Why Medic is better than Mercy

As a person who goes around the internet calling himself “Medic”, I get asked a lot about Mercy from Overwatch. I often get asked if Mercy is attractive and if Medic and Mercy would ever get together. I’ve actually answered that question before, and the answer is a flat out no. Their personalities are wildly different. There’s no way Mercy would even take a second look at Medic. Assuming Medic even makes it that long (since canonically he gives himself 50 more years to live back in the 1970’s and Overwatch is set in the future). Medic and Moira though? That… would be interesting.

People also ask me who’s better, Medic or Mercy. Sure, I’m pretty biased, but honestly? Medic is better.

Why? Because Medic is more honest than Mercy.

Just to be clear, I’m talking about lore terms here. It’s difficult to compare the two characters gameplay wise because death comes a lot faster in TF2 and characters in general have less health and no armour, while Overwatch has like a billion healing sources.

The Medic, as presented in Team Fortress 2’s comics, videos and voice lines, is a scarily intelligent lunatic. A mad scientist. He doesn’t hide that though. He openly admits to what he’s doing, that he’s just satisfying his eternal morbid curiosity.

Mercy though, she’s different. She’s insanely smart, yes, but she bends to peer pressure and doesn’t stand up to her ideals. What’s what? Mercy’s been asked to put her healing tech inside a gun? I thought Mercy didn’t like violence and didn’t want her healing tech to be placed inside weapons! She does it anyway. She thinks Overwatch is too militaristic but she sticks around, doesn’t she? Probably because they pay for her work and research.

Actually, that’s also a whole different way to look at these things. Mercy worked hard to get into University, but later on she could build all sorts of things because she had the backing of a global peacekeeping organization behind her. She could design anything and designs a staff that shoots healing beams and a bodysuit with wings on it. Impressive, but given enough money and future technology, someone else would have created something similar anyway. Like a street urchin with roller blades who built a music machine that heals people. My point is, Mercy had a fuckton of backing from all sorts of people and she’s still using a heavy staff to heal things.

In the mean time, Medic is making functional healing tools out of junk. In the 1960’s. While also weaponizing syringes AND making healing crossbow bolts. The Biotic Rifle doesn’t sound that impressive when some German schmuck in the 1960’s has the same thing using medieval tech.

Actually, weaponry is also a good point. The Caduceus Blaster is clearly there for gameplay reasons, but it seems like a very odd weapon of choice for someone who abhors violence. Medic doesn’t give a shit if he’s hurting you with syringes. Mercy uses an energy blaster that shoots 5 shots per second. She has access to all of Overwatch’s technology and weaponry and she picks a blaster that can very easily kill. Not some sort of weapon that knocks people away or anything.

Weird.

Really though, a lot of Mercy’s strength comes from her suit. Which, as far as I’m aware, there’s only one of. Medic runs around in a lab coat, dodging actual bullets. Which is dumb, yes, but cool. Actually, I say that, I don’t actually know how bulletproof Mercy’s Valkyrie suit is…

As to who would win in a fist fight? Medic. Easily. Medic is actually a very fit person. He’s capable of lifting Soldier (a big person) off the ground and he spends most of the time carrying a modified fire hose and backpack. That stuff’s heavy. And he’s the second fasted class in TF2, as fast as the Spy, who is skinny and runs around in a suit. Mercy’s only real tactic, assuming you could get her to agree to a fistfight in the first place, would be to kick Medic in the bollocks. Which I wouldn’t put past her doing.

I think a big issue though is their crowning moments. Both Medic and Mercy have brought people back from the dead. Or the brink of death. Gameplay wise Medic only does this in Mann VS Machine but they’re both capable of doing so. In lore though, Mercy’s biggest feat, saving Genji, isn’t… as impressive.

You see, Genji was on the brink of death. He wasn’t dead yet. The route they took to save him though was to rebuild his body and turn Genji into a cyborg. Genji later on ended up with mental problems because he was a cyborg. Mercy, again, had the backing of Overwatch while she worked on Genji. She had the power and technology to do what she needed. A world where cyborg enhancements were already a thing.

Meanwhile, Medic brought Sniper back from the dead, after he’d been dead for 12 hours, using assorted animal parts, some time in the 1970’s. It cost a few million dollars, but that’s probably a fraction of what Overwatch spent on saving Genji. And Genji wasn’t even dead like Sniper was!

You tell me which one’s more impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m totally really overly biased, aren’t I?