assassination in Venice, Italy, that was intended to be a quiet extraction, and it points to a reason why Blackwatch was suspended during the Kings Row Uprising. Even two years after 'The Venice incident" Blackwatch was still suspended from activity leading to some agents like Genji Shimada to leave and become part of the more public side of Overwatch. In the final days of Overwatch, Blackwatch's existence was revealed, along with accusations of criminal activities such as high-profile mission failures, corruption and mismanagement, weapons proliferation, and human rights abuses. Blackwatch soon devolved into infighting, with members taking sides as to which direction the clandestine organization would head. This ultimately led to a conflict at the Swiss Headquarters, resulting in an explosion that supposedly killed both Reyes and Jack Morrison, the commander of Overwatch and Reyes' former best friend. McCree, for his part, was disgusted with the infighting and quit before the incident took place; while Genji had already abandoned Overwatch due to personal conflicts. Blackwatch was officially dissolved along with Overwatch.
In Train Hopper, McCree noticed Talon's operatives using an old Blackwatch maneuver to fast-rope onto a train running half the speed of sound. This may prove Blackwatch had connections with Talon before Blackwatch's assumed dismantling, or that some Blackwatch agents are now working for Talon, such as Reaper and Moira.