Wildebeest

Wildebeest
Background
Status	Unknown
Occupation	Agent (formerly)
Affiliation	Overwatch (formerly)

Wildebeest is a former member of Overwatch.

Story

Wildebeest was a member of Overwatch after the Omnic Crisis. In the time after Gabrielle Adawe and Adhabu Ngumi has both passed, Akinjide Adeyemi had stolen the latter's weapon of choice as the new Doomfist. While Adeyemi made himself rich by raiding and terrorizing Numbani like a warlord, Jack Morrison adhered to Adawe's wishes for Overwatch to not interfere, as they had neither jurisdiction nor diplomatic relations. However, this did not stop Morison from supporting operations in surrounding nations to root out Doomfist and his lieutenants. While Overwatch managed to stop some of the bloodshed thanks to focused efforts from Wildebeest, Numbani chose to remain independent.

Years later, Wildebeest was one of many past Overwatch members who Winston attempted to contact with the recall.

Trivia

• Wildebeest's concept may have also been applied to Orisa and Brigitte, because of his Numbani heritage and his flail weapon.
• Wildebeest's image appears in Recall, though is unnamed.
• Wildebeest also cameos at the start of the Cinematic Trailer, in the retconned image of the Overwatch team.
• Wildebeest are a type of antelope found in eastern and southern Africa.

Development

Wildebeest was a hero that was created for the pitch meeting for Prometheus, which became Overwatch. His design is taken from unused Titan concept art. He was one of the marquee heroes prominently featured in the Prometheus "hero lineup" key art, and was also featured in early concept art created to help define the overall look of Overwatch's world.

Concept art of "Reinhardt"

He was also used as an early concept for Reinhardt. An early version of Wildebeest appeared in several early promotional illustrations depicting potential hero lineups for the game, and was also seen as one of the former Overwatch agents contacted by Winston in the Recall animated short. Elements of this hero concept would later serve as a basis for Orisa, while the flail and shield combination would eventually be incorporated into the hero design for Brigitte. One of Wildebeest's unused designs shares its color scheme with the OR15 defense robots, while another strongly resembles Doomfist's Spirit skin.