Heroes: Five Years On?

Apparently I have developed a habit for delivering old news, which means this post on Heroes will fit right in because its about season 1!

Ok, so you may remember that three years ago Hiro and Ando jumped forward five years into the future to a New York devastated by an exploding man, Peter Petrelli. In that future we got glimpses of all the Heroes and what had become of them, of course Hiro and the other Heroes stopped Peter destroying New York so that future became null and void, or did it?

In the first half of season 1 Hiro met a waitress called Charlie, a waitress who would later be killed by Sylar for her ability to learn things by just reading them once. Hiro went back in time to save Charlie, however he couldn’t, she was dying of a brain tumour.  Hiro determined that his power was great but he could not change the past, no matter how hard he tried. Now I would like to suggest, as Linderman and Angela Petrelli suggested, that the future, like the past, is inevitable.

In the episode Five Years Gone there are many clues, with hindsight, about what is to come in future seasons. Lets start by looking at the characters who haven’t survived:

DL – In the bad future DL Hawkings had been killed by Sylar, not the case the way that the series played out but still DL died. Like Charlie his death seems inevitable.

Micah – In the bad future we can assume that Micah was killed in the blast although it is possible that Sylar took his ability too. In the series future Micah is alive and living underground, helping others with abilities escape Nathan Petrelli and Danko. Sylar would later facilitate his escape, but is that because he wants to take Micah’s ability for himself?

Candice – The beautiful Missy Peregrym had been killed by Sylar so that he could take on the appearance of anyone or anything he  chose. At the start of season 2 Sylar would kill Candice but he would fail to take her ability, however that was rectified by the end of season 3.

Ando – In the bad future Ando death drive Hiro to become a soulless hero stopping at nothing to change the past in the hope of saving his friend. However other visions of the future have shown that if Ando survives he will eventually kill Hiro. Will Hiro have to destroy Ando to save the world? I hope not, this partnership is one of the best on TV!

Ted Sprague – No matter which future you look at Ted was always destined to die and pass on his power to Sylar.

Nathan Petrelli – We learn that Nathan was killed by Sylar but not before Nathan turned on his own people. Could this sum up  Nathan’s role in Chapter 4: Fugitives any more succinctly? It seems that Nathan was always destined to betray his own kind and to die at Sylar’s hands and that Sylar was always destined to assume his identity.

And those that survived?

Peter Petrelli – Nathan’s younger brother did explode and kill everyone in the bad future, however in the series future he only severely disfigured his older brother. It does seem that Linderman was right, Peter was destined to explode and he did, but New York was not destroyed but maybe it has to be for the future to unfold how it was supposed to. Can we therefore expect the end of season four to see the city devastated? Also future Peter, whenever he appears, always has the scar, despite his ability to heal. Is that too inevitable? Or is it just a way to tell the two Peters apart?

Nikki Sanders – In the bad future only Nikki seems to be better off. She has learned to control her ability. Shame it took her losing her son and her husband to be able to do so. Of course in the series future Nikki Sanders is dead (Or is she?) however Tracy Strauss and Barbara clearly aren't. Is one of the other triplets destined to end up with Peter instead?

Matt Parkman – Matt has turned into a bounty hunter for Nathan Petrelli, who is really Sylar, rounding up Heroes wherever they are to be found. This is the biggest departure from the series future there is. Matt is the leader of the resistance in the series future, however could losing Daphne lead him to hunt his own kind? We also see a picture of his wife Janice and her son, drawn by baby Matt, who we know will grow up to have a power of his own.

Mohinder Suresh – Is working with the man he believes to be Nathan who is actually Sylar and together they allowed the bomb to go off in NY, for the greater good. This is a trait with Mohinder, always working with the enemy for the greater good, he worked with the company under both Thompson and Bob Bishop before working for the big bad Arthur Petrelli. Can we therefore assume that in the end, the now superpowered, Mohinder will, under the misguided notion of doing right by doing wrong, end up working with the enemy, maybe even causing a catastrophe like the bomb that should have destroyed New York?

Noah Bennet – Not a hero as such but he’s as good as “one of them”… In the bad future Noah pretends to work for Petrelli (Sylar) but secretly he helps those with abilities escape, something he will later do when working for the real Nathan Petrelli. Also we see here that he is in cahoots with Matt Parkman, so maybe Parkman is only helping Petrelli so that he can more effectively help Noah.  

Claire Bennet – Claire is dead, actually she isn't but everyone thinks she is, which is the only thing keeping her safe from Sylar and stopping him ripping off her head and taking her ability. Unfortunately for Claire when she goes to see her father Nathan Petrelli she discovers the horrible truth, that he is Sylar! In the series future however Claire manages to go for another season and a bit without Sylar taking her head off.

Hiro – Hiro, devastated by the loss of Ando turns to “Terrorism” by hunting down those who would hunt people with abilities and killing them. Future Hiro becomes a powerful unstoppable force that walks on the darkside of morality. However series future Hiro is stripped of his power and what little he regains is slowly killing him. Have Hiro’s actions in changing the future and saving Ando and NY enacted a terrible price from Hiro? Or is it just a test, like with Kensei and the dragon, will Hiro die to protect those he loves?

Finally we come to Sylar – In the bad future Sylar seeks out and destroys his own kind in order to take from them the powers they don’t deserve. He has taken on the mantle of Nathan Petrelli and, as his mother predicted, he has risen to the office of the President of the United States. In the series future Sylar is offered the chance to change (in fact in one future he has changed and becomes a force for good.) however his hunger over powers his judgement and he kills his would-be redeemer, Elle. After that he joins up with Danko, seeing an opportunity to get unlimited access to all the powers he could ever want, an all you can eat buffet if you like. This is something he has always sought out, with Mohinder’s father and later with the son. Taking the ability to shape shift from James Martin, Sylar plans to replace Nathan Petrelli with himself so as to get close enough to kill the president and then take office. In a final showdown with Peter and Nathan, Sylar kills Nathan (as he did in the bad future) and then Matt Parkman forces Sylar to believe that he is in  fact Nathan Petrelli.

So I hope it was clear what I was trying to do here…? I’m trying to suggest that maybe Tim Kring has a plan and that he has hinted at it all along and that the glimpses that we get into the future are more than just a device to pull the story along. I sincerely hope that Heroes makes it into its fifth year, just so we can see just how accurate the episode Five Years Gone is, but if what has happened so far is any clue then I think we might have a Lost-esque reveal “You can’t change the FUTURE!”

Anyway, that’s been My Two Cents, until next time… “Live Long and Prosper”