After teasing a new Overwatch 2 hero unofficially known as Space Ranger, Blizzard has revealed the true identity of the game’s latest character — an adorable little astronaut named Juno. The new support hero will be joining Overwatch 2 for good at the start of Season 12 on August 20, but players will have their first chance to try out her new kit this weekend, during a trial period running from July 19 to 21.
Players have been preparing for Juno’s reveal since Blizzard announced Space Ranger at BlizzCon 2023, followed by months of hints. Just last week, the developer added a small crashed spaceship to the Dorado map, signaling that Space Ranger was about to come in for a landing. The ship also included a photo of existing hero Mei with Jiayi, a character who hasn’t shown up in-game but is a friend of Mei’s in Overwatch lore. After some initial speculation that Space Ranger was Jiayi herself, it now seems that Juno may be her daughter instead.
Juno is focused on healing and buffing allies while zipping around the map with excellent mobility, as a trailer revealing the new hero showed off. Her main attack, Mediblaster, is a rapid-fire pistol that heals allies and damages enemies. Her Pulsar Torpedoes lock on to all units in range, applying a buff to allies while hurting enemies. Juno’s Orbital Ray Ultimate shoots a beam down from space which moves slowly across the battlefield, healing friendly players while boosting their damage. As for movement, Glide Boost gives Juno limited aerial capabilities by letting her glide horizontally after jumping, while her Hyper Ring deploys a hoop that increases the movement speed of allies who pass through it.
Overall, Juno’s kit looks quite satisfying to use for support players who don’t want to sacrifice the fun of hopping around the arena at lightspeed. While she doesn’t have much offensive capability on her own, her buffs should be an asset to any team while her movement skills will make her an absolute pain to take down.
By and large, Overwatch 2 players seem pretty pleased with the new addition. Fans are already praising her kit even before trying it out in-game, and there’s just as much excitement around her design. Juno’s in-game model has her permanently in a snazzy blue and orange spacesuit complete with bubble helmet, futuristic raygun, and giant moon boots. Social media started filling up with fan art of Juno as soon as she was revealed — friendly reminder to give your search filter a once-over before looking it up, as plenty of that art is of the not-safe-for-work variety.
However, not everyone is pleased with Juno. Some players argue that her skills are simply overpowered, since she combines the ability to heal, buff, damage, and quickly evade danger. Others are adding to the criticism that Overwatch has already faced plenty of over the years for how it handles race in its character designs. Despite making some strides toward having a diverse cast, its heroes are still largely white, and Blizzard has gotten plenty of critiques for how it handles characters of color as well. While the reception to Juno on social media has largely been positive, some take issue with how she’s depicted in-game.
Some players point to Juno’s design featuring light skin, enormous eyes, and a round nose as just another an example of whitewashing — something that critics say is common for the East Asian women in Overwatch’s cast. Others say it’s simply an example of Blizzard making its female characters too similar in both facial features and body shape, and leaning toward sexualized designs — emphasized in Juno’s case by her extremely tight spacesuit.
Despite those criticisms, it’s clear that Juno’s introduction has been a successful one for Blizzard. The majority of players seem to be pleased with her looks and and even happier with her abilities, at least in concept. Players will have until Sunday to test out the new hero before she’s permanently added to the game in August, which should be plenty of time to see whether the hype of Juno’s introduction makes her a lasting favorite.
