Claire Bennet

Claire Bennet
Portrayed by	Hayden Panettiere Unknown infant in Company Man
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known ability	Rapid cell regeneration
Aliases	Vivian Lewis, Claire Butler
Nicknames	Claire Bear, the Cheerleader, Barbie, Dorothy
Gender
Age	17
Date of birth	1990 or 1991
Home	formerly Odessa, TX, Costa Verde, CA
Residences	Single-family home in Costa Verde, CA
Occupation	High school student & cheerleader
Significant others	formerly Brody Mitchum, formerly West Rosen
Parents	Adoptive parents: Sandra Bennet, Noah Bennet Biological parents: Meredith Gordon, Nathan Petrelli
Grandparents	Paternal grandparents: Angela Petrelli, Arthur Petrelli Maternal grandparents: Mr. Gordon
Siblings	Younger adoptive brother: Lyle Bennet Half brothers: Simon Petrelli, Monty Petrelli
Other relatives	Uncles: Peter Petrelli, Gabriel Gray, Flint Gordon, Jr.

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 niece of Peter, Sylar and Flint. She is an evolved human with the ability to survive 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.

The Second Coming

Claire is attacked by Sylar in her Costa Verde home while she is alone. Sylar begins to terrorize her while she locks herself in a closet after arming herself with a kitchen knife. Suddenly, Claire slips out of the closet and stabs a distracted Sylar through the chest. She runs to the front door but he throws her against the wall. Sylar opens her skull so he can view her brain. She asks if he is going to eat her brain, but Sylar replies "Claire, that's disgusting." Sylar obtains her regenerative power and finds more. He reveals that Claire is more "special" than she actually realizes and no one, not even Sylar, can kill her. Sylar replaces the top of Claire's skull and leaves Claire clutching a stuffed bear as she sits trembling upon the living room table. Later, Lyle and Sandra come home to find her there.

The Butterfly Effect

Claire can no longer feel pain, which causes her to think that she is not human anymore. Claire proceeds to make a video where she throws herself in front of a passing train. Peter flies in time to get her. Peter tells her that he cannot help her find her way again, and he teleports away. Claire proceeds home and walks into her father's office to find her father. He shows her several assignment tracker profiles for Level 5 escapees, and tells her that she will now need protection. Noah then brings forward Meredith for Claire's protection.

One of Us, One of Them

Sandra insists that Claire go back to school, but Claire says that she should be out hunting down villains like her father. When Claire asks to be taught how to fight "bad guys", Meredith allows her to skip school and takes her to an empty storage container where she burns the oxygen out of the air. Claire begins to have flashbacks of her encounter with Sylar and pleads with Meredith to stop. Meredith continues until Claire admits that she wants to learn how to fight not to help people, but to hurt Sylar. That night, Claire convinces her two mothers to let her go to a "sleepover", but in actuality, she drives alone with a box of Noah's files from the Company beside her.

Angels and Monsters

Claire tracks down Stephen Canfield, a man who can create black holes. She finds him and stuns him. Canfield creates a vortex and Claire's stun gun is sucked into it. Claire agrees to help Canfield after being convinced by the story of his situation. She helps him phone his wife, where he arranges to meet up with her. Noah Bennet and Sylar break into the house, and Claire expresses her shock at seeing her father with Sylar. Stephen creates a black hole and flees the area. Sylar, Noah and Claire hold on while the black hole begins to rip up the house. Claire begins to slip, and is almost pulled before Sylar saves her life by grabbing her hand.

Claire reluctantly tells her dad where Canfield is meeting his wife but makes him promise not to hurt him. When at the place, Canfield tells Claire that his family didn't show up because they're scared of him. Noah points a gun at Canfield and tells him to make Sylar (who is standing by the car) disappear. Canfield says he doesn't want to be a murderer and sucks himself into a black hole.

During the ride home Claire expresses disbelief that her father is working with Sylar after everything Sylar did to her.

Claire returns home and her mother tells her that she's happy that Meredith got to Claire in time. Claire tells her that she didn't see Meredith.

Dying of the Light

Claire and Sandra team up to find Meredith, with Sandra telling Claire that it's always "one of us, one of them".

They arrive at Doyle's Marionette Theatre where Sandra prepares a diversion for Doyle by pretending to schedule a birthday party appearance as Claire tries to rescue a petrified Meredith. Doyle uses his power to control all three women and forces them to play Russian roulette. Claire has Sandra shoot her, then as Doyle thinks that she is dead, she attacks and subdues him from behind.

Noah arrives and tranquilizes Doyle. Meredith says that Claire caught Doyle, and Noah tells Claire that she has done a good job. Claire walks away, clearly still feeling uneasy with Noah, and is followed by Sandra, who says she will talk to Claire.

Eris Quod Sum

After catching Eric Doyle, Claire and Sandra arrive home. As they are getting out of the car, they notice the lights flickering. Inside they find Lyle lying on the floor injured, he manages to say to Claire, "bitch is back". Claire finds Elle setting at the computer, electricity sparking from her body. Claire tells her to get out and Elle tries electrocuting Claire, but it has no effect. Claire tries to forcibly remove Elle, but Elle flips Claire onto her back. Elle attacks Claire again, but Lyle throws a bucket of water on her, short circuiting Elle's powers. Elle apologizes, saying she needs help and had nowhere else to go.

Elle explains that she cannot control her ability anymore, and mentions that some girl gave her a Pinehearst card saying that they can help. Claire, who seeks help for her inability to feel pain, convinces Elle to go with her to Pinehearst.

On the plane, Elle starts to panic, causing electric current to emanate from her that interferes with the plane's electrical systems. Claire tells Elle to channel her electricity into her. Together they manage to stop the plane from crashing.

Arriving at Pinehearst, they see Peter falling from seventh story window of the building. The girls notice that Peter isn't healing; Peter explains that his abilities are gone. Claire helps Peter to the vehicle, but Elle heads for the building, apologizing to Claire.

Claire is tending to Peter's wounds as Nathan and Tracy show up. Nathan insists on seeing Arthur. Peter is reluctant to mention Pinehearst, but Claire tells him.

Villains

Claire does not appear in this episode, as it is primarily a flashback to the roles of the Petrelli's, Sylar, and other members of The Company in the roles leading up to Genesis and Six Months Ago

It's Coming

Claire is determined to save a powerless Peter, as he saved her at Homecoming. She distracts Knox and Flint, allowing her and Peter to escape. When they capture her, Claire learns that Pinehearst is specifically after her, and she escapes with help from Peter. Later, it is implied by Arthur that Kaito hid a third part of the Formula, and in the end of the episode Angela reveals that this 'catalyst' was in fact hidden in the blood of a person. Claire realises that this catalyst was her, and that is the reason Pinehearst is after her. Earlier in the episode, Arthur had a file on Claire, possibly suggesting he will soon send his team after 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. Indeed, Future Sylar was able to kill Future Claire by telekinetically sawing her head open. However, 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.

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

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

"What do you call it?"

"My own private freak show."

- Claire, The Haitian (Godsend)

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

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

"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)

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's 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).
• 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.
• 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)

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, That's Disgusting": A Heroes blog that got its name from a now-famous quote from Sylar to Claire

Fan Theories

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