Pheidippides

Claire Bennet, portrayed by Hayden Panettiere, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. A cheerleader, Claire has the power of rapid cellular regeneration. She is the adopted daughter of Noah Bennet and Sandra Bennet, and is the biological daughter of Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon.

Plot

Background

Claire was born to Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon, two people possessing abilities. Noah Bennet and his partner, Claude, who are agents of the Company, arrive at Meredith's house to study her and her ability until she blows the door open and Noah finds Claire and carries her out safely. Noah and his wife, Sandra, later adopt her. In the graphic novel "Elle's First Assignment", which takes place before the series begins, Bob gives Elle her first assignment, which is to track and follow Claire, posing as a student at Union Wells High School. Elle is reluctant, but Bob informs her that Claire is important to the Company and that her blood may become important. Claire never realizes that Elle is following her.

Six months prior to the start of the series, Claire had just become a cheerleader at her high school, with the help of her friend Jackie Wilcox. During a playful dispute with Jackie, Claire crashes into a glass case cutting her hand. When they show Claire's parents, Mrs. Bennet says that Claire might need stitches. After Claire, Jackie, and Mrs. Bennet leave for the hospital, the phone rings and Mr. Bennet answers. It is Chandra Suresh, a scientist who studies paranormal phenomenon, informing him of Claire's power.

Several days later, Mr. Bennet asks if he can see her hand with the stitches. When they unravel the cloth around her hand they are both surprised to see not even a small scratch. Mr. Bennet remarks, "Well, that healed nicely."

Genesis

In the pilot episode "Genesis", set several months later, Claire has discovered her power. Frightened as to what it means, she confides in Zach, a high-school classmate who videotapes Claire testing her regenerative power by attempting to injure--and even kill--herself. Zach thinks Claire's power is the "coolest thing to ever happen in their town"; Claire believes it makes her a freak and is afraid of it being discovered. Her younger brother, Lyle, also discovers Claire's powers after finding the tape Zach filmed, Claire swearing him to secrecy.

Despite wanting nothing more than a normal life, Claire has been through her share of harrowing experiences, including an attempted rape, being murdered during the attempt, and reviving during an autopsy. Claire is also consumed with curiosity about her birth parents, having been adopted when she was a year old.

After the first four episodes of the series, a story arc called "Save the cheerleader, save the world" begins. Claire's ultimate fate is implied to be tied to the fate of the entire world. A future version of Hiro Nakamura cryptically told Peter Petrelli: "Save the cheerleader, save the world." Isaac Mendez, a drug-addicted painter in New York experiences a vision of Claire being chased at her school. He also paints a picture of a blonde cheerleader with the top of her skull removed.

In the episode "Homecoming", Claire is elected homecoming queen after her friend Zach campaigns for her, persuading all of the school's "unpopular" students (who outnumber the "popular" ones) to vote for her. Claire punches Jackie after Jackie taunts Zach about his sexuality. Claire's father grounds her, intending to keep her out of harm's way by preventing her from fulfilling Isaac's "prophecies." Zach persuades Claire to sneak out her bedroom window and go to the game anyway.

At the game, Claire meets Peter, not knowing that he is her biological uncle or that he is there with the intention of saving her from Sylar. However, since he saw the newspaper article where Jackie took credit for the fire rescue that Claire did, Peter believes Jackie is the cheerleader he is there to save. Sylar catches the two girls in the locker room and cuts Jackie's scalp telekinetically. Claire is thrown against a wall when she attempts to intervene. Claire, splattered with blood, quickly recovers from her broken bones, gets up, and runs away from Sylar, who realizes he has made a mistake as Jackie dies from massive blood loss. In the hallway, she finds Peter and the two of them flee the building. Claire takes Peter's advice to run toward the stadium full of people, but then turns back to find him lying in a pool of blood. She is then astonished to see him heal himself just like her. As Claire goes to get help, she runs into the arms of her relieved father, who says the police will handle things at the school. He also says she is lucky to be alive, leading Claire to admit that her survival is not due to luck.

When the story continues in "Fallout", Claire's father informs her that he has always known about her powers and has done things he is not proud of to protect her. He tells her Sylar has been taken care of, but warns Claire not to tell anyone about her powers, claiming there are others who would want to harm her. Claire recovers the remaining video tapes depicting her powers from Zach and destroys them. She warns Zach not to tell anyone about her healing abilities. Claire and her father are interviewed by law enforcement officials, but Claire tells them both she and Peter must have been "just lucky" to have survived Sylar's attack. Claire later meets with Peter alone and is fascinated when he tells her he risked his life to save her (as he was not sure in advance if he had adopted Claire's healing factor). She remarks that he is "totally [her] hero."

Claire later discovers that both her brother and Zach no longer remember what they have seen regarding her unusual healing abilities. Claire panics and calls her father, extremely frightened. Mr. Bennet reassures her that he remembers and everything will be all right. The Haitian then appears out of the shadows and covers Claire's mouth with his hand. He tells Claire that Mr. Bennet sent him to wipe her memory of the preceding events, just as he has wiped the memories of Brody, Lyle, and Zach. The Haitian even states that he had to mind wipe Claire's mother "so many times" in the past. However, the Haitian then said that there is a reason Claire must remember and asks her if she can keep a secret.

Two weeks later, Claire is struggling with being alone again since the Haitian did not wipe her memory. In front of her father, she pretends that she does not remember anything the Haitian was supposed to erase. She tries to reconnect with Zach, but between his lack of memory and resentment over the way their friendship ended in grade school, he is not interested. Desperate, Claire meets with the Haitian to discuss her options and the state of things. She mentions "save the cheerleader, save the world," wondering what it means and if she is even "saved." The Haitian states that she has been saved for the time being. He also rebuffs her request to see Peter, stating he is being watched by her father. She asks the Haitian to give Zach his memories back, as she does not want to be alone, but he tells her he cannot. Before leaving, the Haitian also recommends she respect her abilities more, rather than see them as an affliction. Eventually, Claire takes Zach back to the spot where they filmed "attempt number six." After redoing the same stunt from "Genesis", she now says into Zach's camera, "This is Claire Bennet, and as far as you know, that was attempt number one."

In "The Fix", Claire and Zach search for information on her biological mother. Their search leads them to Meredith Gordon, a woman reported to have died in a fire along with her eighteen-month-old daughter. They believe Claire to be Meredith Gordon's reportedly-dead daughter. When Claire contacts several people with the surname "Gordon," she finds a woman who identifies herself as Meredith.

The woman is shocked to hear that Claire survived and is revealed to possess the ability of pyrokinesis. In "Distractions", Claire and Meredith meet, sharing their powers with each other. Later, Meredith telephones Claire's biological father, who is revealed to be Nathan Petrelli, informing him that their daughter is still alive.

In the episode "Unexpected", Claire finds that her mother, Mrs. Bennet, is showing signs of temporary memory loss, at one point even forgetting the family dog, Mr. Muggles, only to revert to her normal self a few minutes later. Later on, Mrs. Bennet collapses while in the kitchen and is rushed to the hospital. When Mr. Bennet arrives, Claire is unable to suppress her anger against him any longer and admits to knowing about the repeated memory wipes that Mr. Bennet has had done on her mother. After this, the family returns home, where they are confronted by Ted Sprague and Matt Parkman.

In "Company Man", Claire and her family are held captive by Sprague and Parkman. After a botched attempt to free the family by Mr. Bennet, Claire and her father convince Matt to shoot her to get Sprague's trust. She attempts to free her family after she regenerates, but is captured by Sprague in the attempt. After Sprague is shot and his radiation powers go violently out of control, Claire uses her regenerative powers to get close enough to tranquilize him. However, Claire is seen healing from severe radiation burns by one of Mr. Bennet's superiors, who insists that Claire be turned over to their employers. In the end, Claire is given to the Haitian, who is to keep her safe from Bennet's company.

In "Parasite", she is supposed to go with the Haitian to flee the country but manages to slip away from him by stealing his passport at the airport. She then goes to Peter Petrelli's apartment, regarding him as the only person she can trust in the current chaos her life has become. However, she finds his mother, Angela Petrelli, there instead, and Angela reveals that not only is she Claire's grandmother, but that she and the Haitian have been corresponding for some time in order to protect Claire.

In ".07%", Claire learns that her grandmother, Angela Petrelli, knew of her existence all along, even though Nathan thought she had died in a fire as a baby. Mrs. Petrelli tells her that she still needs protecting and the two of them will be going to Paris until after the election. When the seemingly dead body of Peter Petrelli is brought to his mother's house, Claire comes downstairs to see Peter for herself. Claire finds a huge jagged shard of glass penetrating his skull. When she pulls it out, Peter comes back to life. Later, Nathan, realizing he cannot afford to have her in the city in the days leading up to the election—to avoid any scandalous issues and possibly to get her out of the way of Peter's nuclear explosion—asks Claire to go to Paris. Claire reluctantly agrees to go with Angela, and the two of them embrace warmly.

Two days before New York is to be blown up, Claire is still staying in the Petrelli Mansion. She watches as her father Nathan greets his wife, Heidi Petrelli, and their two boys, Monty and Simon, upon their return to the mansion, although Claire is not introduced to them. Later, Claire and her grandmother, Angela Petrelli, begin packing her bags for Paris. Peter walks into the room and talks to Claire about destiny, although she is convinced the best way for Nathan to protect her is to fly to Paris. Claire tells Peter about Ted Sprague, a man who can manipulate radiation after Peter reveals he will likely "go nuclear" and destroy half of New York.

Peter and Claire confront Nathan about Ted; with someone else capable of manipulating radiation, Peter is hopeful the explosion can be prevented. Nathan remains doubtful, pointing out that Peter's vision was of his own explosion. Peter reminds Nathan that he had a vision of flying as well, despite the fact that it was Nathan who could fly - a fact that impresses Claire. Later, Peter and Claire go to the Petrelli campaign headquarters to meet with Nathan. Upon arriving, they see Nathan talking with Thompson, whom Claire recognizes as her adoptive father's boss and the man she is running from.

Peter gives Claire a handgun, telling her she is the only person who can get close to him if he begins to explode. He instructs her to shoot him in the back of the head, a spot she knows will prevent him from healing. She reluctantly agrees to carry the weapon. The pair recognize a location from one of Peter's drawings of Ted, and decide to look for him. While waiting for Ted to appear, Claire and Peter discuss how their powers have changed their lives. Claire then sees Mr. Bennet walking with Ted and Matt Parkman. She runs to her adoptive father as Peter and Matt acknowledge each other. Meanwhile, Peter notices his hands begin to glow as he absorbs Ted's power.

In "Landslide", Mr. Bennet orders Claire to leave the city with Peter and Ted. They are making plans to make their way out of New York to Nebraska when Peter hears Sylar's thoughts and they hide in a building upon realizing he is nearby. When they re-emerge, Ted is arrested by the FBI. Whilst on his way to a holding facility, the FBI truck transporting him is made to crash by Sylar and Ted is subsequently murdered; his abilities having been absorbed by the villain.

Upon receiving this news in "How to Stop an Exploding Man", Mr. Bennet requests that Peter stay with his daughter at all times and he agrees. Claire, however, feels betrayed when, instead of finding Sylar on their own, Peter drives them to a parking garage where Nathan is awaiting their arrival. Firm in her belief that they cannot trust him, Claire sneaks out when Peter leaves her in the car to speak with his brother, only for her to run into her grandmother, Angela Petrelli. Angela and Nathan have plans to leave the city with Claire to Nantucket but when she finds out that they have known about the impending explosion all along and are willing to let it transpire, she jumps out of Nathan's office window after bluffing them that she has accepted the situation. Rapidly healing after her fall, she runs off to Kirby Plaza where she catches up to the scene just when Peter is about to explode.

Mr. Bennet hands her a gun to shoot her uncle just as she had promised before but Claire hesitates, pleading with Peter that there must be another way. Nathan flies down in between them at that moment and agrees with his daughter. Claire and the others can only watch as Nathan flies away with his brother high into the air where Peter then explodes, saving New York City, but possibly sacrificing her birth father and uncle's lives in the process.

As the first season ends, Claire reconciles with her adoptive father and they make plans to reunite with the rest of their family.

Generations

Four months later, Claire and her family have moved to California, where Claire starts her first day of 11^th grade in Costa Verde High School under the last name of "Butler". She quickly meets West, who nearly runs her over when she accidentally runs in front of his car. Following her father's advice — "Be entirely unextraordinary" — she does nothing that makes her stand out.

In "Lizards", Claire, curious about the extent of her abilities and whether they could be used to help others, cuts off her own toe to see if it grows back. It does, but West, watching through the window, catches her in the act. Claire tries to keep him quiet about it, so he reveals his power, the ability to fly, to her. When Claire notices a two-line scar on his neck, he explains that he was "abducted by aliens" just after meeting a man with "horn-rimmed glasses", revealing that he was one of many caught and released by Claire's father.

In "The Kindness of Strangers", Claire pretends to make the cheerleading squad in order to have time to date West. She promises to her dad that she will not date in return. Though the cheerleading squad leader, Debbie, will not let her join, she and West manage to get Debbie kicked off the team by abusing their respective powers.

In "Out of Time", West comes to Claire's house unannounced to bring breakfast. Despite her efforts, West discovers the identity of Claire's father and refuses to talk to Claire about it. At the same time, her father discovers the news report about the drunk cheerleader — vague details of Claire and West's prank are given — and insists on moving again. Claire strongly refuses, saying that she will not go with them.

In "Truth & Consequences" a devastated Claire, who does not know that her father has been revived by the Company, scatters what she believes are his ashes at the beach. After doing so though, she quickly discovers Elle observing her. Claire runs up to Elle and tells her that due to what the Company did to her father, she will reveal her power. Claire then punches through Elle's car window and says, "You'll be the ones running" and walks away.

In "Powerless", Claire is confronted by both her mother and West about her decision to reveal her power to the world. She and West fight, she breaks up with him and after he flies off, her father appears, effectively halting her plans.

Villains

Claire witnesses the shooting of Nathan on television, and calls Peter to ask about his condition, offering to give Nathan a blood transfusion to save him, though Peter states that she cannot, being all the way in California. After hearing of Nathan's death, she packs a duffel bag, apparently planning to go back to Texas to save him, only to run into a newly-empowered Sylar upon exiting her bedroom, much to her horror and surprise, as she had seen him "die" at the hands of Hiro Nakamura. She manages to escape by hitting him across the face with a trophy, but Sylar telekinetically seals the doors shut so she can't leave. Eventually, after hiding in a closet for a while and stabbing him in the chest with a kitchen knife, Claire is pinned to the wall by Sylar and she screams as he slices into her skull. She talks to Sylar during his examination of her brain to discern the source of her powers, where it is revealed just how Sylar uses a superhuman's brain to gain their power. After gaining the use of Claire's power, Sylar simply replaces her disembodied skull cap, which immediately reattaches to her body. Before Sylar leaves, Claire asks why he didn't kill her. Sylar responds by saying that Claire is "different, special," and that he "couldn't kill [her] if [he] wanted to". Later on, Claire discovers that she no longer feels pain, which saddens her deeply as she states that pain was the only thing that kept her believing she was human at all. Clearly distressed by this discovery, she apparently makes the decision to experiment on herself to test her new-found ability. During one scene, Claire begins to videotape herself as she is about to step in front of an oncoming train. By labeling it her "seventh attempt", Claire is picking up where she had left off in "Genesis", where she had initially halted her experimentation at attempt number six. However, she is saved from getting hit by the future Peter, who she confides in about Sylar's attack and asks him to train her in her powers. Peter merely states that he can't and teleports away, leaving her by herself on the hill. Noah Bennet shows Claire some files on several of the Company's escaped villains, revealing that as the reason he can't stay at home, and reveals that he and Sandra Bennet had called in Meredith Gordon (last seen in Season 1's "Run!") to protect the family while Noah is away. In "One of Us, One of Them," Claire enlists Meredith to teach her how to fight back, to no longer be "the victim." However, when they leave to do so, Meredith "tortures" Claire by superheating the air in the building they are in, reducing the level of oxygen. Eventually, she forces Claire to reveal the real reason she wants to learn how to fight: to get revenge on Sylar for what he did to her. Afterwards, a guilt-ridden Meredith apologizes to her at the Bennet household, and Claire leaves for an apparent cheerleader meeting; in reality, she has stolen some Company files that Noah had left on the counter and left to track down some of the Company's escapees.

Alternate futures

• In the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Claire has been hidden from the world by Mr. Bennet due to the world's newfound awareness and fear of those with special powers, having been shipped from place to place in an effort to keep her identity and whereabouts secret from her biological father and his "hero"-hunting Homeland Security Department. She works as a brunette waitress in Midland, Texas, in the Burnt Toast Diner, under the alias of "Sandra". She discusses an upcoming wedding with her blond-haired fiancé, Andy. However, upon learning that others are aware of Claire's existence, Mr. Bennet travels to Midland in order to once again erase Claire from the map. Although he succeeds in persuading her to pack up and leave, he is later betrayed by the merciless Matt Parkman, who telepathically discovers Claire's location and apprehends her at the diner.
  Claire is taken to the Petrelli Mansion in New York, where she is visited by Nathan Petrelli. Nathan explains the necessity of the sweeping presidential measures he's taken against the genetically-advanced of the world. Though simply disgusted with her father at first, the situation takes a turn for the worse when "Nathan" reveals himself to be Sylar in disguise. He has killed both Nathan and Candice Wilmer, using her power of illusion to masquerade as Nathan. Sylar then telekinetically scalps Claire.

• In the alternate future of "The Second Coming", Claire is revealed to have black hair and a deep hatred of the oppression of evolved humans in that timeline. She encounters the future Peter, planning to kill him with a gun, but he stops time to avoid the bullet and teleports into the past. Before she shoots, she states that she always loved him.
  This version of Claire appears once more in "I Am Become Death", where she immediately shoots down Future Peter and turns her attention to Present Peter. It is revealed that she is working alongside the Haitian, as well as a reformed Knox and Daphne Millbrook to capture and/or kill Peter, who has been labeled as a terrorist.

Powers and abilities

Claire can spontaneously regenerate any tissue in her body, allowing her to recover from almost any injury within seconds to minutes — though she does need larger, embedded foreign objects (such as a branch or a shard of glass) to be manually removed from her body, or bones pushed back into position for the wounds to heal properly. Various characters in the series imply that having her brain removed would permanently kill her - although, in "The Second Coming", Sylar remarks that he "couldn't kill [her] even if [he] wanted to.". He also says, that "[Claire] can never die." In addition to simple healing, Claire has been shown to regenerate extremities. In the second season episode "Lizards", she experiments with the limits of her powers, cutting off a toe. A new toe rapidly grows into place. When her blood is injected into others, they are also healed, even if they were dead for a while, with no apparent ill-effects.

Series writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite would only comment that she "feels pain, but not the way most of us do." Claire, describing her response to pain to West, says "I feel pain; I just get over it quickly." Between her tolerance for pain and seemingly unlimited healing potential, Hayden Panettiere compares her character to the X-Men character Wolverine, although she is "less hairy and without claws." Since having her brain examined by Sylar, Claire has stated that she no longer feels pain of any kind.

Casting

Marc Hirschfeld, executive vice president of casting for NBC Universal Television stated, "When they were trying to decide who the cheerleader should be, I literally picked up the phone and said to the producers, 'You got to meet Hayden Panettiere'."

External links

• NBC cast page