Peter Petrelli

Peter Petrelli
Portrayed by	Milo Ventimiglia
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known abilities	Empathic mimicry Known powers mimicked: Flight, Precognition, Rapid cell regeneration, Telepathy, Invisibility, Telekinesis, Space-time manipulation, Induced radioactivity, Enhanced strength
Nickname	Pete
Gender
Age	26
Home	New York, NY
Residence	Peter Petrelli's apartment
Occupation	former home hospice nurse
Significant other	formerly Simone Deveaux
Parents	Angela Petrelli, unnamed father
Sibling	Nathan Petrelli (older brother)

Peter Petrelli is a former home hospice nurse from New York City. His brother Nathan and mother Angela also live there. Peter discovers he has the ability to mimic the superpowers of others.

About

Peter believes he has a greater place in life than just saving one person at a time, and he's willing to sacrifice himself to save the world.

His brother, Nathan, seems to disapprove of Peter's choice to become a nurse. Nathan also considers Peter the less favored son of their father.

Character History

Season One

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Peter Petrelli: Season One History.

Peter Petrelli is a hospice nurse who keeps having amazing dreams that he can fly. Later, he stands on top of a building, throws himself off, and is met by his brother Nathan, who can also fly. Peter eventually that his power is actually the ability to absorb the powers of those he meets. Peter visits Mohinder Suresh, looking for the author of Activating Evolution. Mohinder joins Peter to go and find Isaac Mendez, but while they are on a subway train, time freezes, and Peter has a visit from a Japanese man, who tells him that Peter must "save the cheerleader, save the world".

When he meets Isaac, Peter finished a painting depicting a dead and mutilated cheerleader. Peter realizes he must save this girl, and upon seeing another painting, heads to a homecoming, in Odessa, TX. There, he meets Claire Bennet, and manages to stop her from being killed by a mysterious stranger. He falls off a building and breaks several bones, although he quickly regenerates, mimicking Claire's power.

Outside the sheriff's department, Peter collapses and has a vision of himself bursting into red flames and exploding in the middle of the city. Peter meets the invisible Claude Rains, who helps Peter discover that he can access the powers he has absorbed by thinking of the person from whom he absorbed the ability.

Later, Peter visits Isaac's loft again, and confronts the painter about his association with Mr. Bennet. A fight ensues, and Simone is accidentally shot. Then, Peter visits Mohinder's apartment, but is confronted by Sylar, who begins to cut off the top of Peter's head. However, Peter heals his wound, fights Sylar, and dies when struck with a shard of glass in his brain. He revives when Claire removes the shard. At Kirby Plaza, Peter absorbs Ted's power, and has difficulty controlling it. Peter has a final confrontation with Sylar. They trade blows, and Peter's hands begin to glow dangerously. He tells Claire to shoot him, but Nathan appears, picks up his brother, and flies away into the sky where Peter explodes.

Four Months Later

At a shipyard in Cork, Ireland, three thugs--Ricky, Tuko, and Will--search for a shipping container which they believe to contain iPods. Instead, they find a half-naked Peter handcuffed inside the empty container. They ask him where the merchandise is, to which he replies that he doesn't know. Tuko tries to strike him, but Peter defends himself by shooting a bolt of energy from his free hand, hurling his attacker to the ground. The other thugs draw their guns on him and ask him who he is, but Peter doesn't know.

Powers

Much mystery surrounded Peter's status and powers, or lack thereof, early in the series. While every main character was said outright to have a power in press releases, Peter was simply billed as "trying to convince his brother he can fly". Later, after his brother flew, Peter himself displayed the ability to levitate not long afterward (Don't Look Back). Peter is actually an empathic mimic who duplicates the powers of others. His crude levitation sketch shows that he gained Isaac's ability to draw the future, but without needing to be induced by drugs (Don't Look Back). Later, Peter visits Isaac and finishes Isaac's painting without the aid of heroin or any other drug (Hiros).

Early on, Peter's duplicated powers typically only lasted while the person he was mimicking was nearby. He was unable to fly when not in the presence of Nathan, and he became visible when Claude walked away from him, but he was still able to use Isaac's precognition the day after he met him (Don't Look Back). In Distractions, he duplicated Claire's power of regeneration, even though he had not been near her for weeks; this was the first time he ever consciously "recalled" a mimicked power.

While Peter's crude stick figure drawings originally seemed to indicate that he could duplicate only someone's powers, and not their skills, the painting he completed at Isaac's studio seems fairly well done (though not of the same style). This could indicate that his ability is maturing and developing, much like the others with powers.

Powers Mimicked

Prior to having his power stolen by Arthur Petrelli, Peter was able to duplicate the abilities of other evolved humans; after he acquired the ability, he did not need to be in the person's presence. To date, Peter had conclusively duplicated the abilities of:

• Precognitive dreaming (Genesis) from Angela Petrelli (The Second Coming)
• Flight from Nathan Petrelli (Genesis)
• Precognition (Don't Look Back) from Isaac Mendez (Genesis)
• Rapid cell regeneration from Claire Bennet (Homecoming)
• Telepathy from Matt Parkman (Fallout)
• Invisibility from Claude Rains (Godsend)
• Telekinesis (Unexpected) from Sylar (Homecoming)
• Space-time manipulation (Unexpected) from Future Hiro (Collision)
• Induced radioactivity from Ted Sprague (The Hard Part)
• Enhanced strength from Niki Sanders (How to Stop an Exploding Man)
• Phasing (Four Months Ago...) from D.L. Hawkins (How to Stop an Exploding Man)
• Electric manipulation (Four Months Later...) from Elle Bishop (Four Months Ago...)
• Pyrokinesis (I Am Become Death) from Flint (One of Us, One of Them)
• Intuitive aptitude (I Am Become Death) from Sylar (Homecoming)
• Super speed (I Am Become Death) from Daphne Millbrook (Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration)
• Electromagnetism from Unknown Evolved Human (Four Months Later)

See also: Powers Mimicked by Future Peter

Powers Exposed

Other evolved humans had been within Peter's proximity, exposing him to their abilities. However, Peter never exhibited these abilities:

• Daniel Linderman's Healing (Villains)
• Arthur Petrelli's Ability absorption (Villains)
• Eden McCain's Persuasion (Collision)
• Sylar's Freezing (Homecoming)
• Sylar's Shattering (Homecoming)
• René's Mental manipulation (Unexpected)
• Sylar's Melting (Parasite)
• Sylar's Enhanced hearing (Parasite)
• Molly Walker's Clairvoyance (How to Stop an Exploding Man)
• Micah Sanders's Technopathy (How to Stop an Exploding Man)
• Bob Bishop's Alchemy (Four Months Ago...)
• Jesse Murphy's Sound manipulation (One of Us, One of Them)
• Future Mohinder's Enhanced strength and senses (I Am Become Death)
• Future Gabriel's Clairsentience (I Am Become Death)

In the original timeline, Peter was exposed to Sylar's enhanced memory. (Homecoming) However, Hiro Nakamura went back in time, preventing Sylar from obtaining it in the first place. (Once Upon a Time in Texas)

See also: Powers Exposed to Future Peter

Unexplained Powers

At the end of Four Months Later Peter shoots a Bolt of Energy from him palm. This is either Electromagnetism the ability to generate electricity or Lygokinesis the ability to generate raw energy.

Equipment

• Activating Evolution--Chandra Suresh's book detailing the emergence of extraordinary abilities
• Paintings -- Drawn after absorbing Isaac's precognition

Memorable Quotes

"I've been up here all night thinking about this, thinking about my destiny."

"What are you doing, Pete?"

"It's my turn to be somebody now, Nathan!"

- Peter, Nathan (Genesis)

"Saving you ...did I save the world?"

"I don't know, I'm just a cheerleader."

- Peter, Claire (Homecoming)

"Charles Darwin bred pigeons when he was working out his theory of evolution--married up various permutations to get maximum potential."

"What do you mean by that, 'maximum potential'?"

"I think he meant you, friend."

- Claude, Peter (Unexpected)

"Haven't I killed you before?"

"Didn't take."

- Sylar, Peter (How to Stop an Exploding Man)

Notes

• Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), in a behind-the-scenes video, reveals that Peter passes out at the end of Fallout because he is overwhelmed by all of the abilities he has been absorbing.
• Nathan Petrelli is Claire's biological father (Distractions), which would make Peter her uncle. Despite their many interactions, Peter was unaware of his connection to Claire, according to his mother, Angela (.07%).
• According to Joe Pokaski, Peter has the ability to recall all of the powers of those he has been in contact with.
• On one of the covers of Entertainment Weekly's May 11th, 2007 issue (#933, cover 3 of 5), Peter is shown to be exhibiting pyrokinesis, although, as of yet, he has not even met Meredith Gordon, who is currently the only evolved human known to possess pyrokinesis. He does, however, seem to exhibit the ability at the end of Five Years Gone and in Walls, Part 2. Some have also speculated that the picture may be a form of induced radioactivity.

Trivia

• In an interview, Tim Sale said, "Peter's [likeness] is kind of easier to caricature because he's got that silly hair and that kind of knife-like face."
• Both his first name and last name, Peter and Petrelli, come from the Latin term petra meaning "rock".
• In an interview, Jason La Padura said that Peter and Nathan were originally written to be twins.
• According to the official site for the Season One DVD, Peter's AIM screen name is ppetrelli07.
• In the commentary for .07%, Andrew Chambliss says that Tim Kring's early drafts of the pilot call Peter "Harrison", "Ethan", and other names. His last name was Campbell, and he was supposed to be in his mid-30s.

See Also

• For Peter Petrelli as he appeared in the dark future, see Peter Petrelli (future).
• For images of Peter, see Category:Images of Peter Petrelli.
• For articles related to Peter, see Related Articles:Peter.
• For other members of the Petrelli family, see Petrelli (disambig).
• For other uses of Peter, see Peter (disambig).

External Links

• Peter fan video

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Peter Petrelli for fan-created theories and other speculation.