Key characters from the first season included:
- Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is using his father’s genetic research to track down people who have developed special abilities and warn them about Sylar.
- Sylar (Zachary Quinto), an expert watch repairman who can see how things and people work, with has the ability to steal the powers of others; he often does so by literally opening up their heads and directly accessing their brains. Craving the assimilation of new abilities, Sylar spends all of the first season seeking out the others and absorbing several powers.
- Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) has the ability to manipulate his presence in time and space, by slowing or stopping time or by teleporting himself to a different time and place. He comes to wear an ancient Japanese sword, which he believes helps him to focus these powers. He believes that he is a hero and has a responsibility to save the world along with others with special abilities.
- Ando Masahashi (James Kyson Lee) is Hiro’s best friend. Although he has no powers he travels with Hiro to New York to prevent a massive explosion that Hiro encounters in a jump to the near future.
- Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera) a New York artist with the ability to paint images of the future. At first he can only do so while on heroin, but finds he can still do so after he cleans up.
- Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) is a L.A. police officer who discovers he can hear others’ thoughts. This ability is put to use by a number of others, including the FBI and Mr. Bennet.
- Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman) seems merely to be a Texas paper company executive, but in fact he works with a mysterious organization that tracks down people with special abilities. His main motivation in a number of his actions has been to protect his adoptive daughter, Claire.
- The Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis) works with Bennet and has two related abilities: to restructure an individual’s memories and to block psychic abilities. The former is usually used on Bennet’s orders to eliminate people’s memories of their own or others’ abilities. His blocking power prevents Matt Parkman from hearing the thoughts of those near him. His origins are still obscure.
- Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) is Bennet’s adoptive daughter and has the power to regenerate her body after even a serious injury. She also apparently does not endure pain, since she repeatedly suffers catastrophic injuries without complaint. Future Hiro tells Peter Petrelli to “save the cheerleader, save the world,” because if Syler gains Claire’s ability he will be instoppable.
- Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) is a New York politician running for Congress, hiding the ability to fly. A self-described “shark,” Nathan cares for his brother, Peter, but worries that his eccentricies will derail his campaign.
- Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) is a nurse who initially believes that he has the ability to fly. Eventually he learns that he has absorbed his brother’s power, and that he can copy the abilities of anyone he’s been in close contact with. He becomes increasingly obsessed with a vision in which he sees himself exploding, causing the destruction of most of New York already predicted by Isaac and seen first-hand by Hiro.
- Niki Sanders (Ali Larter) is a woman with superhuman strength, though for most of the first season Niki is unable to use these abilities; instead they’re used by Niki’s alter-ego, the ruthless Jessica, who was named for Niki’s dead sister. Niki sees Jessica when she looks in the mirror. Niki and Jessica complete for control of their life and her son, Micah.
- D.L. Hawkins (Leonard Roberts) is Niki’s husband and can phase through solid objects. Money troubles led him to join a gang, but he was arrested for a crime they committed without him. He discovered and used his ability to escape jail so that he could clear his name.
- Micah Sanders (Noah Gray-Cabey) is Niki and D.L.’s son and, in addition to being very bright, can affect the operation of machines (also known as technopathy).
- Eden McCain (Nora Zehetner) can use her voice to impose her will on others. After a profligate life enabled by her abilities, she was recruited by Bennet and positioned near the geneticist Chandra Suresh. After Suresh is murdered by Sylar, Eden befriends his son, Mohinder.
- Ted Sprague (Matthew John Armstrong) can manipulate radiation, an ability with caused the death of his wife. Wracked with guilt, Ted sometimes has difficulty controlling his power. Once they find out about him those who know about the impending destruction of New York assume Ted is the ultimate source of the power that causes that explosion.
In addition to its large cast of regulars,
Heroes has had a number of high-profile guest stars, many of them from elsewhere in the sci-fi universe.
- Claude, the “Invisible Man” who once worked with Bennet and later grudgingly helped Peter find a handle on his absorbed abilities, was played by Christopher Eccleston. Eccleston was star of the first season of the new Doctor Who.
- Mr. Thomson, Bennet’s heartless boss in the organization that finds those with special abilities, was played by Eric Roberts. Like Eccleston, Roberts is also a Doctor Who alumnus (he played the Master in the 1996 TV movie).
- Kaito Nakamura, Hiro’s traditionalist father and the head of a major Japanese corporation, was played by George Takei (Hikaru Sulu from Star Trek).
- Linderman, the Las Vegas kingpin whose sprawling underworld empire is one of the nexuses that brings a number of characters together, was played by Malcolm McDowell. Among McDowell’s many roles is Alex in A Clockwork Orange and Soran, the villain who kills Kirk in Star Trek: Generations.
- Heidi Petrelli, who was paralyzed in a car accident for which Nathan feels responsible, was played by Rena Sofer. Sofer has been on a number of series including The Chronicle; she’s also a regular in the sixth season of 24.
- Hope, the showgirl who uses Hiro and Ando for her own purposes, was played by Missi Pyle, who was the scene-stealing alien Laliari in Galaxy Quest.
