They fly, they teleport, they can see the future – the cast of Heroes look as ordinary as you and me, but they're only much, much cooler. Here's just about everything you need to know about the characters you will meet in the pilot episode: Chapter One "Genesis".
Specific powers and abilities related to each character have been deliberately omitted and vague-ified. Trust me, you're better off figuring that out for yourself.......
The Cheerleader
Claire Bennet (played by
Hayden Panettiere) is a 16-year-old cheerleader from Odessa, Texas. She lives at home with her mom, who is obsessed with her prize-winning Chihuahua, her younger brother Lyle and her rather curious father.
While terribly sweet and cute (she is a cheerleader, after all), she’s a bit of a stuntwoman and enjoys videotaping herself jumping off bridges and running into burning buildings with her best friend Zach (
Thomas Dekker). If and when she plans on submitting these tapes to the folks over at
Survivor or
Fear Factor remains to be seen. They’d be mighty impressed.
Where you’ve seen Hayden before: Ally McBeal,
Malcolm in the Middle
The Dreamer
Peter Petrelli (
Milo Ventimiglia) is a hospice nurse with his head firmly in the clouds. Though he comes from a prominent New York family, he appears to be experiencing a quarter-life crisis – he has visceral dreams that he can fly. Has he perhaps been dipping into his patients’ morphine supplies?
Peter also has something of a Messiah-complex as he strongly believes he is destined for something extraordinary, well, certainly more extraordinary than watching sick people die. Peter’s a very sweet boy really, but his daydreaminess is a concern for his older brother, Nathan.
Where you’ve seen Milo before: Gilmore Girls,
American DreamsThe Politician
Nathan Petrelli (
Adrian Pasdar) is an ambitious politician who has everything to lose as he pushes to become the governor of New York. Besides an intense campaign to stress him out, Nathan has to deal with his family’s problems too – there’s his brother Peter’s erratic flights of fancy and his mother’s, er, shoplifting habit.
He’s a bit ruthless, but then perhaps he has every reason to be - he has much to hide from the world if his quest for power is to be successful. But will it be his biggest secret that will ultimately be his salvation?
Where you’ve seen Adrian before: Judging Amy, Mysterious Ways,
Desperate HousewivesThe Artist
Isaac Mendez (
Santiago Cabrera) is a talented and tormented New York artist. His style is very much like the graphic novels of Frank Miller (
Sin City, 300). His work is hot stuff, and of particular interest to his sometime-muse and lover, Simone (
Tawny Cypress).
But Isaac’s talent has a huge drawback – he is only able to work while high on heroin and is then faced with a collection of paintings he doesn’t remember painting once he has come down from his high.
What do these beguiling pictures mean? And where do they really come from? Note to all struggling artists out there: Do Not Try This At Home!
Where you’ve seen Santiago before: Well he’s new to me but he apparently appeared in an episode of British drama
Spooks MI-5.
The Geek
Hiro Nakamura (
Masi Oka) is a computer whiz from Japan and is one of the coolest, cutest, cuddliest of our heroes. Like Peter, he has a very strong sense that life has much more in store for him than the routine and stifling existence.
In his boredom he has taken to staring at clocks while wearing an expression to either pass a kidney stone or having a really ntense orgasm. Oh, the hilarity!
Lucky for our hero, Hiro, is that he has a faithful, somewhat horny sidekick in Ando (
James Kyson Lee) his colleague and best friend. Oh the misadventures these two have… Subtitles have never been this much fun!
Where you’ve seen Masi before: Scrubs,
Joey - but what you probably didn't know is that Masi did visual effects work on blockbuster movies like the
Star Wars prequels,
T3,
Hulk and
Pirates of the Carribean!
The Scientist
Mohinder Suresh (
Sendhil Ramamurthy) is geneticist from India, freshly arrived in New York to settle the affairs of his recently deceased father, Chandra – also a genticist. But what Mohinder finds in New York is much more than he bargained for.
His father appears to have made a major breakthrough in a gene mapping project that had consumed him for years and this forces Mohinder to face up to the fact of their strained relationship.
Also it appears that his father’s research is proving desirable to other unknown forces on the fringes. And, like the rest of our heroes, Mohinder has a friend and confidante in his pixie-pretty neighbour, Eden McCain (
Nora Zehetner).
Where you’ve seen Sendhil before: Grey’s Anatomy (playing the all-important role of Intern #2!)
Interesting Sendhil factoid of the day: Sendhil is married to
All My Children star Olga Sosnovska, who plays part-time lesbian Lena Kundera on the soapie. They've been married for 8 years and have one child.
The Stripper
Niki Sanders (
Ali Larter) is a hot, penniless single mother living in Las Vegas, therefore it stands to reason that she makes ends meet by taking her clothes off for money.
No touching though because Niki is above sleazy bars and greasy strip poles of questionable hygiene – she’s a 21st century kinda lady and does her gyrating and disrobing on her own website. Life’s tough enough for Niki – her husband,
D.L. Hawkins, is in prison and now his mob bosses are on her case for the $2-million he allegedly stole from them.
Niki is also so hot that when she looks into the mirror, she has to do a double take as there appears to be two of her likeness in her reflection. Who is this woman and why does she keep sneering at Niki? And how is she going to keep her young son, Micah, safe?
Where you’ve seen Ali before: The
Final Destination movies,
Dawson’s CreekThe Wunderkid
Micah Sanders (
Noah Gray-Cabey) is a prodigious, curly-haired cutie who sometimes finds himself having to be the adult. Well, he has to with a flaky tripper for a mother and a convict for a dad.
So while his mom’s trying to dodge money-grubbing mobsters, Micah has to keep it together and do well at school while showing knack for disassembling and rebuilding machinery.
Where you’ve seen Noah before: My Wife and Kids
The Horn-Rimmed One
The mysterious man they call Horn-Rimmed Glasses or HRG (
Jack Coleman) has a very keen interest in people with special abilities – but his motives remain clouded in doubt.
He appears to know more about these people than they know about themselves. And his vested interest in one particular person of extraordinary ability adds a level of intrigue and duplicity to him that will confound throughout the series.
But just who is he? And more importantly, just what are his dastardly plans for our heroes?
Where you’ve seen Jack before: Dynasty, Entourage