Heroes Episode Guide

The opening volume, Genesis, introduces ordinary people discovering extraordinary abilities while building towards a catastrophic vision of New York. Separate stories gradually converge around Sylar, the Company and the instruction to “save the cheerleader, save the world.”

Episode 1: Genesis

Geneticist Mohinder Suresh continues his late father’s research into people with extraordinary abilities. Across the world, Peter dreams of flying, Claire tests her remarkable recovery and Hiro discovers that the office clock may be more negotiable than company policy suggests.

Episode 2: Don’t Look Back

Matt Parkman realises that he can hear other people’s thoughts, while Hiro witnesses a terrifying possible future. Claire nearly exposes her secret, and Niki struggles to understand a violent gap in her memory.

Episode 3: One Giant Leap

Hiro persuades Ando to join his attempt to prevent the destruction of New York. Claire’s ability is tested during a traumatic encounter, while Matt’s involvement in the search for Sylar places him under suspicion.

Episode 4: Collision

Niki’s dangerous second personality emerges during a visit to Las Vegas, and Nathan meets a powerful political supporter. Peter’s search for answers ends with the arrival of someone carrying an urgent message from the future.

Episode 5: Hiros

Peter learns that saving one specific person may determine the future of an entire city. Noah Bennet’s involvement with unusual individuals becomes clearer, while Hiro attempts to discover how his future self became considerably more serious.

Episode 6: Better Halves

D.L. Hawkins returns to confront Niki and reclaim their son, bringing the family’s buried conflicts into the open. Hiro and Ando test whether extraordinary abilities can compensate for a deeply ordinary shortage of money.

Episode 7: Nothing to Hide

Matt joins the FBI search for Sylar and encounters another man with a dangerous ability. Niki and D.L.’s struggle places Micah between his parents, while Nathan discovers that family loyalty and political ambition rarely travel comfortably together.

Episode 8: Seven Minutes to Midnight

Hiro meets waitress Charlie Andrews and finds someone whose ability inspires rather than frightens him. Mohinder returns to India, where dreams connected to his childhood point him back towards his father’s work.

Episode 9: Homecoming

Skully’s Pick

Peter travels to Claire’s school determined to fulfil the warning about the cheerleader. Sylar is also closing in, producing a tense collision between the season’s central prophecy and Claire’s attempt to retain an ordinary life.

Episode 10: Six Months Ago

The story moves backwards to show how several characters first discovered their abilities. Hiro attempts to save Charlie, while Chandra Suresh’s earliest contact with Sylar reveals how curiosity and rejection helped create a killer.

Episode 11: Fallout

The consequences of homecoming force Claire and Peter to consider how much their lives have changed. Sylar falls into Company custody, but containing him proves rather more complicated than locking an ordinary prisoner in a room.

Episode 12: Godsend

Peter awakens from a troubling vision convinced that he may be connected to the explosion. Hiro searches for a legendary sword, and Claire begins learning that someone has repeatedly interfered with the memories of people around her.

Episode 13: The Fix

Peter meets an invisible man who may be able to teach him control. Hiro’s father attempts to end his son’s heroic ambitions, while Niki agrees to treatment in the hope of protecting her family.

Episode 14: Distractions

Peter’s increasingly brutal training pushes his abilities further, and Hiro faces pressure to return to his former life. Claire meets someone connected to her biological family as Sylar brings danger directly into the Bennet home.

Episode 15: Run!

Matt accepts private security work that rapidly becomes more dangerous than advertised. Hiro and Ando pursue a new lead, while Claire discovers that the truth about her parentage reaches into national politics.

Episode 16: Unexpected

Ted Sprague and Hana Gitelman force Noah to answer for the Company’s treatment of them. Peter’s lessons with Claude end badly, and Isaac’s fear of the future contributes to a devastating mistake.

Episode 17: Company Man

Skully’s Pick

A hostage crisis inside the Bennet home reveals how Noah first joined the Company and why Claire became his daughter. Focused, emotional and unusually disciplined, this is where a morally ambiguous supporting character becomes one of the programme’s essential figures.

Episode 18: Parasite

Mohinder appears to gain the upper hand over Sylar, while Hiro finally meets Linderman. Nathan must decide how far he will compromise himself for political power as the Company moves to contain multiple threats.

Episode 19: .07%

Linderman explains his vision for the future and the human cost he considers acceptable. Peter confronts Sylar, while several characters learn that the approaching explosion is being treated as an opportunity rather than merely a disaster.

Episode 20: Five Years Gone

Skully’s Pick

Hiro and Ando arrive in a future transformed by the destruction of New York. Familiar characters occupy disturbing new roles in an outstanding alternate-history episode that demonstrates exactly what the heroes are trying to prevent.

Episode 21: The Hard Part

Returning to the present leaves Hiro and Ando with little time to change the future they witnessed. Peter struggles with the implications of his growing power, while Sylar confronts the possibility that he may still choose a different path.

Episode 22: Landslide

The election, Linderman’s plan and Hiro’s pursuit of Sylar all approach their decisive moments. Alliances shift rapidly as the characters converge upon New York and the predicted explosion draws nearer.

Episode 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man

The first volume reaches Kirby Plaza, where the heroes finally unite against Sylar and the approaching catastrophe. The resolution favours character and sacrifice over spectacle, although it leaves enough loose threads to ensure nobody enjoys a particularly restful summer.

The Generations volume begins four months later and introduces an ancient adversary, a deadly virus and more secrets from the Company’s past. The season was shortened by the 2007–08 writers’ strike, leaving several planned storylines heavily compressed or abandoned.

Episode 1: Four Months Later…

The surviving heroes have separated and attempted to rebuild their lives. Hiro remains stranded in seventeenth-century Japan, Peter awakens without his memory and a mysterious killer begins targeting the Company’s original founders.

Episode 2: Lizards

Claire experiments with the limits of her regeneration while trying to remain unnoticed at her new school. Hiro attempts to turn Takezo Kensei into the hero celebrated by history, and Peter begins investigating the identity he has lost.

Episode 3: Kindred

Sylar returns in unfamiliar surroundings and discovers that his abilities are no longer dependable. Peter chooses whether to open a box containing information about his past, while Claire grows closer to classmate West Rosen.

Episode 4: The Kindness of Strangers

Micah moves in with relatives and discovers that his cousin Monica possesses a remarkable talent. Matt and Mohinder investigate the nightmares tormenting Molly, leading them towards someone Matt would prefer not to find.

Episode 5: Fight or Flight

Company agent Elle Bishop pursues Peter to Ireland, demonstrating an electrical ability and a limited respect for collateral damage. Matt confronts his father, while Hiro’s friendship with Kensei deteriorates over love and destiny.

Episode 6: The Line

Peter and Caitlin cross into a future devastated by disease, giving the season’s threat horrifying scale. Claire takes action against an abusive cheerleader, and Monica is offered an opportunity to understand her ability.

Episode 7: Out of Time

Several timelines reach crisis point as Peter searches for a route home and Hiro’s actions reshape Kensei’s future. The threat posed by the Shanti virus becomes immediate, while Niki’s attempt to help the Company carries an unexpected cost.

Episode 8: Four Months Ago…

Skully’s Pick

The missing period following the first-season finale is finally revealed. Peter’s recovery, Niki and D.L.’s attempt to rebuild their family and Maya’s first experience of her ability provide much-needed emotional context for the season.

Episode 9: Cautionary Tales

Skully’s Pick

Noah prepares to protect Claire from the future shown in Isaac’s painting, while Hiro considers whether to prevent his father’s death. Strong performances and painful choices make this the season’s most effective convergence of family drama and superhuman conflict.

Episode 10: Truth & Consequences

Peter and Adam move closer to the Shanti virus as Hiro uncovers the identity of his father’s killer. Sylar tightens his hold over Maya, and Micah asks Monica to help recover something precious to his family.

Episode 11: Powerless

The shortened season reaches its conclusion as Peter must decide whether Adam can be trusted with the virus. Hiro, Nathan, Matt and Mohinder confront separate crises, bringing the Generations volume to a hurried but eventful finish.

Season 3 contains two volumes. Villains explores Pinehearst, the Petrelli family and a formula capable of creating abilities, while Fugitives turns the heroes into targets of a government operation led by Nathan Petrelli.

Episode 1: The Second Coming

A visitor from the future intervenes before Nathan can reveal the existence of evolved humans. Sylar targets Claire, while Hiro learns that his father entrusted him with a dangerous formula that must never be opened. So naturally, it is opened.

Episode 2: The Butterfly Effect

Attempts to repair the altered future produce new complications as dangerous prisoners escape from Level 5. Claire discovers that her ability has changed, and Elle’s position within the Company becomes increasingly uncertain.

Episode 3: One of Us, One of Them

Noah is assigned a deeply unwelcome new partner while pursuing escaped villains during a bank robbery. Tracy Strauss investigates her resemblance to Niki, and Hiro continues chasing speedster Daphne Millbrook.

Episode 4: I Am Become Death

Peter visits another possible future and sees how rapidly the distribution of abilities could destabilise society. Mohinder’s experiment begins producing troubling side effects, while Tracy searches for the source of her power.

Episode 5: Angels and Monsters

Claire pursues an escaped Level 5 prisoner without understanding the full circumstances of his confinement. Nathan questions his apparent visions of Linderman, and Hiro makes an extreme decision to gain entry to a dangerous organisation.

Episode 6: Dying of the Light

Daphne and Knox recruit people with abilities for a new employer, while Peter is taken to Pinehearst. Hiro and Ando seek guidance from African precognitive Usutu, whose teaching methods make cryptic fortune cookies look needlessly informative.

Episode 7: Eris Quod Sum

Peter confronts Pinehearst’s leader and discovers how personally the organisation is connected to him. Sylar and Elle face Angela’s attempt to reshape them, while Mohinder’s transformation threatens Maya.

Episode 8: Villains

The story returns to events preceding the first season, revisiting Arthur Petrelli, Sylar, Elle and the Gordon family. Familiar villains appear in a more complicated light, although explanation does not always amount to absolution.

Episode 9: It’s Coming

Primatech and Pinehearst prepare for open conflict as Arthur attempts to complete the formula. Hiro’s damaged mind leaves him believing he is a child, placing Ando in the unusual position of being the responsible member of the partnership.

Episode 10: The Eclipse, Part 1

An eclipse causes abilities to disappear across the world. The temporary change leaves several characters unexpectedly vulnerable while Peter and Nathan travel to Haiti in search of the Haitian.

Episode 11: The Eclipse, Part 2

Powerless conflicts reach their conclusions as old grudges become considerably more dangerous without supernatural protection. When abilities return, the characters discover that the eclipse has changed very little about the choices dividing them.

Episode 12: Our Father

Skully’s Pick

Hiro and Claire travel into the Bennet family’s past, while Peter and the Haitian confront Arthur. The episode uses established history effectively, giving Hiro a personal connection to events that once seemed to belong only to Claire.

Episode 13: Dual

The Villains volume ends with simultaneous confrontations at Pinehearst and Primatech. The formula’s future is decided amid shifting loyalties, collapsing plans and a generous quantity of broken laboratory equipment.

Episode 14: A Clear and Present Danger

Nathan launches a government operation to capture people with abilities, including several former allies. A prison transport becomes the setting for a disastrous reunion and establishes the harsher direction of the Fugitives volume.

Episode 15: Trust and Blood

The survivors of the transport crash scatter while government forces close in. Peter and Claire disagree over how to resist, and Hiro must continue without the ability that once made almost any escape possible.

Episode 16: Building 26

Nathan’s programme establishes its headquarters as political pressure begins surrounding the operation. Claire attempts to protect an evolved person while maintaining the appearance of an ordinary life at home.

Episode 17: Cold Wars

Skully’s Pick

Peter, Matt and Mohinder abduct Noah and interrogate him in a motel room. Flashbacks expose how Nathan’s operation was assembled, producing a tightly focused episode built around loyalties, compromises and Jack Coleman’s dependably controlled performance.

Episode 18: Exposed

Matt and Peter break into Building 26 to obtain evidence of the government programme. Claire hides underwater breather Alex Woolsly, while mysterious messages from Rebel continue guiding the fugitives.

Episode 19: Shades of Gray

Sylar finds his biological father and discovers that shared blood does not guarantee affection or redemption. Nathan’s alliance with Danko deteriorates, and Claire’s legal protection becomes increasingly fragile.

Episode 20: Cold Snap

Danko moves against Tracy and the remaining fugitives while Rebel’s identity comes into focus. Hiro and Ando undertake an unexpectedly domestic rescue mission involving Matt’s infant son and a power activated by touch.

Episode 21: Into Asylum

Peter and Nathan hide in Mexico, where old resentments emerge without politics or powers to distract them. Claire turns to Angela for answers, while Sylar tests how completely he can become someone else.

Episode 22: Turn and Face the Strange

Matt seeks revenge for his losses, and Noah’s pursuit of Sylar places his family under pressure. Shape-shifting makes proof increasingly unreliable, which is inconvenient in a story where trust was hardly abundant to begin with.

Episode 23: 1961

Angela takes Peter, Nathan, Claire and Noah to Coyote Sands, the site of a government camp from her childhood. The discovery of what happened there explains her commitment to secrecy and reveals a painful part of the Company’s origins.

Episode 24: I Am Sylar

Skully’s Pick

Sylar’s growing collection of identities begins eroding his sense of self. As he prepares to infiltrate the highest levels of government, the episode places his need for recognition above the mechanics of acquiring another power.

Episode 25: An Invisible Thread

Nathan, Peter, Claire and Noah attempt to prevent Sylar from reaching the president. The finale resolves the government operation through a deeply questionable act of mental manipulation, then allows its consequences to lead directly into the final season.

The Redemption volume follows the heroes attempting to build ordinary lives while Samuel Sullivan gathers evolved people at a travelling carnival. Its slower, more character-focused approach improves parts of the drama, although the series was cancelled just as it launched another major storyline.

Episode 1: Orientation

Claire begins university, Peter dedicates himself to saving lives as a paramedic and Noah considers his future outside the Company. Meanwhile, the identity imposed upon Sylar’s body begins showing signs of instability.

Episode 2: Jump, Push, Fall

Samuel Sullivan takes control of the carnival following his brother’s death and begins seeking additional evolved people. A tragedy at Claire’s university raises uncomfortable questions, while Hiro’s ability starts transporting him unpredictably through time.

Episode 3: Ink

Samuel inserts himself into Peter’s life using an ability that leaves a distinctive mark. Claire’s friendship with Gretchen develops, and Matt’s effort to suppress Sylar takes an increasingly visible psychological toll.

Episode 4: Acceptance

Hiro tries to improve the life of a former colleague while confronting his own terminal condition. Nathan investigates disturbing evidence about his identity, and Tracy struggles to return to an ordinary professional life.

Episode 5: Hysterical Blindness

Peter meets Emma Coolidge, whose unusual perception transforms sound into colour. Claire and Gretchen grow closer, while an amnesiac Sylar is discovered without any understanding of who he has been.

Episode 6: Tabula Rasa

Samuel welcomes the confused Sylar into the carnival and offers him a community free from judgement. Peter helps Emma explore her ability, while Hiro arrives with an urgent request involving Mohinder.

Episode 7: Strange Attractors

A sorority initiation becomes dangerous when Claire and Gretchen are targeted by someone connected to the carnival. Matt’s battle with Sylar moves beyond hallucinations as control of his own body begins slipping away.

Episode 8: Once Upon a Time in Texas

Skully’s Pick

Hiro returns to the Burnt Toast Diner on the day Charlie was murdered, determined to change her fate. His encounter with his earlier self, Sylar and Samuel creates a bittersweet time-travel story rooted in one of the first season’s most affecting relationships.

Episode 9: Shadowboxing

Matt fights to regain control as Sylar uses his body to pursue a route back to his own identity. Peter and Emma respond to a hospital crisis, while Claire confronts the person responsible for attacking Gretchen.

Episode 10: Brother’s Keeper

Peter and Nathan search for answers about Nathan’s fractured memories and uncover evidence that Angela concealed something terrible. Mohinder’s investigation into Samuel’s power reveals why the carnival leader is so determined to gather others around him.

Episode 11: Thanksgiving

Family meals become predictably uncomfortable at both the Bennet home and the carnival. Noah’s relationship with Lauren Gilmore unsettles Claire, while Samuel suppresses challenges to his authority among his followers.

Episode 12: The Fifth Stage

Nathan and Peter confront the conflict between Nathan’s memories and Sylar’s returning identity. Claire considers Samuel’s invitation to visit the carnival, and Peter faces a loss that cannot be repaired by acquiring another ability.

Episode 13: Upon This Rock

Claire spends time at the carnival to understand the community Samuel claims to protect. Hiro’s scrambled mind turns his search for Mohinder into a comic-book quest, leaving Ando to translate between heroic metaphor and practical geography.

Episode 14: Let It Bleed

Peter throws himself into increasingly dangerous rescues rather than confronting his grief. Claire tries to help him accept what has happened, while Sylar discovers that returning to his former life no longer provides the satisfaction he expected.

Episode 15: Close to You

Noah and Matt search for Samuel’s lost love, hoping she can reveal his vulnerability. Hiro and Ando attempt to free Mohinder from confinement, combining time manipulation, persistence and the usual absence of a straightforward plan.

Episode 16: Pass/Fail

Hiro experiences a mental trial in which figures from his past judge whether he has used his abilities responsibly. Sylar asks Claire to help him understand why power and immortality have failed to cure his isolation.

Episode 17: The Art of Deception

Skully’s Pick

Noah plans an assault on the carnival while Claire tries to negotiate a peaceful alternative. Samuel exploits the resulting violence to strengthen his control, turning fear and grief into evidence for the story he wants his followers to believe.

Episode 18: The Wall

Skully’s Pick

Peter enters the mental prison containing Sylar and discovers that escape may require years of subjective time. Their enforced companionship produces one of the programme’s strongest late character studies, while Claire and Noah face a literal struggle beneath the carnival.

Episode 19: Brave New World

Skully’s Pick

Samuel prepares to reveal evolved humans by engineering a catastrophe in Central Park. The heroes reunite to stop him, while Claire makes a public decision that would have transformed the world had the original series continued.

NBC cancelled Heroes after Season 4, leaving the newly announced Brave New World volume unexplored. The 2015 limited continuation Heroes Reborn takes place in a world where evolved humans are publicly known, but it introduces a largely new ensemble and should be treated as a separate follow-up rather than a fifth season.