Elle Bishop

Elle Bishop
Portrayed by	Kristen Bell
First appearance	Fight or Flight
In-story stats
Known ability	Lightning
Alias	Cindy
Gender
Age	24
Date of birth	1983
Occupations	Agent of the Pinehearst Company, former trainer and agent of the Company
Significant other	formerly Gabriel Gray
Parents	Bob Bishop (deceased), unnamed mother (deceased)

Elle Bishop is an evolved human with the ability to create lightning strikes, and is the daughter of Bob Bishop. Elle was recruited as a trainer and agent after a long time of brutal experimentation that left Elle mentally unstable and homicidal. Upon her father's death, Elle was fired by new director Angela Petrelli. She was later presumabely killed by her lover, Sylar.

Character History

Season Two

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Elle Bishop: Season Two History.

Elle is given the task to find Peter in Ireland. She finds him, but her presence is alerted to Ricky before she can arrive. Elle meets Ricky at the Wandering Rocks and asks if he's seen Peter. He says he hasn't, but Elle is not convinced. She walks over to the door, locks it and welds it shut. She then proceeds to send a huge bolt of electricity at Ricky. Later, in her car, Elle explains to her father that she found that Peter was in Ireland, but she hasn't found him. After admitting to killing Ricky, she's ordered to come home.

Four months before, Peter has just emerged from his invisibility after dropping Nathan off at a hospital when Elle fires a large bolt of lightning at him, knocking him unconscious. When asked by Bob whether she had to use a 'full blast' on him, she smiles and replies that "he can take it". Over the next two months, Elle continues to administer Peter "Haitian pills" so he cannot use his ability, saying that they are trying to find a cure. She shows Peter strange affection by continually shocking him before she leaves. One day, she opens up to Peter by telling her life story to Peter: she burned down her grandmother's house when she was six, caused a multi-county blackout in Ohio when she was 8, spent her ninth birthday in a glass room with an IV of lithium in her arm, and lived in the building for sixteen years after being diagnosed a sociopath with paranoid delusions. Peter later escapes, and Elle is sent with the Haitian to capture Peter and Adam.

After her assignment in Ireland, Elle is partnered with Mohinder to eliminate Noah and capture Claire. After Mohinder picks up Noah, he asks Mohinder who his partner is, and Elle appears from behind a van, saying 'Hey you' and begins manifesting her power while walking towards them. However, she gets tackled into a car by West, knocking her unconscious. Elle is taken to Noah's house where her hands and bare feet are chained in a bath of water. Noah says that he needs to speak with her father, and after shocking herself, Noah then goes on to tell Elle that he was there when she first arrived at the company, that she was just a normal girl; but then they started testing on her, that the human brain cannot handle the amounts of electricity they gave her. Elle says that her father would never allow such a thing, but Noah says that he was leading the charge. After Noah arranges a trade of Elle for Claire, West, Noah and Elle meet Bob, Mohinder and Claire. When they do Elle and Claire swap parties; Claire with her hands free, Elle however with her hands still bound. Nevertheless, when West starts to fly Claire away, Elle uses her power to break her binds and unloads a ball of lightning at West, hitting him dead center. Elle then turns around and begins to manifest her power again for some revenge on Noah, but is too slow and Noah shoots her in the shoulder first; she screams and then collapses.

While in her father's office, she logs into the Cisco surveillance system and and is shocked to find Sylar in Mohinder's lab with Mohinder, Molly and Maya. She sees the opportunity to impress her father and heads to stop Sylar. Elle charges into Mohinder's lab, yells Sylar's name and manifests her power, but she finds herself too slow and Sylar shoots at her first. She dodges the shot, and as Sylar runs away and she blasts at him twice, hitting him in the back. She gives chase, but returns to the lab after failing to catch Sylar. Mohinder notes that without her, Sylar would have killed them all and that they owe her their lives.

The Butterfly Effect

After Sylar takes Claire's power, Bob shows Elle a video of a failed attempt by two Company agents to take him down, during which he berates her for letting him get away. Elle later comes into her father's office to ask for her position back, only to find him with the top of his head cut off and his brain removed. She runs down to Level 5 to get help from Noah Bennet. Elle tosses Noah a gun; Noah asks "I thought Daddy didn't want me to leave my cell?" "My dad's dead", Elle explains. "Sylar killed him." Upon leaving Noah's cell, Sylar telekinetically knocks Elle face-down on the floor. Bennet fires several times at Sylar, but Sylar, having acquired Claire's rapid cell regeneration, heals almost instantly. "I got that from your Claire," Sylar says to Bennet before slamming him against the ceiling, knocking him out. Sylar takes the gun and turns it to gold to taunt Elle. Sylar then begins to cut open her skull, but Elle (perhaps involuntarily) discharges a powerful blast of electricity, rendering Sylar unconscious. Unfortunately, the power surge also disables the Level Five power grid, allowing the prisoners to escape. Later, Angela Petrelli appears, Bob's death having left her in control of The Company. Angela's first official act is to fire Elle.

Graphic Novel:Doyle

Elle has an electrical outburst when Sylar starts to cut her head open, knocking out the level's power grid and releasing the prisoners.

Graphic Novel:Sum Quod Sum, Part 1

After Sylar killed Elle's dad, and Angela fired her from the Company, Elle travels to London to experience the freedom she did not get when with the Company. Elle initially believes she is being watched but ignores the problem, as she has lost control of her ability, electrocuting herself in her own hotel room. The attention that comes with the lack of control has troubled her, and, as she sits on a train, Daphne attempts to convince her to join the Pinehearst Company. Elle doesn't want to get involved with another company, and contemplates what she should do next. Realizing approaching Noah Bennet is out of the question, she seeks help from Claude Rains. She tracks him to a capsule on top of the London Eye, where, before she can approach him, he aggressively asks why she's following him. Elle tries to explain her problem with her ability, but Claude believes she still has ties with the Company and runs off before she can tell him she is no longer with them. The rain outside allows Elle to give chase to Claude, but she loses control of her ability, and the two are knocked out.

Eris Quod Sum

When Claire comes home with her mom, there's something wrong with the lights. When they get in the house they see Lyle laying on the floor claiming "the bitch is back". That's when they see Elle, with small arcs of electricity emitting from her body. Elle tries to attack Claire, but it's uneffective as Claire can't feel anything anymore. She grabs Elle by the hair and attempts to throw her out, but Elle manages to get free and throw Claire onto the ground and shoot her with a continous beam of lightning. Lyle throws a bucket of water over Elle so that she herself conducts the electricity and is shocked. When Claire asks Elle what she is doing at the Bennet's house, Elle apologizes and claims that she needs help and she doesn't know where else to go. When Elle explains that she can't control her ability anymore, Claire reveals that she can't feel pain. Elle tells Claire that a girl found her in London and gave her a business card. Claire gets out the same card she got from Stephen Canfield and tells Elle she thinks there's something wrong with them both, and maybe Pinehearst can fix it. They team up and head out to the Pinehearst building in a plane. Elle overloads in the plane and causes it to go down, but Claire grabs Elle's hand and absorbs all the electricity into herself. When they arrive at Pinehearst they see Peter falling from a window. When he lands, Peter claims "He took my abilities". Claire helps Peter and asks Elle to help too but Elle says that they came to be fixed. She apologises to Claire and runs into the Pinehearst entrance.

Graphic Novel:Sum Quod Sum, Part 2

After Elle electrocutes Claude and herself following the loss of her power in the rain, Lee and Abigail help Claude back to his feet. Claude asks them to take Elle as well. Later, Claude, Lee, and Abigail discuss Elle's presence as she begins to wake up. Claude tells the Lee and Abigail to leave them alone. When they're alone Elle tells Claude she needs help in controlling her ability. Claude tells Elle he'll teach her as long as she's strong enough.

Claude takes Elle to a theatre where Elle tells him about Bob's death and that she knows what her father did to her. Claude tells her it's okay to be angry at him but Elle says she can't.

Elle gets into the jacuzzi, and when Abigail is about to walk inside, Elle has an electric charge that shocks Abigail. Elle gets out of the jacuzzi just to get kicked by Abigail while calling Elle a "bitch". Elle attacks Abigail but Abigail defends herself by using her ability, making a blast of electricity rebound on Lee when he walks in the room. Abigail punches Elle and makes her leave.

Just as Elle is packing, Claude tells her he'll talk to Abigail and Lee but Elle says she'll be a freak anywhere else. Claude tells her she's not a freak but Elle says she is and leaves.

She travels back to the U.S and goes to the Bennets' house, where she is confronted by Lyle. Elle shocks him and leaves him unconscious.

Villains

In 2006, Elle and Noah are keeping surveillance on Gabriel Gray as he struggles to control the act he considers 'sinful' and vividly remembers his first victim. He is attempting suicide by hanging himself in his watch store when Elle enters and finds him hanging and moments from death. She breaks the rope with a blast of electricity and manages to convince a confused and groggy Gabriel that the rope broke by itself and it is a sign that he is forgiven by God. With Noah monitoring her progress via hidden cameras from the back of a Primatech van across the street, Elle bonds with Gabriel over peach pie, and eventually finds herself beginning to fall for him. She also fakes amazement and ignorance when Gabriel demonstrates his secondary ability. When she objects to Noah about how they are manipulating Gabriel, he says she can quit but she'll be on her own.

Elle steals a list of individuals with abilities that Gabriel was attempting to throw out and under pressure from Noah manages to contact and bring an evolved human, Trevor Zeitlan, to Gabriel's apartment. She expresses admiration for Trevor, taunting Gabriel into using his telekinesis on Trevor. However, when Gabriel prepares to kill Trevor, she shocks Gabriel with lightning. Realizing that she's lied to him, Gabriel first telekinetically slams her into a wall and then tells her to get out. She flees to the van and is forced to listen over the surveillance cameras as Gabriel opens up Trevor's skull. Later, she objects to their mission, noting that they could have saved Gabriel rather than manipulating him into killing again. Noah insists that saving Gabriel wasn't their assignment and they have to follow orders.

It's Coming

Elle is confined in a locked room and chained to the floor. Arthur Petrelli ushers Sylar into the room and leaves them together. Seeking revenge for the death of her father, Elle fires lighting bolts at Sylar, killing him repeatedly. Each time his regeneration power heals his wounds, he tells her to take her vengeance and she keeps attacking him until she collapses, sobbing. She begs Sylar to kill her but Sylar unchains her and takes her hand. Sylar helps her to come to terms with the death of her father. As he does so, he discovers that he has duplicated her ability without having to study her brain. The two sit together and she first generates an electrical arc to match his, then shows him how to unleash bursts of lightning. During that time she is in relatively intimate contact with him.

Later, she and Sylar are released and she goes to Arthur's office to watch him sketch the eclipse.

The Eclipse, Part 1

Elle continues to teach Sylar how to use her ability. She compliments him, but he still lacks the confidence. Their conversation is interrupted by Arthur Petrelli, who instructs Sylar to go and get him Claire Bennet. Elle asks if she can go too, saying that being a company girl is all she knows. Later, at a car rental hire, Elle and Sylar wait for the car rental salesman to arrive; Elle reveals that he is probably calling the police, as she has told him that Sylar is a serial killer. The car rental salesman comes out with a gun, and Elle implores Sylar to make a choice - to be a hero, or to be a monster.

Elle and Sylar go to the house of Stephen Canfield, and come across Noah Bennet and Claire. Elle attempts to use her power, but she can't. Noah pulls a gun on her, but is stopped in his tracks by Sylar, who also attempts to use one of his abilities. Noah and Sylar fight, and Noah drops his gun, which rolls towards Elle. She picks it up, cocks, and fires -- Claire jumps in front of the shot and falls to the floor. In revenge, Noah knocks Elle unconscious.

Later, the two regain consciousness. Elle wonders what is happening the two of them, and asks Sylar whether he can stand what is happening. Elle expresses her anger that they cannot take what they want any more; Sylar's reply is to kiss her passionately. As they kiss, Noah aims a sniper rifle at the couple.

The Eclipse, Part 2

In the Canfield house, Elle and Sylar continue to kiss passionately until Elle notices the red targeting laser of Noah's sniper rifle fixed on Sylar's head. They narrowly evade the bullet and attempt to escape. In the ensuing gunfight with Noah, Elle is shot in the leg. Elle and Sylar go into a convenience store, but Noah is not far behind. In order to buy some time, Sylar sends Elle away, while he tries to take down Noah. Sylar proceeds to engage Noah in a fist fight but Noah eventually gets the upper hand and slits his throat while Elle is looking on. After the eclipse ends, Sylar is revived and travels to the Bennet home with Elle and holds them hostage. As Sylar is about to kill Noah, Hiro teleports in and takes Sylar and Elle to a beach. At the beach, Sylar tells Elle that she was wrong about him and people never truly change and cuts her skull.

Evolved Human Abilities

Elle has the ability to generate electricity. She seems to have excellent control over her ability, allowing her to generate electric arcs of varying intensity and target them precisely.

She has demonstrated skill ranging from welding a lock shut to sending a powerful burst that struck a running Peter Petrelli in the back and knocked him over, lighting his shirt on fire. One of her favorite things to do is send small, stinging bursts of electricity into another person.

When her life is threatened by Sylar, Elle lets out an incredibly powerful blast of electricity that knocks out Sylar and the grid supporting Level 5.

Ever since the incident at Level 5 Elle's power has been out of her control, tending to overload whenever she is stressed or angry, causing her to shock herself and things she comes into contact with. On the way to Pinehearst with Claire, Elle causes the plane's navigational systems to malfunction, nearly causing the plane to crash. Upon meeting Sylar once more, despite her lack of control, Elle was able to unleash her pent-up rage and power upon Sylar, generating incredibly powerful lightning bolts. By forgiving herself, Elle regained control of her powers.

Memorable Quotes

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it... and then you'll start to like it."

- Elle (to Peter) (Four Months Ago...)

"I accidentally set my grandmother's house on fire when I was six. Caused a blackout in four counties in Ohio when I was eight. I spent my ninth birthday in a glass room with an IV of lithium in my arm. I've lived in this building for sixteen years, ever since the shrinks diagnosed me as a sociopath with paranoid delusions. But they’re just out to get me, 'cause I threatened to kill them. I'm twenty-four years old and I've never gone on a date. Never been on a roller-coaster. Never been swimming. And now you know everything there is to know about me. I don't have the luxury of being more interesting than that."

- Elle (to Peter) (Four Months Ago...)

"What's your superpower...punching bag?"

- Elle (to Mohinder) (Cautionary Tales)

"I was there when your father first brought you in. You were a normal girl - unicorns and rainbows - and then they started the testing. The human brain isn't built to take that much electricity; you poor girl."

- Noah (to Elle) (Cautionary Tales)

"Welcome to life!"

- Elle (to Claire) (Truth & Consequences)

"It itches like a mother f—!"

- Elle (to Bob) (Truth & Consequences)

"Hey, Cheerleader."

- Elle (to Claire) (Eris Quod Sum)

"Hi! Do you like pie? Ugh, that rhymed, didn't it?"

- Elle (to Gabriel) (Villains)

"What the hell?!"

- Elle (referring to Hiro's sudden interference) (The Eclipse, Part 2)

Notes

• Elle says she has been diagnosed as a sociopath, and Peter aptly describes her as a sadist. (Four Months Ago...)
• Noah states that the Company experimented extensively on Elle, which may have played a role in causing her unstable personality. Elle claims she doesn't remember this, but it is strongly hinted that her memories were removed by the Haitian. (Cautionary Tales)
• Elle was originally meant to be Meredith Gordon's daughter, and thus Claire's sister. However, the writers dropped the idea due to plot holes and "lack of storyline." [1]
• In The Butterfly Effect, Sylar tells Elle that she is especially to blame for what he has become. This is likely a reference to the fact that she helped manipulate him into killing more people after he'd acquired his first power and was trying to stop. (Villains)

See Also

• For other uses of Elle, see Elle (disambig).
• For other uses of Bishop, see Bishop (disambig).
• For articles related to Elle, see Related Articles:Elle.
• For images of Elle, see Images of Elle Bishop.

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Elle Bishop for fan-created theories and other speculation.