Who Is Alyssa Wong?

Alyssa Wong is an American writer who works across short fiction, comics, poetry, and video games. She broke into the speculative fiction scene in the mid-2010s with horror and dark fantasy stories that picked up serious attention fast. Her 2015 short story Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers won both the Nebula Award and the World Fantasy Award, which is the kind of one-two punch most writers spend whole careers chasing.

She grew up in the American Southwest and later moved east for graduate school, finishing her MFA in fiction at North Carolina State University in 2017. From there, things moved quickly. By the next summer she was on the Overwatch writing team at Blizzard Entertainment, and within a couple of years she was also writing for Marvel Comics.

If you ask gamers, she is the Overwatch writer. If you ask comic readers, she is the Doctor Aphra writer. Both groups are right. Icon Polls findings suggest her audience now skews fairly evenly between gaming and comics fans, which is unusual and gives her a wider reach than most writers in either lane.

Alyssa Wong Age in 2026

Alyssa Wong tends to keep her exact birth date private, and she has not made a public fuss about her age the way some creators do. Based on her career timeline, which starts publishing in 2014 and earning major awards by 2015, she is in her thirties in 2026. That puts her in that sweet spot where a writer has enough miles to be taken seriously but still has decades of work ahead.

For readers who want a tight answer, most public estimates land her birth year in the late 1980s to very early 1990s. We will not pin it down further than she has, but anyone asking “how old is Alyssa Wong” in 2026 is looking at someone roughly in the 32 to 36 range.

Alyssa Wong Ethnicity and Background

Alyssa Wong is Chinese and Filipino American. She has spoken openly about how her mother is Filipino, and that heritage has shown up directly in her work. When Marvel asked her to co-write the origin of Wave, the Filipina superhero introduced during War of the Realms, it was a real moment. A Filipina writer telling the story of a Filipina hero inside the Marvel universe is not something that happens often, and Alyssa has said the chance to do it meant a lot.

She was raised in the Southwest, and while she was brought up in a religious household, she has said in interviews that she no longer identifies with that faith. The horror flavor in her fiction, she has joked, may have started with the Bible.

Alyssa Wong the Writer

Calling Alyssa a writer almost undersells it. She moves between forms in a way most authors do not. Short stories, novelettes, comics, game scripts, poetry. Her early short fiction earned her a finalist spot for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016, plus nominations and wins at the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson Awards across just a few years.

In comics, her Marvel run has been steady and growing. She took over Star Wars: Doctor Aphra in 2020 for the new ongoing series, then moved into Deadpool in 2022, Iron Fist the same year, and Psylocke starting in 2024. She has also been the writer behind the Alligator Loki webtoon series on Marvel Unlimited, which became a quiet fan favorite.

Icon Polls findings show that among Marvel readers who follow individual writers, she is one of the names that comes up most often in the “writers whose new books I will buy on sight” category.

Alyssa Wong and Overwatch

Her hiring at Blizzard in July 2018 was a big deal for Overwatch fans, who care about the lore in a way most shooter players do not. Alyssa joined as one of the lead story writers, working alongside the team responsible for the characters, comics, animated shorts, and short fiction that flesh out the game beyond the matches.

During her run she wrote What You Left Behind, the Baptiste short story that gave the medic his backstory and connected him to the wider Overwatch conflict. She also contributed to the origin material for Sigma. Her work appeared in the official Overwatch Short Story Collection, the print anthology that put some of the game’s biggest character moments on bookshelves for the first time.

She has since moved on from Blizzard, but the stories she wrote there are still part of the canon Overwatch fans cite and quote. If you have ever felt moved by Baptiste’s arc, you have felt her work.

Alyssa Wong Net Worth in 2026

Like most working writers, Alyssa is not the kind of public figure who broadcasts her finances. Her income comes from a mix of comic scripting fees at Marvel, royalties from short fiction collections and anthologies, her past Blizzard salary, and rights deals on her short stories. Some of those stories have been optioned and adapted in different formats over the years.

Based on standard rates for top tier Marvel writers, her award winning short fiction back catalogue, and her years at Blizzard, Icon Polls estimates her net worth in 2026 sits between 1 million and 2 million US dollars. That is a reasonable range for a mid career genre writer with steady ongoing series at a major comics publisher and a respected back catalogue. It is not Stephen King money, but it is comfortable, working writer money built on a real body of work.

Frequently Asked Questions About Alyssa Wong

1. Who is Alyssa Wong?

Alyssa Wong is an American writer of speculative fiction, comics, and video games. She is best known for her Marvel Comics work, her award winning short stories, and her time as a writer on Overwatch.

2. How old is Alyssa Wong in 2026?

Based on her career timeline, Alyssa Wong is in her thirties in 2026, most commonly estimated in the 32 to 36 range. She has not publicly confirmed an exact birth date.

3. What is Alyssa Wong’s ethnicity?

She is Chinese and Filipino American. Her mother is Filipino, and that heritage has shaped some of her comics work, including her run on the Filipina superhero Wave.

4. Where is Alyssa Wong from?

She was born in Surprise, Arizona, and grew up in the American Southwest. She now lives in Southern California.

5. What is Alyssa Wong’s net worth in 2026?

Icon Polls estimates her net worth is between 1 million and 2 million US dollars, based on her ongoing Marvel work, past Blizzard role, and award winning back catalogue.

6. Did Alyssa Wong really write for Overwatch?

Yes. Blizzard Entertainment hired her in July 2018 as one of the writers on Overwatch. She wrote the Baptiste short story What You Left Behind and contributed to other lore, including material around Sigma.

7. Is Alyssa Wong still at Blizzard?

No. She has since left Blizzard, though her Overwatch stories remain part of the official canon.

8. What Marvel comics has Alyssa Wong written?

She has written Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (starting 2020), Deadpool (2022), Iron Fist (2022), the Alligator Loki webtoon series on Marvel Unlimited, and Psylocke (starting 2024).

9. What awards has Alyssa Wong won?

She has won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story, the World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, and the Locus Award for Best Novelette. She has also been a finalist for the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and John W. Campbell Awards.

10. What is Alyssa Wong’s most famous short story?

Her best known short story is Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers, which won both the 2015 Nebula Award and the 2016 World Fantasy Award.

11. Where did Alyssa Wong go to school?

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from North Carolina State University in 2017.

12. What pronouns does Alyssa Wong use?

She uses she and they pronouns. Different bios and publishers use one or both, and both are accurate.

13. Is Alyssa Wong the dancer the same person?

No. There is a younger TikTok dancer who shares the same name, but she is a completely different person and not the subject of this article. The Alyssa Wong covered here is the writer.

14. What genre does Alyssa Wong write in?

Her favorite genre is horror, but she also writes dark fantasy, science fiction, superhero comics, and video game narrative. Most of her work falls under the speculative fiction umbrella.

15. Is Alyssa Wong married?

She has indicated on social media in the past that she is married, but she keeps her personal life largely private and rarely discusses it in interviews.

16. What is Alyssa Wong working on in 2026?

Her ongoing run on Psylocke at Marvel is one of her most visible current projects, alongside continued short fiction. Icon Polls findings show readers are also watching for any return to game writing.

17. Has Alyssa Wong written any novels?

She is best known for her short fiction, comics, and game writing rather than novels. Her short stories have appeared in collections and major genre magazines.

18. What is the Overwatch Short Story Collection?

It is a five story anthology that gathers official Overwatch fiction in print for the first time. Alyssa Wong is one of the contributing authors, alongside Michael Chu, Brandon Easton, and Christie Golden.

19. Why is Alyssa Wong important in comics?

She is one of the most visible Asian American writers working at Marvel today, with a steady run of ongoing series and a strong track record of writing complex female and queer characters. Her work on Wave was a notable moment for Filipino representation in mainstream comics.

20. Where can readers find Alyssa Wong’s work?

Her short fiction has been published in magazines including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Nightmare Magazine, and Tor.com. Her comics are available through Marvel, and her Overwatch fiction is in the Overwatch Short Story Collection and the game’s official lore archives.