Heroes on ABC, Special Powers of the Characters

Heroes on ABC has just finished an exciting first season. So far viewers seem to be enthralled with the show, which leaves us in suspense every week. A few answers have been given, a lot of surprises have taken place, but what are the powers that we've seen so far? Some of the characters weren't too thrilled with their powers at first, but seemed to grow into them. Others embraced their powers with glee (maybe a little too much glee from Sylar...brain eater, ewww.) And others never did really get used to their power, or weren't given the chance to get used to them...again, thanks a lot Sylar.

Here is a rundown of the different superpowers we've seen this season in no particular order:

1. Indestructability: Claire, the little cheerleader from Texas can regenerate herself and is almost completely indestructable. The only thing that seems to stop her is something lodged in her brainstem. Once removed though, she comes back to life. She has been seen throwing herself off of high places; popping dislocations and broken bones back into place with a mere whimper; jumping from a highrise window; and healing herself after an autopsy.

2. Invisibility: Claude, the cranky one, is able to wander around totally invisible to those around him. The only person that can see him in this state is Peter, who absorbed his power. Claude was able to fool his colleague into thinking he was dead years ago after he went invisible falling off a bridge when shot. Many years later he is seen picking pockets; stealing donuts; and creating havoc.

3. Super hearing: One poor lady mechanic had developed super hearing. She could hear hearts beating; cockroaches walking (eww); and at first was overwhelmed by the sounds around her. Fortunately for her she got used to the sounds. Unfortunately for her, Mohinder led Sylar right to her. (Mohinder is the son of the doctor who was trying to find all of the heroes...he discovered the list and helped Sylar kill a few people without realizing who Sylar was until a little late.)

4. Reading minds: Officer Matt suddenly started hearing everyone's thoughts. Pretty cool when interrogating a suspect, trying to save a little girl, or being stalked by madmen. Pretty upsetting when he could hear his wife's thoughts of disappointment and affairs.

5. Time travel and teleportation: Hiro Nakamura, the geeky little Japanese anime character (oh come on, you know you think he's just like one) who doesn't seem to be able to think ahead and blurts out anything that comes to his mind (Flying man!), can time travel. He doesn't do it really well through much of the first season, but was getting the hang of it and saving lives by the end of the season. He did seem to travel a bit too far into the past in the finale though.

6. Flight: Peter Petrelli thought that he could fly because he was having dreams that he could and decided to show his big brother how special he was by jumping off a building. (really...shouldn't you have tried it at a lower level first?) Turns out big brother Nathan was the one who could fly and saved Peter. Of course Peter figures out later than he absorbed Nathans ability, so he could fly a little. Pretty cool rocketing through space Nathan's done.

7. Super fast learning: Charlie, the little waitress that Hiro loved, could learn anything really fast. Sylar was headed to find and kill Charlie for this ability, but Hiro saved her by visiting her in the past and falling in love and steering her away from the diner the day Sylar comes, except it turns out Charlie's still dead because of a tumor. Hiro doesn't have a lot of luck.

8. Super Strength and split personality: not really sure what is up with Jessica/Nikki. Jessica has super strength and is pretty darn evil...ripping apart humans evil...and seemed to have control over Nikki for much of the series. The split personality seems to be from Nikki's own terrible past and not part of the super strength, but then Jessica seems to be her own character too. Sort of confusing this one, but they both LOVE their son Micah, so it seems Nikki might be winning out in the end.

9. Phasing through things (not sure what they call it): D.L. Sanders, Nikki's husband. He can phase his body (and anyone with him) through walls and other solid objects. Once shot by Jessica, he let the bullet phase through him and he wasn't really hurt. However he took a bullet in the finale so it wouldn't go through him to Nikki, so we're not sure if he'll be surviving for another season.

10. Melting things: What was his name? I dont know but one poor schmuck had the ability to melt objects into molten metal, plastic, or whatever. He of course was killed Sylar when Dr. Suresh contacted him. Sylar ate his brain and can do what he does now.

11. Freezing: We really didn't meet him, but the little girl's father taht was killed could freeze things. Unfortunately for him, Sylar ate his brain and Sylar was able to put on a freaky snowglobe show for his now departed mom.

12. Firestarter: Claire's bio-mom can firestart. Need a light? Ask mom to hold out her hand. She's also a greedy little witch who sold out her kid. Too bad Sylar didn't find her.

13. Electronic manipulation: Little Micah, Nikki and D.L.'s son, can manipulate electronics. He used it once to steal from an ATM; called his mom from a broken phone; and rigged the election so Nathan could win. Another hero has some electronic manipulation ability,

14. Locating any other hero (person?) by thinking about them: Little Molly, poor freezing daddy's daughter, can find anyone on a map just by thinking about them. Sylar wants to eat her brain; Claire's daddy wants to kill her but Officer Matt and Dr. Suresh won't let them. She's kind of broken though. Can she find any person or just heroes?

15. Radioactivity: Poor Ted. RadioacTed...thanks to Television Without Pity members for that name...killed his wife; killed a bunch of agents; blew up Claire's house; and finally died in the finale so Sylar could eat his brain. Ewww again. He finally channeled his power...only to pass it on to unstable Peter and then Sylar.

16. Precognition: geez another dead character, Isaac Mendes, had the ability to paint the future. He was pretty darn good at it too, but passed that on to brain snacking Sylar who simply can't paint as well as Isaac.

17. Not sure what this one is: Charles, a guy Peter took care of as a nurse, died. In the finale we see him again, after Peter passes out cold and "dreams." Only it's not a dream, it's the past and Peter is seeing himself then mom and Charles talking on the roof. Charles then says he knows Peter is there and says he brought him back to let him know about mama's plans. What the heck is this power anyway?

18. Mindsweeping: "The Haitian" as he's called, can sweep your mind, wiping away little bits or your whole life. Seemed to be a little too much for Mrs. Bennet. so he needs to be a bit more careful huh?

19. Email manipulation/ tech support (not sure what to call it): Hana was briefly in an episode, and can manipulate computers to send messages to computers and phone that don't have power.

20. Healing: Linderman, the big bad guy, can heal people. He healed Nathan's wife who was stuck in a wheelchair. Apparently he can't heal himself though, cuz D.L. stuck his hand inside his brain and squeezed.

21. Power of Persuasion: Eden could talk anyone into anything just by thinking about it. She sacrificed her life by shooting her own brains out so Sylar couldn't eat them and get her power. Good girl.

22. Absorbing other powers: Peter Petrelli seems to have the big one, and doesn't eat brains to get the other powers. He is able to absorb other powers but he doesn't quite have a handle on how to control the powers. The look on his face when he discovers a new one is pretty priceless "wow, I just threw a guy across the room". So far he has absorbed, simply from meeting the others: flight; regeneration; invisibility; reading minds; radioactivity (which didn't seem to suit him in the finale of the season); super strength; precognitive painting/sketching. He might be a goner for season two, guess we'll have to see about that in a couple of months though.

There of course is Sylar, who doesn't get powers the normal way, but eats brains to aquire powers. He can cut through people's skulls with just his finger, so he obviously got someone's power to do that. He ate a few people's brains before we met him too, so what other powers does he have? Is he alive or is he dead? Guess we'll find out later.

Season two might give us some answers about powers that have not been revealed: Mama Petrelli and Papa Petrelli both have (had) powers; Hiro's daddy; and I'm sure we'll meet new people too. Is it fall yet?