Blizzard revealed Overwatch 2‘s Hero 45 in a brief cinematic trailer: a new hero named Vendetta, aka La Lupa. She hails from Italy, seems to have Talon connections in the family, uses a gigantic sword made of light, and is slated to debut in December at the start of Overwatch 2 season 20.
The trailer shows Vendetta fighting on the Colosseo map withn a sword made of hard-light, Overwatch-speak for a solid substance made from, well, light. It’s what Symmetra uses to create constructs in battle, and hard-light is tied to the Vishkar corporation in Overwatch lore alongside Lifeweaver’s biolight tech. How that fits in with Vendetta’s story, which, apparently, involves working through issues her father left behind, remains to be seen, though you can probably expect a fair bit of new lore to drop with Vendetta. Blizzard is starting to take Overwatch 2’s story more seriously, three years after launch, and even added a new story section to the game menu that includes hero background shorts and other post-Omnic Crisis tidbits.
“Denied her inheritance and cast aside, La Lupa clawed her way into legend through the brutal world of arena combat in the Colosseo,” Blizzard’s official description reads. “With every victory, her influence grew. But beyond the arena, whispers of Vendetta’s past proliferate, hinting at a history that ties her legacy directly to the original Overwatch conflict against Talon. Having carved out her place among the arena’s elite, she cuts down enemies with ruthless, regal precision. Beneath the surface, her ambitions run deeper. Each gladiatorial victory is a calculated step towards something greater.”
Assuming Vendetta’s kit is the way it looks in her trailer, it seems like she might be the first all-melee damage character and the second melee-only character in the game. (Reinhardt’s fire strike means he doesn’t count.) She won’t be limited to smacking up-close enemies like Brigitte is, though. The trailer shows Vendetta hurling her sword at a distant foe, before flying through the air to grab it again and follow up.
Vendetta is Overwatch 2’s third new hero for 2025, following Freja’s release during season 16 and Wuyang‘s at the start of season 18. Blizzard released three new heroes in 2024 as well, but Vendetta breaks the pattern a bit. 2024’s heroes included a tank, a support, and a damage dealer, but Vendetta is this year’s second damage character, bringing the total number of playable characters in that category to 20.