| Theory |
Citations |
Notes
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| Jessica is the cause of the explosion. |
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| Ted Sprague is the cause of the explosion. |
He intimates that if he were to die, he could explode like an atomic bomb. (Nothing to Hide) |
In Peter's vision, Peter himself is the cause of the explosion, but the veracity of his vision has not been confirmed.
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| Sylar kills Ted Sprague, absorbing his power. Peter Petrelli then confronts and/or defeats Sylar and, for a short time, takes on Sylar's powers. But Peter doesn't know how to control Ted's powers and blows up. |
In his vision, Peter tells Nathan that he absorbed "his" power and that he can't control it. (Godsend) |
It's also possible that Peter mimics Ted's power directly, rather than through Sylar.
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| The explosion could be a "rift" of the kind about which Future Hiro warned Peter. This could have been caused by Hiro taking the comic book back into the past with him, and that is what it looks like when things are taken out of their proper place in space/time. |
None |
Peter believes he is the cause of the explosion, but could be incorrect. The explosion began before Hiro jumped back to the present.
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| Peter absorbs all of the other main characters' powers, which cause him to overload and blow up the city. |
According to Claude, Peter's illness was caused by exposure to too many powers. (Distractions) |
It's possible increased exposure could cause a larger meltdown of the sort Peter began to experience in Distractions.
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| It's the simultaneous combination of Ted's abilities and Claire's that allow Peter to reach some sort of 'critical mass' without dying so as to be able to explode. |
None |
This theory would explain why Claire's survival is so important, as a large enough nuclear explosion would cause problems, not just for the immediate area destroyed by the explosion, but potentially the entire world depending upon where the fallout spreads.
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| Peter becomes Sylar, through some mechanism. |
The watch on Peter's wrist during his vision looks similar to the one Gabriel Gray was fixing when he took the name Sylar. (Six Months Ago) Peter's trench coat is also similar to Sylar's. |
Peter has been shown to wear a trench coat (Genesis), and a lot of the characters wear watches. Peter's watch in the vision is not broken, and is a different shape than Sylar's.
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| Peter will duplicate Nathan's ability to fly to minimize the damage from the explosion |
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It should be noted that an air burst explosion (from say 100-200 Feet) is much more damaging to surface buildings then one right at ground level.
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| If Peter turns out to be the cause of the nuclear blast, one possible escape would be for him to mimic Hiro's powers and jump back in time to the Mesozoic Era (a time in which a nuclear blast may be considered to have much less impact on the state of the world today -- humans have not yet evolved and many forms of life will eventually become extinct). He will become the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs. |
None. |
This could possibly be where Peter gets his scar.
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| Hiro jumps back to prehistoric times in order to find Peter and lend him the ability to return to the present day. |
None |
If the above turns out to be the case -- Peter saving NYC from the nuclear blast by taking it with him into the prehistoric past -- the others may realize or fear that Peter would be unable to return without being able to tap Hiro's powers, although in Distractions Peter learned he could use any ability he'd come into contact with, without the benefactor of the specific power being present. This could be a possible motivation for Hiro traveling back to a time and having to face a T-rex. In Isaac's painting of Hiro facing a T-rex, Hiro is still wearing his glasses implying that the dinosaur confrontation will occur prior to becoming the future Hiro who met Peter on the train. However, Hiro's encounter with the T-rex may have already occurred in the Museum of Natural History, so it is unclear that he will face another (see here for more theories related to this painting).
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| Uluru causes Peter to explode or tries to kill him. |
None |
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| Peter is the explosion. He absorbs Ted's power and cannot control it. |
Peter has a more detailed vision in which he tells Nathan that he absorbed "his" powers and can't control them. (Godsend) |
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| Peter, knowing that he is the cause of the explosion, catches a flight to Las Vegas to escape into the desert and avoid destroying the New York City. He chooses the Nevada desert because of all the nuclear tests that take place there, believing that he'll just be written off as another nuclear test. However, he will encounter Ted Sprague and unintentionally absorb his power, which is what will cause him to explode. After his encounter with Ted, his family will locate him and bring him back to New York to receive medical attention, and before he can escape the city again, he will explode. |
Peter books a flight to Las Vegas, intending to go into the desert. Ted Sprague is hiding out at a cabin in the Nevada desert. (Godsend) |
In Graphic Novel:How Do You Stop an Exploding Man?, Part 2, Ted is said to be hiding in the New Mexico desert, though this is likely the Mojave Desert which is in both Nevada and New Mexico, and could be in error, since Part 1 and Godsend both give his location as Nevada.
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| Peter and the others will work together to stop Ted Sprague from causing the explosion, but Peter will absorb Ted's power, lose control of it, and become a threat himself in the process. |
During Peter's visions, all of the other characters are present. (Fallout, Godsend) |
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| Nathan winds up in league with whoever plans to blow up New York, using the disaster to distract away from the shady circumstances of his election victory and make himself look like a great leader in the process as he leads the campaign to rebuild New York. |
In Peter's vision, Nathan is very calm as Peter is about to explode. (Godsend) |
It's possible Nathan expects he can fly to escape the explosion and be rid of his embarrassing brother.
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| Peter does explode, but does so while using D.L. Hawkins's power of phasing. Isaac's paintings would still depict future events accurately, but nothing would be harmed. |
None |
There's no reason to necessarily believe that the explosion would also be phased merely because Peter is.
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| An explosion is caused by Peter, Ted, or another evolved human, but it's only an illusion staged for Hiro's benefit. |
None |
When Hiro arrives in NYC on November 8th, he needs to have a reason to go back and begin his mission to stop the explosion, or else a temporal rift could undo everything that happened since Hiro left Japan. Candace has the ability to create an illusion, only having the city appear to be destroyed.
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| Future Hiro told Peter to "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" so Peter could mimic Claire's powers. Then he wouldn't die when he exploded and he could somehow fix everything. |
None |
Future Hiro tells him to "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" but he didn't tell him how he was saving the world by saving Claire. Maybe it was because Peter had to live in order to save the world. Ted's body doesn't explode when he blows up, he just creates an explosive force moving outwards from him. If Peter got Ted's powers, exploding wouldn't hurt him, so he wouldn't die if it happens.
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