William Overbeck

William Overbeck, also known as Bill, is one of the main characters from the Left 4 Dead series.
== Charactah Account ==
Bill is a Green Beret Vietnam vet. Having had nothing to do since he was discharged from the military for a knee injury, the zombies have given him a new purpose in life: to see them all dead. At least in the intro, he was featured as essentially the leader of the survivors.
Bill won't let anything stand in the way of keeping his friends safe. Not even the pleas of Zoey can coerce him to slow the train to let another survivor onboard.
Bill is typically shown using an M16A2 as his weapon. Upon picking up one, he'll sometimes mention how it reminds him of old times (which makes sense as the American military used it starting from Vietnam). 
== Appearance ==
=== Comics ===
* Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice
=== Video Games ===
* Dead by Daylight
* Left 4 Dead
* Left 4 Dead 2
* Left 4 Dead: Survivors
* Payda: The Heist
* Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead
* Zombie Army 4: Dead War
* Zombie Army Trilogy
== Trivia ==
* Jim French, who voices Bill, was a relatively frequent voice actor in Valve games, having also voiced Father Grigori from Half-Life 2, The Elder Titan from Dota 2, and The Fisherman from Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.
* Contrary to popular belief, Bill cannot be revived with a Defibrillator during "The Passing".
* Bill is always seen smoking a cigarette in-game. Even when he is dead, it is still in his mouth. In "The Passing", however, his cigarette is missing from his corpse. When he dies in-game, it is no longer lit. Aside from when he dies, the only other time his cigarette has been shown to not be lit is in the opening video for Left 4 Dead.
* Bill believes that the Survivors may become Infected at any second. In the earlier versions, seen in cut lines, he was close to being paranoid about the fact they may be Infected, while the virus is mutating in their bodies. Currently, the closest Bill comes to mentioning anything about themselves regarding the Infection is in "No Mercy", where one of his possible lines is him telling his fellow Survivors to shoot him if he turns Infected.
* Bill is currently the only Survivor on the mainstream continuity with a confirmed last name. "Overbeck" can be found on his military jacket, and he was addressed as "Mr. Overbeck" in The Sacrifice comic. Other than Bill, the only characters whose surnames were revealed are the protagonists introduced in Left 4 Dead: Survivors.
* Bill's original issue combat jacket bears no badges of rank (or suggestion that they might once have been sewn on and then removed). This suggests that, as an enlisted man, Bill did not achieve even the most basic step up in promotion. Such a situation would be most unusual for a long-service soldier during the Vietnam War period, especially one with time served in the Special Forces. It may just be a developer oversight.
* When viewing Bill's world model, one can see that Bill has a severe limp when he is at critical health. The other Survivors also stagger, but this is further proof that he injured his right leg in his line of work at some point.
* Team Fortress 2 players who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 received a unique in-game item called Bill's hat. It has its own small backstory: "While conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill's Hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe."
* Bill may have had contact with a Witch prior to the events of Left 4 Dead. There are slash marks in the back of his jacket consistent with her claws. Furthermore, in the intro he tells Zoey to turn off her flashlight when he notices the crying is coming from a Witch; however, this may be because he saw her claws or her general inhuman appearance.
** Alternatively, these claw marks could have come from a Hunter.
* If one uses transformation console commands on Bill to turn him into a different Survivor, they would see that Bill possess a unique facial animation. The right side of his mouth tends to be raised, almost as if he is smiling (probably due to his cigarette) and his brows are constantly lowered.
* At the time of the Infection, Bill appears to be a resident of the city of Fairfield, or the greater Philadelphia area.
** During the "No Mercy" campaign, Bill has detailed knowledge of the Fairfield area, including the Red Line Subway and Mercy Hospital.
* If you listen the Midnight Riders song "Save Me Some Sugar" in the opposite direction from 2:14 to 2:08, you can hear the phrase "Bill is Dead". Perhaps this is a reference to the legend of Paul is Dead, according to which the bass guitarist and vocalist of the Beatles Paul McCartney died.
* Bill was voted the most popular Survivor in Left 4 Dead 2 for Xbox 360 and second most popular for PC on the Week 20 poll.
* Valve created an achievement for Bill in "The Sacrifice" where players are awarded the "Kill Bill" achievement if Bill performs the sacrificing. This is a nod to Bill dying in the storyline. This is the only achievement in either Left 4 Dead game where it is tied to a specific character.
** The achievement name is also a reference to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series.
* Bill smokes Romero brand cigarettes, as seen in The Sacrifice trailer. This is a nod to famous zombie movie director George A. Romero.
* Bill is mentioned as "namvet" in the resources and code. He has 26 facial expressions, the highest of any original Survivor. 19 of these are unique to his character [sneering, shock, angry battle, hurt, fear 1-2-3, angry 1, shock dialogue, hurt dialogue, hurt 2 dialogue, happy dialogue, evil smile, eh [sic], smile 2, awe 1, awe 2, sarcastic 1, sarcastic 2]. He shares anger 3, gruff dialogue with Francis; happy with Zoey; and concerned dialogue and optimistic dialogue with Louis and Francis. None of his facial expressions are shared exclusively with Louis.
* If a Survivor other than Bill is being sacrificed in the finale of "The Sacrifice", Bill exclaims that it wasn't supposed to be them.
* In "The Sacrifice", Bill will occasionally make an ironic remark, "You know who runs around filling up things with gas? Idiots," as the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors are obligated to do just that in the finales for "Dead Center" and "The Passing".
* If Bill is spawned as a L4D1 Survivor Bot in a Custom Campaigns, he is still capable of tossing the player supplies like Francis and Zoey, despite not appearing alive in The Passing. This dates back to an original concept where a random Survivor would be dead in The Passing. Bill was eventually picked because Valve had trouble contacting Jim French, even for the "Crash Course" campaign.
* Bill became a playable character in the game Dead by Daylight, included in the Left Behind update.
* Bill appeared in PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2. He can be seen in civilian attire within an elevator of a heist named "No Mercy" in both games.
* Seen on his model's texture, Bill smokes an El Kirchmer Tradicional brand cigarette.
* Upon closer inspection of Bill's beta model, the shirt he wears under his jacket has a green beret insignia.
* Since The Last Stand Update, Bill's M-16 that can be picked in the finale of "The Passing" comes with a different model consisting of a bright silver hue, with blood splattered at various parts of the rifle.
== Gallery ==
File:William Overbeck Render 01.png
File:William Overbeck Render 02.png
File:William Overbeck Render 03.png
File:William Overbeck 01.png
File:William Overbeck 02.png
== External Links ==
* Bill at Left 4 Dead Wiki
Category:Characters
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Category:Left 4 Dead