Claude Rains
| Claude Rains | |
|---|---|
| |
| Portrayed by | Christopher Eccleston |
| First appearance | Godsend |
| In-story stats | |
| Known ability | Invisibility |
| Alias | Claude Rains |
| Nicknames | The Invisible Man, Invisalign |
| Gender | |
| Age | 43 |
| Date of birth | February 2, 1964 |
| Place of birth | Blackpool, England |
| Home | formerly New York, NY London |
| Occupation | Former agent of the Company |
"Claude Rains" is the identity used by a former agent of the Company who has the power of invisibility.
Character History
Season One
For an episode-by-episode summary, see Claude Rains: Season One History.
 This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
|
The Line
Ivan mentions that he trained Claude to be an agent of the Company.
Graphic Novel:Sum Quod Sum, Part 1
Elle tracks Claude through London, seeking to obtain control of her ability. As she's waiting for the right time to approach him, he aggressively asks her why she's following him. When Elle asks for help, Claude, still believing Elle to have ties with the Company, runs off before she can explain that she's no longer with them. The rain allows Elle to chase him, but she loses control of her power. The water on the ground conducts and intensifies the electricity, and both Claude and Elle are rendered unconscious.
Graphic Novel:Sum Quod Sum, Part 2
Claude awakens in Trafalgar Square and Lee and Abigail help him up, Claude tells them to bring Elle along to Abigail and Lee's flat as well. Claude talks to Elle about her ability and agrees to help her control it. The two go to a showing of Hamlet at the Globe Theatre. There, Claude tells Elle to forgive her father.
After Elle accidentally uses her power and electrifies Abigail and Lee, she decides to leave. Claude tries to get her to stay, but to no avail.
Graphic Novel:Comrades, Part 1
In December 1998, Noah Bennet and Claude go to Moscow on a bag and tag mission, hunting an evolved human known as the Russian, who seems to be the patriarch of a criminal family. They meet up with Ivan Spektor and chase the Russian through a subway station and onto a train, but when Claude suddenly rematerializes in front of him, the Russian uses his age shifting ability to alter his appearance. When they finally catch up with the Russian, he age-shifts into a child. Claude says that Noah cannot shoot a young boy, and Noah hesitates.
Graphic Novel:Comrades, Part 2
Noah's hesitation gives the Russian time to escape, and Claude, Ivan and Noah leave the Moscow subway. As they head for a large marketplace on a hunch of Noah's, Claude expresses his belief that the Russian is not really a killer, but Noah is doubtful. Claude spots the Russian, still in his child form, and lies to Noah to try to help him get away, but Ivan spots him and calls out, in an attempt to make the Russian age-shift again into an adult body. The Russian pulls a knife on Ivan but Noah shoots him dead. Noah later realizes that Claude's willingness to help a fellow evolved human escape made the Company distrust him and eventually led to Noah being ordered to shoot Claude.
Graphic Novel:Rebellion, Part 3
West Rosen, Sparrow Redhouse and Abigail rush upstairs in a building in London. After defeating an attacking government agent, Claude becomes visible and tells Abigail to get out of the building. He promises to rescue her fiance and rushes off to fight more of Danko's team, becoming invisible again while doing so.
Graphic Novel:Rebellion, Part 6
When Abigail and Micah get on the train, she sees Claude passed out with drugs. Micah tells the computer to stop the drugs, but the pair is shot with tranquilizer darts shortly after. When the train is stopped by Sparrow, Claude wakes up. Abigail says that they will get out of there and Claude reminds them that the agents have guns.
Graphic Novel:Rebellion, Part 7
Claude stands with the Rebel team as Micah tries to extract Monica's location from Molly. When Micah tries to leave with his team, Claude, along with Lee and Molly, tell him to stop. Before Micah can leave, a squad of government agents arrives and Sparrow uses her power to get rid of them. Seeing this as a good chance to leave, Claude informs everyone that he is going. He decides to take Molly with him and asks if Abigail and Lee will be joining him. Abigail decides to stay and Claude becomes invisible with Molly, escaping unseen.
Shadowboxing
When threatening Becky Taylor with a taser, Noah comments on how Claude's power was the same as hers, noting that ten thousand volts should be enough to disrupt it.
Upon This Rock
According to Noah's files, Claude was the agent assigned (in case #45923) to bag and tag Ian Michaels.
Heroes Evolutions
Claude's case file (file: C024; password: CRnop07in) at primatechpaper.com contains Claude's personal history:
[Paragraph Omitted: Classified]
Using the identity "Claude Rains," the agent began working with the Company in the mid-1980s. Trained by Ivan Spektor, Rains was initially paired with Agent Haran, but Haran retired due to mental instability after a psychologically traumatic case involving Rollo Fusor. Shortly after, Rains was paired with rookie Company agent Noah Bennet in 1991. The two remained partners for eight years.
Rains' growing disdain for Company protocols and systemic unwillingness to follow orders -- ultimately including a refusal to conduct operations against people with abilities -- resulted in a termination order, assigned to Agent Bennet after the Company confirmed evidence that Rains was harboring a special (subject's identity remains unknown). Rains was severely wounded during the termination attempt but escaped.
[Paragraph Omitted: Classified]
Most recently, unconfirmed reports from civilian interviews place Claude in London, England. The subject is generally aversive to violence and human contact, but agents are advised to report all unscheduled contacts.
The case file also contains a psychological history:
Rains' defining psychological characteristic is a chronic avoidant personality disorder, exhibited by a pervasive distaste for human contact and antisocial behaviors when contact is initiated without his consent.
The apparent absence of typical accompanying anxiety disorders, as well as documentation of subject's comparative openness toward a number of people with abilities, suggests that Rains' disorder stems from or has been exacerbated by long-term, systemic repression of negative feelings toward his primary social group: namely, the Company.
[Paragraph: Classified]
While these circumstances made the subject receptive to the Company's recruitment process, they also left him highly susceptible to excessive empathy with Company targets, resulting in cognitive dissonance, repression, and eventually, reconciliation through rejection of his Company identity. The long-term psychological effects on the subject are not known and should be considered an analysis priority if he is placed in custody.
Evolved Human Abilities
Claude has the ability to become invisible, and has been living with the power for at least 15 years. He uses the power to his advantage, stealing from others. Upon contact, Claude's ability allows him to extend his invisibility to other objects. For instance, the pole he uses to hit Peter turns invisible upon contact. It also seems that he can see other invisible people, and vice-versa. (Unexpected)
According to his assignment tracker file at primatechpaper.com, Claude's control index is 90%. His data analysis shows his biological level at 40, cerebral at 30, elemental at 25, and temporal/spatial at 75.
Memorable Quotes
"Me? I'm no one. I'm the Invisible Man. I'm Claude Rains. Now get away from me. Forget you ever saw me."
"There's no such thing. No teaching. No Sunday school for the special. What I can do, you can't learn. You wake up in the morning, it's there. If you've got thin soup, then that's your supper. Sorry, mate, that's the way it is."
"I spend a lot of time moving around people's homes, their bedrooms. You get to know people if you see them when they think they're alone. You see them for what they truly are: selfish, deceitful, and gassy."
"So what is that, your big truth about the world?"
"Sooner you learn it, sooner we get that collar off your neck. People suck, friend. Every last one of them. Never forget that."
- - Claude, Peter (Distractions)
"So what do we do now?"
"Hey! We? You watch your own back. I do what I always do -- disappear."
- - Peter, Claude (Unexpected)
"You've got the power to stop me, what are you waitin' for?"
"I'm trying!"
"And when you've left New York a smoking wasteland, we'll put that on your tombstone: 'Here lies Peter Petrelli. He tried.'"
"Dig into that file cabinet of yours and pull something out. Fly. Stop time. Paint me a pretty picture. Do--something--unexpected!"
- - Claude, Peter (Unexpected)
Notes
- In an interview, writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite said that "Claude" is not exactly the character's name. In response to Peter Petrelli's question, "Who are you?", Claude evasively replies, "I'm no one. I'm the invisible man. I'm Claude Rains" (The Fix). The British actor Claude Rains played the title character in the 1933 film The Invisible Man. On the other hand, Thompson addressed him as "Claude" fourteen years ago (Company Man), and Ivan Spektor referred to him as "Claude" when confronted by Noah Bennet (The Line). His assignment tracker profile also lists him as Claude Rains, however in the biography section it notes that he uses the identity Claude Rains, implying further that Claude is not his real name.
- Flint states that he was tackled by an "invisible man" sometime in 2006 (Villains). At that time Claude was not with the Company participating in bag and tag missions. However, Flint may not have been directly captured as part of a Company mission, or by a Company operative. The identity of the invisible man is unknown. Writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite explained that this line was a mistake made by a new writer.
Trivia
- When Claude first meets Peter, he grabs Peter's shirt and slams him up against a lamp post. A nearby streetside vendor can be seen selling The Invisible Man DVDs. (Godsend)
- Upon meeting Peter and learning that he can see and mimic him, Claude mutters, "Fantastic." (The Fix) This is the catchphrase of the Ninth Doctor from Doctor Who, who was also portrayed by Christopher Eccleston.
- Claude speaks Japanese. (Company Man)
- Before Mr. Bennet shoots Claude, Claude starts off saying, "You have a choice, you don't have to do this". The line "You have a choice", as well theme of choices, is also present in Doctor Who. (Company Man)
- According to his assignment tracker profile, Claude is 6'1" and weighs 175 pounds.
- Despite the fact he is known to possess the mark, his assignment tracker profile states that he has no scars or marks.
- Claude tells Noah in Company Man that it is a "brave new world". This line was also said by Harriet Jones in the "Doctor Who" episode "Aliens in London" in which Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor.
See Also
- For other uses of Claude, see Claude (disambig).
- For images of Claude, see Images of Claude Rains.
- For articles related to Claude, see Related Articles:Claude.
Fan Theories
Please refer to Theory:Claude Rains for fan-created theories and other speculation.