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* [[90% of Your Brain]]: "Imagine what we could accomplish if we used one hundred percent of the brain." Massive seizures?
* [[Absentee Actor]]: Common in seasons 1, 2 and 4, but not so much 3 - unsurprisingly [[Hayden Panettiere]] appears in the most episodes, with 73 (admittedly this includes one episode where she only appears uncredited in stock footage - but Santiago Cabrera once only appeared in stock footage and he ''did'' get credited, so it counts); Jack Coleman comes a ''very'' close second with 72.▼
* [[Aborted Arc]]: We had a list up (see the Discussion page), but ''Heroes'' has had quite a few of these since Volume 3.
** [[Vaporware]]: Mention must also be made of the abandoned, potentially fascinating ''Origins'' spin-off anthology series.
▲* [[Absentee Actor]]: Common in
* [[Abusive Parents]]: Niki Sanders, Elle Bishop, and {{spoiler|[[All There in the Manual|Flint and Meredith Gordon]]}} all had abusive fathers.
** [[All There in the Manual|...and Eden's stepmother.]]
** The [[Mind Rape|mind-fuck]] that Virginia puts Gabriel through [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|"to be special"]] most certainly qualifies. {{spoiler|..and then there's bio-dad who murdered his biological mother in front of him when he was five
** Arthur Petrelli takes this to new levels, [[Offing the Offspring|as he attempts to MURDER his sons]]. And has his granddaughter attacked by two thugs, one of whom is a psychotic rapist.
* [[Achilles' Heel]]: Claire can regenerate her body, and is therefore invulnerable unless her brain stem is destroyed... [[Contractual Immortality|Maybe...]]
** Claire is arguably an aversion, though, as Sylar implies that he was incapable of killing her even when he desired it after copying her regeneration into himself, which means that not even decapitation would actually kill her.
* [[Adults Are Useless]]: HRG suffers from this, especially in the first Volume. He repeatedly [[Forbidden Fruit|forbids]] Claire from doing something important to her, guaranteeing she will do exactly that. He is [[Genre Blind|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 ''[[Cannot Spit It Out|tell]]'' her that, things would be smoother.
* [[Affably Evil]]: Mr. Linderman. After spending most of Volume
** Also, Adam Monroe. I mean, he wants to wipe out humanity with a super virus - all for the greater good, mind you - but he seems like he'd be a fun guy to go out drinking with.
** In fact, this seems to be a recurring theme throughout the series: that, despite the name, nobody is purely good or purely evil. Even the permanent villain of the series, Sylar (
* [[Affectionate Pickpocket]]: Peter and Arthur Petrelli, though with powers instead of wallets.
* [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks]]: Mr. Linderman.
* [[All the Myriad Ways]]: Future
* [[All There in the Manual]]: There is quite a lot of supplemental material, and one of the best things about this series is the way it has happily adopted using online content as a storytelling medium. There was an ARG mentioned below, several online-exclusive miniseries, and an ongoing series of [https://web.archive.org/web/20131030170412/http://www.nbc.com/
* [[All Your Powers Combined]]: Peter Petrelli, Sylar, Linda Tavara from the graphic novels,
** Variation: Samuel Sullivan's earth-manipulating powers grow stronger while more supers are near him.
* [[Alone with the Psycho]]: Sylar and... well, anyone really. He did it several times with the Bennets {{spoiler|and the third time actually succeeds in getting Claire's power
* [[Alpha Bitch]]: Jackie, Debbie, Annie.
* [[Alternate Reality Game]]: The Heroes 360 experience. ''[http://heroesarg.blogspot.com/ Player blog]''.
* [[Always Save the Girl]]: Hiro trying to save Charlie
** In "Pass/Fail", this gets thrown back in Hiro's face, as Sylar rattles off a very shortened list of the people he's murdered since Hiro made a deal with him to save Charlie.
* [[Amicably Divorced]]: Subverted here since
** They seem to tolerate each other well enough for the sake of Claire in the episode "Thanksgiving", but are generally not on speaking terms after their divorce.
* [[Amnesiac Dissonance]]:
* [[Amnesiacs Are Innocent]]: The result of above
* [[Anal Probing]]: In the seventh episode of Volume
* [[And I Must Scream]]: Happens to Adam Monroe between Seasons 2 and 3 and
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Adam Monroe and Samuel Sullivan. ''Especially'' Samuel, who seems to give a speech about the importance of family in every single episode, says Grace over every meal and gleefully talks about how good it is to "give back" to the earth by recycling. You don't get much more Anti-Villainish than that.
** Samuel is basically Magneto only without the Holocaust backstory. All he really wants is to make sure that Evolved Humans are no longer seen as freaks by humans. It's just that he's willing to kill every one who gets in his way and the fact that he seems perfectly happy to slaughter large numbers of people to get his way that makes him a villain.
** And let us not forget Mr. Linderman, who calls himself a "humanitarian" (not [[I'm a Humanitarian|that way]]) and whose stated goal is to "heal the world
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: The [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|deaths]] of Simone and Isaac and the planned death of at least one other main character
* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: Samuel is genuinely upset after he kills both
** However, he seems to get over it by the point we meet
* [[Archnemesis Dad]]: Arthur Petrelli.▼
* [[Arc Words]]: The
▲* [[Archnemesis Dad]]: Arthur Petrelli
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Brutally subverted with Scott, the [[Super Soldier]] Marine in Volume
** Played straight with Noah Bennet, who wasn't even supposed to have a connection to Claire when they first shot the pilot.
* [[Ascended Fanboy]]: Hiro goes back to the year 1671 in
* [[The Atoner]]: Nathan goes through this in Volume 2, including getting tanked and growing an uber-scraggly [[Beard of Sorrow]], over his role in nearly blowing up New York City in Volume 1. He goes back to being a dick midway through Volume 3 and through most of Volume 4, though, with pretty much ''the rest'' of the cast ending up as The Atoner in Volume 4.
* [[Attending Your Own Funeral]]: Volume 4 ends with all the Heroes gathering together for the first time in the show's history to witness {{spoiler|[[Burn, Baby, Burn|the destruction of Sylar's body.]] What most of them don't know is that "Nathan" is really Sylar after he was brainwashed into believing he's Nathan and assuming his appearance permanently by Ma Petrelli and Matt Parkman. The body being burned is a fake, a dead shapeshifter who [[No Ontological Inertia|died while mimicking Sylar's appearance]].}}▼
* [[Attempted Rape]]: Brody to Claire. Subverted, though, in that rather than being stopped by the [[Big Damn Heroes]] or even the girl herself, the attempt fails because he accidentally ''kills'' the girl, and apparently he's not a necrophiliac.
▲* [[Attending Your Own Funeral]]: Volume 4 ends with all the Heroes gathering together for the first time in the show's history to witness
* [[Author Appeal]]: Compare the sheer amount of blonde women against those with any other hair
** Also, check the heights of the majority of the main women. One would think [[Masi Oka]] had a line in his contract stating that all women who appear on screen with him must still be shorter even when wearing heels.
*** Making it surprising that he and [[Hayden Panettiere]] took so long to appear together.
* [[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. The same can be said for Mohinder's father and his writings.
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Sylar's original power
* [[Axe Crazy]]: Sylar and, to a comparatively lesser extent, Elle.
* [[Back
* [[Badass Adorable]]: Hiro, while still retaining an almost childlike innocence. Claire and Molly have the adorable part down cold, just not the badass part.▼
* [[Badass Family]]: The Bennets. Noah sets the gold standard for [[Badass]] on the show. Claire [[Took a Level In Badass]] in Volume Three, and single-handedly let the heroes loose in Volume Four. Sandra helps Claire hunt down villains in Volume Three and hide fugitive heroes in Volume Four. And even Lyle tries to brain the radioactive Ted Sprague with a baseball bat and even gets to take down [[Psycho Electro]] Elle in Volume 3.▼
** Claire arguably becomes more badass as the series progresses, and is unarguably still adorable
▲* [[Badass Family]]: The Bennets. Noah sets the gold standard for [[Badass]] on the show. Claire [[Took a Level
** Notably the Petrellis are clearly ''supposed to be'' this kind of family but too many of them are [[Invincible Hero|Invincible Heroes]] and [[Invincible Villain|villains]] who hold the [[Idiot Ball]] for far too long.
** Micah's family was short-lived, but they had potential to be a really effective super-hero family like Micah wanted. In the ''Rebellion'' comic arc, ''they do'' become that family.
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Sylar, Peter, Future Hiro, and Matt.
** In Volume
* [[Badass Normal]]: Mr. Bennet. And arguably Peter during the "Find the Haitian" thing. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, in Peter's case, it didn't take. The Golden Boy is back to power mimicry thanks to the super-serum, though it's apparently a bit more limited
** Danko? I mean he throws a knife into Sylar's head. Pretty badass.
* [[Bad Future]]: Once a season
▲* [[Badass Adorable]]: Hiro, while still retaining an almost childlike innocence. Claire and Molly have the adorable part down cold, just not the badass part.
** Likewise, Volume
▲** Claire arguably becomes more badass as the series progresses, and is unarguably still adorable. {{spoiler|1=(Even when taking a pencil and going all Rachel McAdams in ''Red Eye'' on Sylar.)}}
* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]]: Both subverted and played straight -- with [[Walking Wasteland|Walking Wastelands]] Ted (and those that copied his power) and Maya, the blackhole-producing Stephen Canfield, and Sylar, whose power comes prepackaged with a compulsion to take things (and people) apart to see how they work.▼
▲* [[Bad Future]]: Once a season. (Note: Season, not Volume.) In a possible example of [[You Can't Fight Fate]], pretty early in Volume Four it becomes clear that {{spoiler|the Volume One [[Bad Future]] is turning into the Bad Present.}}
** A few episodes of
▲** Likewise, Volume Five offers hints that {{spoiler|Samuel may have played a hand in Volume Three's [[Bad Future]].}}
** With the
▲* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]] Both subverted and played straight -- with [[Walking Wasteland|Walking Wastelands]] Ted (and those that copied his power) and Maya, the blackhole-producing Stephen Canfield, and Sylar, whose power comes prepackaged with a compulsion to take things (and people) apart to see how they work.
*** With Volume 5, he's back to being evil and working for Samuel in a plan to kill god knows how many innocent people.▼
▲** A few episodes of volume 4 and the webisode "Nowhereman" indicate the same is true of creepy puppetmaster Eric Doyle.
▲** With the Webisode series over we've seen that Doyle, while not pure evil as he first appeared, is far from a hero. Even when he does good things he does them in a bad way and he's creepy as hell while he does it.
▲*** With Volume 5 he's back to being evil and working for Samuel in a plan to kill god knows how many innocent people
* [[Bait the Dog]]: Sylar ''thrives'' on this trope. Cake?
* [[Barehanded Blade Block]]: Sylar does this when Hiro takes a swing at him in "The Hard Part
* [[Batter Up]]: When Claire demands that Noah teach her how to fight, he starts her off with a block of wood.
{{quote|Claire: "What is this? Kung fu?"
Noah: "No, It's baseball."
* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|"...and get us some coffee! Decaf!!!"]]
* [[Beard of Sorrow]]: Nathan Petrelli in Volume
** It was so infamous it earned its own [[Fan Nickname]]: the Pasbeard.
* [[Because Destiny Says So|Because The Comic Book Says So]]
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* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: According to the online graphic novels, Benjamin Franklin had the ability to absorb electricity, which is how he survived his famed kite experiment.
* [[Berserk Button]]: If someone you had never met in your life that has no impact on your life and that might have only had one thing even slightly in common with you were to be killed, would you make a big deal out of it? Maybe not, but Samuel sure would. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Oh yes, he sure would.]]
* [[Beware the Nice Ones|Beware The Cute Ones]]: Peter almost going all explody, Claire threatening Elle, Hiro's punishment of Kensei, and so on. Micah, the seemingly harmless kid genius managed to mastermind a huge underground resistance network that
* [[Big Applesauce]]
* [[Big Bad]]:
** Mr. Linderman seemed to have emerged as the one true villain of Volume
** In Volume
** In Volume
** In Volume
** Tracy looked all set to be this for Volume 5 from an end-of-episode teaser, but then comes [[Big Bad|Samuel]].
* [[Big Brother Instinct]]: Peter Petrelli towards Claire Bennet (even before learning she is {{spoiler|his niece}}).
** Nathan also behaves this way as Peter's literal big brother. They don't always get along, but when [[Idiot Hero|Peter]] gets into trouble, [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Nathan]] is always there to get him out again.
* [[Big Damn Villains]]: {{spoiler|Sylar}} got a couple of moments like this in Volumes
* [[Big Good]]: {{spoiler|Angela Petrelli}} in Volume 3; Rebel in Volume 4.
** Richard Drucker, an opponent of the Company, served this role in the Season 2 graphic novels plotline, but had no role in the main show's plot and appeared to be killed by the Company after a couple of appearances. The Volume 4 graphic novels show that Rebel was inspired partially by Drucker's legacy, though.
* [[Big No]]: Several times, but most notably HRG in Volume
* [[Big Ol' Eyebrows]]: Nathan Petrelli, whose signature thick brows have been affectionately named 'Pasbrows' by the fandom.
** This also goes for Sylar, complete with his own affectionate nickname, <s>Sexy Brows</s> 'Sybrows.'
*** [[Evil Eyebrows]]: Sylar.
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: Several examples exists in ''Heroes''.
** The Petrellis. Dear God, the Petrellis. It's complicated of course.
*** Daddy
*** Mommy is a cold blooded [[Manipulative Bastard|Manipulative Bitch]] who vacilitates wildly from genuine affection for her sons to using them as tools for whatever purpose she needs.
*** Nathan will do whatever Angela tells him
*** Peter, despite being the only one who'll stand up to her even momentarily, usually gets talked into going along with her.
*** Not to forget fringe members of the Petrelli family, Alice Shaw
** The Bennets. Sandra seems better able to cope, but it's a miracle Lyle isn't in therapy with all the weird crap going on around him.
** Not to forget the Grays. Sylar
* [[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 and Edgier|darker]]. Which makes you wonder why the show is called
** Black and Gray is especially apt. The prevailing moral philosophy seems to be that there is no such thing as good, only innocence/naivety. Everything else is varying degrees of evil, and the sooner a character embraces evil, the happier and more successful they will be.
* [[Blessed with Suck]]: Depending on who you ask, the entire cast.
* [[Blonde Republican Sex Kitten]]: Tracy Strauss.
** Note: Strauss' political party is never specified and her boss is said to have trouble with the far right.
* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: Tends to be [[Family-Unfriendly Violence|subverted like woah.]]
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* [[Body Horror]]: Sylar fell all over himself to get a new shapeshifting power, without realizing it had a few side-effects... like extra teeth, uncontrollable shifting, and mental instability because [[The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body]]. And let us not forget Mohinder's "Let's experiment on myself!" adventure. Scales, goo, and cocoons, oh my!
* [[Book Ends]]: Claire's [[Establishing Character Moment]] of her being filmed jumping off a large height in the pilot also closes out the series as she reveals her regeneration to the world by jumping off a Ferris Wheel on live television.
* [[Boomerang Bigot]]: A [[Fantastic Racism]] variant occurs in Volume 4, with Nathan and
* [[Brain Food]]: In the first season, it is heavily implied (and even stated outright by Molly) that Sylar does this. Debunked in a later season.
* [[Brainwashing for the Greater Good]]: Sylar.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: The reason Elle is a sociopath is because her father decided to take his little girl and see just how much torture it would take to break her.
** The ''entire series'' can be considered this for Claire. The
* [[Break the Game Breaker]]: The most [[Egregious]] being Volume
* [[Brick Joke]]: A relatively quick version occurs in "Pass/Fail". Hiro's stuck in a trial being put on in his mind to determine whether he deserves to live or die. At one point, Sylar goes up to the stand and lists off all the people he killed because Hiro let him live after saving Charlie. He gets to Ted's name, but can't seem to remember his last name. Adam Monroe, leading the trial against Hiro, goes on to make a speech. A few minutes in, Sylar finally remembers the name, randomly shouting out "Sprague! Ted Sprague!"
* [[Bring My Red Jacket]]: Claire, the castmember most likely to end up covered in blood due to her [[Healing Factor]], wears a red cheerleading uniform for much of the first season. She manages to subvert [[Little Dead Riding Hood]], despite constantly wearing red and having [[Hair of Gold]]. After the first half of the first season, she almost never wears red again.
* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: In Volume
* [[Bullet Catch]]
* [[Bullying a Dragon]]: Snobbery directed at the [[Big Bad]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|that can level your house]] [[Captain Obvious|tends to be a suicidal idea.]] And apparently, Edgar has learned this lesson well. He starts a feud with Sylar, despite the latter apparently having quite a reputation amongst the
* [[Butterfly of Doom]]: Overused as an analogy in Volume
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Numerous Examples.
** Matt Parkman has to be the undisputed king of this.
*** When the show opens, he's a joke amongst his fellow officers due to his constant failure to pass the exams to move up from patrolman to police detective.
*** He uses his powers to find a little girl who was the sole survivor of an attack by Sylar... and is immediately arrested on suspicion of ''being'' Sylar.
*** His telepathy reveals that his wife was cheating on him with his partner and - after they've reconciled in Volume 5 - it appears that she may have resumed doing so, but he can't confirm it because of his promise to stop using his powers.
*** He acquired a new superpower to see the future but nothing ever came of it save his having a lot of horrific visions and seeing his true soul mate.
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*** He was set up to look like a terrorist by Danko and a murderer by Sylar.
*** He lost his job at least once in every single volume.
*** He's the only character to defeat Sylar for good (twice!) only to have [[Idiot Hero]] Peter undo it (twice!!!).
** Niki Sanders is a close second. If Matt Parkman was the King of the Butt Monkeys on this show, then Niki was their Queen.
*** She's stuck working a humiliating job as a web-cam girl to pay for her prodigy son's schooling and to pay back the gangster who she borrowed the money from in the first place.
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** Ted Sprague, whose radiation emitting powers caused him to unknowingly give his wife cancer, be hunted as a terrorist and finally get killed by Sylar certainly qualifies.
** Maya, who killed her entire village save for her brother and countless other innocents also qualifies. Ironically, she's one of the few supporting characters that gets a relatively happy ending as she lost her power and is given the opportunity to lead a normal life.
* [[Cain and Abel]]: Peter and Nathan in the Volume
** The Petrelli brothers subvert this trope in Season 1 - twice! First
* [[California Doubling]]: Los Angeles doubles as New York, Texas, and Japan, among other places.
* [[Call Back]]: Brought up in-universe in Season 3 when Peter hails a cab and it turns out to be Mohinder is the driver. They proceed to quote their very first meeting from the pilot and then grin at each other before discussing more serious matters.
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* [[The Cameo]]: Several, but we especially loved [[Stan Lee]]'s awesome appearance as a bus driver in "Unexpected" and Seth Green in "The Eclipse".
* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: The show would probably be 40% shorter if characters actually shared basic, critical information with each other.
* [[Canon Discontinuity]]: There was a ''lot'' of bad ideas introduced in Volume
* [[Can't Hold His Liquor]]: Oh, Nathan. You think you're so tough but you're an embarrassment to drinkers everywhere. The fandom will laugh forever at the tequila scene in "Into Asylum".
** Averted in the same episode by
* [[Cape Busters]]: Nathan and Danko's team of Black Ops soldiers in Volume 4, who are attempting to capture and detain every evolved human in the United States because their powers are too dangerous. Yes, even the [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|lame ones]]. [[Idiot Ball|Except Sylar]].
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: Knox in Volume 3, mainly because his [[Start of Darkness]] backstory got cut from the Volume 3 flashback episode. It is still available online and on the Season 3 DVD, however.
* [[Cast
* [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]]
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "YATTA!"
** And variations on "I can be a hero!"
* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Most notable with Ando, whose [[Stalker with a Crush]] behavior towards Niki was gradually dropped as he [[Ensemble Darkhorse|gained popularity]].▼
* [[Character Name Alias]]: We never do learn "Claude"'s real name.
{{quote|"I'm the [[The Invisible Man (film)|Invisible Man]]. I'm [[Claude Rains]]."}}
▲* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Most notable with Ando, whose [[Stalker with a Crush]] behavior towards Niki was gradually dropped as he [[Ensemble Darkhorse|gained popularity]].
* [[Chaste Hero]]: Past-Noah manages to refuse the advances of a beautiful woman who he was working with at the time.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]:
** Half-way through Season 1, Nathan teaches Hiro the correct pronunciation of "villain". Ten episodes later, Hiro is using the word to great effect - on Nathan.
** The last ''9th Wonders'' comic book is needed for a [[Plot Coupon]] in Volume Three. Unfortunately, the author... well [[Author Existence Failure|you know]]. But wait! He gave his sketchbook to an anonymous bike messenger back in Volume One...
** At the beginning of the series, Angela gets busted by the police for shoplifting socks, which perplexes her sons and seems out of character for her, especially as the audience gets to know her better. In the Volume
** In the third episode of Season 3, during Angela Petrelli's {{spoiler|reign of babymomma-ing Sylar, the
* [[Circus of Fear]]
* [[City of Weirdos]]
* [[Click. "Hello."]]: Well, more of a "Click Goodbye".
* [[Cliffhanger Copout]]: A number of cliffhangers would pique viewers' interest that one thing would happen and then would give them something entirely different at the start of the next episode. The episode "Truth & Consequences" from Volume 2, for example, ends with Hiro charging at Peter, who refuses to believe Hiro's claims that Adam Monroe is dangerous and is even willing to protect him, suggesting that the two characters were going to fight each other. The beginning of the following episode
* [[Coconut Superpowers]]: The show that inspired the trope. Fortunately, the budget seems to finally allow for more "showboating" beginning in Volume
* [[Code Name]]: The Haitian was only finally referred to by his real name in Volume '''5'''
** Notable in that suddenly EVERYONE who's ever met him, even briefly, know who he is, despite always referring to him as the Haitian before that point.
* [[Coitus Ensues]]: Sylar and Elle randomly getting it on towards the end of
* [[Colour Wash]]: Most notable in the Texas and New York sequences. The former have a warm golden glow, while the latter
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Noah Bennet and Takezo Kensei.▼
* [[Combined Energy Attack]]: An interesting inversion in Volume 5. It's been revealed that {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Samuel Sullivan's [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Earth Bending]] ability is powered by the presence of evolved humans. It's strongly hinted that if he gathers enough followers at the Carnival, he'd gain [[Earthshattering Kaboom|the power to split the Earth in half]].}}▼
** Which suggests {{spoiler|that the Volume 3 [[Bad Future]] has not been averted...}}▼
*** Or at least heavily implies that Samuel may have been the cause since {{spoiler|his power in amplified by the presence of other Specials and the Volume 3 future had powers readily available to the public via the induction serum.}}▼
* [[Comatose Canary]]
▲* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Noah Bennet and Takezo Kensei.
▲* [[Combined Energy Attack]]: An interesting inversion in Volume 5. It's been revealed that
▲*** Or at least heavily implies that Samuel may have been the cause since
* [[Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are]]: Sylar in Claire's house.
* [[Comic Book Time]]: Bizarrely inverted. By the third Volume, a lot of time seems to have been ''added'' to the timeline!
* [[Comic Books Are Real]]: The clairvoyant comic series that characters are big fans of.
* [[Compelling Voice]]: Eden.
* [[Conspiracy Redemption]]: Several agents of the Company, most notably {{spoiler|Hana Gitelman and Donna Dunlap
* [[Contagious Powers]]: The only remaining Muggle main character is Noah Bennet.
* [[Contemplate Our Navels]]: Mohinder's long and pointless [[Book Ends|opening and closing]] narration. Rumors persist that these monologues have something to do with [[Hollywood Evolution|evolution]] or [[Because Destiny Says So|destiny]] or something ''deep'', but are currently unconfirmed as [[Long Speech Tea Time|nobody gives a crap about Mohinder's ramblings]].
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* [[Conveniently Coherent Thoughts]]: Generally the case with Matt Parkman's telepathy.
* [[Cooldown Hug]]: "Nathan? I need you to fight it..."
** Done literally when {{spoiler|Tracy, in full freakout mode over her ability going haywire, accidentally freezes Claire and breaks off her foot when Claire tried to calm her down
* [[The Corpse Stops Here]]: Twice.
* [[Cosmic Deadline]]: Most notable during
* [[Couldn't Find a Pen]]: Sylar painting the future in his mother's blood. Sylar cutting his name into his forearm {{spoiler|while he was having his shapeshifting identity crisis}}. Sylar also leaves a note on the wall: "Sylar was here" in his victim's blood
* [[Crucified Hero Shot]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130609212447/http://heroeswiki.com/Image:Nine_inch_paintbrush.JPG Isaac gets one of these] when {{spoiler|Sylar kills him}} near the end of Season
** Happens to
* [[Cult]]: The Sullivan Bros. Carnival is run like one, complete with references to "the family
* [[Curse Cut Short]]:
** When Claire wakes up on the autopsy table... ("Holy sh-").
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* [[Cymbal-Banging Monkey]]: One of Baby Touch-n-Go's toys.
* [[Danger Takes a Backseat]]: Sylar pulls this on Danko in Volume 4.
* [[Daydream Surprise]]: A few in Volume 5 (
* [[Dead Little Sister]]: Revealed to be Angela Petrelli's [[Start of Darkness]] motivation. Mohinder also had one in Season 1, although he didn't even know she existed until halfway through the season.
* [[Dead Man Writing]]: Hiro's father leaves him one at the beginning of Season 3.
* [[Dead Star Walking]]: Scott, the Pinehearst Marine played by Chad Faust.
* [[Death by Sex]]: Elle. Well she DID have sex with freaking Sylar of all people.
* [[Death Glare]]:
** It seems to be genetic, with Ma Petrelli also being more than able to cut someone down to about an inch tall with a poison look [http://i49.tinypic.com/2aethud.jpg when she deems it necessary].
* [[Destination Defenestration]]: Jessica throws Matt out a window in Volume 1. Sylar does this to Peter in Volume 3. And Danko to Nathan in
** Not to mention what happens to Claire's peppy new roommate in Volume 5 (
* [[Deus Exit Machina]]
** Similarly, Matt Parkman is kept well away from the [[Battle Royale]] in Volumes
* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]
* [[Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?]]: A favorite of Sylar's.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]
** Also, with the story happening at various points of the globe, the eclipse was apparently visible ''everywhere around the world''.
* [[Die or Fly]]
* [[Differently-Powered Individual]]: The show generally avoids using a general term for its supers, and they are mainly referred to vaguely as "people like me" by those with powers or "individuals with abilities" by those without. The Company seems to officially refer to them as "[[Mutants|specials]]", although this was mostly in the online comics. Adam also used the term "specials" to describe powered humans. Danko started using the term too, so it seems to have become the show's "official" word for people with powers. The general fan consensus seems to refer to them as "[[Fan Nickname|evolved humans]]", so much so that even NBC's publicity department uses the term.
* [[Dinner and a Show]]: In the episode "Thanksgiving
* [[Discard and Draw]]: Peter lost his ability in Volume 3, and regained a weakened version -- the ability to copy the power of the last person he touched--at the end of the season. This does wonders for his intelligence, as the writers no longer need to glue the [[Idiot Ball]] to his hands to stop him being a gamebreaker.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Samuel goes to New York City and decides to visit the mansion where he lived as a boy, and asks to have a look around. The new owner, with some condescension, turn him down since they're in the middle of a fancy dinner party, and then everyone in the house laughs when he returns. So he
** And then he
** There's also the fact that he had the Caimen Police Department demolished with the police still inside because the deputy and several of his men had a kid who determines life and death dragged to death as a lynch execution.
*** They [[Asshole Victim|probably had it coming]]
* [[The Ditz]]: Hiro, in a lovable fashion, though he [[Character Development|matures a bit]] in later episodes and especially in the second Volume.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Volume
* [[Dork Age]]: Actually seen ''in-universe''. Several characters who were last seen attempting to kill each other in Volume 3 meet again in the first episode of Volume 4 and act quite civil towards each other, with the apparent unspoken agreement to pretend that [[Canon Discontinuity|Volume 3 never happened]].
* [[Double Vision]]: Peter interacts with himself from the exposed ability future. Hiro does this ''twice'' with both the past version and an alternate future terrorist version of himself.
* [[Dramatic Curtain Toss]]: Isaac's paintings.
* [[Dressing as the Enemy]]: Peter is all set to try this after knocking out one of the Black Ops agents, until Tracy points out to him what a stupid idea it is (he still puts on the guy's uniform, though, because why say no to free Kevlar?). In a later episode, Sylar does the exact same thing, with much more success, although he has [[Paper-Thin Disguise|much more experience in performing that particular trick]]. Hiro also does this when he and Ando try to shut down building 26.
* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: Simone, DL, Caitlin, {{spoiler|Adam Monroe, Bob, Usutu -- though he got better, maybe -- Scott, Knox, Nathan...}}
**
** DL was probably the worst example. Everyone else was killed onscreen. DL was shown dead with no explanation until the
* [[The Dulcinea Effect]]:
** Both Hiro (unsurprisingly) ''and'' Peter Petrelli (even more unsurprisingly given his carriage of the [[Idiot Ball]] throughout Volume
** In Volume
** Hilariously subverted by Hiro during his introduction to Daphne. Rather than assume she's a complex human being with a complex motivations, he likens Ando and he to Batman and Robin and then refuses to refer to her as anything but "Nemesis" or "Catwoman" afterwards. He quite literally gets too caught up in assuming she's evil to make any sort of judgement call on her.
* [[Dye or Die]]: Claire in "Five Years Gone".
* [[Dying to Be Replaced]]: Arthur Petrelli becomes the new [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|by murdering the previous season's Big Bad, Adam Monroe. Of course, Sylar eventually reasserts himself}}.
* [[Dysfunction Junction]]
* [[Earth-Shattering Poster]]
* [[Easy Amnesia]]: Peter Petrelli at the start of Volume
** Sylar, too. But that
* [[Enemy Mine]]:
** Part of Volume
** The Volume
** Sylar is pretty damn good at getting mortal enemies to drop their differences in order to team up and stop him from
** Used in the Volume 5 opener, when {{spoiler|Bennet and Tracy quasi-team up to get Danko off her case - resulting in Danko being
** In a twist, as of Volume 5,
***
* [[Equal Opportunity Evil]]: The gang that forms out of the Level 5 escapees.
* [[Everybody Lives]]: In the "Redemption" season finale, the Heroes manage to stop Samuel's plot to destroy New York City without causing or allowing a single death; thanks to [[Big Bad]] Samuel's many [[Kick the Dog]] moments throughout the season, his [[The Dragon|right-hand men]] and other followers are [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal|all convinced to turn against him without a fight]], rendering the previously all-powerful [[Big Bad]] into a powerless sap to be dragged off by the cops. Meanwhile, Sylar stay true to his redemption and incapacitates Doyle without killing him. This is pretty noteworthy considering the show's tendency to purge all its secondary characters at the end of each Volume, typically with a massive Sylar-centric bloodbath.▼
* [[Everybody Owns a Ford|Everyone Is Driving A Nissan]]
▲* [[Everybody Lives]]: In the "Redemption" season finale, the Heroes manage to stop Samuel's plot to destroy New York City without causing or allowing a single death; thanks to [[Big Bad]] Samuel's many [[Kick the Dog]] moments throughout the season, his [[The Dragon|right-hand men]] and other followers are [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal|all convinced to turn against him without a fight]], rendering the previously all-powerful [[Big Bad]] into a powerless sap to be dragged off by the cops. Meanwhile, Sylar stay true to his redemption and incapacitates Doyle without killing him. This is pretty noteworthy considering the show's tendency to purge all its secondary characters at the end of each Volume, typically with a massive Sylar-centric bloodbath.
* [[Everyone Is Related]]: 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 {{spoiler|Nathan's biological daughter}} and therefore, {{spoiler|Peter's niece and Ma Petrelli's granddaughter}}. Oh, and it was revealed that Sylar (maybe) and Flint (yes, cause why the hell not?) are {{spoiler|her [[Evil Uncle|uncles]]}}. [[Tangled Family Tree|We half expect the writers to say, "What the hell, Adam "Kensei" Monroe is '''everyone's''' great-great-great-great-
* [[Eviler Than Thou]]:
{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Pa Petrelli:'''}} Feels good to breathe again.}}
* [[Evil Eyebrows]]: Sylar.
* [[Evil Foreigner]]: "The German
* [[Evil Makeover]]: According to Volume Three, hair gel = evil.▼
** Except that in Sylar's case, once he started donning the hair gel, he kept trying to go good.▼
* [[Evil Is Not a Toy]]: Whenever some erstwhile [[Chessmaster]] keeps Sylar alive or even ''feeds him powers'' while plotting to use him to further their own evil schemes, you ''know'' the main man is going to eventually turn around and make things end badly for them. Bennet even Lampshades this when confronting Danko.
{{quote|'''Bennet:''' Just how dumb are you? Who did you think would be left standing the moment Sylar got bored? ''You?''}}
▲** Except that in Sylar's case, once he started donning the hair gel, he kept trying to go good.
* [[Evil Matriarch]]: Mrs. Petrelli, especially in the first two Volumes.
* [[Evil Overlooker]]: Both covers to the first graphic novel collection show Sylar looming over the Heroes. As does the Season 2 DVD cover. And the second graphic novel collection.
* [[Evil Overlord]]: Arthur Petrelli fits pretty much every item in the checklist.
* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: Volume
* [[Evolutionary Levels]]: [[You Keep Using That Word|You keep using that word.]] [[You Fail Biology Forever|"Evolution" does not mean what you think it means.]]
* [[Exclusive Enemy Equipment]]
* [[Expansion Pack Past]]: For Sylar and Angela Petrelli.
* [[Expecting Someone Taller]]: After meeting him in Volume 5, Samuel and Lydia discuss their disappoint that the long feared, [[Shrouded in Myth]] figure of "Sylar, the most powerful one of all" turns out to be a confused amnesiac with a rather mild-mannered disposition.
** There's a reason for his nicer attitude - the memories he's retained are still Nathan's.
* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: We first encounter Adam Monroe through Hiro
* [[Extra-Strength Masquerade]]: Oh, so much. From nuclear explosions over New York City to people using their powers to [[Mundane Utility|cheat in Vegas casinos]], from a [[Serial Killer]] who freezes his victims and cuts their heads open without a blade to a concentration camp for metahumans constructed in [[The Sixties]], and from former employees of the [[Mutant Draft Board]] putting their experience on their résumés and being hired by the [[CIA]] to an effort to abduct American citizens with superpowers being discussed (albeit in vague terms) on a [[Captain Ersatz]] for the Larry King show, there should be no way that [[The Masquerade]] can endure... and yet it does.
* [[Eye Scream]]: Inflicted on Sylar by Claire in "Pass/Fail".
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