In the past few weeks, if you’ve come by here you know that I am a huge fan of the show HEROES. In trying to analyze the plots and intricately woven storylines, I’ve broken down one major connection to some of the characters on the show to some of the world’s most popular mutants; The X-Men.

I haven’t heard or read about it anywhere yet, but I’m sure that the writers and creators of the show were definitely influenced by comicdom’s most popular superteam. One doesn’t have to be a genius to see the subtle and some strong correlations between the characters of both the television show and the comicbook.

So here is my breakdown of 7 of the popular heroes on “HEROES” and their mutant influenced counterparts. Here we go:

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CLAIRE: Save the Cheerleader – Save the World. – it’s become the catch phrase of the show. As we now know, Claire is the key to the HEROES saga. While Sylar’s plans seem bent on destroying civilization, Claire seems to be the one holdout that can withstand that. We saw Claire die briefly in Episode 3: One Giant Leap and her brain must have gone into some form of hibernation mode while healing.

Once she came to, the rest of her chest cavity as well as injuries suffered from her fall and imminent impalement to the back of the skull healed as well. Claire is not invulnerable as I first thought. She can feel pain as witnessed when she was stapled on the back of her hand by her younger brother. The more severe her injuries it seems, the longer it takes to heal.

Obviously, Claire’s power is: tissue regeneration

WOLVERINE: Known in the X-family as Logan but goes by the codename of Wolverine, this mutant possesses animal-keen senses much like the animal’s namesake he goes by. His entire frame is laced with an unbreakable metal alloy called adamantium which was surgically grafted into his skeleton.

Armed with razor-sharp retractable claws, Wolverine is one near-indestructable mofo with a major attitude to boot. Oh.. did I tell you that he has a mutant healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound..? Unlike Claire though, Wolverine never breaks bones since his adamantium laced skeleton is impervious to any damage.

LINK: Tissue Regeneration / Healing Factor

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Detective Matt Parkman: Parkman’s telepathic abilities kicked in when he heard the thoughts of the young girl hidden in a basement in Episode 2: Don’t Look Back. We know that Parkman’s abilities are strong because even with the Haitian sitting there in the bar blocking his thoughts, Parkman was able to still creep into Mr. Bennet’s mind and heard the name “Claire.”

That shook Bennett a little bit and surmised that Parkman may be further along than they thought. Here’s a question for you Heroes fans? Does the little girl factor into Parkman’s powers manifesting, or am I reaching?After all, something, a trigger or a catalyst that has not been revealed just yet had to kick start these super-genome abilities in the first place. Just a thought.

Anyway, Parkman’s powers are TELEPATHY.

Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix: She was born with the mutant power of telepathy and telekinetic powers. And much like the character Matt Parkman, Jean Grey showed much potential with her telepathy but lacked the knowledge in order to control them. Once she did control them, Jean rose to the level of an Omega-plane mutant. She was 2nd to only Charles Xavier in telepathic powers on the planet.

LINK: telepathy

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Niki / Jessica: One of the most interesting characters on the show, Niki has a superhuman alter ego called Jessica. At the beginning of the show Simply Diva and I had given her the moniker of EN or Evil Niki. : ) We’ve only seen Jessica in action twice (if you can call action the loud sounds of folks getting their asses beat down), and all we know right now is that she is superstrong and can kick major ass as noticed by the carnage she leaves in her wake.

Niki, is more docile and nurturing and loves her son Micah to death and struggles with keeping Jessica at bay until she willfully conjures Jessica into the forefront of her consciousness in Episode 6: Better Halves when Jessica fights DL. At first I simply took Jessica to be skilled at hand-to-hand combat, but she has shown that she is so much more. She has superhuman strength as well. Now, is she invulnerable remains to be seen.

COLOSSUS: Piotr Rasputin was born with the mutant power to change his entire body into organic steel which grants him superhuman strength and invulnerability.

LINK: (a slight reach) Superhuman strength

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Hiro: Probably the most beloved of the Heroes clan, Hiro is a Japanese office worker whose powers manifested during the pilot episode: Genesis. True X-Men fans can pick up the reference to the “Days of Future Past” storyline, one of most popular X-Men story arcs when Kitty Pryde goes back in time to alter a future cataclysmic event that destroys or captures most of the mutants on the planet. While Hiro’s on the subway, Hiro notices a poster suggesting a trip to New York City.

As has become his trademark, Hiro closes his eyes tightly and after intense concentration, the digits on the clock just above him in the subway car speeds up until the world around Hiro morphs. When he opens his eyes and looks around, he notices that he has transported into a New York City several weeks into the future.

Hiro’s powers are chronokinesis or the more aptly named time traveler.

NATE GREY/X-Man: Nate has been labeled as one of the most powerful telepaths and telekinetics in the world. These same powers would also eventually consume and destroy him by the age of 21 courtesy of his maker Sinister. He can also pass through objects by re-arranging their molecules and also has vast time travel abilities.

LINK: Chronokinesis and the ability to alter the space-time continuum

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Peter: He’s an empath and seems to feed off or temporarily siphon other super-genomes powers. Sort of like the way Rogue does except he doesn’t have to touch them and siphoning their powers doesn’t hurt the host either. At first, I suspected that Peter could fly since he flew at the conclusion of the Genesis episode, but has struggled to do so ever since. I found it strange that the creators of the show would give 2 characters identical powers so it is good to see this new ability come out.

Another grand manifestation of Peter’s abilities appeared when Hiro came back from the future and was able to stop time aboard a subway. Everyone could not move except for Peter because I’ve guessed that he was mimicking Hiro’s powers.

In Episode 5: HIROS, we see Peter also mimic Isaac’s powers and now he can help Issac see and paint the future without Isaac having to do drugs. Something I missed the first time I saw this episode, but I caught it the second time around. (yes, I had my own Heroes marathon-smile) That’s when I noticed he could siphon the other Heroe’s powers.

Quite simply, Peter has the ability of power mimicry.

Mimic: Calvin Rankin possesses the mutant ability to adapt the powers and energies of other mutants. He once absorbed the complete powers of the original X-Men; Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman and Angel. He has the distinction of being the very first mutant added to the original lineup but later was asked to leave the group having performed shamelessly during missions while also harboring evil intentions.

LINK: Power Mimic

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Micah: is the son of Niki and DL. We now know that (although not surprised as most fans saw this coming a mile away) that Micah posseses super-genome abilities as well. He has the power of techno-kinesis or the ability to manipulate electronic devices to work right. In Episode 7: Nothing to Hide, we find out that Micah has known about Jessica for some time and even asks her can he speak to his mom.

So far, Micah has had the most contact with other Heroes. (Hiro at the crash site and his parents) We know that the super-genome code has been unable to be accessed by Mohinder at this point as well.

Can we think that maybe somewhere down the line, Micah manipulates the computer to give him the data that unlocks the code? After all, he did repair his logic unit in Episode 1.. Hmmm…

Micah’s power ladies and gentlemen is techno-kinesis

Forge: This may be the weakest of the connections made between the Heroes characters and an X-man, but since Forge is known to be the ultimate inventor, he has shown an ability to manipulate electronic devices as well.

Essentially, if he can imagine it, he can also build it, as he did his bionic hand and leg, which replaced the limbs he lost. Just call him a mutant McGyver. -smile

LINK: Power to manipulate electronic devices

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DL: We first see DL in the tail end and closing minutes of the 5th episode called: HIROS. He is a phase shifter and can move through solid objects. We know he was in prison, but we also know now that he was framed for the murders of the men in the desert. So far, DL seems to be a good guy who caught a bad rap probably set up by that vixen Jessica.

So D.L. is on the run for supposedly killing his gang members and disappearing with $2,000,000 that we now know Jessica had Niki recover. It’s going to be something when DL and Micah join forces and utilize their powers together which right now seems inevitable. Lets face it. There hasn’t been this much interest in a father/son tandem since Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

DL’s powers are phasing through solid objects and renders anything or anybody he comes into contact with intangible.

Kitty Pryde: Kitty has the mutant ability to pass the molecules of her body through matter, rendering her insubstantial. This ability also allows her to “walk on air,” and even “detach” herself from Earth’s gravity and appear to fly off. She can phase other people and objects along with herself, as well as only part of an object.

Her phasing through any electronic equipment causes it to short-circuit. She has refined this ability to sometimes allow her to cut off a person’s nervous system, something of a nice nifty trick that DL did to Jessica to temporarily knock her out and bring back Niki in episode 6: Better Halves.

LINK: Phasing Abilities and Powers of matter manipulation

MEMORABLE QUOTES from the X-Men:

Prof. Charles Xavier: “When an individual acquires great power, the use or misuse of that power is everything, will it be used for the greater good or will it be used for personal or destructive ends? Now this is a question we must all ask ourselves. why, because we are mutants.”

Xavier: “You know, I am thinking about giving you my position once I’m gone.”

Storm: “But Scott… ”

Xavier: “Scott has been a changed man ever since Jean’s death. You of all people know how fast the weather can change.”

MEMORABLE QUOTE from HEROES:

Hiro: “My only concern is should I hide my true identity? A costume maybe?”

Ando: “You start talking about capes and tights and I’m out of here.”

FANTASY Beyond 2007

…a new beginning…