Main Tropes Index

Troperville

Editing

Tools

Toys

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

new edits
page history
related to...
edit page
discuss
view source
forum

Series: Heroes
Season 1 Heroes
From the Co-creator of Misfits Of Science, an ambitious Story Arc-based series about what would happen if people with super powers started appearing in the "real" world. It appears to have a competent and powerfully-creative production staff with a unique vision behind it, who have assembled an imposing ensemble cast that literally spans the globe.

Heroes is known by loyal fans for three things: its overwhelmingly vast array of characters; it's heavy, complex, fast-moving storyline; and the mis-application of super powers.

The first season ("Volume 1") of Heroes was entertaining, engaging, and interesting, and the show picked up speed as the series progressed. Sadly, the second Volume was screwed by the Screenwriter's Strike of 2007; it was cut short to only 11 instead of 23 episodes. The storyline became muddled and there were several mistakes made in regard to newly introduced characters, pacing, plot and overall characterization. Fans were so vocally disappointed that Tim Kring, the producer and mastermind behind the series, felt compelled to apologize publicly in an open online letter to the fans.

The third season seemed to be getting on track, with plot twists as early as the season premier. Unfortunately, this just turned into a Random Events Plot with no coherence whatsoever. It went from Character Development, then took a sharp turn off a cliff into Character Derailment.

Be sure to check out its character sheet page.

This page also has a tool for gathering and voting on Biggest Complaints.

Warning: This page, much like this entire web site contains no small number of spoilers. Reading it will ruin plot points, kill your geraniums, drive your pets crazy, and make you get a hair cut.

This show provides examples of:
  • Aborted Arc: Sucks to be the characters who had powers related to deadly viral contagions. They arrived in the country too late to be part of the storyline about a deadly viral contagion due to the writer's strike. Also sucks to be anyone who was going to be a part of the "Origins" spin-off Anthology Series teased near the end of the first season. It also sucks to be one of the twelve villains who all took a backseat to Arhur Petrelli. And Adam, who was supposed to be the key to everything. And Knox's revenge arc. And Peter's hunger. And what the hell was that eclipse about?
  • Achilles Heel: Claire can regenerate her body, and is therefore invulnerable unless her brain stem is destroyed.
  • Adults Are Useless: HRG suffers from this. He repeatedly forbids Claire from doing something important to her, guaranteeing she will do exactly that. He is genuinely shocked and upset that his teenage daughter does the opposite of what he has ordered her on multiple occasions. It's generally because he's seen one of Isaac's paintings, but if he'd only tell her that things would be smoother.
  • Affably Evil: Mr. Linderman. After most of a season spent as a sinister Ghost in charge of threatening Mooks, he turns out to be a kindly, grandfatherly old man who, in his time away from managing his criminal empire, enjoys cooking, healing cripples — and plotting nuclear holocausts. All to make the world a better place, of course.
  • A God Am I: Adam Monroe, at least in the supplementary comic books. Also Baron Samedi, the Haitian's brother. He seems to give off major Xerxes and Colonel Kurt vibes, too.
  • All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks: Mr. Linderman
  • All There In The Manual: Chiefly the ARG mentioned below and the online comics. They introduce new characters, establish the (usually sad) backstories of existing characters, set up new subplots, and, most importantly, enable you to actually see the characters use their special abilities.
  • All Your Powers Combined: Both Peter Petrelli, and Sylar. And Arthur Petrelli.
  • Alternate Reality Game: The heroes 360 experience. player blog.
  • And I Must Scream: The ending of "Angels and Monsters."
  • Anyone Can Die: The deaths of Simone and Isaac and the planned death of at least one other main character by the end of the series. (Not to mention all the potential main characters killed by Sylar.) As with Lost, fans have had to suffer quite a few "Oh no, your favorite character might die!" teasers.
  • Arc Words: The stylised RNA symbol that appears on almost everything surrounding the Heroes, "Save the cheerleader, save the world," and the Activating Evolution book written by Mohinder's father, just to name a few.
  • Attempted Rape
  • Author Existence Failure: in-universe with Isaac. Subverted in that it doesn't seem to stop him: even after he died characters have found and followed eight unfulfilled paintings, a year's worth of comic issues, and one of his sketchbooks.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: Sylar's original power Turns out that was just the first one he Empathed. Also, Monica can do this with Muggle skills.
  • Back From The Dead: Claire twice, Peter, Adam/Kensei, and Sylar, all thanks to the secondary Disney Death powers of their regeneration. Mr. Bennet and Maya, thanks to Claire's blood. Linderman was teased to be this in season 3, but ultimately subverted.
  • Badass Decay: What could easily happen to Sylar in Volume 3, though so far they've begun to redeem him while keeping him as a badass.
    • PSYCH!
  • Badass Normal: Mr. Bennet, now Peter, as well. Especially during the "Find the Haitian" thing.
  • Beard Of Sorrow: Nathan Patrelli in Season Two
  • Beware The Cute Ones: Peter almost going all explody, Claire threatening Elle, Hiro's punishment of Kensei, and so on.
  • Big Bad: Mr. Linderman seemed to have emerged as the one true villain of season 1, though Mr. Bennett and Sylar gave him one hell of a fight for the title for a while. Also, at the end of the first season, numerous mentions of Molly's "Nightmare Man" inspired many to believe that whoever it was would be the Big Bad for Season Two. It was Matt's dad, an original member of the Company. However, he was quickly and easily dispatched in early episodes. In season 2, it is revealed that Adam Monroe, aka Takezo Kensei, is behind the deaths of the original members of the Company. Now it looks like it's Papa Petrelli pulling the strings.
  • Big No: Several times, but most notably HRG in Season 1 after Sylar locks him up in a cell and sets on his way to Claire.
  • Big Screwed Up Family: The Petrellis. Especially now that Sylar's been revealed as the third Petrelli brother — maybe. It's complicated of course. And then there's Daddy...
    • Daddy is not Sylar's daddy. Lying to the homicidal semi-maniac who can learn powers like telepathy, in retrospect, may have been a bad idea. Mommy, on the other hand...
  • Black And Gray Morality: The only hero who hasn't done any morally grey activity is Molly, and she is ten years old. Even Micah, who is about the same age, used his ability to rob an ATM and commit electoral fraud. And as the series progressed, all the adults have become darker.
  • Blessed With Suck: Maya and Alejandro, the unloved new characters in Volume Two, nicknamed The Blunder Twins by some fans. To quote another website, "Form of Mass Murder!" "Shape of Retcon!!!"
  • Bloodless Carnage: Which makes scenes like Hiro stabbing Sylar instead of slashing through him and Peter and Kensei's Foe Tossing Charge through Primatech all the more ludicrous.
  • Brought Down To Normal: Peter, of all people. But it seems to have done a lot for his God Mode Sue problems. And everyone during "The Eclipse" episodes.
  • Butterfly Of Doom: Take a shot whenever someone makes this analogy.
  • Butt Monkey: Nikki, though Ted's and Maya's Power Incontinence issues pretty much qualify them for this as well.
  • Cain And Abel: Peter and Nathan in the Season 3 season finale.
  • California Doubling: Los Angeles doubles as New York, Texas, and Japan, among other places.
  • Calling The Old Man Out: Nathan and Angela; Matt and his father; Claire and Mr. Bennet; Nathan and Arthur.
  • The Cameo: Several, but we especially loved Stan Lee's awesome appearance as a bus driver in "Unexpected" and Seth Green in "The Eclipse".
  • Chekhovs Gun: The last 9th Wonders comic book is needed for a Plot Coupon in Season 3. Unfortunately, the author...well you know. But wait! He gave his sketchbook to an anonymous bike messenger back in Season 1...
  • Click Hello: Well, more of a "Click Goodbye".
  • Coconut Superpowers: The show that inspired the trope. Fortunately, the budget seems to finally allow for more "showboating" in Volume Three.
  • Comatose Canary
  • Comic Book Time: Bizarrely inverted. By the third season a lot of time seems to have been added to the timeline!
  • Compelling Voice: Eden.
  • Contagious Powers: The only remaining Muggle main character is Noah Bennet.
  • Contemplate Our Navels: Mohinder's long and pointless opening and closing narration. Rumors persist that these monologues have something to do with evolution or destiny or something deep, but are currently unconfirmed as nobody gives a crap about Mohinder's ramblings.
    "Why are we here? Is it the Search for Self? Why do we dream? When will someone finally point out that RNA does not work this way? What happened to Caitlin? When will I ever shut up?"
  • The Corpse Stops Here: Twice.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina
  • The Ditz: Hiro, in a lovable fashion, though he matures a bit in later episodes and especially in the second season.
  • Draco In Leather Pants: Sylar. Oh so much.
  • Dropped A Bridge On Him: DL, Caitlin, Adam Monroe, Usutu...
  • The Dulcinea Effect: Both Hiro (unsurprisingly) and Peter Petrelli (even more unsurprisingly given his carriage of the Idiot Ball throughout season 2) fall under this effect. And now, in Season 3, Matt is fawning over a supervillainess he just met yesterday, all because he had a psychic vision of them being married in the future.
  • Dye Or Die: Claire in "Five Years Gone"
  • Easy Amnesia: Peter Petrelli at the start of Season 2. (Actually more of a Laser Guided Amnesia, but that fits too.)
  • Enemy Mine: Part of Volume Three had Noah Bennet and Sylar teaming up. It didn't work out so well... which leads to...
    • In the Volume Three season finale, Bennet frees all the Level 5 supervillains to help fight Sylar. They all last about 3 minutes, tops.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Claude, Ando, Parkman, even Mr. Muggles has a fanbase. In the first half of the first season, Hiro was like this too - then the producers listened and gave him an increasingly larger role.
  • Even The Guys Want Him: Mmm...Mohinder Suresh.
  • Eviler Than Thou: Pa Petrelli has his first speaking line after draining Adam Munroe's power, causing him to age Last Crusade-style and crumble to dust. Those words?
    Pa Petrelli: Feels good to breathe again.
  • Evil Foreigner: "The German," the psycho with Magneto-type totally original electromagnetic powers.
  • Evil Makeover: According to Volume Three, hair gel = evil.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Possible explanation for why occasionally-repentant Sylar is a major fan favourite. Plus, he gets nookie with Elle. Evil sex!
  • Evil Matriarch: Mrs. Petrelli, especially in the first two seasons. Later it turns out that she may have been brainwashed by her husband.
  • Evil Overlooker: Both covers to the Season 1 graphic novel collection show Sylar looming over the Heroes.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Season 3 is shaping up to be a battle between Primatech Paper/The Company (a morally ambiguous Ancient Conspiracy that tried to blow up New York City to unify the world) and Pinehearst Industries, a Legion Of Doom of supervillains whose actions are apparently destined to make the world explode.
  • The Faceless: Sylar, for a surprisingly long time after he was introduced as a character. The first time we actually see his face is in a flashback; therefore the fact that he's uncomfortably handsome is more of a shock.
  • Fake Brit: Adam is played by David Anders (from Oregon).
  • Fake Nationality: James Kyson Lee (Korean) plays Ando (Japanese). Katie Carr (English) plays Caitlin who is allegedly Irish, but has one of the shakiest Irish accents yet seen.
    • Perhaps hopefully lampshaded by Ando who says (of white people, though): "They all look alike."
  • Faking The Dead: Arthur Petrelli
  • Fallen Princess: Claire
  • Fan Disservice: Several, but Claire's (operating table) and Mohinder's (think "Species") nude scenes win. Not to mention that fat guy puppeteering Claire and both her moms.
  • Fan Nickname: There are several, but highlights include,
    • Mystery Sock for Isaac and Fryingmon for Nathan (based on Hiro's pronunciation of "Mister I-saac" and "Flying Man")
    • Momo, "Moe" (as in the Stooge), or Pretty-But-Stupid for Mohinder
    • Rafiki for Usutu, the man Matt meets in the African plains.
  • Fandom Nod: Sylar explains to Claire that he, in fact, does NOT eat brains. What he does do is, for some fans, worse. His response when he hears his victim say this: " Claire, that's disgusting." In that slow, creepy Sylar voice.
  • Fantastic Aesop: Both seasons have entire episodes devoted to explaining that You Cant Fight Fate and/or change the past. This, however does not apply to the future and in fact the resolution for both seasons is preventing a future event witnessed firsthand by one or more characters from happening. This seems to imply that the "present" timeline that most of the show takes place in is somehow more valid or real than any other timelines.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Adam Monroe is stuck in a coffin underground, thanks to Hiro's teleportation ability. Did we mention that he is immortal? And that he essentially can't die? He suffocates, then regenerates, then suffocates again, etc...
    • However, since there was no Time Skip between seasons 2 and 3, he was only there for like 2 or 3 days. Then Arthur Petrelli gets his hands on him, giving him a more conventional Fate That Is Death.
  • Fauxlosophic Narration: Mohinder's Book Ends mentioned above. Though as of the start of Season 3, they seem to be using actual poetry instead of MoeMoe's bull. It makes slightly more sense.
  • Forbidden Fruit: Season three opens with Hiro getting his father's video will with specific intructions not to open the safe. Guess what Hiro does as soon as he hears this? (Face-palm!)
  • Forgotten Fallen Friend: Charlie. Made more egregious by the fact that there's a whole tie-in novel dedicated to her romance with Hiro, and she's still forgotten by the next season.
  • For Science!: Mohinder. The season 3 opener is easily the most blatant example, but he's had elements of this all along.
  • Four Lines All Waiting
  • Framed Clue: Chandra Suresh's diary is hidden inside the case of his laptop, and only discovered when Mohinder throws it down in frustration. (There's also a very clumsy version of this involving reaching for some salt at a dinner)
  • Future Badass: Hiro and Peter in "Five Years Gone", Peter and Claire in "I Am Become Death". Inverted with the "I Am Become Death" version of Sylar.
  • Future Me Scares Me: The Trope Namer, as seen immediately above. Hiro says this in "Five Years Gone".
  • The Ghost: Mr. Linderman spent the first half of the first series as an invisible character. This was later revealed to be due to budget constraints. The shows budget wasn't big enough to pay for the high cost of actor Malcolm McDowell appearing from the start. In Volume Three, he appears as a possible literal ghost.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Mr. Bennet and Gabriel Gray/Sylar
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Claire Bennet is sort of the Trope Namer (it isn't a direct quote but might as well be due to all the trauma the writers like to put her through.
  • Greasy Spoon: Hiro met his beloved at one of these, and Nathan Petrelli at another.
  • Growing Up Sucks: An amnesiac Hiro declares this in season 3 after discovering everything that happened in seasons 1 and 2.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Subverted. Mr.Bennet is too much of a Magnificent Bastard to fall for Sylar's speech.
  • Heel Face Turn: Mr. Bennet, whose various ruthless actions proved to be an elaborate stratagem to protect his daughter from the very company he's working for, and who is eventually outed and forced to join with two of the heroes in order to keep her safe. This seems more like a Reverse Mole, although the problem with both of these is that he still seems more like a Heel than a Face. Continuing to think of him as a Heel is seeming more reasonable all the time, as Claire seems to be going Heel in season 3.
    • Nathan Petrelli also turns face at the climax of the season finale in order to stop Peter's explosion from destroying New York. Now it seems he's back to being a dick.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: Sylar in season 3. So many in fact that you think he'd get whiplash.
  • Heroes: Obviously. Though it's somewhat subverted; the show seems to like exploring just how hard being a superhero would be in practice.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Hiro and Charlie, the waitress.
  • Horrible Judge Of Character: Mohinder Suresh embodies this trope.
  • How Do I Shot Web: Peter. Oh, the number of time he tries. It gets depressing.
  • Ho Yay: Various pairings, the most popular of which include Mohinder/Sylar (nicknamed "Mylar," "Sylinder," "S & M," etc."), Hiro/Ando (nicknamed "Hando") and Peter/Nathan (nicknamed "Petrellicest"). Most obviously, Mohinder and Matt (most commonly rendered "Matthinder"), in the second season ("obvious" to the extent that we were surprised they never officially actually incorporated it into the plot). A common sentiment in the fandom is, "If you're not slashing at least two characters, you're watching it wrong!"
    • Note that this isn't even getting into the CrackPairings. Little Mohinder the Iguana/Mr. Muggles/Spirit Guide Tortoise for the waffles!
  • I Am Your Father: The number of major characters who have been revealed to be related to each other is getting a little silly at this point. For example, Claire is Noah's adopted daughter; she's also Nathan's biological daughter and therefore Peter's niece and Ma Petrelli's granddaughter. Oh, and it was just recently revealed that Sylar (maybe) and Flint (sure, why not) are her uncles We half expect the writers to say, "What the hell, Adam "Kensei" Monroe is everyone's great-great-great-great-ect.-grandfather." (He does have a Meaningful Name...)
  • Idiot Ball: It's like they're playing basketball with the damn thing.
  • Idiot Hero: Peter, first and foremost. Sometimes Nikki. Hiro. Mohinder. Aw, f___ it! EVERYONE.
  • Idiot Plot: Although it had been passed around freely between the characters in Season 1, by the time of Season 2 the writers appear to have grasped the Idiot Ball firmly, with the result that the premature conclusion to the season's arc almost feels like a mercy killing.
  • I Got Better: Now that we know Linderman was a hallucination, Fridge Logic means that for the time being this is how Nathan recovered from being shot, twice. Then again, it worked for Matt and he got shot four times. Sucks for D.L., I guess.
  • I Just Want To Be Normal: Claire, but other characters fall into this as well.
  • I Just Want To Be Special: Sylar, and also Hiro and Peter (at least until Peter learned the downsides of his ability)
  • I Know Kung Fu: Literally: Monica gains the ability by watching a Bruce Lee film.
  • Important Haircut: The show lives off Hair Tropes like a king. Aside from the Evil Hair Gel mentioned above, the best example was Sylar (mercifully) cutting Peter's trademark Emo bangs.
  • Infant Immortality: Subverted with the onscreen death of future-Sylar's child, Noah.
  • In Spite Of A Nail: "I Am Become Death" shows Nathan as President and Peter as a scarred renegade - the same as in "Five Years Gone" despite other major differences.
  • In The Blood: According to Momma Patrelli, it's not Sylar's fault he's a mass murdering psycho; his powers just drive him to murder. Oh, okay...
  • It's All About Me: Sylar.
  • Its The Best Trope Ever: Hiro and the comic book guy agree.
  • Jeannie Cut: Some of Hiro's teleports are achieved this way.
  • Jossed: "Are you going to eat my brain?" "Claire, that's disgusting."
  • Joker Immunity: Sylar. Oh so much.
  • Just Think Of The Potential: Mohinder at the start of volume 3 regarding the Super Serum. Nathan, too, near the end.
  • Karma Houdini: It seems that the universe is bending over backwards to let Sylar be his dastardly brain-and-power-stealing self. He is now working for The Company. Because the Company has shown itself in the past to not associate with dangerous psychos at all...
    • Now he's working with the "villains", and somehow this only makes him more of a good guy. Sylar is the moral equivalent of a Timey Wimey Ball.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: The sword of Kensei. As an aside, it is never outright stated that it is a magic sword, but it does focus Hiro's abilities somehow.
  • Kick The Dog: Though considering it involved someone willingly giving Sylar someone to steal a power from, it may count as Rape The Dog instead.
    • Pretty much the entire point of Papatrelli's role on the show. He is either talking or being a dick. No exceptions.
  • Knight Templar: Mr. Linderman, who desires to heal humanity at any cost. Rivaled solely by the Primatech organization, which systematically abducts, studies, and slaughters potential heroes in order to protect all the fragile, regular humans from... we don't know yet. Primatech's working for Linderman. So is just about everybody and everything else, for that matter. Seems Nathan Petrelli may be going down this path as well.
  • Knight Templar Parent: Mr. Bennet. His daughter has superpowers, and could suffer if her mother found out? Wipe the mother's memory every time she becomes suspicious. His daughter's only friend knows, and could blow her cover? Wipe the friend's memory of ever knowing her. The daughter seems rather upset about this? Wipe her memory as well. The guy's one step away from feeding her anti-growth hormones to avoid losing Daddy's little girl.
  • Lampshade Hanging: When Arthur tries to recruit Mohinder's services, the latter replies that there's always some shady organization looking for his help for diabolical ulterior motives. This doesn't stop Mohinder from helping Pinehearst.
    • Claire asking "Why is it always me?" is a spectacular lampshade hanging.
  • Legion Of Doom: Season 3, the team of villains being assembled by Pinehearst Industries a.k.a. Arthur Petrelli.
  • The Libby: Jackie, Debbie.
  • Line Of Sight Name: Gabriel Gray gets the name Sylar from the brand of watch he's fixing when he kills his first victim.
  • Loads And Loads Of Characters: All the "heroes," and their friends, family, colleagues, etc. It's easy to get lost.
  • Long Lost Sibling: Early in season three, Angela reveals somewhat repentant evolved serial killer Sylar is the third Petrelli brother neither Peter nor Nathan was aware of. Noah later states that she might be a damn liar but...
  • Luckily My Powers Will Protect Me: Knox seems compelled to mention in every single scene he's in that other people's fear gives him Super Strength. The Crazy Eye look he gives while saying this may count as well. It gets to the point where it must be asked, what kind of power does other people's annoyance give him?
  • Made Of Plasticine: Claire is a comparatively mild version of this trope, but still prone to dying or breaking bones in completely ridiculous ways. Some fans claim she has a secondary power: causing herself unlikely and violent accidents.
  • Magical Negro: Dying African American Charles and his inspiring speech to Peter. The Haitian can also sometimes be considered as fitting this role, being a mysterious, mute, plot device. Usutu, the new African Trickster Mentor character is almost certainly this - though he had a neat little subversion where what Matt assumes to be ancient African mumbo jumbo is a quote from Jung.
  • Magnificent Bastard: And in this corner, the fight is between Bennet and Nathan Petrelli. Odds favorite is currently Nathan, as he manages to be a Magnificent Bastard even when the people know it. With the introduction of Linderman - who calmly managed to talk Nathan down - a new contender was on the field. And just when we thought Bennet was out of the race, he cranks it up to 11 and shows he's a bigger bastard than even we dreamed. And then there's Bob, and don't discount Adam Monroe yet... it's a veritable bastard battle royale! And don't forget Magnificent Bitch Angela Petrelli.
    • Sylar's totally a magnificent bastard. "This is usually the part where people start screaming."
    • Arthur Petrelli might also count. "Son, until you change that attitude.... you're grounded.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Angela Petrelli.
    • Not nearly as much as her husband.
      • Though really, he shouldn't need to bother, since he has mind control and after taking Peter's powers, omnipotence, basically.
  • The Mean Brit: Claude (ironically, the only British character on the show played by an actual Brit).
  • Meaningful Name: Many of the protagonists have first names with "hidden" meaning that fits their story background. Biblical names with roots in Greek or Hebrew are common, or names derived from Christian saints. Of course, the name Hiro Nakamura might simply be a pun on the English word "hero", since it's pronounced similarly. In the online comics of the series, Hiro explains that he was named after Hiroshima, since his grandfather survived the nuclear explosion there, which could be an explanation of his powers. And then there are the not-so-hidden meanings of Elle (who controls 'electricity) and Echo (with, of course, sound powers). The other obvious one is Adam Monroe, who predates all other known "evolved humans".
  • Meddling Parents: HRG, Angela Petrelli, and Bob; but the prize goes to Mrs Gray, the mother of watchmaker Gabriel Gray, who placed so much emphasis on her son being "special" that it drove him insane and turned him into the serial killer Sylar. So its kind of ironic that his 'specialness' ended up causing him to (accidentally?) stab her.
  • Mega Manning: Peter and Sylar. And their dad. Monica can also do this with Muggle skills instead of superpowers.
  • MIB
  • Mighty Whitey: Takezo Kensei/Adam Monroe. A blond-haired, blue-eyed samurai running around Japan in the 1600s. With superpowers, yet. Kinda-sorta subverted with the way the plot worked out, but really — what was he doing in Japan in that era in the first place?
  • Mister Danger: Read above
  • Mister Muffykins: Mr. Muggles came so darn close to being the Trope Namer. Note that he fails utterly in being an Evil Detecting Dog.
  • Morality Chain: Future Sylar and his son. Does he ever get pissed when his son is accidentally killed.
  • The Mountains Of Illinois: "Odessa, Texas" has mountains in the background. The real Odessa is completely flat and dry, as actor Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder) pointed out in a Season 1 episode commentary.
  • My Grandson Myself: Adam Monroe in a tie-in graphic novel.
  • Neck Lift: Nikki/Jessica and her father.
  • Nice Job Breaking It Hero: Season 3 Peters. Just season 3 Peter. Angela gets one of these too.
    • Series 2 Hiro should be the posterboy for this trope.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Sylar. The puppeteer guy. Mohinder's latest experiment seems to be going in this direction too.
  • Ninety Percent Of Your Brain: "Imagine what we could acomplish if we used one hundred percent of the brain." Massive seizures?
  • No Ontological Inertia: In "Dual" Primatech's lockdown system turns off when Claire "kills" Sylar.
  • No Name Given: The Haitian, even in a recent story arc that took place in Haiti.
  • Not My Driver: Inverted, Mohinder the cab driver realizes that his passenger is Mr. Bennet and flees.
  • The Obi Wan: Claude
  • Offing The Offspring: Arthur Petrelli; Matt Parkman's father
  • Oireland: Peter's subplot at the beginning of Season Two. You know... maybe we shouldn't have brought it up again...
  • One Degree Of Separation
  • One Winged Angel: Lest we forget, this was teased like you wouldn't believe around the middle of Volume One. We have yet to get a payoff.
  • Our Presidents Are Different: Of the President Minority type.
  • Pandering To The Base
  • People Puppets: Level 5 inmate Doyle
  • Pet The Dog: The Season 3 flashback episode "Villains" was one big Pet The Dog moment for most of the series' major baddies: Sylar, Linderman, Angela Petrelli, Elle, and even Thompson all got to have sympathetic and humanizing moments. The only exception is Big Bad Arthur Petrelli, who's revealed to have been a grade A Jerk Ass even back then.
  • Pineal Weirdness: Implied to be the source of superpowers.
  • Power Hair: Ma Petrelli
  • Power Incontinence: Peter, Maya, Ted.
  • Product Placement: Take a shot every time Everyone Is Driving A Nissan.
  • Professor Guinea Pig (Mohinder)
  • Prophecy Twist: Isaac's paintings, both used straight and averted. Paints Peter dead: Peter dies, then regenerates in seconds. Paints Hiro up against a dinosaur: Hiro goes to a natural history museum and looks at a dinosaur model. Paints a sequence of Claire getting killed: the sequence turns out to be just ambiguous enough to let the victim be someone else. Paints himself, dead, his brains removed: Gets killed and has his brains removed. There wasn't really much room to manoeuver with that last one. He was still doing it in season 2, from beyond the grave...
    • Peter does it too, with the dream where he nukes New York, And this appears to have happened with Angela's dream of Bob, Kensai and Co followed by Syler. Except Bob got Sylerad
  • Proud To Be A Geek: Hiro
  • Psychic Nosebleed
  • Psychic Static: Mr. Bennet thinks in Japanese to throw off mindreaders.
  • Put On A Bus: Zach, with no ceremony whatsoever (he is currently busy evading Terminators). West, Molly, and Monica as well, it would appear (Micah at least got a brief cameo). And Caitlin, in the cruelest possible way.
  • Rage Against The Mentor: Matt and Nathan spend much of the second season interrogating and browbeating (and Mind Raping) each other's and their own parents for answers about their origins and Jerk Ass activities like: the creation of the MIB-like Company, their controlling their children, never helping with their abilities, and basically being dicks "for their sakes", and committing Karma Meter-reducing sins "for them". All while never being clear or concise on what they had in mind or why they did these things. Needless to say, fans are exasperated at all this holding out too. All together now: Oh, Claremont Coefficient, we hate you!
  • Real Life Writes The Plot: Or... doesn't. Due to the writers' strike.
  • Random Events Plot: Everything in season three.
  • Resuscitate The Dog: Sylar in volume 3. It doesn't take.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Ted calms down and finally gets off his revenge kick, just in time to be snacked on brain-fingerbanged by Sylar. And now Maury Parkman gets swiftly executed for defending his son.
  • Ripple Effect Proof Memory
  • Rule Of Scary: First season Sylar. Later on...not quite as much.
  • Sadistic Choice: Sylar presents a number of these to Clair and Bennet in the Volume 3 season finale. They each opt to Take A Third Option.
  • Salaryman: Hiro Nakamura, and - even more so by season two - Ando, who was stuck back in his cubicle as Hiro travels through time...
  • Scary Black Man: Season 3 introduced Benjamin "Knox" Washington, a black man who derives superhuman strength from people's fear. While technically he himself doesn't have to have caused that fear, it sure looks that way in most of the scenes he has appeared in. Some fans have thus dubbed him the King of the show's many Unfortunate Implications.
  • The Scrappy: Season Two gave us West the flying Emo Teen, and Maya and Alejandro the Blessed With Suck Twins. Some fans would add Season Three's Not-Nikki, Flint, and Knox to this list as well.
  • Sealed Evil In A Can: Season 2's Big Bad, Takezo Kensei aka Adam Monroe. Season 3 seems to be going this way too with Level 5. And Adam. Again. For two episodes.
  • Seasonal Rot: Third season
  • Seen It All: Claude.
  • Shadow Archetype: The season 2 episode "Cautionary Tales" pretty much states outright that Elle is what would have happened to Claire had Mr. Bennet not hidden her powers from the Company. Word Of God is that they were originally meant to be sisters, further highlighting the parallels.
    • Also, Peter and Sylar. Both capable of Mega Manning, but one kills to do it and the other tries to save people. And in season 3, they're claimed to be brothers. The Powers That Be also briefly mixed up who's the "shadow", with Sylar attempting to go straight and Peter gaining his Great Power And Great Insanity.
  • Shaggy Dog Story: The whole "Save the cheerleader, save the world" plot from the first season was undone in the first episode of the third season.
    • Well, no; New York's still around, yeah?
    • Volume 3 seems like a Shaggy Dog Kennel, specifically where Peter and Sylar are concerned (and ESPECIALLY the latter's ludicrous redemption arc).
  • Shout Out: Lots. Most are to comics, including specific title and issue references. Television Without Pity have commented that some lines and scenes seems like shoutouts to them.
    • Although Hiro correctly cites Kitty Pryde in Days of Future Past from the X-Men comic book, he is a couple of issue numbers off.
    • Mr. Claremont, the swordsmith from Episode 22, Landslide, is named for Chris Claremont, who wrote one of the most successful arcs of the comic book X-Men.
    • The license plate on the limousine belonging to Kaito Nakamura is NCC-1701, the call sign for the original Enterprise starship from Star Trek. It's probably worth mentioning that Kaito Nakamura is played by George Takei, the actor who played Hikaru Sulu from the original Star Trek.
      • Similarly, the catalogue number for Kensei's katana in the private collection is CRM-114, the cipher for plane communications in Doctor Strangelove
    • And when Claude first appears, he says "Fantastic!", which was Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor's Catch Phrase. It should also be noted that Doctor Who is Britain's equivalent of Star Trek.
    • It's also no accident that the climax of the first season winds up taking place at Kirby Plaza (as in, famed comic artist Jack Kirby.)
      • And Kirby is also the name of a video game character that devours his enemies and copies their abilities. Sound familiar?
    • The name Takezo Kensei is a Shout Out to historical Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, aka Shinmen Takezo (or Takezo Shinmen in the western order).
    • Simone may be named after comics writer Gail Simone.
    • Best of all, the bits in the season three premier that suggest the writers are aware of us! For example, Claire asks "What Kind Of Lame Power is Healing Anyway?"
    • Hiro has now shouted "MUDAMUDAMUDA!" twice. First while fighting samurai in "Lizards" (S2, E2), then while teleporting around Daphne the speedster thief in "The Butterfly Effect" (S3, E2).
      • Not to mention his constant exclamations of "YATTA!!!"
    • Magneto The German.
    • Sylar's original use of his power to fix watches.
      • Not to mention that the big plan in Season 1 is to blow up New York to unite the world...
    • Hiro, after getting mindwiped, is in shock at recent Marvel Comics plots: "Captain America is dead!? Spider Man revealed his secret identity!? And The Hulk is RED!?"
  • Shut Up Hannibal
    Sylar: From cheerleader to stone-cold killer! Who's the monster now?
    [Ka-chuck. BANG! Dial tone.]
    Claire: You are.
  • Soaperizing
  • Sophomore Slump
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: Hiro, again.
  • Stock Superpowers: For a while, they seemed to be going down the list - then they jumped to things like "Ability to Talk To Machines".
  • Storming The Castle: Matt and Bennet in the first season finale.
  • Story Arc
  • Storyboarding The Apocalypse: once a season
  • Subways Suck: Subverted — Future Badass Hiro stops a subway train with his time manipulation powers.
  • Summers Family Tree: The Petrelli's immediate family thus far includes Angela and Arthur, sons Peter and Nathan and Sylar, Nathan's wife and legitimate kids, and Claire. Claire, in turn, has the Bennets as her foster family as well as biological mother Meredith making Meredith's brother Flint her uncle.
  • Super Empowering: Ando's power.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: Superpowered parents have superpowered kids, though this is at least partly the result of a breeding program by The Company.
  • Superpower Meltdown: Ted, Peter.
  • Superpower Lottery: Sylar, Peter, Hiro, Eden, and perhaps Matt now. Hopefully he won't be killed/depowered for it. Arthur Petrelli.
  • Super Senses: Dayle had super hearing.
  • Super Serum: the volume 3 Mac Guffin
  • Sword Fight: Hiro and his father, Hiro and Kensei
  • Terrible Ticking: The ticking clock sound effect that plays whenever Sylar's up to his old tricks evokes this trope. Even though it's not literally a ticking he can hear, it symbolizes that he can see how everything works in a way no one else can, which drives him batty.
  • That Man Is Dead: Sylar pretty much refuses to answer to "Gabriel" most of the time, but goes back to it when he's repressing his "hunger".
    • Subverted and made all the more intriguing by the fact that when he is Gabriel repressing the hunger, he takes the opposite stance, refusing to answer to Sylar. His little identity crisis is edging dangerously close to split personality disorder (now THAT would be awesome).
  • There Is No Try
  • They'd Cut You Up
  • They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot
  • Third Line Some Waiting
  • Thirty Xanatos Pileup
  • Time Travel: Hiro Nakamura multiple times. Peter, too, for some apocalypse storyboards.
  • Timey Wimey Ball: the "Fantastic Aesop" entry above pretty much covers it
  • Together Umbrella: Peter and Simone. Aww. Redone in the online comic to include Peter and Mohinder instead!
  • Too Dumb To Live: Claire is edging dangerously close to this. She knows the kind of people looking for her family. She knows her flyboy has sworn a vendetta against her father. She's caught him spying on her at her house. How certain are we that Sylar didn't steal her brain? However, the true champions of stupidity have got to be Maya and Alejandro, with Alejandro actually getting killed by Sylar and Maya trusting Sylar completely, even after she's found out that he was wanted in connection with his mother's murder. (To be fair, that was one death that Sylar honestly didn't intend, as it was an accident.) Also, Mohninder Suresh is an example of this most of the time, but especially in the third season opener.
  • Took A Level In Badass: After spending Season 2 wallowing in Wangst, Claire is spending Season 3 kicking ass and generally being much more proactive in dealing with life's hard knocks.
  • Toy Ship: Micah and Molly.
  • Tragic Hero: Mystery Sock Isaac
  • Transformation Trauma: Mohinder creates a Super Serum that grants him heightened agility, energy, and strength. All well and good... until it turns out that somebody on the writing staff likes their David Cronenburg...
  • Trickster Mentor: Again, Claude, whose training methods involve gleefully whacking his pupil repeatedly with a pole and throwing him off a building. Given the circumstances, it's often hard to tell whether Claude sincerely cares about his pupil or hates his guts.
  • Try Not To Die: Bob to Mo