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Peter Petrelli is a fictional character on the series Heroes played by Milo Ventimiglia. Originally a nurse living in New York City he has dreams of flying and comes to believe he may have that ability only to discover his truly extraordinary ability goes far beyond flight.
Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.
Season 1
As a hospice nurse, Peter cared for Charles Deveaux, the dying father of Simone Deveaux. While at Deveaux's bedside he had a dream that he was flying. He later confronted his brother, congressional candidate, Nathan Petrelli, with his wild theory that he may have an amazing talent. His brother was far more concerned with how his brother's crazy ideas and his mother's shoplifting would reflect on his career. Peter confided to his mother (Angela Petrelli) that he felt a deep connection to Nathan and has been certain he has had precognitive moments when he knew his brother was injured before anyone told him ("Genesis").
Peter later met Mohinder Suresh in a cab and expressed his feeling that he was born to do something great. He received an unexpected call from Simone Deveaux requesting his help with her boyfriend who has overdosed on heroin. Peter and Simone go to Isaac's apartment and find him collapsed before a massive painting on the floor of a nuclear explosion in the city. Peter also discovered a painting of him flying.
Peter decided to test his beliefs and called his brother to witness the event. He jumped off a building but things went awfully wrong and he began to fall. His brother flew up to catch him but Peter is injured and awakened in the hospital. They believe he tried to commit suicide like his father did. Peter is unsure what to believe but he confronted his brother and threatened to jump again if Nathan didn't tell him the truth. Nathan gave in and admitted that they both flew, as proof Peter finds himself levitating.
Later, on his own, Peter tried to fly again, but was unable to replicate the success he had with Nathan. When next Peter saw his brother, he tried to tell him about the work of Chandra Suresh who believed in the existence of people like them. Nathan wasn't interested however.
Peter quit his job as a nurse believing he was meant to do something greater with his life. Nathan offered him money for research, which Peter turned down. He later visited Chandra Suresh's apartment hoping he would have answers for him. Instead, he found Mohinder who informed of his father's death. Peter convinced him to go with him to visit Isaac Mendez at his gallery hoping he'd be able to manifest his own ability in the presence of someone with one. When Isaac didn't answer his door, Mohinder lost his last shred of faith and refused to go along with any more of Peter's plans. While on the subway, Peter was visited by a future version of Hiro Nakamura who tells him to "Save the cheerleader. Save the world."
Peter returned to Isaac's studio. Peter ran out of drugs and was unable to finish his work but Peter goes into a trance and finishes a painting of Claire Bennet. While there, he received a call from Hiro and Ando Masahashi and passed on future Hiro's message to them. Peter and Isaac worked together, trying to figure out the meaning of Isaac's paintings. It became clear one of the paintings are missing; Simone took it to her gallery. Simone later revealed she sold the painting to Mr. Linderman and Peter asked his brother to help get it back. Nathan was able to get the painting back but told Peter otherwise and destroyed it. Fortunately, Simone had a photo of the painting which showed Peter's death.
Despite the certainty of his death, and his lack of great power of his own, Peter visited the Texas high school in the painting hoping to find and save the cheerleader. He didn't recognize her initially but when the serial killer, Sylar, came after her, he helped stall him so that Claire could escape. He and Sylar struggled and fell off a tall building. Sylar survived but Peter is mortally injured. Claire returns and her ability to heal is transferred to him and he heals as well.
Peter was taken into police custody and had a vision of his brother transforming into Sylar. He was questioned by Matt Parkman and Audrey Hanson and Claire also visited and thanked him for saving her life. Later, when his brother arrived to get him out of jail, Peter collapsed outside the police station. He had a vision of himself in New York in which he explodes. He awakened believing the destruction of New York is all his fault. Peter later fell into a coma and was transferred to a new York hospital.
He later awakened but convinced of the danger surrounding him, he planned to leave the city. Instead he came across an invisible man, Claude Rains, whose ability he absorbed. Peter convinced an unwilling Claude to help him learn to control his ability. The two were making progress when individuals known to Claude tracked them both down with the help of Isaac Mendez and attempted to capture them. They both escaped but Claude abandoned him. An angry Peter found Isaac who was extremely jealous of his relationship with Simone. Trying to get his revenge on Peter, he accidentally shot and killed Simone instead.
Nathan encouraged Peter to talk to Mohinder Suresh but Peter's visit to his apartment resulted in his being attacked by Sylar. Sylar attempted to take Peter's ability, but with Claire's regenerative abilities Peter healed before Sylar could access his brain. Sylar managed to overcome Peter, sending a spray of glass shards into his body. One embedded into his head, killed him. Suresh managed to knock Sylar unconscious and brought Peter's body to Nathan.
Though his family believed him to be dead, Claire, visiting her father, Nathan and grandmother, removed a shard of glass from his head causing him to recover. Peter attempted to convince Claire to defy her grandmother's desire for her to leave the country and stay and fight, as she may be the only thing to save him from exploding ("How to Stop an Exploding Man". The two later discovered Nathan might be working with Mr. Linderman. Peter and Claire ran into Claire's father Mr. Bennet along with Matt Parkman and Theodore Sprague. When Sylar later attacks and kills Sprague, stealing his ability, Peter believed Sylar would be the one to explode.
In the season finale however, he faced off against Sylar who was impaled with a sword by Hiro. Peter lost control of the powers and begins to irradiate. He begged Claire to stop him by shooting him but she is never forced to through with it. Nathan appears and the two fly high into the stratosphere where Peter explodes without destroying the city. This differs from the outcome seen in the variation of the future shown in "Five years Gone" in which Peter explodes, destroys much of New York but has nevertheless survived. In that variation Sylar was blamed for the event. Peter was, at that time, living in Las Vegas with girlfriend, Niki Sanders. He had also acquired Niki's superhuman strength, Meredith Gordon's pyrokinesis among others.
Season 2
Following his explosion above New York City, four months later Peter found himself in a shipping crate on a dock in Cork, Ireland with no memory of who he was or how he got there. He was taken captive by Irish gangsters who held him responsible to the shipment that should have been there instead of him. He was taken to Wandering Rocks Pub where he was beaten and question by pub owner and gang leader, Ricky McKenna. Peter had no information to offer but soon began to display phenomenal abilities.
He struck up a romantic relationship with Ricky's sister Caitlin and won Ricky's confidence when he exposed gang member, Will as a traitor. Ricky turned over a box containing Peter's few personal objects. He learned his name was Peter Petrelli and found his passport and a plane ticket from New York and a picture of Nathan but nothing was familiar to him.
When a woman came looking for him, Ricky sent him to his sister's flat where he used her paints to paint a vision of the future, of himself and Caitlin Montreal. Caitlin's brother was murdered by Elle Bishop for lying about Peter and determined to know more about himself, Peter and Caitlin traveled to Montreal where they found a note from a man named Adam Monroe.
Still confused, Peter wished for answers and he and Caitlin found themselves transported to a future New York, abandoned after a viral pandemic swept across the world wiping out 93% of the population. Caitlin and Peter were separated after being captured by hazmat teams. Peter was introduced to a woman who identified him as her son. His telepathic abilities allowed him to capture images and thoughts from her that helped fill in many of the blanks.
Peter and Caitlin became separated when she was slated to be deported with other foreigners. Unable to control his time traveling ability, he was drawn back to the past, leaving her behind in the future. Back in the past he encountered Adam Monroe a man with the ability to heal and with Adam's encouragement, used his regenerative abilities to heal his mind.
Peter remembered everything. Nathan flew him high above the city and was burned in the process. Peter exploded and recovered immediately, in time to rescue his brother and take him to a hospital. He left the hospital and was tracked down by company agents, Bob and Elle. Elle knocked him unconscious and he awoke in a Company facility. He was informed they had a means of repressing his abilities with drugs so he'd never have to hurt anyone again. They also promised a future cure that could permanently disable him.
Under Elle's guidance he took the medication and took up residence in a company holding cell. He believed his stay to be voluntary but his cell neighbor, Adam Monroe informed him otherwise. He eventually came around and decided to escape. He and Adam left the facility. Elle and the Haitian were sent after the and the two split up. Peter was captured by the Haitian but instead of taking him in, he wiped all his memories and left him in the shipment container in which he later woke.
Now armed with his memories and a mission to save the world, Peter and Adam set out to find former company biological engineer, Victoria Pratt who would know where the Shanti virus that devastated the future was located. Victoria worked on manipulating the virus, creating a deadly strain. Victoria tried to warn Peter that Adam had no intention of saving the world but Peter took the information on the location of the virus from her mind. Adam killed Victoria when it appeared she would have killed Peter.
The two traveled to the company's Odessa, Texas facility where Peter intended to find and destroy the virus. Peter ran into Hiro Nakamura who was bent on killing Adam for having murdered his father, Kaito.
Powers
Peter's powers were initially unclear. He had several dreams about flying but later only to be able to do so in the presence of his brother Nathan. After his first meeting with Isaac Mendez he drew stick figures that he later realized were a simplistic representation of the future. His ability to see and complete Isaac's paintings ultimately proved that Peter's ability is to share that of other gifted individuals. It later becomes clear that once an ability is absorbed Peter is able to call on it at will. It's unclear whether he requires conscious knowledge of voluntary abilities in action to activate them. He has been seen to have acquired several abilities, precognition from Isaac Mendez, space-time manipulation from Hiro Nakamura, spontaneous regeneration from Claire Bennet, Telekinesis from Sylar, Telepathy from Matt Parkman, Invisibility from Claude, Radiation manipulation from Ted Sprague and superhuman strength from Niki Sanders.
Peter has also had clairvoyant visions of unknown origin. While blacked out he experienced a vision of a past meeting between Charles Deveaux and his mother. Though invisible to others, Deveaux was able to see and communicate with him. Peter appears to be able to project himself through time, it's uncertain this could be a combination of abilities from various sources.
In season 2, Peter acquired more abilities. He is able to direct and manipulate electricity acquired from Elle Bishop, and can walk through walls. It is fair to assume he has acquired the ability to transform elements on a molecular level like Bob Bishop but its doubtful he is aware of this talent.
Peter's abilities come at a price. His ability to absorb others' abilities is involuntary and he has had to train to recall them. However, recalling too many abilities at once can prove overwhelming and may have been responsible for him going comatose following his experiences in Texas among several individuals with abilities.
2008, SCI FI. All rights reserved.
