Heroes Overview

[poisontaster]

WARNING: This Overview contains spoilers through episode 1.18 "Parasite".

PLOT OVERVIEW

Heroes is a sci-fi drama created by Tim Kring that currently airs on NBC. It's a character driven show that draws heavily on American comic book and sci-fi tropes, even down to its online presence and the in-show comic, 9th Wonders, that drives some of the plot.

The story is a familiar one; ordinary people from ordinary backgrounds waking up one day to find they're not as ordinary as they think. Miraculous powers, like telepathy, flight, fire-starting, invisibility. Of course, to quote the amazing Stan Lee, "With great power, comes great responsibility" and soon enough our 'heroes' find themselves drawn from their personal dilemmas into saving mankind and preventing potential catastrophes.

The show currently has an ensemble cast of twelve main characters, but Kring has admitted in interviews that the cast is by no means permanent and other heroes will be featured and some of the current cast might be eliminated.

The plot of Heroes also echoes the plot of many comic books, with smaller episode or character driven arcs within a larger overreaching arc. This can be both confusing to the new viewer and complicated. So. Let's start with a quick rundown of the characters.

Character Glossary

Claire Bennet: Adopted daughter of Mr. and Sandra Bennet. Real daughter of Meredith Gordon. She has super self-healing abilities.

Nathan Petrelli: Husband of Heidi Petrelli. Father of Monty Petrelli, Simon Petrelli, and Claire Bennet. Son of Angela Petrelli. Nathan can fly.

Peter Petrelli: Brother of Nathan Petrelli. Son of Angela Petrelli. Peter can mimic others’ powers.

Angela Petrelli: Mother of Peter and Nathan Petrelli. Grandmother of Claire Bennet, Simon Petrelli, and Monty Petrelli. Widow. No known powers.

Heidi Petrelli: Wife of Nathan Petrelli. Mother of Simon and Monty Petrelli. No known powers.

Simon and Monty Petrelli: Sons of Nathan and Heidi Petrelli. Grandsons of Angela Petrelli. Nephews of Peter Petrelli. Half-brothers of Claire Bennet. Simon is older than Monty. No known powers.

Mr. Bennet: Father of Lyle Bennet. Adopted father of Claire Bennet. No known powers.

Sandra Bennet: Wife of Mr. Bennet. Mother of Lyle Bennet. Adopted mother of Claire Bennet. No known powers.

Lyle Bennet: Son of Mr. and Sandra Bennet. Adopted brother of Claire Bennet. No known powers.

Meredith Gordon: Ex-girlfriend of Nathan Petrelli. Mother of Claire Bennet. Meredith can create fire with her fingers.

Mr. Linderman: Supporter of Nathan Petrelli’s political campaign. Rumored to have powers.

Thompson: Boss of Mr. Bennet. No known powers.

Candace Wilmer: Partner of Mr. Bennet. Can appear like other people and create illusions.

Claude: Former partner of Mr. Bennet. Hero mentor of Peter Petrelli. Can make himself invisible.

Hana Gitelman: Former prisoner of Primatech. She has cyberpathy.

Ted Sprague: Former prisoner of Primatech. He can manipulate radiation.

Eden McCain: Deceased. Employee of Primatech. She has power of persuation.

Aron Malsky: Attorney for Mr. Linderman. No known powers.

Mohinder Suresh: Geneticist. Son of the deceased Chandra Suresh. Brother of the deceased Shanti. Ex-boyfriend of Mira. No known powers.

Chandra Suresh: Deceased. Author of Activating Evolution. Father of Mohinder Suresh. No known powers.

Mira: Ex-girlfriend of Mohinder Suresh. No known powers.

Shanti: Deceased. Sister of Mohinder Suresh. Daughter of Chandra Suresh. Supposedly had powers.

Matt Parkman: Police officer. Works with Audrey Hanson. Husband of Janice. Has power of telepathy.

Janice Parkman: Wife of Matt Parkman. No known powers.

Audrey Hanson: FBI agent. Works with Matt Parkman. No known powers.

Zach: Friend of Claire Bennet. No known powers.

Simone Deveaux: Deceased. Daughter of the deceased Charles Deveaux. Ex-girlfriend of Isaac Mendez. Ex-girlfriend of Peter Petrelli. No known powers.

D. L. Hawkins: Husband of Niki Sanders. Father of Micah Sanders. Has power of phasing.

Isaac Mendez: Artist. Ex-boyfriend of Simone Deveaux. Recovering heroine addict. Has power of precognition.

Hiro Nakamura: Programmer from Tokyo. Son of Kaito Nakamura. Brother of Kimiko Nakamura. Has ability to bend space and time.

Micah Sanders: Son of Niki Sanders and D. L. Hawkins. Has power of cyberpathy.

Niki/Jessica Sanders: Wife of D. L. Hawkins. Mother of Micah Sanders. Has split personality. She has superhuman strength.

The Haitian: Employee of Primatech. Has power of memory removal. Seems to be able to negate powers of others in his presence.

Ando Masahashi: Sidekick of Hiro Nakamura. No known powers.

Sylar AKA Gabriel Gray: Serial killer of heroes. He steals ability of those he kills.

Charlene “Charlie” Andrews: Deceased. Waitress. Had brief affair with Hiro Nakamura. Ability to memorize anything.

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Now that everyone's been introduced, let's get to some specifics.

	Nathan Petrelli: Nathan is a hotass politician currently in the midst of a campaign to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He lives in New York with his wife, Heidi, and their two sons, Monty and Simon. His mother is Angela, his father's name is as yet unknown, his younger brother is Peter, and his illegitimate daughter is Claire Bennet. Oh, and Nathan can fly. Nathan goes through great pains to conceal this fact from anyone (including Peter), as well as trying to keep secret his father's Mafia connections to the mysterious Mr. Linderman, Peter's indiscretions and experiments with his own developing powers, and his super-sekrit deal with the FBI to help bring Linderman to justice. Yes, that Nathan…he's a hard-working guy. Six months ago, Nathan was working for the D.A.'s office pursuing prosecution of Mr. Linderman, a "business acquaintance" of his father's. While driving home from a party with his wife, Heidi, their car was attacked, prompting the first known use of Nathan's powers as he involuntarily flies from the car, leaving Heidi alone in the passenger's seat as the car crashes. Heidi is crippled in the accident and Nathan, being a Petrelli, blames himself. At the series start, Nathan's powers are revealed to Peter when Peter attempts unsuccessfully to fly and Nathan has to save him from certain death. Nathan flatly refuses to reveal his powers, focused on his family and campaign, resulting in one of many rifts with Peter. Nathan is invited to Vegas to meet with Linderman and is enticed to sleep with Niki Sanders in her alter ego as Jessica. Linderman attempts to blackmail Nathan, but Nathan turns the tables and gets Linderman to fund his campaign to the tune of four million dollars. His departure from Vegas is even more dramatic as he evades an attempt by Mr. Bennet to have him kidnapped by flying away. Back in New York, Nathan pours his efforts into alternately helping Peter in his quest to "Save the cheerleader, save the world" and "protecting" him from it. Peter takes off to Texas, gets in trouble and Nathan follows to bail him out. In Texas, Peter falls deathly ill and Nathan searches for the means to save him. His search leads him back to paintings of Peter's friend, the artist Isaac Mendez. While Nathan is away, Peter wakes from his coma and vanishes. Trying any source to locate him, Nathan enlists the help of geneticist Mohinder Suresh, whom Peter has previously been in contact with. Mohinder has not heard from Peter, but he tells Nathan he might be able to create a cure for their "condition" if he could study Peter. Nathan is distracted from his search for Peter by a phone call from Meredith Gordon, a former flame. It's revealed that Meredith and Nathan had a child together (Claire Bennet) and that, although Claire was believed to be dead, she is very much alive and has been recently in touch with Meredith. Meredith immediately extorts Nathan for a hundred thousand dollars. Not long afterwards, Linderman puts a hit out on Nathan, to be executed by 'Jessica' Sanders, and invites Nathan to Las Vegas for another meeting. It's revealed that since Heidi's accident, Nathan has been working with the FBI to entrap and prosecute Linderman. However, Linderman uses Jessica to eliminate the FBI agents before his meeting with Nathan. Niki surfaces from Jessica long enough to warn Nathan and hand off her gun. Nathan goes to meet Linderman. At their meeting, Linderman threatens the safety of Nathan's family if he goes against Linderman's plans. When Nathan threatens to kill Linderman, he then tempts Nathan by telling him that with Linderman’s help, Nathan will be in the White House and in line for the Presidency within the next two years. Nathan puts down the gun.
	Peter Petrelli (AKA "The Little Black Dress of Heroes"): Peter is the son of Angela Petrelli and Mr. Petrelli and Nathan Petrelli's much younger brother. Peter is probably best described as an idealist; he wants to save everyone, much to Nathan's dismay. At the beginning of the series, Peter is working as a hospice nurse in New York City, taking care of the art dealer Simone Deveaux's father. He has dreams about flying (which Nathan dismisses as psychological trauma) but when he tries it for real, he finds that he can only fly if Nathan is with him. It's discovered that Peter has the ability to mimic the powers of others he comes in contact with. After a contact with Hiro Nakamura's future self, Peter is tasked with the mission "Save the cheerleader, save the world". This leads him back to his friend Isaac Mendez, with whom he's had a falling out over Simone's affections. He and Isaac become convinced that a nuclear explosion predicted in Isaac's paintings is related to saving this mysterious cheerleader. With Simone's help, Peter tracks the cheerleader to Odessa, Texas, where he helps save Claire Bennet (unknown as yet to be his niece) from the serial killer Sylar. Sylar escapes and Peter is arrested in his stead. Nathan, ever the protective brother, comes to Peter's rescue and bails him out. On their way from the jailhouse, Peter has a vision of himself at the center of the New York explosion, surrounded by most of the other Heroes. He falls into a coma in which he has several more variations on the same vision, one of which shows him a character we later come to know as Claude. Upon waking from his coma, Peter's growing frustration with his inability to control his powers and fear that he is the cause of the catastrophe leads him to seek guidance from Claude, who has the power of invisibility. With Claude's help, or perhaps in spite of it, Peter finds a way to better control the powers he's absorbed by focusing on the person who gave the power to him. Claude and Peter are later betrayed by Isaac and Claude splits from Peter. Peter goes to confront Isaac and Isaac attempts to shoot Peter, killing Simone instead. Peter leaves Isaac's and goes to Nathan for help. Nathan suggests Peter go see Mohinder Suresh. Peter arrives at Mohinder's apartment just in time to be attacked by Sylar.
	Angela Petrelli: Angela is the matriarch of the Petrelli family. Mother of Peter and Nathan, grandmother of Claire, Simon, and Monty, Angela is a woman of many secrets. She conceals her husband's suicide, presenting it as a heart attack, she has been arrested for shoplifting, despite her outward appearance as an important society matron. Her behavior towards her sons varies wildly from flighty to cool and controlling and by Parasite, it's revealed that she is more deeply involved in events than has been previously guessed. It's unknown if she has any powers.
	Heidi Petrelli: Heidi is Nathan's wife, the mother of his two sons, Simon and Monty. Six months before the pilot episode, she and Nathan were involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Nathan was at the wheel and blames himself for her injury since the accident was likely a direct result of him being asked to prosecute Linderman. She is kept on the edge of her husband's political career and their marriage has been rocky since the accident, though she clearly wants it to work between them. As of Parasite, Heidi hasn't displayed any powers.
	Mr. Bennet (AKA Horn-Rimmed Glasses Man): Mr. Bennet only goes by one name much like Cher and Madonna, although probably not because he has a successful career in pop music. He wears glasses because contacts are not nearly as menacing. Unbeknownst to his wife until recently, Mr. Bennet pretends to work at Primatech Paper as a cover for his work bagging and tagging people with superhuman abilities. While partnered with Claude, Mr. Bennet was given a supposedly orphaned baby girl to raise. He was to give her back to the company when her powers developed. However, Mr. Bennet’s love for his adopted daughter grew to the point where he covered up the evidence of her growing invulnerability to keep her safe, a trick made easier by the fact that his partner, the Haitian, flushed people’s memories at the drop of a hat. Mr. Bennet’s entire plan was botched when Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague took his family hostage and an injured Ted, the radioactive man, went nuclear. To protect Claire so that she could escape with the Haitian after the radioactive blast, Mr. Bennet let himself be shot and have his memories of where she was taken wiped away. However, he accidentally revealed his plans to take down the company to his “wife,” who was really the illusionist, Candace, in disguise.
	Claire Bennet: Claire is the adopted daughter of Mr. and Sandra Bennet, the older adopted sister of Lyle, the biological daughter of Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon, the biological niece of Peter Petrelli, the biological granddaughter of Mama Petrelli, the biological sister of Monty and Simon Petrelli, and the stepdaughter of Heidi Petrelli. It is entirely possible that within a year we will all be related to Claire. A few short years ago Claire found out she was adopted, a fact that wasn’t all that important until her broken bones and burns and such started healing themselves. While still trying to maintain her “normal” life, Claire enlists an old childhood friend, Zach, to tape her attempts at injuring herself. Among the incidents that come along to blow that normal life right out of the water (you know, aside from the whole invulnerability thing) are the most popular guy in school attempting to rape her and then accidentally killing her (she recovers, then gains closure by driving his car into a brick wall with him in it), Sylar attempting to eat her brains and take her powers (from which Peter saved her), and discovering that her father is entirely full of crap. Claire finds and meets her mother, Meredith Gordon, whom she had believed had died in a fire years earlier. Meredith lives in Kermit, Texas, and enjoys making fire leap from her fingertips. (You know, like you do.) Meredith cons both Claire and her biological father, Nathan, out of a hundred thousand dollars in blackmail money. Claire’s healing herself after being burned by Ted’s radioactive blast brought visibility to her powers. Primatech wanted her back, and Mr. Bennet devised a plan for Claire to escape their grasp with the Haitian. Shortly thereafter, Claire demands to be taken to Peter Petrelli for protection. The Haitian denies her. She runs off to New York and knocked on Peter’s door. inside Peter’s apartment, she finds Angela Petrelli and the Haitian. It becomes clear to Claire that Angela has been the one orchestrating her escape.
	Sandra Bennet: Sandra has been married to Mr. Bennet at least fifteen years, for which she probably deserves a medal. For years, Sandra has lived under the impression that her husband works for a large paper company when, in fact, he works for a company that watches, catalogues, and sometimes captures (to creepy extremes) people with superhuman abilities. on numerous occasions, the Haitian has wiped her of memories that could have revealed Mr. and Claire Bennet’s secrets to her. Sandra’s brain could now best be politely described as broken and held together with duct tape. After the events of Company Man, Sandra and Mr. Bennet collude, for her own safety, to pretend her mind had been wiped by the Haitian. Sandra has three children, Claire, Lyle, and Mr. Muggles.
	Lyle Bennet: Lyle is Claire’s little brother and the son of Mr. and Sandra Bennet. Lyle once found a copy of one of Claire’s injury/healing videos and threatened to post it on Youtube to make a million dollars. Convincing him that posting the video would break the family apart, Claire and Zach kept Lyle from releasing it.. Lyle does tae kwon do, has been accused by Sandra of being a hypochondriac, and spends most of his days somewhere off camera wishing for more airtime. Lyle’s whereabouts as of Parasite are unknown, but since his whereabouts are usually unknown that’s standard operating procedure.
	Mr. Muggles: Mr. Muggles is Sandra’s prize-winning Pomeranian. His hobbies include being a lookout for invulnerable teenage computer-hacking wannabes, hot prospective dates with poodles, and licking human blood off kitchen floors and the shoes of superhuman psychopaths. Like Mr. Bennet, his first name has also yet to be revealed. Childhood is not a popularity contest, but if it were it’s possible the Pomeranian would be winning.
	Mohinder Suresh: Mohinder first comes to New York to track down the person who murdered his father, Chandra. While investigating, Mohinder decides to carry on his father’s work. During the course of his investigation, he meets Eden McCain, who leads him to Sylar, his father’s first patient. After some setbacks, Mohinder discovers a list that belonged to his father. This list contains names of people with genetic anamolies that allows them to have special abilities. Mohinder starts investigating the list and discovers that many on it are dead. Mohinder sets out on a quest to warn those on the list that their lives are in danger. The first person that Mohinder reaches is Zane Taylor. Unfortunately, “Zane” has already been murdered and impersonated by Sylar. Mohinder and “Zane” travel together for a while, but after the next person on the list, Dale Smither, is murdered in the manner of Sylar’s victims, Mohinder figures out the real identity of his companion. Mohinder threatens to kill Sylar, but has the tables turned on him, and as Parasite ends, his fate is unknown.
	Chandra Suresh: After the death of his elder child, Shanti, Chandra began investigating genetic anamolies. He wrote Activating Evolution and discovered a means of tracking and locating people with these anomalies. His search led him to Gabriel Gray (also known as Sylar), whom he labeled “Patient Zero.” The two had a falling out and, supposedly, Sylar is responsible for Chandra’s murder.
	Matt Parkman, Janice Parkman, and Audrey Hanson: Matt Parkman is a police officer with the LAPD. While securing a murder scene, Matt begins to hear things. He follows the sounds to the missing child who is hidden away under the stairs. Enter the FBI. Agent Audrey Hanson interrogates him about how he knew where to find the girl, and he mentions the name "Sylar" which he heard from Audrey’s thoughts. She arrests him on the spot. After Matt proves he can, in fact, read minds, Audrey drafts him into working with her on the Sylar case. Shortly thereafter, Matt is kidnapped by Mr. Bennet and the Haitian, who implant him with a tracking device and wipe his memory. Over the next several weeks, Matt experiments with his telepathy. He tries to rebuild his relationship with Janice. It goes well until he discovers she's been cheating on him with one of his co-workers. He hits the guy and gets suspended, which impairs his working arrangement with Audrey. Matt and Audrey meet and interrogate Ted Sprague, The Radioactive Man. Matt manages to keep Ted from going nuclear, but Ted escapes. Matt and Audrey continue their investigation, which leads them to Texas, where they think Sylar will attack next. In the confusion, they capture and interrogate Peter Petrelli, but can make no link to Sylar. They continue investigating and have reason to believe that Mr. Bennet and his company, Primatech Paper, are involved. Matt and Audrey raid Primatech, but come empty. Audrey is busted by her superiors, and she and Matt’s working relationship falls apart. Matt returns home and is put on probation by the LAPD. Janice informs him that she is pregnant. To make ends meet, Matt takes a job as a security guard. He is assigned to protect Aron Malsky. On Matt’s watch, Malsky is killed by Niki Sanders and her alter ego, Jessica. As a result, Matt is fired. At loose ends, Matt is contacted by Ted, who informs him of the tracking device. Ted introduces Matt to Hana, who has traced the tracking devices back to Primatech. The three plan to take Mr. Bennet hostage and get some answers. However, Ted is dangerously unstable, and Matt ends up helping Mr. Bennet prevent a major nuclear catastrophe. As a reward, Matt is kidnapped by Primatech. As of Parasite, he is still in their clutches.
	Niki/Jessica Sanders: In Genesis, Niki is a single mother living in Las Vegas and stripping on the internet to support herself and her son, Micah. Her husband, D. L., is in prison. We get our first glimpse of Niki's power (if you can call it that) after Linderman sends two thugs to collect on the debt she owes him and they end up torn to pieces in her garage. Niki has no memory of the incident. Eventually, we find out that the woman who killed the men, the woman Niki sees in the mirror, is named Jessica. Jessica is also the name of Niki's dead sister. Jessica takes over Niki's body on an increasingly more frequent basis and does things that horrify Niki. Niki and Jessica communicate mostly through reflective surfaces, though on a couple of occasions they have seemed to come face to face. When Niki realizes that Jessica committed the murder and robbery for which D. L. was imprisoned, she turns herself into the cops out of fear of hurting her family. Niki is released from prison when Linderman arranges to have another inmate, already on death row, confess to the crimes. Jessica has taken her over completely, though, and she's the one who goes home to Niki's husband and child. Jessica becomes a hired assassin for Linderman. In Parasite, Niki finally manages to surface long enough to warn Nathan Petrelli that he is in danger. Jessica possesses super strength; she can rip grown men apart by their limbs. It is unclear if Niki possesses any powers of her own. What, exactly, is happening with her and Jessica is a mystery as well.
	D. L. Hawkins: D. L. is Niki's husband and Micah's father. We don't see him until Hiros, when he escapes from prison and comes to find Niki and Micah. D. L. has the ability to phase through solid objects—it comes in very useful in the whole prison break thing. He and Niki are happily reunited for about a milisecond before he finds the money he allegedly stole. He believes it was Niki, but it was Jessica who stole it. He takes Micah and runs. When Jessica comes after them, Micah tells D. L. about Niki's split personality. D. L. wants to help Niki, but by then it's too late. She's decided to turn herself into the police before she hurts someone she loves. With Niki in jail, D. L. is left to parent Micah by himself. The two of them stumble along for a while, but it's only a short time before Niki is released. What D.L doesn't know is that it's Jessica, not Niki, who came home. By Parasite he's starting to think something is up.
	Micah Sanders: Micah is Niki and D. L.'s son. He knows about the powers his parents possess and has one of his own, cyberpathy. He's exceptionally gifted with computers and other electronic devices. In The Fix, he uses his power to pull money from an ATM machine.
	Hiro Nakamura: Hiro is a programmer from Tokyo, Japan, and, upon first appearances, is very much like any office worker. Hiro shows himself to be a fan of science fiction and comic books and dreams of a more exciting and meaningful life. He's given the opportunity when he discovers he has the ability to bend time and space, allowing him to accidentally teleport to New York City, where he discovers the comic 9th Wonders, created by artist Isaac Mendez. 9th Wonders shows scenes from Hiro’s life with eerie accuracy. Hiro tries to visit Isaac to discover the meaning this and finds the artist murdered. Hiro is arrested and interrogated and discovers he's moved forward in time as well as moving in space. The date is now more than a month after he 'left' Tokyo. Moments later, New York is engulfed in what appears to be a nuclear cataclysm. In a panic, Hiro transports himself back to Tokyo, but retains the comic he picked up in New York. Hiro is now a man with a mission. When attempts to contact Isaac by phone fail, he convinces his friend, Ando, to come to America with him to try and prevent the disaster from happening. Using the comic book as their guide, the two embark on many zany adventures, meeting several heroes, including Nathan Petrelli, Micah Sanders and D.L. Hawkins, along the way. In yet another attempt to contact Isaac, Hiro gets in contact with Peter Petrelli, who relays a message he claims is from Future!Hiro ("Save the cheerleader, save the world") and tells him to come to New York. On the way, Ando and Hiro stop in a diner where they meet Charlie, a waitress with newly developed powers of her own. Charlie is murdered by Sylar and, distressed, Hiro tries to go back in time to stop the murder from happening. He misjudges his leap and ends up six months in the past. Over time, he and Charlie develop feelings for each other and they're about to have their first kiss when Hiro accidentally transports himself back to Japan. He is unable to transport back to Texas via his powers and he's forced to make his way back to the diner—and Ando—by normal means. Discouraged, Hiro (and Ando) makes his way to Odessa, Texas, Claire Bennet's hometown, in an attempt to fulfill the "save the cheerleader, save the world" prophesy. They arrive, however, too late to be of any good. Hiro is further discouraged. Shortly thereafter, he meets with Isaac Mendez, who paints a picture of Hiro brandishing a sword against a dinosaur. Hiro feels he's been given a new quest and goes in search of the sword, which he learns was once owned by a great warrior. Unfortunately, the sword he encounters is only a replica. The original is apparently owned by the Linderman group. Hiro returns to Isaac's loft where he meets Simone Deveaux, an art dealer and Isaac's former girlfriend. Simone recommends that Hiro go to Las Vegas with one of Isaac's paintings as a means of getting inside Linderman's security. In Las Vegas, Hiro is red-flagged by Linderman’s security and is thwarted in his attempts to gain access to Linderman until Nathan Petrelli shows up and vouches for him. With the help of Ando, they steal the sword and Hiro uses his powers to help them escape, but they find themselves on top of a building owned by Simone Deveaux's father, overlooking post-apocalyptic New York.
	Ando Masahashi: Much of Ando's journey is tied up in Hiro's, and he has been kiddingly called Hiro's sidekick. However, it is worth noting that Ando was a customer of Niki Sanders’ webcast strip site and, upon one split from Hiro, did meet Niki in person. When Hiro is trapped in the past with Charlie Andrews, Ando meets Peter Petrelli, who tries to enlist him in his quest to save Claire Bennet from Sylar. And, after Ando is shot in the arm during one of their adventures, Hiro tells Ando to go home to Japan; but, in true sidekick fashion, Ando follows Hiro to Linderman's casino and impersonates a security guard to help Hiro steal the sword from Linderman's museum.
	Isaac Mendez: Isaac begins as the quintessential tortured New York artist, with his art dealer girlfriend (Simone Deveaux) and his trendy heroin addiction. However, Isaac quickly discovers that, when high, he falls into a trance in which he paints future events. This ability initially frightens him, but he later comes to embrace it as his relationship with Simone falls apart. Isaac is later led to (kidnapped by) Primatech by Eden and introduced to Mr. Bennet. Bennet enlists Isaac's help to finish one of his "cheerleader paintings" so he could figure out how to save Claire, but Isaac creates a painting of 'a man exploding' rather than anything to do with Claire. Bennet abandons Isaac, but Eden convinces Isaac to get in contact with Hiro and arrange a meeting. Isaac resumes making prophetic art without the use of heroin. He tries to resume his previous relationship with Simone, but she is with Peter Petrelli and uninterested. This leads to an ugly triangle and when Peter disappears, Isaac turns his powers to trying to find Peter, who he has concluded is the exploding man. When he has a clue to Peter's whereabouts, Isaac calls Bennet, showing he's still connected to Primatech. Bennet comes to New York and gives Isaac a gun, telling him "he expects him to be a hero". When Peter shows up at Isaac's loft (and turns invisible), Isaac shoots wildly and ends up striking Simone, who shows up at the wrong time. Simone's murder is covered up by Bennet and his new partner, Candace. Distraught, Isaac goes back to his use of heroin and paints a new series of pictures, including one of himself killed in the distinctive manner of Sylar's victims.
	Sylar: (AKA Gabriel Gray, Zane Taylor) Gabriel Gray was a watchmaker up until the point he was contacted by Chandra Suresh, who told him he might have extraordinary abilities. Excited by this prospect, Gray was bitterly disappointed when he couldn't demonstrate any powers and Chandra abandoned him to search out other 'genetic anomalies'. Renaming himself Sylar (a pseudonym based on the watch he was wearing at the time), Gray kills his first victim, Brian Davis, and absorbed his power of telekinesis. He visits Chandra again, demonstrating his new power, and becomes Chandra's first study subject. The two later have a falling out and Chandra is killed not long afterward. From there, Sylar goes on a killing spree by following clues from Chandra's master list to locate and kill other prospective heroes. He is chased unsuccessfully by the FBI, only to be captured by Primatech employees, Mr. Bennet, Eden McCain and The Haitian, after an abortive attempt to kill and absorb Claire. Sylar is not in captivity for long, however, before he escapes Primatech's clutches and makes his way back to the Bennet household in a second attempt at Claire. He's unsuccessful and is forced to flee for his life. He continues his journey, but is down to the last person he remembers from Chandra's list when he encounters Zane Taylor. Zane is expecting Mohinder Suresh, and mistakes Sylar for him. Sylar impersonates Mohinder long enough to kill Zane and absorb his power. Soon afterwards, the real Mohinder shows up. Sylar claims to be Zane and allies himself with Mohinder in the interest of getting his hands on Chandra's list. Mohinder leads "Zane" to Dale Smither, whom Sylar murders. Mohinder figures out—too late—Sylar's true identity and attempts to kill him in revenge for Chandra's murder, but Sylar turns the tables on him.
EVERYONE ELSE:
	Meredith Gordon: Meredith is Nathan Petrelli's ex-girlfriend. Not much is known about their relationship other than that it lasted long enough for them to have a child, Claire Bennet. Meredith has the power of pyrokinesis—she can create fire. Upon discovering that Claire was, indeed, alive, Meredith immediately called Nathan and extorted him for money. After Nathan paid her, Meredith took the money and left for Mexico, leaving Claire behind.
	Zach: As a younger boy, Zach had been friends with Claire Bennet. In middle school, Claire left him behind for a more popular crowd. When she discovered her unique abilities and needed someone she could trust and rekindled their friendship. After Sylar killed the head cheerleader, Jacki, after mistaking her for Claire, Claire came clean with her father about her power. As a consequence, Mr. Bennet had Zach’s memory erased. Claire enlisted his help one more time when she began searching for her biological mother. As Zach has no known powers, and is neither gay nor straight, and thus not likely to pairbond with any Hero types, Zach's part in the story may be drawing to a close. (Too bad. Cutest sidekick ever!)
	Mr. Linderman: Mr. Linderman seems to be the man behind the curtain. It is unknown exactly how deep Linderman's involvement goes, but it's clear that he is a heavy player in the Heroes universe. Everything is connected back to him. He was connected with Nathan’s father. He is currently the main support behind Nathan's political campaign, and the FBI is using Nathan to investigate him. He is an avid collector of Isaac's paintings and other Hero-related artifacts. He is connected with D. L. Hawkins and Niki Sanders’ illegal activities and hired Niki's alter-ego, Jessica, as an assassin after getting her out of jail. He has demonstrated a vested interest in several of the Heroes; as of yet, his motives are unknown.
	Thompson: Thompson is Mr. Bennet’s boss and a loyal Company employee. When Mr. Bennet first started working for the Company Thompson introduced him to the Haitian (then a little boy) for the purposes of wiping his wife’s memories every time she got suspicious. Years later Thompson kept an eye on Claire from afar and reminded Mr. Bennet of his promise to bring her in when her powers developed. Thompson now knows that Mr. Bennet is hiding something to protect Claire and presumably has him in custody at the Company following the events of “Parasite“. He is portrayed by Eric Roberts, which means that however creepy he started out he is now five million times more likely to make your skin crawl. (It‘s scientific fact. Go ahead, look it up. I‘ll wait.)
	Candace: Candace is Mr. Bennet’s new partner following the defection of the Haitian. She’s a wee bit of a heinous bitch and has a bad habit of dressing like she’s going to a Satanic girls school dance circa 1998 while expecting to believably pass herself off as a business professional. At the end of “Parasite”, Candace tricked Mr. Bennet into admitting his plans to take the Company down by disguising herself as Sandra Bennet. One can only presume Candace has never known what it’s like to be quite that awesome and never will again.
	Claude: Claude is Mr. Bennet’s former partner and Peter’s current How To Be A Superhero teacher. Claude worked with Mr. Bennet for the Company until it was discovered he was helping to keep a Hero in hiding, at which point Mr. Bennet drove him out to the desert and shot him until he fell off a bridge. It is highly unlikely this is listed in the Company’s employee handbook under how to properly fire someone. Claude recently reappeared alive and well (albeit homeless and with a questionable grasp on the concept of personal hygiene) in New York. Upon spotting him stealing wallets from purses Peter demanded Claude teach him how to harness his abilities. Claude responded positively. You know, if you consider framing him for purse-snatching, hitting him with a stick, throwing him off a building, and punching him in the face as a “yes," which most of "Heroes" fandom emphatically does.
Image Coming Soon!	Ted Sprague: Also known as The Radioactive Man. After being kidnapped by Primatech, Ted’s power of radioactivity begin to manifest; he inadvertently causes his wife to have cancer. When told the cancer was terminal, he grew angry and microwaved the oncologist and left his fingerprint in his bone. This leads Matt Parkman and Audrey Hanson to him. They assume he is Sylar. Ted is interrogated, but before he can say much, the Department of Homeland Security takes him into custody. Ted loses control of his powers and escapes. He goes into hiding and learns some measure of control over his powers, though they are still subject to his emotions. He then meets Hana Gitelman, who tells him that Primatech is responsible for what’s happened to him. He contacts Matt and shares what he’s learned. After his lethal meltdown, he is recaptured by Primatech and held for testing.
	Eden McCain: Eden McCain is the alias of Sarah Ellis. From an abusive background, Eden first used her powers of persuasion to kill her alcoholic stepmother. She went on to a life of petty crime until she was discovered by Primatech, who enlisted her as an agent. She is first assigned to watch Chandra Suresh and, later, his son, Mohinder. When Mohinder leaves, she is reassigned to Isaac Mendez. In an attempt to redeem herself, Eden releases Isaac from Primatech’s custody and tries to kill Sylar. She fails, and kills herself, rather than let Sylar steal her power.
	Kaito Nakamura: Not much is known about Hiro's father. At the time he makes his bid to have Hiro come home, there are rumors of unrest in his company and the possibility that he could lose control. In Company Man, Kaito shows up again in connection with Thompson, Mr. Bennet's boss, which suggests a possible connection to Primatech. It's Kaito who decided that Claire should be placed with Bennet until such a time she might develop special abilities.
	Simone Deveaux: Simone is introduced as the love interest of Isaac Mendez, but their relationship quickly falls apart over conflict concerning his drug use. Simone quickly consoles herself with Peter Petrelli, who has been caring for her father. Simone frequently butts heads with Nathan over his treatment of Peter, but usually to little effect. When Isaac returns from "rehab" (really from being a prisoner of Primatech), he confesses he still has feelings for Simone and tries to woo her away from Peter. The love triangle turns ugly and, when Isaac tries to shoot and kill the invisible Peter, Simone gets caught in the crossfire and dies. Other items of note: Simone is the go-between between Isaac and Linderman; and her father's building (with its distinctive overlook) is featured prominently (significantly?) throughout the series so far.
	The Haitian: Little is known about the Haitian, including his name. He is initially introduced as a mute figure of foreboding; at the behest of Mr. Bennet (and for unknown reasons), he mysteriously erases the memories of various heroes. His character acquires a little dimension when, after erasing the memories of Zach, Sandra Bennet, and Lyle Bennet, he reveals himself to Claire and tells her she has to pretend her memories have been wiped as well. He's later shown as a teenage boy brought to Bennet by his superior, Thompson, to help alleviate the suspicions of Sandra Bennet, a power he will use repeatedly. When Claire's powers are discovered and Primatech orders Bennet to turn her in, the Haitian and Bennet collude to steal Claire away and erase Bennet's memory. The Haitian attempts to take Claire out of the country, but she, insisting on finding Peter Petrelli, eludes him. When Claire shows up at Peter's apartment, she is greeted by Angela Petrelli and the Haitian, revealing that the Haitian has been in the matriarch’s employ for some time.

SHIP OVERVIEW

A word on Heroes shipping:

Tim Kring, producer of Heroes, is a notorious "ship-sinker", according to fans of his other shows. He builds up UST to the breaking point and then pulls the characters apart. While this appears to apply mostly to canon-UST, he does seem to be aware of slash shipping in fandom and takes pains to tear down those ships as well. So be warned. Most of the pairing-fic in the fandom is AU or future-fic for this reason.

Canonical ships:
There's a big focus on children and childbearing in Heroes, presumably because of genetics and genetic lineages. This element is supposed to come to the fore next season, so expect to see more of it. These are the current canon ships:

Nathan/Heidi (married with children: Simon and Monty), Nathan/Meredith (preseries, one child: Claire), Nathan/Niki (Jessica) (Linderman made her do it, Jessica took over for the actual sex), DL/Niki (Jessica) (married, one child: Micah), Isaac/Simone, Peter/Simone, Mohinder/Mira (preseries, lovers), Mohinder/Eden, Mr. Bennet/Sandra (married, one child: Lyle; adoptive child: Claire), Matt/Janice (married, one child on the way), Hiro/Charlie (Charlie's deceased).

Main Fandom ships:

The two ships that have the largest following in the fandom at this time is "Petrellicest" (Nathan/Peter) and "Paire" (Peter/Claire; now split between 'new and improved' incestuous Paire and 'still in denial'AU) but the truth is that pretty much any pairing involving either Peter or Claire has a decent amount of viability.

Peter is the fandom bicycle or little black dress. Male, female or otherwise, Peter's probably been paired with it. Given fandom, of course, slash pairings are probably most common, but the Peter/Claire contingent carries heavy weight. Peter is almost universally regarded as a nelly bottom, but occasionally, he's very manipulative and tops from below. The most common Peter ships besides Petrellicest and Paire, are:

Mohinder/Peter – based on the pilot, Mohinder going with Nathan to 'rescue' Peter, Peter's dream, Peter going to find Mohinder. Mohinder/Peter was an early standout favorite ship, and the shippers tend to be among the more diehard and most likely to assert OTP.
Isaac/Peter – mostly antagonistic over Simone, but also sometimes Peter is seen as Isaac's "savior" from the drugs.
Hiro/Peter – usually future!Hiro.
Claude/Peter – a newly popular pairing based on Claude training Peter. Currently the most popular non-Paire, non-Petrellicest Peter pairing.
Sylar/Peter – based on the similarities between their powers.

Slash ships, non-Peter:
Of all the non-Peter slash ships, the most popular at this point in the season is Mohinder/Sylar. Others have promise but haven't taken off.

Mohinder/Sylar – based on the slashy roadtrip of doom
Mohinder/Isaac – somewhat rare, as they've not actually met
Nathan/Mohinder – based on their mutual concern for Peter and some personal antagonism
Nathan/Hiro – based on the incredibly cute scenes between them.
Hiro/Ando – because it's so cute it's almost canon; they need each other!
HRG/Claude – preseries partners.
Niki/Claire – they haven't yet met, but there's some speculation.
Candace/Eden – new pairing, preseries speculation.

Het ships:
There are a fair number of canon het ships on the show, but as above, the writer is notorious for pulling characters apart. So the basis for most non-canon het is either speculative or based on buddy relationships.

Matt/Audrey – because she thinks he's cute, they spark and snark and they work well together.
Zach/Claire – Zach was not gay, gay, then not gay again according to the networks. His sexuality is ambiguous, but the BFF plus flirtiness makes this a popular pairing.
Nathan/Claire – a new pairing, intergenerational incest, just starting to show up.
Haitian/Claire – a new pairing, based on their roadtrip and her having to trust him.
Ando/Niki – because he paid to watch her strip.

Threesomes:
So far, most of the threesomes seem to occur in canon whenever Nathan has to share Peter with anyone. So, in any strong Peter 'ship, unless the writer is entirely anti-Petrellicest, there will either be a threesome scene or some working out of Nathan's role in their relationship.

FANDOM RESOURCES

There are lots of sites both on and off of Live Journal to satisfy your every Heroes need. However, rather than try to link all of them here and potentially have them gradually expire, I'd like to direct your attention to scribewraith's exceptional Newbie Guide, which contains links to all of the LJ communities and most of the off-site communities as well, including the official site on nbc.com and The Heroes wiki, which is another great resource for all things Heroes.


This overview was compiled with tremendous help from (in alphabetical order): fashes, sansets, scribewraith, sheepfairy, sixersfan, technosage, trollprincess, and txtequilanights.

Comments

[between-names.livejournal.com]

Could you please put this behind a cut-tag? Thanks.

[jebbypal]

Well done :) I nearly laughed my oatmeal onto my keyboard.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the uncut spoilers.

[moondroplette.livejournal.com]

looks great, but could you please lj-cut?

[catherfina.livejournal.com]

Please put this behind a lj-cut. Thank you.

[elanorelle.livejournal.com]

Lj-cut, please? I'm sure it's a great rundown but it's also taking over my flist.

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

Brilliant overview and really funny! And Zach's superpower is definitely his power to turn straight on demand.

[beatrice_otter]

If you don't know how to make an lj-cut, here's how.

HTML version: you put < lj - cut =" whatever you want the cut to say "> the text inside the cut < / lj - cut > (just remember to remove the spaces in the html tags.

Rich Text Editor (the one with all the formatting buttons at the top of the posting interface): Highlight the text you want to cut, then press the button . In the dialog box, you can replace "Read more..." with another word or phrase to link to the entire entry.

[cwazy-weiven.livejournal.com]

:3

[vespurrs.livejournal.com]

I'm with the lj-cut people. Please?

[juniper200.livejournal.com]

Way to put spoilers behind a cut.

[toomuchfandom.livejournal.com]

You had this under an LJ cut before... what happened?

[jhd91.livejournal.com]

Came on here to complain about the lack of an lj-cut, only to see comments from others about spoilers being in plain sight.

I'm not going to bother to even read this then, because I prefer to remain UNSPOILED. If you want people to read, please lj-cut AND mark the spoilers too.

[tarchannon.livejournal.com]

I think Micah might be better considered a technopath - he has the ability to manipulate/disassemble/reassemble technology (as opposed to Hana, who can tap into electronic/wireless communications like a telepath taps into thoughts or cyberpathy). :D

[mumblemutter.livejournal.com]

ten people to tell you to lj-cut! because clearly the nine after the first one assumed that you can't read or can't read themselves.

i can't believe heroes hasn't been crack-vanned before. look forward to the recs...:)

cm

adding my voice

[hafren.livejournal.com]

- because it took me forever to scroll past this lot! PLEASE lj-cut it.

[spoonishly.livejournal.com]

ten people to tell you to lj-cut! because clearly the nine after the first one assumed that you can't read or can't read themselves.

WORD.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I’d like to join the chorus pleading for a LJ-cut.

Also, I have a sugestion regarding Eden’s profile: instead of just saying that she was killed, you might want to make it clear that she chose to blow her brains out rather than allow Sylar to acquire her ability. I’m not a big fan of the character but she deserves props for getting that much right.

However, overall an excellent job of summarizing the series to date.

[moon-lemming.livejournal.com]

Great overview! I only started watching a few months ago, so this cleared up some questions for me since I'm too lazy to read recaps/hunt down torrents of the first eps. Entertaining as well! :)

[nos4a2no9.livejournal.com]

I add my voice to the chorus begging for a lj-cut.

[nlynn.livejournal.com]

lj-cut, lj-cut, lj-cut.

[poisontaster]

I beg your pardon. When I was tweaking some errors, the lj-cuts got erased. I'm so sorry!

[poisontaster]

I beg your pardon. It was cut-tagged and marked, but when I reloaded, I forgot to re-cut. I'm very, very sorry.

[poisontaster]

Thanks!

[poisontaster]

Sorry. I was working on this way too late. I should have known better. It's been fixed.