Elle Bishop

Elle Bishop
Portrayed by	Kristen Bell
First appearance	Fight or Flight
In-story stats
Known ability	Electric manipulation
Formal name	Eleanor Zoe Bishop
Alias	Cindy
Nicknames	The Bitch, Fulgora
Gender
Age	23-24
Date of birth	1983
Place of birth	New York
Date of death	Sometime between March 2007 and December 1, 2008
Occupations	Agent of the Pinehearst Company, former trainer and agent of the Company
Significant other	formerly Gabriel Gray
Parents	Bob Bishop (deceased), unnamed mother (deceased)

Elle Bishop was an evolved human with the ability to generate electricity, and was the daughter of Bob Bishop. Elle was recruited as a trainer and agent after a long time of brutal experimentation that left Elle mentally unstable and homicidal. Upon her father's death, Elle was fired by new director Angela Petrelli. After beginning a romance with newly-reformed Sylar, she thought things were beginning to look up. Sylar soon discovered she was part of a web of lies created against him and killed her after giving up on himself and deciding neither of them would ever change.

Character History

Season Two

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Elle Bishop: Season Two History.

Elle can take care of herself.

Elle is given the task to find Peter in Ireland. She finds him, but her presence is alerted to Ricky before she can arrive. Elle meets Ricky at the Wandering Rocks and asks if he's seen Peter. He says he hasn't, but Elle is not convinced. She walks over to the door, locks it and welds it shut. She then proceeds to send a huge bolt of electricity at Ricky. Later, in her car, Elle explains to her father that she found that Peter was in Ireland, but she hasn't found him. After admitting to killing Ricky, she's ordered to come home.

Four months before, Peter has just emerged from his invisibility after dropping Nathan off at a hospital when Elle fires a large bolt of lightning at him, knocking him unconscious. When asked by Bob whether she had to use a 'full blast' on him, she smiles and replies that "he can take it". Over the next two months, Elle continues to administer Peter "Haitian pills" so he cannot use his ability, saying that they are trying to find a cure. She shows Peter strange affection by continually shocking him before she leaves. One day, she opens up to Peter by telling her life story to Peter: she burned down her grandmother's house when she was six, caused a multi-county blackout in Ohio when she was 8, spent her ninth birthday in a glass room with an IV of lithium in her arm, and lived in the building for sixteen years after being diagnosed a sociopath with paranoid delusions. As a result, she has never been on a roller coaster or been on a date. Peter later escapes, and Elle is sent with the Haitian to capture Peter and Adam.

Elle learns her power backfires when she's wet.

After her assignment in Ireland, Elle is partnered with Mohinder to eliminate Noah and capture Claire. After Mohinder picks up Noah, he asks Mohinder who his partner is, and Elle appears from behind a van, saying 'Hey you' and begins manifesting her power while walking towards them. However, she gets tackled into a car by West, knocking her unconscious. Elle is taken to Noah's house where her hands and bare feet are chained in a bath of water. Noah says that he needs to speak with her father, and after shocking herself, Noah then goes on to tell Elle that he was there when she first arrived at the company, that she was just a normal girl; but then they started testing on her, that the human brain cannot handle the amounts of electricity they gave her. Elle says that her father would never allow such a thing, but Noah says that he was leading the charge. After Noah arranges a trade of Elle for Claire, West, Noah and Elle meet Bob, Mohinder and Claire. When they do Elle and Claire swap parties; Claire with her hands free, Elle however with her hands still bound. Nevertheless, when West starts to fly Claire away, Elle uses her power to break her binds and unloads a ball of lightning at West, hitting him dead center. Elle then turns around and begins to manifest her power again for some revenge on Noah, but is too slow and Noah shoots her in the shoulder first; she screams and then collapses.

While in her father's office, she logs into the Cisco surveillance system and and is shocked to find Sylar in Mohinder's lab with Mohinder, Molly and Maya. She sees the opportunity to impress her father and heads to stop Sylar. Elle charges into Mohinder's lab, yells Sylar's name and manifests her power, but she finds herself too slow and Sylar shoots at her first. She dodges the shot, and as Sylar runs away and she blasts at him twice, hitting him in the back. She gives chase, but returns to the lab after failing to catch Sylar. Mohinder notes that without her, Sylar would have killed them all and that they owe her their lives.

Season Three

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Elle Bishop: Season Three History.

Elle loses control.

Bob shows Elle video footage of Sylar killing two of his best agents. He blames Elle and sends her away. Elle returns to his office and finds him dead with his brain removed. She rushes to Level 5 and releases Noah, giving him a gun to use against Sylar. Elle is thrown away when she is confronted by Sylar and attempts to generate electricity to use against him. Sylar easily stops her, and taunts her by using her father's ability. Sylar proceeds to open Elle's skull but she releases an enormous blast of electricity that knocks both Sylar and the power to Level 5 out. After many prisoners escape, Angela Petrelli fires Elle.

After receiving help from Claude in London, Elle travels to Costa Verde and breaks into Claire's home looking for help with her malfunctioning powers. Elle attacks Claire but she is unharmed. After learning of Elle's story, Claire agrees to accompany her to Pinehearst. While on a plane, Elle's ability manifests and causes the plane to malfunction. Claire has Elle channel her power through her and the two safely arrive at Pinehearst. Outside Pinehearst's doors, Elle and Claire find Peter Petrelli, now powerless and Elle enters the building, seeking the same treatment.

Elle is killed by Sylar.

Via a spirit walk, it is revealed that prior to the first eclipse, Elle was partnered with Noah and was assigned to force Gabriel Gray to kill again after Brian Davis's murder. In present time, Elle is locked up in a cell in Pinehearst and is confronted by Sylar. She unleashes the full force of her power on him in an act of revenge for her father. After using all of her energy, Elle gives up and tells Sylar that he can take her power. Sylar surprises the both of them by revealing that he has empathically absorbed her power, also removing Elle's pain. The two bond over their parent issues and Elle joins forces with Arthur Petrelli. Elle and Sylar are sent to bring in Claire but ditch the mission after realizing their powers are gone. The two make love and Noah begins to hunt them down after Elle gravely injured Claire. He finds them and has a fight with Sylar, ending with Sylar's apparent death. After their powers have returned, Sylar heals and he and Elle return to the Bennets house, holding Sandra hostage. Hiro Nakamura appears and teleports Sylar and Elle to a nearby beach where Sylar reverts to his murderous ways and kills Elle, setting her body alight the following morning.

Tabula Rasa

Elle reappears, as one of Sylar's victims in the House of Mirrors. Damian uses his ability to make Sylar remember his past, specifically his various murders, causing Elle's death scene to be remembered by Sylar.

The Art of Deception

When Matt Parkman manipulates Sylar's memories, Elle is seen as one of Sylar's victims.

Graphic Novel:From the Files of Primatech, Part 7

In 1991, Elle plays a video game while drinking a Slusho! at home in Athens, Ohio, at her eight birthday. She becomes irritated with the game and accidentally spills her Slusho! onto her controller, which accidentally manifests her electrical powers. She triggers a blackout in four counties of Ohio, namely Athens, Hocking, Vinton, and Meighs, and her mother yells at her. Eventually, Elle is sent to live with her father Bob Bishop, much to Bob's disdain. While in her father's office, Elle casually plays with a record and accidentally electrifies it. Bob becomes infuriated and holds the record, angrily asking Elle if she knows how many copies of Chris Coolidge's record there are left.

Bob soon tries to convince Elle's mother to take her back, but the woman angrily tells Bob that Elle is his daughter as well and that he has to deal with her. Zimmerman gives Bob the advice to experiment with Elle's power. He reveals that Barbara and the "new boy" have been experimented on and now the extent of their abilities are known. He convinces Bob to do this by telling that Elle could produce limitless clean energy to power up cities. Bob starts to administer tests to Elle to measure her wattage input and output. Bob persistently tries to experiment more and more, disregarding her requests to stop. The machine operator does not want to do that, and persuades Bob to stop her crying. Bob tries to entertain Elle by displaying his power and turning her Slusho! straw into gold. He forgets that gold is an excellent conductor and is severely electrocuted by Elle, who runs away during the accident.

Graphic Novel:From the Files of Primatech, Part 8

In 1991, Elle is losing whilst playing skeeball at a local arcade, so she decides to electrocute the machine to win tickets. She spends the tickets on a necklace. Noah Bennet approaches and attempts to retrieve her, using rubber gloves in order to nullify her ability. She manages to escape and flees on foot. Elle shocks a windmill at a miniature golf course, sending the sail flying at Noah. He manages to dodge it and catch up to her. He promises her that her father loves her and would be proud of her if she came home. She agrees and Bennet escorts her back to the Company.

As Bob waits for Dr. Zimmerman to arrive with lithium, Bennet decides that cake would cheer Elle up. Kaito Nakamura calls Angela Petrelli and asks her to bring cake and "the new boy", René. Elle has an IV of lithium in her arm when Angela and René arrive with a birthday cake, the only type of cake they could find. They convince Elle that it is her ninth birthday and Angela convinces Bob to make it count. They change her age on her personnel card from eight to nine.

Heroes Evolutions

Elle's case file (file: C023; password: EBhnu07bh) at primatechpaper.com contains a personal history about Elle:

Assignment tracker photo

Elle Bishop is a former Company Agent and daughter of deceased Company Chairperson, Bob Bishop. Elle has been raised within the walls of the Company, as her father was one of its 12 founding members. She was brought in to the company at age nine after a string of unfortunate events all revolving around her inability to effectively control her ability. She was tested thoroughly by a team of Company professionals and the determination was made to hold her at the Company so that she might gain sufficient command of her ability.

At a time of sufficient maturation, and after a course of preparatory mini-missions (word choice), Elle was given agent status and tasked with her first mission of surveilling Agent Noah Bennet's daughter Claire. This and a string of subsequent missions she participated in were, under the stringent regulation of her father, all considered failures. These failures ultimately resulted in a suspension from Company activity.

[Paragraph Omitted: confidential]

Recently, Bishop has been identified as being directly responsible for the electrical failure of Level 5's security measures system-wide, which resulted in the escape of a number of high-profile captives. Since this incident Elle has exhibited a lack of control of her ability, proving her to be a danger to civilians.

The case file also contains a psychological profile:

Heavy dependency issues are evident in Ms. Bishop, likely stemming from a fractured relationship with her father. This may make her susceptible to infiltration by an agent posing as a confidant or father figure. Her socio-behavioral skills are underdeveloped, to say the least, as she was been raised in a captive and isolated environment from age nine. Concepts of personal space and a tendency towards expulsive behavior are hallmarks of this, both of which she exhibits profoundly. Elle also displays mild/moderate sociopathic tendencies; a trait that manifests itself in the joy she receives from delivering mild electric shocks to other captives within the Company. Note that animosity towards our operation may be a factor when dealing with Bishop as she was fired by new Chairwoman, Angela Petrelli, shortly after Bob Bishop's passing.

Evolved Human Abilities

Cranial imaging

Elle had the ability to generate electricity. She seemed to have excellent control over her ability, allowing her to generate electric arcs of varying intensity and target them precisely.

She had demonstrated skill ranging from welding a lock shut to sending a powerful burst that struck a running Peter Petrelli in the back and knocked him over, lighting his shirt on fire. One of her favorite things to do was send small, stinging bursts of electricity into another person.

When her life was threatened by Sylar, Elle let out an incredibly powerful blast of electricity that knocks out Sylar and the grid supporting Level 5. After this event, Elle's power went out of her control, tending to overload whenever she became stressed or angry, causing her to shock herself and things she came into contact with. On the way to Pinehearst with Claire, Elle caused the plane's navigational systems to malfunction, nearly causing the plane to crash. Upon meeting Sylar once more, despite her lack of control, Elle was able to unleash her pent-up rage and power upon Sylar, generating incredibly powerful lightning bolts. By forgiving herself, Elle regained control of her powers.

According to her assignment tracker profile at primatechpaper.com, Elle's control index was 46%. Her data analysis shows her biological level at 40, cerebral at 15, elemental at 80, and temporal/spatial at 30.

Heroes Reborn App

Prior to Heroes Reborn starting, the Heroes Reborn app was released with a video summary of Elle's history. The summary included:

• Ability: electrical manipulation
• Meet the electrifying Elle Bishop, daughter of Company founder Bob Bishop. (Cautionary Tales)
• As an evolved human, her duties are limited to helping with confined "specials," like Peter Petrelli. (Four Months Ago...)
• Finally on assignment, Elle is captured by rogue operative Noah Bennet. (Cautionary Tales)
• As her father looks on, Elle is traded for Claire Bennet, Noah Bennet's daughter. (Cautionary Tales)
• After a botched field operation, Elle must answer to her father, Bob. (Powerless)
• A gruesome discovery sends Elle over the explosive edge. (The Butterfly Effect)
• Elle seeks redemption from an unlikely source: serial killer Sylar. (It's Coming)
• Knowing they're different from everyone else, Elle and Sylar make plans to be together. (The Eclipse, Part 2)
• Elle miscalculates Sylar's capacity to stop his killing ways. (The Eclipse, Part 2)

Memorable Quotes

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it... and then you'll start to like it."

- Elle (to Peter) (Four Months Ago...)

"I accidentally set my grandmother's house on fire when I was six. Caused a blackout in four counties in Ohio when I was eight. I spent my ninth birthday in a glass room with an IV of lithium in my arm. I've lived in this building for sixteen years, ever since the shrinks diagnosed me as a sociopath with paranoid delusions. But they’re just out to get me, 'cause I threatened to kill them. I'm twenty-four years old and I've never gone on a date. Never been on a roller-coaster. Never been swimming. And now you know everything there is to know about me. I don't have the luxury of being more interesting than that."

- Elle (to Peter) (Four Months Ago...)

"What's your superpower... punching bag?"

- Elle (to Mohinder) (Cautionary Tales)

"I was there when your father first brought you in. You were a normal girl - unicorns and rainbows - and then they started the testing. The human brain isn't built to take that much electricity; you poor girl."

- Noah (to Elle) (Cautionary Tales)

"It itches like a mother f—!"

- Elle (to Bob) (Truth & Consequences)

"I've been nothing but a bitch and you've been nothing but sweet, which just really makes me hate you more."

- Elle to Claire (Eris Quod Sum)

"Hi! Do you like pie? Ugh, that rhymed, didn't it?"

- Elle (to Gabriel) (Villains)

Notes

• Elle says she has been diagnosed as a sociopath, and Peter aptly describes her as a sadist. (Four Months Ago...)
• Noah states that the Company experimented extensively on Elle, which may have played a role in causing her unstable personality. Elle claims she doesn't remember this, but it is strongly hinted that her memories were removed by the Haitian. (Cautionary Tales)
• Elle was originally meant to be Meredith Gordon's daughter, and thus Claire's sister. However, the writers dropped the idea due to plot holes and "lack of storyline." [1]
• In The Butterfly Effect, Sylar tells Elle that she is especially to blame for what he has become. This is likely a reference to the fact that she helped manipulate him into killing more people after he'd acquired his first power and was trying to stop (Villains).
• According to her AT profile, Elle is 5'5" and weights 115 pounds.
• According to a blog post by Greg Beeman, the scene from Our Father in which Sylar burns Elle's body was originally written a little differently. "There was a final shot Jeannot designed for this scene that ended up being cut out. It was a huge crane shot that swooped away as Sylar stood over Elle's burning body. I remember the script read: 'Sylar stands on her burning body. A tinge of remorse. Giving Elle far more respect than any of his previous victims.' Anyway, the shot was very dramatic and I found it very haunting, almost beautiful. But the network standards and practices people and even Tim Kring thought it was too disturbing. So we cut it--and ended up playing the scene on a simple close up Sylar. This works too. I don't know, maybe America's not ready for full-on immolation."
• When Elle appears at the Bennet household in Eris Quod Sum, Lyle says, "Bitch is back". This is a reference to the title of the series finale of Veronica Mars, in which Kristen Bell played the lead role.
• In Sum Quod Sum, Claude refers to Elle as "Fulgora, goddess of lightning." Fulgora's name derives from fulgur, the Latin word for lightning, which is also the root of the word "fulgurite", which are featured prominently in Petrified Lightning.
• Elle has a necklace with a lightning shape on it (Sum Quod Sum, Part 1). She bought it at an arcade after electrocuting the machine and stealing enough tickets (From the Files of Primatech, Part 8). She is also seen wearing it on screen. (Truth & Consequences)

See Also

• For other uses of Elle, see Elle (disambig).
• For other uses of Bishop, see Bishop (disambig).
• For images of Elle, see Images of Elle Bishop.
• For articles related to Elle, see Related Articles:Elle.
• For a list of her victims, see Elle's victims.

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Elle Bishop for fan-created theories and other speculation.