Claire Bennet

Claire Bennet
Portrayed by	Hayden Panettiere
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known ability	Rapid cell regeneration
Aliases	Vivian Lewis, Claire Butler, Bonnie Monaco
Nicknames	Claire Bear, the Cheerleader, Little Miss Miracle Grow, Robot, Barbie, Dorothy, Defensive Player of the Year
Gender
Home	formerly New York City, NY, formerly Odessa, TX, Costa Verde, CA
Residences	Single-family home in Costa Verde, CA
Occupation	Sam's Comics shopkeeper; high school student & cheerleader
Significant other	formerly West Rosen
Parents	Adoptive parents: Sandra Bennet, Noah Bennet Biological parents: Meredith Gordon (deceased), Nathan Petrelli (deceased)
Grandparents	Paternal grandparents: Angela Petrelli, Arthur Petrelli (deceased) Maternal grandparents: Flint Gordon, Sr. (deceased) Adoptive grandparents: Unnamed grandfather
Siblings	Younger adoptive brother: Lyle Bennet Half brothers: Simon Petrelli, Monty Petrelli
Other relatives	Uncles: Peter Petrelli, Flint Gordon, Jr. (deceased) Great aunt: Alice Shaw Paternal great grandparents: Mr. Shaw (deceased), Mrs. Shaw (deceased)

Claire Bennet is a high school student and cheerleader, adopted by Noah Bennet and his wife, and is the biological (and illegitimate) daughter of Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon and niece of Peter Petrelli and Flint Gordon. She is an evolved human with the ability to rapidly heal from any injury.

About

Claire lived a normal suburban lifestyle in Odessa, Texas, until her ability manifested and her entire world was effectively turned upside down. Initially keeping it a secret, Claire's power was eventually exposed after her experiments with testing her ability's limits were discovered. Because Claire was actually being monitored for years by The Company, she was forced to go into hiding with her family from Company agents seeking to make Claire the subject of brutal biological experimentation into her ability. Recently, Claire and her family have come out of hiding.

On a personal level, Claire loves her adoptive family very much, but still remained curious about her origins, until she finally discovered her biological parents and the rest of her extended family. Claire has a kind, yet courageous, nature, but for a time was insecure about her abilities, leading her to be insensitive. With time, Claire accepted her power.

Her ability is considered to be the most valuable and powerful in the world, and as such Claire, and by extension her family, has been targeted by villainous individuals seeking to acquire it.

Character History

Season One

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Claire Bennet: Season One History.

Claire, having discovered that she has the power to rapidly heal herself, asks her classmate Zach to video her jumping off an abandoned gravel plant and surviving. Walking home, the two come across a train wreck, from which Claire rescues a trapped man, but never takes credit for the incident. Meanwhile, Claire finds herself attracted to Brody Mitchum, though their relationship quickly turns sour when he tries to rape her and inadvertently kills her when she is impaled on a tree branch. Claire is taken to a coroner, but revives when the branch is removed from her brain. To avenge Brody's wrongdoings, Claire causes Brody to have an accident, though Claire walks away unharmed.

At her high school's Homecoming, Claire is pursued by Sylar, but is ultimately saved by Peter Petrelli, though her friend Jackie is not. After the tragic events at Homecoming, Claire decides to tell her father about her abilities. However, Claire is surprised to find that those around her are mysteriously losing their memories, and learns that a Haitian man, under the orders of Mr. Bennet, is responsible. The Haitian befriends Claire, and tells her what little he says he knows of her past, including the fact that her mother died in a fire fourteen years ago. After some research, Claire finds Meredith Gordon, her birth mother, and learns that Nathan Petrelli is her birth father, both of whom are evolved humans.

Life changes for Claire when Matt and Ted take her family hostage, her home burns, and her powers are discovered by Thompson. Claire is forced to go into hiding from the Company. Eager to be normal and find out about her biological family, Claire travels to New York City and meets the Petrellis. After saving her uncle Peter's life, the two team up to help stop an impending explosion.

Season Two

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Claire Bennet: Season Two History.

Claire attends her first day of classes at Costa Verde High School, and is assured by her father that she'll be fine, who also warns her not to stand out, or else the Company will find them. At school, she meets a boy who can fly and connects with him. When talking about their abilities, Claire notices marks on his neck, and he recalls an experience with a man with horn rimmed glasses. To hide her relationship with West, Claire lies to her father and tells her that she has joined the cheerleading team. However, her plan backfires and when she doesn't make the squad. To pay back Debbie Marshall, Claire and West play a prank on Debbie while she drinks, causing her to get kicked off the team, and leaving a spot for Claire.

Claire and West continue their relationship and he meets Sandra. As the two spend time, West sees Noah and tries to leave, but Claire tells him that he is her father. Thinking it is a trap, he flies away. Noah shows a newspaper article about her prank, and warns that the family it is no longer safe and that they must move. Claire tells him that if they do, they are leaving without her.

At school on her last day, she is contacted by Bob at her cheerleader practice. He slips up and calls her "Miss Bennet", and Claire runs home. When she arrives home, she sees her father's laptop open with the image of the Mendez painting that shows his death. Claire then warns her mother that her father was right and they need to leave town immediately, but Bob shows up with a gun, and surprisingly, Sandra recognizes him as the Regional Sales Manager for Primatech Paper. Bob takes Claire with him, and conveys to Claire how valuable she is to them, and takes some blood from her. Bob takes her to switch for his daughter from Noah. Once she reaches her father they hug briefly then he pushes her into West's arms so he can fly her to safety. Unfortunately, Elle is able to zap West and Claire, which sends them plummeting to the earth. Mohinder shoots Noah in the eye and kills him. Claire tries to run to her fathers side but West intercepts her. They land at her house and Claire is left with the task of telling her mom that her father has died.

Bob delivers an urn with Noah's ashes to the Bennets. Claire, her family and West scatter the ashes into the sea. She tells her father that she should have listened to everything he said. When she sees Elle in a car spying on them, she confronts her, punching her hand through her car window and threatening to expose the Company. Claire goes through Noah's paperwork, preparing to go public with her ability and expose the Company's secrets. While packing up her father's files to bring down the Company, West arrives and tries to stop her from revealing his secret. Angered, she gives him his file, and tells him "there is no 'us' to worry about anymore." Afterward, Noah returns home, revealing to his family that he is still alive, thanks to Claire's regenerative blood. He tells Claire not to expose the Company, and informs her that he has made a deal, and will again be working for them. In exchange, his family will be left alone to lead normal lives.

Season Three

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Claire Bennet: Season Three History.

Claire learns that Nathan has been shot and rushes to try and help him. Before she can leave, Sylar arrives and begins to terrorize her with his only remaining ability. Claire manages to stab him but Sylar pins her to the wall and slices her skull. He copies her power and then allows her to regenerate before he leaves. Claire discovers that her ability has changed and that she can no longer feel pain. Once again, she tests her limits by trying to be hit by a train. When the prisoners from Level 5 escape, Claire begs Noah to make her his partner, but Noah instead reveals that Meredith will be protecting the family.

Meredith teaches Claire how to fight and ends up torturing her inside of a shipping container. Claire lies and says that she will not hunt villains, but soon leaves to bring in Stephen Canfield. Upon learning that Stephen is not a monster, Claire helps him find his family. Later, Claire is shocked when Noah treats Stephen like a tool, and she is briefly tricked by Sylar into believing that Noah hates all evolved humans. Claire returns home and teams up with Sandra to find Meredith. She defeats Eric Doyle and, after returning home, runs into Elle. She and Elle travel to Pinehearst to fix their malfunctioning abilities but upon arrival, they find Peter, who is now powerless. Claire helps Peter and then tells Nathan and Tracy where Arthur is.

Pinehearst soon begins looking for Claire, who is believed to be the Catalyst. Claire becomes protected by The Company and Noah takes her to the Canfield home to properly train her. Elle and Sylar come looking for her and Claire ends up being shot. With the eclipse in place, Claire does not heal and actually dies. She regenerates as soon as the eclipse is over and is then rescued from a home invasion by Hiro Nakamura, who takes her 16 years into the past. Claire convinces past Noah not to take Claire back to the Company and successfully saves herself from becoming the Catalyst. Arthur tracks them down and sends Claire back to the present where she, Angela, Noah and Meredith prepare to bring down Pinehearst. Sylar intervenes and holds all four of them prisoner with Primatech. He attacks all of them until Claire manages to kill him.

Two months later, Claire lives with the feeling that Sylar is still alive and killing. She overhears a conversation between Angela and Nathan and learns that the government is rounding people up. She warns Matt Parkman, but both are quickly captured. Claire is given a free pass by Nathan, but she still gets onto Flight 195 and frees the prisoners. After the plane goes down, Nathan sends Claire back home, where she is contacted by Rebel. She is given the mission to protect Alex Woolsly from Noah and she hides him in her house. As Rachel Mills and Jason Pierce search for Alex, Claire and Sandra manage to send him out of the town. They return home and find Eric Doyle, who has received a message from Rebel instructing Claire to help him.

Claire gets a cover job at the comic book store before saving Eric from Rachel. She gives him a new identity and is soon saved by Nathan after her free pass is taken away. The two of them fly to Mexico, where they bond as father and daughter. They are contacted by Angela, who asks to meet with them at the Coyote Sands. Nathan and Claire arrive there and help Angela, Peter and Noah dig up the bones of the prisoners that were once kept at the sands. Angela explains what happened in 1961 and privately tells Claire how much she admires her. After the incident with Alice, Claire and the others decide to form a new Company together.

When the family learns that Sylar has taken Nathan's form, Nathan rushes to Washington to stop him. Claire, Angela and Noah attempt to drive there but they are stopped by Noah, who suspects the government is close. Claire and Angela escape capture and arrive at Washington, where they part ways. Claire goes to who she thinks is Nathan, who turns out to be Sylar and captures her. Sylar attempts to remove Claire's hatred for him but ends up throwing her away. Claire is unable to help when Peter and Nathan arrive to fight Sylar, and, after Nathan and Sylar fly away, she goes with Peter to save the president. Claire later attends the funeral of "Sylar" and expresses her shock at the fact that he is really gone.

Heroes Evolutions

Operation Splinter

In chapter 4 of Operation Splinter of the iStory, the Primatech contracted player and another agent find a file on a teenager named "Claire Bennet" in a file cabinet in Red Eye's former apartment. The file states that she has an ability, and the player deduces that her file was among those that Red Eye compiled for Gael Cruz as the Kill Squad's target list.

The Agent

In chapter 1 of The Agent, Rachel Mills listens as Danko notes that the senator's daughter turned the transport flight into a National security emergency and points to her. Several agents stand around the daughter, and her hands are tied behind her back.

Suddenly, Rachel feels a burst of air and another blond girl appears, and then both the new girl and the senator's daughter disappear. Next, Rachel hears people say that Claire has disappeared, and pieces together that Claire is the senator's daughter's name.

Shortly thereafter, Danko sends both a main search party and a separate squad led by Rachel after Claire and the other detainees. He gives Rachel explicit orders that if something happens with the main search party, she is to capture Claire by any means necessary. Danko also answers that if capture is not possible, Claire should be killed by a shot to the back of her skull.

The search parties locate Claire and the fast girl next to the smashed tail of the plane. However, before a proper ambush can be organized, the fast girl stands up as if she might take off and Gibson opens fire. His shots send the fast girl and Claire onto the ground, and then he pauses when another fugitive faces off with him. The other agents keep firing, but Gibson is forced to shoot the other recruits in the main search party and Rachel's squad. Danko shoots Gibson dead before he can kill Rachel, who is the only recruit left standing from both parties. The other fugitives then flee, leaving the fast girl's body and Claire. Danko then produces a tie and takes Claire prisoner.

In chapter 3 of The Agent, Danko sends Rachel Mills and Jason to Costa Verde, CA, on a mission to track down and capture Alex Woolsly. He also informs them that Claire is in the same town and may have helped Alex in escaping prior capture. Danko instructs them to inform him if they get any evidence that Claire is involved, and then await further orders.

While in Costa Verde, Jason gets security camera footage streamed to his cell phone from a camera that covers an alley Alex drove through in his car with Claire. Rachel briefly sees the video on Jason's phone, but Rebel deletes it off of Alex's phone and their organization's server.

Later, Rachel talks with Alex's friend, Liliane, and learns that one of the workers at Sam's Comics told her he saw Alex with a blond girl shortly before Alex disappeared. The witness didn't know the girl's name, but Rachel suspects it is Claire.

In chapter 4 of The Agent, Claire tells Rachel Mills and Jason they shouldn't be there when they search her house looking for Alex Woolsly. When Rachel stands near the pantry, Claire glances at her adopted mother. After Rachel searches the pantry and doesn't find anything, Claire says something sarcastic to her.

Evolved Human Abilities

Claire can regenerate.

Claire exhibits the power of rapid cell regeneration, a trait that allows her to recover from almost any injury in a matter of seconds. She also feels relatively little pain from even serious injuries, including burns and compound fractures, although she did grimace when her hand was damaged while retrieving a class ring from a running garbage disposal. She has not yet reached a limitation in her powers. Along with the injuries stated above, she suffered an injury where her neck was broken and turned around 180 degrees. This would be fatal for most humans. Indeed, between her tolerance for pain and seemingly unlimited healing potential, Claire is somewhat similar to the X-Men character Wolverine. Panettiere herself even loosely compared Claire to that same character when explaining her powers during an interview.

Apparently, Claire cannot heal an injury if a foreign object is obstructing the wound. This is true of other characters with healing factors, who can still heal incorrectly, incompletely or not at all if certain conditions are not met, just like normal humans. For example, in the first episode, the bones of Claire's ribs were sticking out at one point. After a comment from Zach brought this to her attention, Claire had to move them around a bit before they would heal properly. The injury she received in One Giant Leap was billed by a TV Guide article as an extreme test of her powers. In this incident, she was clinically dead for hours, only to revive when the tree branch that killed her was removed. Her healing powers restored her to health despite the destructive biological processes that happen to bodies immediately upon severe trauma or death (brain death, lividity of blood in the tissues and coagulation of same, etc.). Still, as stated before, there were still limitations. Her upper torso had still been spread open from the classic "Y Incision" made in the chest of autopsy subjects and she had to close the flaps of skin back into place manually before they healed.

In Lizards, Claire cuts off her small toe with a pair of scissors only to see it grow back. This suggests that Claire is able to regrow a body part even if it is completely removed.

In Kindred, Claire tells West that she does feel pain, she just recovers from it very quickly. However, in The Second Coming, Claire loses the ability to feel pain after Sylar takes her ability, though in One of Us, One of Them she appears to feel her hands burn when touching the side of the heated container.

In Cautionary Tales, it is heavily suggested that Claire's blood will heal any wound in any person if it is introduced into their system.

A painting by Isaac Mendez and Peter Petrelli showed a cheerleader's body dead at the feet of a shadowy figure, with her head sawed open and her brain removed. Once thought to be Claire, it was theorized that such an injury might well be fatal. Future Sylar was able to take Claire's ability Future Claire by telekinetically sawing her head open, and in The Second Coming, Sylar removed the top of Claire's head and stole her ability without killing her. Her skull and scalp healed as soon as Sylar put the displaced part back where it was supposed to be. Although Sylar told her that she's special and couldn't die, it's unlikely that Claire could survive complete brain removal or decapitation.

In Into Asylum, Claire consumes a mass amount of alcohol to win a game, her competitor comments on how she doesn't even look drunk. She later admits to Nathan her liver heals itself, resulting in everlasting sobriety.

Equipment

• Activating Evolution--Chandra Suresh's book on the emergence of extraordinary abilities, given to Claire by Zach
• Her necklace--a necklace given to Claire by her biological mother, Meredith Gordon
• A tape--Zach's documentation of Claire regenerating
• A wind chime--a set of wind chimes Claire used as a signal to the Haitian that she needed to see him
• Her uncle's gun--a gun given to her by Peter who instructs her to shoot him in the back of the head if he begins to explode.
• Claire's Nissan Rogue--a car given to her by Noah Bennet who was originally planning on giving it to her as a surprise, but gave it to her on her first day at her new school in Costa Verde instead.
• Primatech's fingerprint files--prepared as evidence against the Company, later used to find Level 5 escapees.
• A taser--used on Level 5 escapees.
• A glass shard--used to temporarily kill Sylar.
• Multiple mobile phones -- used to contact various others.
• Heart pendant necklace--a necklace given to Claire by her foster father, Noah Bennet, and later sold. Nathan buys it back for her.

Memorable Quotes

"Your 'gift'? Is that what you call it?"

"What do you call it?"

"My own private freak show."

- Claire, The Haitian (Godsend)

"Nothing is inevitable. The future is not written in stone!"

- Claire (to Angela and Nathan) (How to Stop an Exploding Man)

"Why do you wanna stop bad guys?"

"To help people."

"I don't believe you. You tell me why!"

"...To hurt him, okay?...to hurt him for what he did...he hurt me!"

- Meredith, Claire (One of Us, One of Them)

"Haven't you heard? I'm the defensive player of the year."

- Claire, ( to Knox and Flint) (It's Coming)

"Well I'd like to give him a good spanking."

- Claire (to Angela) (Dual)

Notes

• There are conflicting references as to Claire's age and birthdate. Before production began, a press release noted her age would be 17. In the televised episodes, a newspaper article reported Claire's age as 18 months during the fire on February 28 1992, which would put her birth in August of 1990, and her age as 16. In The Fix (which takes place in October 2006), Claire says she is "almost 16"; this would suggest that her birth was in or after October of 1990. Further, Claire's birth mother tells Nathan that their daughter is now 16 (Run!), and later (in March 2007) she calls Claire a "seventeen-year-old girl" (One of Us, One of Them). Claire is a junior (Distractions, Four Months Later...), and most juniors are 16 or 17. Claire's MySpace page indicates her zodiac sign as Aries (which would place her birthday between 21 March and 19 April) and her age as 19. In the commentary for Godsend, Jack Coleman states that Claire has just turned 16. In an interview Tim Kring stated that Claire is 16. At the 2007 San Diego Comic Con, Hayden Panettiere said her character is 15. Incidentally, Claire does drive (Collision); and the legal driving age in Texas is 16, though a driver can obtain a permit at age 15. In March 2007, Mr. Bennet gives Claire a Nissan Rogue for her birthday, which they note is "next month" (April 2007). A fake prop driver license auctioned by NBC lists her birth date as March 10, 1993 (though it should be noted that the license never appeared in any canon source, and lists false information for Claire). Pinehearst's file on her list her birthday as January 11, 1991 (see file) (It's Coming). In Exposed, Sandra explicitly said Claire was 17.
• Claire learned she was adopted in 2003 (Company Man), though she once said that she had learned she was adopted when she was "very young" (One Giant Leap).
• Claire has an adoptive grandfather who needs glasses (Company Man). However, it is unclear if this grandfather is the father of Noah or Sandra.

Trivia

• Claire collects teddy bears from all around the world. Her father brings them back to her from his "business trips". (Six Months Ago)
• The Odessa Register calls Claire a "Mysterious Good Samaritan". This is a reference to the parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus told the parable to demonstrate that mankind should show compassion for all people.
• Claire's phone in Season 1 is a pink T-Mobile Sidekick II.
• Claire appeared in every episode of Season One.
• Her first name, Claire, is of Latin and French origin. It means "famous" and is also known as "bright" and "clear".
• Her last name, Bennet, is a variant of "Bennett", meaning "blessed".
• According to Brody, Claire never drinks plain milk--just chocolate. She draws mermaids in the margins of her notebook. She puts crackers in her sandwiches to make them crunch. She's usually the first person to laugh at a joke. (Collision)
• According to Pinehearst's file on Claire, she weighs 109 pounds and has green eyes (see file) (It's Coming).

See Also

• For other uses of Claire, see Claire (disambig).
• For Claire Bennet's history in the "explosion future", see Claire Bennet (explosion future).
• For Claire Bennet's history in the "exposed future", see Claire Bennet (exposed future).
• For images of Claire, see Images of Claire Bennet.
• For articles related to Claire, see Related Articles:Claire.
• For other members of the Bennet family, see Bennet (disambig).
• For other members of the Petrelli family, see Petrelli (disambig).
• For Claire's parents, see Claire's parents (disambig).

External Links

• Claire Bennet's official MySpace page
• Claire Bennet's official Friendster page

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Claire Bennet for fan-created theories and other speculation.