Heroes Fan Page

Warning: Character Bios will likely contain spoilers from the 1st season.

At the start of the first season, Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) is a nurse, living in New York City, struggling with the meaning of a reoccurring dream in which he has the ability to fly.

Peter becomes so convinced that he can fly, he puts his ability to the test in front of his older brother, (New York congressional candidate, Nathan Petrelli) by jumping off a building. In an effort to save Peter from certain death, Nathan displays that he is the one with the ability to fly, leaving Peter with even more questions.

Through a series of encounters with various heroes, Peter comes to the realization that his unique power actually allows him to absorb the powers of other heroes he comes in close proximity of. He learns to use the powers he absorbs at will, under the tutelage of "veteran" hero Claude.

The majority of the first season revolves around Peter's quest to stop a vision of his future from becoming reality. In the vision he explodes in the middle of New York City, causing massive destruction.

Peter is the recipient of the most quoted line from the series, "Save the cheerleader, save the world.", when visited on a subway train by a future version of Hiro Nakamura.

Sylar (Zachary Quinto), aka Gabriel Gray, is the series main antagonist. The super villain was trained in his father's line of work, to restore time pieces. Sylar is discovered by Dr. Chandra Suresh, but after some tests, Suresh concludes that Sylar has no special abilities.

Suresh is mistaken though, and Sylar is obsessed with proving that he is "special". He has an uncanny ability to find out "what makes things tick". He uses this ability to steal the powers of other heroes by murdering them.

Spolier Alert:

In the final episode of season 1, Hiro Nakamura pierces Sylar's abdomen with his sword, which appears to defeat the villain. Moments later Sylar's body vanishes, leaving a trail of blood, leading to an open manhole cover.

If you've seen most or all of series one, you've probably come to the conclusion that the only way to kill a hero is by causing a brain injury. I will examine many examples of this in another article.

You have not seen the last of Sylar...

Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), the adopted daughter of Mr. Bennet, is a Texas high school cheerleader struggling with the discovery of her unique ability. When Claire is hurt her body spontaneously heals itself, no matter how severe the injury.

Claire's power was the envy of the maniacal villain Sylar. Possessing it would make him unstoppable. Sylar travels to Texas with the intent of murdering Claire and stealing her ability. This prompts "future" Hiro to track down Peter Petrelli and give him the infamous instructions, "Save the cheerleader, save the world."

Spolier Alert:

In the latter episodes of season 1, it is revealed that Claire's biological father is Nathan Petrelli.