McCree/Hanzo
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada |
| Alternative name(s): | McHanzo |
| Gender category: | slash, m/m |
| Fandom: | Overwatch |
| Canonical?: | non canon |
| Prevalence: | very popular |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
McCree/Hanzo is a very popular Slash pairing in the Overwatch fandom. It features Offense hero Jesse McCree and Defense hero Hanzo Shimada.
Canon
Jesse McCree is an American vigilante, who was originally part of the smuggling Deadlock gang. After being captured during an Overwatch operation, he was given the option to work for Blackwatch[1], Overwatch's covert ops division. He accepted, however later on, he became disillusioned with Blackwatch and disappeared underground.[2]
Hanzo Shimada is the heir to the Shimada empire, a clan of assassins. After nearly murdering his brother Genji Shimada (although believing he had killed him) Hanzo left the Shimada clan and now travels the world.[3]
It is not known whether Hanzo and Jesse know each other in canon. They could not have met through Overwatch as Hanzo does not have any canon affiliation with them except for Genji's involvement. Their in-game voice line interactions do not indicate prior knowledge of each other.
Fandom
McCree and Hanzo gained attention early on in the game's release, although it is not because their character dynamics synergise in-game. They are both DPS heroes that do not work together well. Instead, people tend to ship them due to their strong contrasts. Both characters are anachronisms - McCree of the wild west cowboy, Hanzo of ancient Japan - and symbolise the West and East, respectively. As well as this, their play styles are dramatically different.
Blizzard forum user BoilingHeart[4] wrote:
the main appeal comes from a number of things: Aesthetic, East meets West dynamic, opposites attract and parallel backgrounds.So, they're both criminals, and canonically the Deadlock Gang and Shimada Clan are compared to each other on how they operated. McCree was given his path of redemption thanks to Overwatch - Hanzo still has a long way to go on that notion. So that idea helps the ship along because they would have common ground.
Then their play styles really contrast each other. McCree is offense, requires being up in the enemy's space. He's loud and reckless. Hanzo is defense, patience is required and he stays back for the most part. That's the opposites attract part of it, and also helps the ship.
McHanzo is one of the most popular Overwatch ships - and arguably the most popular. It has more fanworks than any other paring on AO3[5] and has a large following on tumblr.
Popular tropes in McHanzo works include fluff and angst. Violence is common in canon universe stories due to the violent nature of the game. Other popular tropes include Werewolf!McCree, enemies to lovers, and allusions to self-hatred or low self esteem.
Following McCree's official name change to Cole Cassidy on October 26, 2021, new fanworks featuring him and Hanzo have started to transition to using his new name, although some still choose to use Jesse McCree.
Notable Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Hang the Fool by AlmaMeDuele
- Four Days by Starscry
Fanart
- Dilfosaur makes many popular McHanzo fanart pieces
Vids
- N I C O T I N E by witch
- Helpless by Niansue
- I walk the line by witch
- Dream a little dream by Pyro Somniac
- Pillowtalk by ღCutecatღ
Other
- McHanzine is a McCree/Hanzo zine published by Kichisu.
- Strange Oddities, a charity zine
Archives and Communities
- McHanzo community on Tumblr
- McCree/Hanzo on Ao3
- McHanzo on reddit