welcome to the forums!
it's not shure if there will be heros. i have a few thoughts about them but this is a feature which needs extensive testing and balancing, so it's not shure till yet.
a planed feature for beta3 are so called "admirals" you select at the begining of a game. each admiral provides special features, modifications to the techtree, bonuses or even extra ships to build.. if there will be heros they will be attached to the admirals.
Thanks.
Admirals sounds very cool, where would it be selected? Under the type of techtree for a game or in the races area?