Claire Bennet

Claire Bennet
Portrayed by	Hayden Panettiere
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known ability	Rapid cell regeneration
Aliases	Vivian Lewis, Claire Butler
Nicknames	Claire Bear, the Cheerleader
Gender
Age	15 or 16
Date of birth	1990 or 1991
Home	formerly Odessa, TX Costa Verde, CA
Residences	Single-family home in Costa Verde,CA
Occupations	High school student, cheerleader
Significant others	West, formerly Brody Mitchum
Parents	Adoptive parents: Sandra Bennet, Noah Bennet Biological parents: Meredith Gordon, Nathan Petrelli
Siblings	Younger adoptive brother: Lyle Bennet Younger half brothers: Simon Petrelli, Monty Petrelli

Claire Bennet is a high school student formerly of Odessa, TX where she used to be a cheerleader. She lives with her adoptive family in Costa Verde, CA. Claire discovers she has the ability to heal seemingly any wound, nearly instantaneously.

About

Claire is trying very hard to remain a typical teenager. Her fear of seeming different appears to be somewhat tied in to her concerns about her adoption; when her brother Lyle learns about her powers, her main concern is that her family will reject her or regret adopting her. While she loves her adoptive family very much, she still remains curious about her origins. Claire's insecurity can sometimes lead her to be insensitive, but usually her better nature wins out. For example, while she initially broke off her friendship with Zach to try to fit in better with more popular kids like Jackie (who accuses Claire of trying to be just like her), she eventually comes to realize the nature of her mistake.

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. Claire is taken to a coroner, but revives when a 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.

Four Months Later

Claire attends her first day of classes at Costa Verde High School, but is upset with her schedule. Her father reassures her that she'll be fine, but warns her not to stand out, or else the Company will find them. Mr. Bennet then gives Claire a Nissan Rogue, which makes her very excited. Not paying attention, she walks in front of a car driven by one of her classmates.

During science class, as Claire plays with a Bunsen burner, West attempts to flirt with her by asking her if she is a robot or an alien. Mr. Zern asks the class a question to which Claire knows the answer, but she remains silent to avoid standing out.

Later, in gym class, Debbie and the cheerleaders pick on Martha. Claire stands up for her, but doesn't follow through on a dare to do a cheerleading move well within Claire's abilities. After the fieldhouse is empty, Claire performs the move, but breaks her knee. As it is healing, West walks in and confronts her about being a robot.

At home, Claire eats dinner with her family. She then calls Nathan because she is lonely and doesn't believe she can hide who she really is. As she talks on the phone, West is watching her, mid-air.

Lizards

Sandra cracks an egg into a pot of boiling water but accidentally drops her wedding ring into the water in the process. Claire simply reaches in and pulls the ring out burning her hand in the process. The burns quickly heal and her mother ribs her for being "flashy." Her father, Noah walks in and talks to Claire about their new identities. Claire explains concern that she wants to be who she really is but Noah reminds her of the dangers of it.

At school, in class, Claire is learning about regenerative abilities and begins to ask questions about the possibility of humans having the ability to do that. She asks if mankind has already taken the next step in evolution.

Later, West comments on Claire's interest in lizards. He is very interested that she likes the "evolution" topic and tells her about Chandra Suresh's book. He wants her to read it but she disagrees and shrugs him off, only to find her car missing.

Claire visits her father at Copy Kingdom. Claire tells him not to freak out, but her car was stolen. He takes the opportunity to tell her that he needs to be able to trust her and that she can't afford to make mistakes like this or else she'll be found. She insists that she wants to use and know more about her powers. Noah tells her that if she was found by the Company, she'll wish she were dead.

Claire puts her powers to the limit by cutting off her pinky toe. Afterwards, it takes a few moments but the toe regenerates. She looks up and West saw the incident in the window.

Kindred

Claire reads Activating Evolution, and Noah mentions that Sandra is making waffles. Noah apologizes for talking to her the way he did, and offers his help. Claire asks what would happen if someone found out about her, and Noah mentions they'd have to leave at a worst case scenario. At school, Claire tells West that she was giving herself a manicure when he sneaked up on her. West continues to talk about her cutting off her toe, and she tells him to stay away.

In class, West sits next to Claire. West asks Mr. Zern questions to annoy Claire. Mr. Zern blows off the questions as irrelevant, but Claire leaves the classroom visibly upset. Claire sits alone outside, and West comes to talk to her. She asks him what he wants from her, and he wants to know that she's different. She tells him how upsetting it is, but West grabs her and the two fly away. They fly over the town, with Claire laughing in West's arms.

Later, she and West sit on a beach and talk about their abilities, and Claire admits that she does feel pain. West asks if he pokes her if it hurts, and the two kiss. She notices marks on his neck, and he pulls away. West recalls an experience with a man with horn rimmed glasses, and Claire glares into the distance.

Later, Claire tells her father goodnight after he makes a shocking discovery.

The Kindness of Strangers

At school, May invites Claire to join the cheerleading squad. Claire is initially reluctant, but ultimately tells Debbie that she'll think about it. West starts talking to Claire, and she tells them that her father is very strict and that they shouldn't hang out together. West manages to convince her to go on one final date with her: a place of her choosing. Later in the evening Claire tells her parents that she needs to go to the library. Her father suspicious of Claire's true motive, offers her a ride which she declines. As she leaves he tries to follow her but loses sight of her as West flies her away. Claire and West spend time talking while sitting on the Hollywood Sign. West tries to convince her to trust him and convinces her to jump off the sign since she won't get hurt. As she's falling West catches her and tells her that even though she'd survive the landing he doesn't want to see her in pain. Claire returns home late and lies to her parents saying she was trying out for cheerleading. She convinces them to let her join the team, but her father emphasizes that she's not to see any boys.

Graphic Novel:The Rogue

In the parking lot outside CVHS, Debbie and another cheerleader, Carole, are looking for a new girl for the squad. Debbie spots Claire and makes her stand back-to-back with Carole. When the bell rings, the girls run off to class, and Claire accidentally leaves the keys in her Nissan Rogue.

Powers

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, et al.) Still, as stated before, there were still limitations. Her upper torso had still been spread open from the classic "V-Cut" 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.

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.

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.

Memorable Quotes

"I thought you were grounded."

"It didn't take."

- Jackie, Claire (Homecoming)

"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)

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 28th 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 birthmother tells Nathan that their daughter is now 16 (Run!). Claire is a junior (Distractions, Four Months Later), and most juniors are 16 or 17. Her 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).
• 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).

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 is a pink T-Mobile Sidekick II.
• To date, Claire (played by Hayden Panettiere) has appeared in every episode of Heroes, with the exception of Fight or Flight. This record is matched only by Hiro, who was absent from the previous episode, The Kindness of Strangers.
• Claire is Peter Petrelli's niece.
• 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)

See Also

• For Claire as she appeared in the dark future, see Claire Bennet (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

Fan Theories

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