Athena (Updated 2/17)

Athena is a character who had been teased for quite a while in the beta before appearing alongside Winston in the short “Recall”. She takes the role of announcer in the game. Her voice is also heard in the MV-261 Orca which acts as the spawn rooms for most Control maps.

2/17 Update:

• Added link to concept art album under Concept Art
• Combined Overwatch Beta and In-Game clues sections
• Added "Recall" portrait speculation under Notes and Speculation

Concept Art

A design of a white feminine robot was spotted in the group shot seen at the end of the Cinematic Trailer. 

White robot concept art believed to be Athena (source)

See more instances of this concept art here.

In-Game Clues

In Watchpoint: Gibraltar during the beta, players noticed a screen that contained the text "Athena: Winston, please respond..."

The first screen discovered (source)

This screen was later changed in a patch to show a black background with a blue A-shaped logo atop the name Athena. This was one of the changes done to the map in preparation for the release of "Recall".

The updated screen (source)

The assumed Athena concept was evidently used for one of the types of scrapped omnics that are scattered around the Temple of Anubis.

Omnic torsos from the Temple of Anubis

Notes and Speculation

• Her exact role in the lore is not clearly explained, leading to much speculation about what she is and where she came from. The simplest explanation is that she is the AI controller behind Overwatch's computer systems. 
• Being that Athena seems to be an AI program of some sort and is named after a Greek goddess, it is also theorized that she is a God program like Anubis from the comic "Mission Statement".
• The 14th portrait in "Recall" is also believed to be an Athena concept.