Heroes Save the World on NBC Monday Night Line-Up

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's - Adrian Pasdar? Flying into town by his own abilities, Nathan Petrelli (played by Pasdar, "Judging Amy") proves that Spiderman and Superman are no longer the only "ordinary" people in the neighborhood with special abilities. Creator/writer Tim Kring (NBC's "Crossing Jordan") brings to life the stories of "regular" people with special abilities in his new epic drama, "Heroes."

Nathan is just one of the many heroes that continue to be revealed in Kring's dynamic series that unfolds each episode like a season finale. Nathan is on the campaign trail, rising quickly in his political agenda to becoming the next President of the United States. Supporting Nathan in his career goals are his mom (played by Christine Rose), his crippled wife (played by Rena Sofer), and his brother Peter (Milo Ventimiglia, "Gilmore Girls"). While questions still abound to whether Nathan's mom holds any special abilities, Kring has already revealed that Peter can absorb other hero's powers, possibly making him one of the most important heroes of all.

Kring began the first season of this edge-of-your-seat drama by introducing high school cheerleader, Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere, "Ice Princess"), an extraordinary young woman who can heal herself. The dynamic first episode opens with Claire recording herself falling to her death - a death from which she quickly recovers. In fact, for several episodes the viewer is forced to ponder the message, "Save the cheerleader, save the world." Adopted by a father (Jack Coleman) whose hidden agenda seems to be a bit dark, Claire is shocked to discover that her true father is none other than Nathan Petrelli. In an effort to find her birth parents, Claire also discovers that her birth mom has the unique ability to start fire from her own hands, an ability that caused the fire that supposedly killed Claire as a baby.

If the story hasn't already grabbed your attention, Kring introduces another unique family with special abilities - a Las Vegas stripper, an escaped convict, and a young boy. Niki/Jessica Sanders (Ali Larter, Final Destination) is haunted by a split personality with Niki's dead twin sister Jessica, who often takes over her body to cause havoc and death wherever she goes. Niki strives to protect her son, Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey, "My Wife and Kids"), from the likes of evil Mr. Linderman (Malcom McDowell, "Entourage"). Micah is hiding his own abilities from his parents - the ability to manipulate technology. Meanwhile, Niki's love for D.L. Hawkins (Leonard Roberts, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is also tested as D.L. reveals his unique ability to move his body through other matter, including walls and other people's bodies. In a shocking twist, Linderman reveals that he set up D.L. and Niki to fall in love because of their special abilities.

As a form of comic relief, Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka, "Scrubs") and his cautious but loyal sidekick, Ando Masahashi (James Kyson Lee, "JAG"), seek to save the world by stealing an ancient sword from Linderman's collection. The loveable Hiro's enthusiasm for his mission creates a light-hearted break from the show's otherwise intense drama. While Ando has no special abilities, he is an important player in Hiro's life as Hiro develops his abilities to time travel and freeze time. While other heroes doubt their abilities, Hiro is the one who always believes his mission is important and that they are all key players in saving the world.

How do the heroes know what they are supposed to do? Thanks to the special artistic abilities of Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera, "Empire"), the heroes learn the future through his premonitions. Discovering his abilities while high on drugs, Isaac soon learns to paint the future in a sober state of mind. However, recent events have brought the demise of Isaac, who finally realizes his heroic abilities as he dies for "the cause."

Of course, every hero needs a villain to fight, and Kring's villain is possibly one of the most evil to exist. Former watchmaker Gabriel Gray (Zachary Quinto, "24"), aka Sylar, learns that he can absorb other people's abilities by cutting off the top of their heads and extracting their abilities from their brains. A quiet and somewhat shy loner, Sylar reveals his abilities to his mom, who is overwhelmed by fear and tries to protect herself. Losing control of his emotions, Sylar takes the scissors aimed at him and turns them on his mother, killing her instantly. With remorse over killing the only person he truly loved, Sylar's desire to become the most powerful man in the world increases.

Meanwhile, Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg, "Alias"), a Los Angeles policeman, realizes that he can hear other people's thoughts. Matt joins in the search for Sylar, now on the run from the police. On his quest, he meets other heroes along the way, joining forces with Peter Petrelli, Mr. Bennet, and Ted Sprague (Matthew John Armstrong, "American Dreams"), who has the ability to become nuclear. Matt, along with the other heroes, soon realizes the best way to protect his wife and unborn child is to stay as far away from them as possible until the heroes can save the world.

As the critically-acclaimed drama unfolds, Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy, "Blind Guy Driving"), a genetics professor from India, learns that his late father developed a list of all of the heroes in the world, hoping to unite them to save the world from the evil that lurks in the shadows. Unsure of who to trust, Mohinder blindly leads Sylar to several people whom Sylar immediately kills for their powers. Finally realizing who Sylar is, Mohinder is tortured by Sylar until distracted by Peter Petrelli's surprise visit.

As Mohinder seeks to uncover his father's true mission, he meets an amazing little girl, whose ability to locate people just by thinking about them could be the one way to truly stop Sylar. As the first season wraps, we are left to ponder who is the real villain? What is Mr. Bennet's motive and the secret of The Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis, "The Shield")? Is Linderman behind the true evil, and what about his henchmen? Which hero can truly save the world? Did Sylar really die? And where on earth is Hiro?

With strong characters and an intense and riveting storyline, "Heroes" is a hit and should be returning for several more seasons. Dennis Hammer ("Crossing Jordan") and Allan Arkush ("Crossing Jordan") also executive produce this amazing drama.