Special thanks to Ryder for "showing me the way..."
Grabbed this from his blog. :P
For all the Heroes and comic fans! Who didn't think of Wolverine when they saw Claire? Or maybe you think Rogue and Superman are the best comparisons for the Petrelli brothers. Read on to find out who matches up best! Similar To: Leech, Zatanna
 Leech |  Zatanna |
The Haitian has two sets of powers that, at first seem unconnected, but are equally useful to Mr. Bennett. The first is his ability to wipe memories, which is an ability used by DC Comics' hero "Zatanna." Zatanna's most famous use of this ability was on the villain Doctor Light in the "Identity Crisis" storyline. While Zatanna's power is magically based, The Haitian's (as far as we know) is the result of whatever genetic evolution has occurred in the other "Heroes." The Haitian's other power is his ability to negate the abilities of others. Just his proximity seems to be able to stop even Sylar, the most powerful being in the Heroes universe. This power is similar to that of "Leech," a Morlock character introduced in Uncanny X-Men. The Haitian gets the added bonus of not having hideous deformities and living in the sewers beneath New York City.
Linderman
Similar To: Sephie of Meridian
 Mr. Linderman |  Sephie of Meridian |
Linderman's power to heal seems to be for others only, as well as extending beyond just flesh and blood. We went outside the box a bit to call up the character of "Sephie," of the CrossGen comic Meridian. While Sephie had other powers, including flight, her ability to heal was probably the most important. Her powers also extended beyond simply healing flesh and blood and actually included material objects as well. It's possible that Linderman's abilities were as expansive, but DL ripped out a good sized chunk of his brain before we ever found out.
Molly Walker
Similar To: Caliban
 Molly Walker |  Caliban |
While we met Molly in the second episode of Heroes, it wasn't until the end of Season 1 that we discovered her super power; the ability to "find people," no matter where they are located. This brings to mind the character Caliban from X-Men and X-Force, a mutant who went through a lot of changes through the years, but whose core power is the ability to psychically sense other mutants and track them, wherever they are. While they have similar skills, it seems Molly may actually be more powerful than Caliban, since as far as we know, she is not limited to only finding other super-powered beings like he is, and could presumably find anyone, powers or not. This isn't completely verifiable as yet, but perhaps in Season 2 more of Molly's abilities will be explored.
Sanjog Iyer
Similar To: Franklin Richards
 Sanjog Iyer |  Franklin Richards |
A Heroes character whose powers are still pretty murky at this point, Sanjog can enter the dreams of other people, and "alter your perceptions." Just how vast Sanjog's abilities are is not yet known, however he has been able to show Mohinder moments from the past that neither of them were present for, so he seems able to access memories or pluck moments from the time stream to some degree. With the limited information we currently have, the character that currently comes to mind -- and yes, the similar ages probably heighten this -- is Franklin Richards, specifically in his Power Pack days when he went by the name Tattletale. Tattletale had "dream powers" of his own, which included the ability to send an astral projection of himself as he slept, and the ability to see the future in his dreams. Of course Franklin's true power potential went far beyond that, and we have a feeling the same could go for young Sanjog and what we've seen him do so far.
Hana Gitelman (Wireless)
Similar To: Mitchell Hundred
 Hana Gitelman |  Mitchell Hundred |
Hana's character is a bit of a mystery -- her character has been expanded upon in the Heroes online comic series, but her role within the show itself is rather limited. But, thanks to her first scene in the episode "Unexpected" we have been given a window into the incredible power which she commands: electronic reception. While some have claimed that her powers are Cyberpathy or Technopathy, we see her abilities to be much more limited than those of a Technopath. Hana has honed her ability to listen in and manipulate electronic signals, which she proves to Ted by instant messaging him with her thoughts (by using her brain to tap into satellites). This power is rather rare in the comic book world, and we are wondering if there are any characters at all that match her abilities completely. The best matches that we have been able to come up with have been Marvel Comics' Black Box, DC Comics' Cyborg Superman, The Matrix's Neo, and Ex Machina's Mitchell Hundred. After looking in depth at each of these characters mentioned we found that the Great Machine, Mitch Hundred, would probably be the best fit. Mitch can communicate and command mechanical devices (including computers, cars, guns, etc.), which is a bit more than Hana can do, but still the basic concept behind the abilities is the closest match that we have found.
Meredith Gordon
Similar To: Johnny Storm (The Human Torch)
 Meredith Gordon |  The Human Torch |
While Meredith hasn't had much screen time so far, we have been instantly drawn to her character. Whether it is because she is Claire's biological mother, or the fact that she is able to create and command fire, we don't know. Whatever the case, we are hoping that Meredith will show up once more, and finally demonstrate just what her awesome power can do. When comparing her power to comic book characters, our first comparison was with Marvel Comics' Pyro, but due to the fact that Pyro cannot create fire himself, we believe that Meredith's power most resembles those of The Human Torch. Sure, we haven't seen her engulfed in a ball of flames, but we know that she burned down her house and was caught in the blaze only to come out unscathed. Since we haven't really seen her character's powers in action (outside of lighting a cigarette) we don't know if she shares any other uncanny abilities with Johnny Storm... but damn if we wouldn't love to see her flying through New York on fire.
Micah Sanders
Similar To: Forge
 Micah Sanders |  Forge |
Micah appears to have the ability to both repair technology and to intuitively understand it. The first time we glimpsed his powers, he was able to repair a broken pay phone simply by touching it. We've since seen him use his ability to get an ATM machine to give him money, and also learned via flashback that he dismantled a computer he was given, and created a new motherboard for it. This innate understanding of what makes technology work and the ability to create it brings to mind Forge, of the X-Men. Forge had no actual physical powers, but his mutant ability allows him to effortlessly craft amazing and advanced machinery and weapons. Of course Micah has already one-upped Forge, since that episode with the phone proved he also has at least a limited ability to mentally fix technology and manipulate it. If these powers turn out to be more extreme, it might turn out that Micah is more like someone from Madison Jeffries from Alpha Flight or Hank Henshaw (the Cyborg Superman) who can also physically alter/fix mechanics and technology to a highly impressive degree.
Candice Wilmer
Similar To: Lady Mastermind
 Candice Wilmer |  Lady Mastermind |
In an earlier version of this piece, we made a correlation between Candice and Mystique, but subsequent appearances, along with many on-the-ball emails from readers, led us to realize that Candice is more like the X-Men villain Mastermind and his daughter Lady Mastermind. Like those characters, Candice is not a true shapeshifter but rather an illusionist, who can alter the perception of those around her so that they see things differently than they actually are. She primarily uses this talent to make herself appear to be someone else, but it's not all she can do, as we've glimpsed in certain episodes. The inference that Candice's true form isn't the one she most uses, and perhaps isn't as attractive as her "regular" form, brings to mind the original Mastermind's ruse in the Dark Phoenix story, where the unattractive bad guy made himself constantly appear to be a dashing and good looking gentleman, in order to ensnare Jean Grey.
Claude
Similar To: Susan Richards (Invisible Woman)
 Claude |  Susan Richards |
Claude is one of the more obvious comparisons to make in Heroes, as he has seems to have the same ability to make himself and objects/people around him invisible as the Invisible Woman, Susan Richards. Susan also eventually developed the ability to create invisible force fields, but her initial ability was able to bend light at will, preventing light from reaching her body, as well as any other item she wishes. Claude has shown the ability to make himself and any objects he picks up (ladies' purses, cell phones, etc.) invisible; he seems to have had complete control over his abilities for quite some time, since the flashback scenes with him at Primatech had him using his ability whenever he wanted then as well.
Charlie Andrews
Similar To: The Leader
 Charlie Andrews |  The Leader |
Although not a main cast member on Heroes, Charlie Andrews crept her way into fans' hearts as the intelligent and beautiful potential love interest for Hiro. Charlie may not have been long for the world of Heroes, but her ability was so interesting that we felt like we needed to mention it. Able to absorb knowledge and learn any subject, Charlie had became adept at speaking Japanese, which is what got Hiro's attention when talking with her. Because of this ability to take in massive amounts of information and memorize it to for her use, she reminded us most of the Marvel Comics supervillain The Leader. The Leader is one of The Hulk's greatest foes, with multiple abilities stemming from his mutated intelligence. And even though The Leader possesses abilities which Charlie didn't (i.e. psionic powers - mental control), we believe that he would be the closest match to Heroes' unfortunately short-lived hero.
Ted Sprague
Similar To: Nuke
 Ted Sprague |  Nuke |
Ted reminds us most of Nuke, from Squadron Supreme. Like Nuke, Ted is able to emit radiation from his hands, using it as a destructive force - witness what happened to the Bennets' house, his home and to Dr. Fresco. There's also the fact that his wife's death from cancer due to long-term exposure to the radiation Ted's constantly emitting, which is exactly what happened to Nuke's parents, who got cancer and died simply from being around him on an ongoing basis. Ted can't fly and hasn't shown any other physical powers like Nuke, but he's only just getting started.
Eden McCain
Similar To: Persuasion (a.k.a. The Purple Girl)
 Eden McCain |  Persuasion |
There are a few characters in comic books we can think of who have the ability to control others; Jesse "Preacher" Cassidy and The Purple Man come to mind. But considering Eden is an attractive young woman, we figure we'll go with a more gender-specific correlation: The Purple Man's daughter, Persuasion. After all, Persuasion is also quite attractive… That is, if purple skin isn't off-putting to you. Like Eden, the former Alpha Flight member is able to control anyone she speaks to, using simple verbal commands, which the listeners find themselves unable to resist following. Fortunately for Persuasion, unlike poor Eden, she hasn't been forced to shoot herself in the head to stop her powers from being stolen by a maniac.
Sylar (a.k.a. Gabriel Gray)
Similar To: Mister Sinister
 Sylar |  Mister Sinister |
We know that Sylar, nee Gabriel Gray, steals the powers of other super-powered people, gaining their powers for himself. In "Six Months Ago," Gabriel told Chandra Suresh that he has the ability to "know when things are broken, and how to fix them." After killing and removing the brain of his first victim, Brian Davis (to "fix him"), Gabriel somehow gained Davis's telekinetic abilities, which he has now demonstrated at various times. Gray assumed the name of Sylar and began killing more potential superhumans that were on Suresh's list, as well as Suresh himself. It's unclear whether he needs to kill the victims and take their brains to gain their powers but it has been Sylar's modus operandi thus far, removing the brains of various "heroes."
It's possible that Sylar is reverse engineering his victims' abilities, figuring out how they work, just like he used to do with watches. In this respect, Sylar is similar to Marvel's Mister Sinister, a.k.a. Nathaniel Essex, who obtains powers with knowledge and application of mutant DNA. In the comics, Sinister obtained some powers from Apocalypse (including immortality, which explains why a villain born in Victorian times would still be around today), but in the X-Men animated series Mister Sinister obtained all of his powers by experiments on mutants and mutating himself. Even though Sylar isn't a geneticist or an accomplished surgeon like Sinister, his ability to figure out what makes a mutant different and take it for himself is very similar.
D.L. Hawkins
Similar To: Shadowcat
 D.L. Hawkins |  Shadowcat |
Starting off as a small role on Heroes, D.L. would become a major part of Niki's storyline, as he would leave Niki and take their son Micah into hiding. With all the running and hiding that his character has done, his superpower of phasing through objects has really come in handy. And since his ability is so specific, it is simple for us to compare his to a comic book character: Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat). Kitty is a fan favorite character from the X-Men, who, like D.L., possesses the ability to pass through solid objects. Even though these two character's abilities are so similar, not much else about their characteristics are in any way alike.
Hiro Nakamura
Similar To: Magik
 |  Magik |
The first time we covered Hiro, we noted how he's a particularly difficult character to find a precise match for when it comes to his powers, as they cover a pretty broad range of abilities; teleportation through space, moving through time, and stopping time. We still haven't found a perfect match, but we really liked the suggestion of a couple of readers, who reminded us that Illyana Rasputin, a.k.a. Magik, was a fairly good counterpart.
Magik, the late sister of the X-Men's Colossus, could create teleportation discs which both she and others could then step inside, in order to transport themselves through not only space, but through time. While she couldn't also freeze time, her ability to effortlessly traverse space and time simultaneously is pretty close to what Hiro can do. On top of that, it's interesting to recall that Illyana was fated to possess a powerful weapon, the Soulsword. Of course one of the most intriguing moments on Heroes so far involved Hiro meeting a future version of himself, who wielded a sword, which has been referenced since by the modern Hiro. And beyond their similar taste in bladed weapons, Illyana also encountered versions of herself from different time periods. Eventually, Illyana had a pretty tragic fate, so hopefully the lovable Hiro isn't going to go down the same path.
Peter Petrelli
Similar To: Synch
 Peter Petrelli |  Synch |
In our first installment of our Heroes comic book comparisons, we paired Peter with the first person who came to mind who can copy other people's powers: Rogue from the X-Men. Well, after that piece went up, we discovered that there are a lot more fans of the now defunct 1990s X-Men spin-off series Generation X than we'd ever imagine (though one hopes that fandom doesn't extend to the awful 1996 Generation X TV movie). We received a huge amount of emails pointing out to us that an even better match for Peter was with the now deceased former Generation X member Synch.
Synch could duplicate the powers of any mutant near him, and unlike Rogue, he didn't need to physically touch them to do so, which of course goes for Peter also. Plus, like Peter has seemed to do, Synch could often use the powers he was copying to a more impressive extent than the person whose ability it was in the first place. We've got to agree with all you impassioned Synch fans; he and Peter make a good match.
Nathan Petrelli
Similar To: Cannonball
 |  Cannonball |
Nathan Petrelli is a politician in New York City, who is currently running for U.S. Congress (and wins according to the newspaper from the future in "Don't Look Back"). In the pilot episode we find out that Nathan commands the ability to fly when he helped save his brother Peter from falling off a building. Even though he should be happy with his newfound power, Nathan seems more annoyed with it as his political aspirations come before everything else in his life. In our first edition of this feature, we compared his flight abilities to those of Superman, but Nathan's ability to fly without wings at a speed that can break the sound barrier (as shown in the episode "Hiro's") caused a lot of readers to write in and remind us that Cannonball would be an even better comparison. We haven't seen Nathan use an indestructible blast shield like the member of the X-Men, but then again we don't yet know where Nathan gets his flying ability from -- perhaps he's generating thermo-chemical energy just like Cannonball.
Matt Parkman
Similar To: Professor Charles Xavier
 |  |
We see police officer Matt Parkman as a young Charles Xavier. Before Professor Xavier founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters he was just a young mutant who didn't have full control of his powers, like Matt right now. Just as Xavier grew to become an extremely powerful telepath, capable of sending telepathic messages, altering memories and controlling the actions and thoughts of others, we expect to see Matt become more in control of his ability, expanding what he's able to do beyond mere mind-reading.
Claire Bennet
Similar To: Wolverine
 |  |
High school cheerleader Claire is often called "indestructible," but in the comic book world her power is considered a superhuman regenerative healing factor. There are loads of comic characters that are able to heal super-fast, but the character that seems to have nearly as fast a regeneration process as Claire is X-Men fan favorite, Wolverine. While she doesn't have an adamantium-laced skeleton & claws or (as far as we can tell) superhuman strength, Claire takes a beating and keeps on going, just like the nearly unstoppable Wolverine.
Niki Sanders/Jessica
Similar To: The Hulk
 |  |
Niki has been shown to share her body with a super-strong, violent alter ego named Jessica. That being the case, we agree with Heroes creator Tim Kring's assessment, as noted in a chat IGN participated in, that Niki certainly does have basic connections to none other than the Incredible Hulk. While clearly not a direct correlation (the lovely Ali Larter hasn't turned green as yet), Niki, like Bruce Banner, finds herself transforming into a dark, primal version of herself, inclined to lash out, whether it be with violence or with an ill-advised sexual liaison. And like Banner, when Niki's true persona returns, she often has no memory of what her other self did in the meantime.
Isaac Mendez
Similar To: Destiny
 |  |
Isaac Mendez is a struggling artist who lives in New York City. Gifted with the power to predict the future, Isaac will undoubtedly be one of the largest factors in stopping the blast that will destroy the city. At first it appeared that he could only predict the future when he is high while using heroin, but since then Isaac has painted the future sober, allowing others to see things to come. This ability is reminiscent of the blind mutant precog named Destiny from the X-Men comic books. Destiny was a villain to the X-Men who would write her visions in a diary allowing others to see the future of mankind. The similarities between Isaac and Destiny are many: the ability to tell the future, the way they dictate the future (diary vs. art work), and the fact that they are blind (Isaac becomes blind when he paints the future)… plus, they both like women.
here's the IGN link: http://tv.ign.com/articles/813/813766p1.html
