Nerf This! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Junkrat

Volatile anarchist Jamison Fawkes, also known as Junkrat, terrorised the Australian wasteland with his colleague Roadhog after a nuclear fallout. It's clear that he's not mentally all there, which is reflected well in his shambling walking style and chaotic playstyle involving mines, bombs and more bombs.

His RIP-Tire ult, topically, involves him remotely controlling a bomb contained within a tire that blows up the enemy real good... if it isn't destroyed before it lands. But, hey, in his own words: "If at first you don't succeed... Blow it up again!".

Answer: Pharah

I know this ultimate quote is rarely heard in full. "Justice rains from a-ugh!" or "Just-ugh!" are far more likely heard, as Pharah roots herself in place whilst using her high-risk, high-reward Rocket Barrage ultimate.

Pharah was one of the few original heroes who had vertical movement; she could hover and boost in the air whilst shooting slow rockets with area damage. Lore-wise she had easily climbed the ranks of the Egyptian Army but was a force for altruism as much as justice - in the 'Mission Statement' comic she chose to save a colleague at the risk of compromising her team's mission to disable the Anubis AI system, eventually completing the mission anyway.

Answer: Torbjörn

It's appropriate since Torbjörn is a dwarf (or at least dwarf-like) engineer, but this ultimate cry is a fairly direct nod to the first raid instance in "World of Warcraft". In its original iteration, Torbjörn was able to empower his turret from level two to level three, increasing its health and fire rate. However, as part of his rework his ultimate would instead allow his gun to shoot out lava dealing extreme damage to enemies and acting as a zoning ability to restrict enemy movement.

Many of "Overwatch"'s characters are disfigured or deformed, and in Torbjorn's case, he grafted on a prosthetic arm and metal eye patch after a mission with the Overwatch team to disable some omnics in Istanbul. Whilst sometimes a source of irritation, he shared a good friendship with Reinhardt who helped mentor his daughter Brigitte.

Answer: Reaper

Reaper was the leader of terrorist organisation Talon and can best be summed up by the word: edgy. His Death Blossom ability dealt extreme damage in a short area around him with the rapid firing of his Hellfire Shotguns.

One of the more interesting aspects of Reaper was his physical condition; he had the unusual ability to teleport and to gain temporary invulnerability with his Wraith Form. Whilst in the Overwatch organisation as Commander Reyes he had fought with Strike Commander Morrison - known in game as Soldier: 76 - he had not emerged unscathed. It was primarily due to geneticist Moira O'Deorain's experiments that his cells were able to both rapidly decay and rapidly regenerate, enabling his strange techniques.

Answer: Genji

Whilst "Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!" (or "The dragon becomes me!") can be frightening to hear from an enemy Genji, "I need healing!" is the quote you dread to hear from Genji if he's on your side. When the Dragonblade is unleashed, Genji has six seconds to cut and slash through any who would stand in his way whilst temporarily being unable to attack at range with his shurikens.

Genji is a cyborg; his body was mortally damaged after a conflict with brother Hanzo who wanted him to take a more active role in the Shimada clan's shady dealings. Dr Angela Ziegler - better known as Mercy - helped integrate him into a mechanical suit augmenting his natural ninja abilities in exchange for his help, with Zenyatta providing psychological guidance in accepting his new nature.

Answer: McCree

Now, for quite a while I actually called this ult 'High Noon', but the actual name is Deadeye, and as with Pharah this ult can be quite comically ineffective at times. McCree, whose design was inspired by a cowboy, quickly channels this ultimate ability whose damage dramatically increases after a second of having been locked onto any given hero. Terrain, shielding, crowd control and a sneaky headshot can all stop McCree in his tracks, but every once in a while he can wow with this ultimate.

One fun interaction between McCree and Reaper lampshades the over-the-top nature of a lot of the 'Overwatch' costumes; Reaper says he looks ridiculous before McCree asks if he's looked in a mirror lately. Ridiculous though they may be, 'Overwatch' characters have been a magnet for cosplayers - people who dress up as fictional characters often for fan conventions.

Answer: Sombra

Sombra's quote here is the Spanish for 'Turning off the lights!' which befits her disruptive EMP used to completely destroy shields and barriers and to apply Hack - disabling ability usage - to everyone in the radius. Appropriately, she's a hacker who 'became' Sombra after one too many attempts to learn about a government conspiracy, and whilst she works with Talon, she largely does so to further her own goals.

Sombra was perhaps more notable for the accompanying ARG - alternate reality game - that preceded her release. Clues to her existence had been within the game on its launch in May of 2016 but players from the community were sent down the rabbit hole through hexadecimal codes, minuscule map changes, red herrings (yep, hello Skycode!) and hashes. Though fans increasingly got more and more frustrated solving the puzzles without an end in sight, Blizzard's Jeff Goodman admitted that it was the first time they'd ever tried to do something like it, having wanted to add a bit more flavour to the eventual release where she 'hacked' the stage at Blizzcon 2016.

Answer: Widowmaker

In translation - no one can hide from Widowmaker's sight. This deadly sniper's ultimate reveals every enemy hero's position on the map for a few seconds. The spider motif is reflected in all aspects of her being: her unnatural blue skin, her many-eyed visor, her twitchy movements and her ruthless nature.

Of course, it wasn't always that way. Amélie Lacroix was abducted by Talon and was brainwashed, tortured and changed into the perfect sleeper agent. She assassinated her husband and lover and was mostly seen as Reaper's right-hand woman in their missions in the game's animated shorts and comics. Whilst she's purportedly an emotionless killer, she was seen visiting her husband's grave in the 'Reflections' comic, and in an in-game interaction where Ana tells her that Gerard was a fool to get involved with her, she emotively responds by telling her that she knows nothing about him.

Answer: Zenyatta

Zenyatta is essentially something akin to an omnic Gandhi. His brother, Mondatta, was assassinated by Widowmaker as seen in an animated short, in part to maintain the tension between humans and omnics so that the terrorist group could act with less scrutiny. Unlike many Shambali - monastic and enlightened omnics - Zenyatta preferred to try to integrate humans and omnics through interaction and understanding over dogma.

Zenyatta's ultimate ability, Transcendence, rapidly increases his movement speed whilst healing people in an area around him at an extremely high rate. As to what the Iris in question is, it historically has remained very mysterious, but it may be something akin to the Buddhist nirvana. In fact, quite how Zenyatta works is a point of curiousity for both Moira and Mercy in the in-game interactions. When Moira tells him she must understand how his technology works, he enigmatically replies: "Existence is mysterious, isn't it?".

Bonus fact: 'Zenyatta Mondatta' was the name of a Police album, and these omnics' names are likely a nod to it.

Answer: Hanzo

Hanzo was the moody and sullen brother of Genji whose iconic ult meant 'May the dragons consume you!'. Where Genji used draconic power in his Dragonblade, Hanzo commanded the power of twin spirit dragons who travelled in a line penetrating structures and dealing extreme damage over time to anyone in their way.

In the moving 'Dragons' animated short, the two faced off in a duel showcasing all their in-game abilities. Ten years prior, wracked with guilt over thinking he had killed Genji in a previous conflict, he left the Shimada clan and relied on his skill with the bow to survive. Every year, he returned to Shimada Castle (as seen in the Hanamura map) to light incense and honour his passing. When Genji in his cybernetic suit appeared and questioned his actions, he merely saw him as an intruder, but realised Genji's true nature after he had turned his twin dragons back at him and revealed his face. Having studied with Zenyatta and come to peace with Hanzo's former actions, Genji offered his forgiveness to Hanzo and, after advising him that he would need to pick a side in this changing world, disappeared leaving but a feather.