Heroes was a cultural phenomenon in the 2000s. The story of ordinary people suddenly gifted with superpowers was an electrifying success, hooking viewers worldwide. “Save the cheerleader, save the world” was hotly discussed around office water coolers and in early internet forums. The show’s greatest asset was its talented ensemble cast, who played characters that audiences fell in love with.
But this viewer-attachment to characters would also be Heroes’ downfall. Creator Tim Kring originally envisioned “an ever-shifting cast” but succumbed to pressure to keep the story focussed around those from Season 1. This and the 2007 writers’ strike led to some weak writing and plot decisions, resulting in Heroes‘ decline in quality and popularity. The show lost almost 10 million viewers by its fourth and final season, and a 2015 reboot – Heroes Reborn – received mixed reviews and was not renewed for a second season.
10 Matt Parkman
An LA cop struggling to make detective, Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) has the ability to read minds – and, eventually, control people. He struggles with his abilities, eventually becoming a minor villain in Heroes Reborn.
Grunberg did his best with Matt, but the character’s behavior is often inconsistent. One minute he’s suicidal because his girlfriend Daphne died, the next he’s running back to his ex-wife and newly-discovered son. Matt’s fumbling decisions, poor personal relationships and eventual descent into villainy make sense in the debilitating context of his powers – as he says in Heroes Reborn: “You have any idea what it’s like to hear everyone’s thoughts, night and day? All the pettiness, misery, cruelty.”
9 Ando Masahashi
Hiro Nakamura’s coworker and partner in crime, Ando (James Kyson) is initially a less geeky and slightly more worldly version of Hiro. Ando accompanies the latter on time-traveling adventures, eventually gaining his own superpower – the ability to supercharge the abilities of others.
Ando was promoted to main character in Season 2. He is pivotal in saving Hiro’s life – and by extension the world – on many occasions, and eventually becomes engaged to Hiro’s sister (due in no small part to some time meddling by Hiro).
8 Niki Sanders
The camgirl with a heart of gold, Niki Sanders (Ali Larter) will do anything to protect her son Micah. Her ability manifests as a second personality, Jessica, who has superhuman strength and a ruthless disposition. Which is a good thing – because Niki’s on the run from the Las Vegas mob.
Tragically, Niki dies saving her niece Monica at the end of Season 2. Larter returned as one of Niki’s long-lost triplets – the (literal) ice queen Tracy Strauss – in Seasons 3 and 4.
7 Noah Bennet
Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) is introduced in Heroes as a sinister, man-in-black type, hunting down people with abilities for an unspecified but ominous-sounding company. A great twist in episode one is learning he’s actually Claire Bennet’s father – and a seemingly devoted family man.
Coleman is terrific as Noah, a secret agent whose loyalty is conflicted by his love for his daughter. His driving force is to protect Claire, to the point of obsession (you have two kids Noah, what about Lyle?!). Coleman’s performance in Heroes Reborn is the stoic glue that holds the reboot together.
6 Mohinder Suresh
The catalyst for the events in Heroes is geneticist Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) picking up his later Father’s work on evolutionary superpowers in humans. Many episodes are book-ended by Mohinder’s elegant, philosophical narrations, as he continues his quest for scientific truth.
Mohinder’s passion is to find, help and understand people with special powers. In Season 3 this leads to an unfortunate story arc where he injects himself with superhero serum, and becomes a kind of bad, reptilian spider guy. Mohinder recovers but retains superhuman strength (but thankfully not the urge to imprison people he dislikes in weird silk cocoons).
5 Nathan Petrelli
Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) is a charming, morally gray politician who can fly – something he desperately wants kept secret while running for Congress. Season 1 ends with Nathan’s (seemingly fatal) sacrifice to save New York City – rejecting his mother’s grand scheme of nuking the Big Apple.
Nathan’s moral ambiguity continues to wax and wane in Heroes. He finds God, but gives up on learning his powers were the result of experimentation – not natural selection. In Season 3 he is the outright villain – imprisoning all people with abilities – but gives his life in the quest to right his wrong. And then there’s a very confusing story arc where he’s actually Sylar shape-shifted into Nathan’s body, with Nathan’s memories. It’s a testament to Pasdar’s acting skills that Nathan’s final, definitive death is one of Heroes’ saddest moments.
4 Peter Petrelli
Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) is the Everyman turned hero, with the ability to absorb or mimic other people’s powers. Although he comes from a rich New York family, he trains and works as a hospice nurse and later a paramedic.
Throughout Heroes, Peter emerges from the shadow of his charismatic older brother, Nathan, to become a natural leader. Despite the extent of his powers almost killing him on several occasions, Peter never stops trying to use them for good. He cares deeply about his family, with the bond he has with Nathan one of Heroes’ most enduring and touching relationships.
3 Sylar
Gabriel Gray (Zachary Quinto), aka Sylar, is a watchmaker turned serial killer who can instantly see how things work – allowing him to absorb his victim’s abilities. Drunk with power and addicted to seeking more, Sylar oscillates through Heroes from cold-blooded killer to sympathetic victim of his own ability.
Quinto makes a superb villain, if at times outrageously over the top. In some terrific storytelling typical of Heroes Season 1, Sylar’s face isn’t revealed until Episode 8 – when he’s cutting open the head of a cheerleader he thinks is Claire. The moment is built up to beautifully in prior episodes by sinister, deadly glimpses of his handiwork.
2 Claire Bennet
This all-American teenager – blonde, tanned, a cheerleader – has a secret: she has regenerative tissue powers. Claire (Hayden Panettiere) can jump off an oil rig, survive a burning train, and mangle her hand in a kitchen sink garbage unit without lasting damage. The series follows Claire through high school, her dabble with vigilantism, as a fugitive and finally to college. Her actions in the series finale – jumping off a Ferris Wheel to reveal her powers to the world – are pivotal for the events of Heroes Reborn.
Panettiere, who was only 16 when she began filming Heroes, was perfectly cast as Claire. She captures the spirit and vulnerability of a unique teenager struggling to understand her place in the world, in a manner that is endearing and relatable. Although Claire is frequently a damsel in distress throughout Heroes, the viewer never doubts her strength and spirit. Her absence – and offscreen fate – in Heroes Reborn is one of the reboot’s biggest flaws.
1 Hiro Nakamura
Hiro (Masi Oka) is ‘the master of time and space’, possessing the ability to freeze and move through time and teleport himself anywhere. He is introduced in Heroes as a lowly office worker, later revealed to be the (disappointing) son of the company’s CEO (George Takei). Hiro is ecstatic about his powers and passionate about his destiny to become a hero. One of Heroes‘ very best scenes is when Hiro successfully teleports from the Tokyo subway to Times Square, and squeals “Hello, New York!”
Sweet, nerdy Hiro is very much the heart of Heroes (and a much-needed recurring character in Heroes Reborn). He provides plenty of comic relief but also a voice of integrity, humility and eternal optimism. Hiro was one of the final characters to be written when Kring’s wife noted there was no one actually happy and excited by their newfound abilities.
