Theory:Adam Monroe

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The following fan theories are about Adam Monroe.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Adam Monroe has the power of empathic mimicry.	None.	+ He is seen to be alive in the present (Out of Time), possibly due to mimicking Hiro's space-time manipulation. - Anti-aging could be a side-effect of his rapid cell regeneration. + This could be why he's teamed up with Peter. + When Bob was showing Nathan the newspaper article talking about a snowstorm in Miami, he said it could have been a tsunami. This suggests Adam can manipulate the weather. - Bob was probably referring to Adam convincing twelve individuals to save the world; one member of the group of the twelve saved Miami with his/her power. + Claude reacted to Peter's empathic mimicry as "Oh, one of those", suggesting that there might be others. Claude worked for the Company and may have met Adam. + Adam had no idea of his rapid cell regeneration until he was shot; it is likely he would have known of that gift from childhood. Empathic mimicry could explain both: the fake Kensei (How to Stop an Exploding Man) seems like he may have had rapid cell regeneration because he survived the initial chase of the horsemen. - The fake Kensei survived because Hiro teleported him out of there. The decoy even chickened out and ran off because he saw the job as too dangerous. He would not have acted this way if he had the ability to regenerate. + It is unlikely that Rapid cell regeneration on its own would make Adam feel like a god, and Bob's line about changing weather (Out of Time) would be explained by this. - Bob was probably referring to Adam convincing twelve individuals to save the world; one member of the group of the twelve saved Miami with his/her power. - As with Peter, it would be quite likely that early manifestations of abilities learned using empathic mimicry would happen in the presence of the original hero. When he first finds he can regenerate, he is only in the presence of Hiro and his actions suggest he truly did not know how the regeneration happened. - If Adam was an empath, he wouldn't need Peter to go back in time. + He never stated he needed Peter to go back in time, just that the two of them were to "change history". This may not be as literal as first assumed. + He may have gained Invisibility from Claude, and having a sense of humour, gone invisible for the photo, explaining why Arthur Petrelli is looking away. + If he was an empath, he would want to gather as many powers as possible, and therefore he would want to found a company who's sole purpose was to locate and track evolved humans. - If he were an empath, he would not need Peter to help escape from the company or Maury Parkman to kill the group of twelve. It is however possible that the company were surpressing his power in the same way they did Peter's but this is never shown or talked about. Also if the company had given Adam the pills to block his power (which we have no absolute evidence that they work as they could possibly be a placebo as peter never trys to use his powers and this might be the key, him not trying, believing he cannot, not that he cannot use them.) it would have prevented his Rapid Cell Regeneration, therefore his blood would not have healed Nathan.
Adam Monroe took the photograph of the group of twelve.	None	+ While he is a "founder" of the company, he is not in the photograph. - The second "unidentified" man in the photograph has the exact same hair as Adam Monroe. Since the face has been digitally recreated, couldn't that "unidentified" man be Adam in the photograph?
Adam Monroe has more than one power.	None	+ Adam/Kensei already has Rapid Cell Regeneration. (Out of Time). + It can explain why Adam thought he was some kind of god after he met many evolved humans. - He could think of himself as a God, due to his possible immortality/invincibility.
Adam Monroe, in Peter's storyline, is chronologically before Hiro's storyline.	None	+ Adam tells Peter than they're going to "change history". He could have been taken back in time by Peter, and left there. - He doesn't appear to have any memory of the future of anything when in Hiro's storyline.
Adam Monroe's primary motivation is still his anger toward Hiro Nakamura for stealing Yaeko's love from him.	He swore to Hiro Nakamura that he would, for as long as he drew breath, lay waste to everything he cared about. (Out of Time)	+ Heroes is a simple series; it uses and expands on popular and common comic book concepts and gimmicks to create entertaining and impactful storylines. The notion of a villain who, for all his power and vision, is mostly motivated by a petty need for vengeance over a failed romance is exactly the type of familiar simplicity it would bring into such an otherwise dark and complicated story. - Monroe's intentions extend far beyond Hiro. Bob has already explained that he envisions a world in which humanity has been "punished" with holocausts and plagues, and evolved humans have come into power over the rest of mankind. + Monroe may simply be intent on living up to his promise to stand against everything Hiro cherishes, interpreting that far more broadly than just killing his close friends and loved ones. When Monroe knew Hiro in 1671, Hiro made it very clear how important the ideal of heroism, the standard of compassion, and the use of power for causes of goodness were to him. Monroe may have become a true personification of evil, hoping to arbitrarily impose the opposites of those things onto the world as a grandiose means of achieving his revenge, even attempting to bring fellow evolved humans together and manipulate them into abusing their power. + Hiro also constantly made it clear how important the legend of Takezo Kensei was, both to the world as a part of its history and to himself personally. Because he believed Monroe was Takezo Kensei, it became very important to Hiro for Monroe himself to become a hero. Therefore, Monroe may consider it a part of his revenge against Hiro to deliberately live the life of a villain instead, betraying his own supposed destiny. + Adam Monroe has said to Peter Petrelli that the two of them "are going to change history." (Out of Time) This may very well entail going back in time with the intent to win back Yaeko's love, and therefore be his main intention.
Adam Monroe is the original hero and is the ancestor of all the heroes in the show.	None.	+ He is likely more than 400 years old. In that time he may have been with hundreds of women, many of whom would have had babies. We know that the powers are hereditary (in many cases), so it would be quite possible that he fathered many children throughout his lifetime. As those children grew up and reproduced, they would pass along his genes to their kids as well. + We know that he had traveled a lot even before meeting Hiro, he could easily had sexual relations with many women from around the world. + His facial features (blond hair, blue eyes and even white skin) are recessive, meaning that wouldn't show up in a child from a mother with dark hair, eyes and skin. + His name "Adam" is perfectly fitting for a character who is the original of a species. + The symbol for Kensei is embedded into the DNA of all known Heroes.
Adam Monroe can create copies of himself through his regenerative power.	None.	+ We see his charred body in Out of Time, yet he is seen in the future. - Given Adam/Kensei's penchant for using stand-ins, the corpse could easily be some unlucky disciple of White Beard - He could have also simply regenerated. + He was able to witness the kiss between Hiro and Yaeko, even through he should be still in Whitebeard's camp given the amount time that passed. - Hiro may have moved forward in time a couple minutes while he teleported. - Also, Hiro may not have teleported far away, considering he and Kensei would regroup after the attack. Not only that, Hiro kissed Yaeko a while after he used his power. • Low order organisms such as flat-worms can reproduction asexually through transverse fission.
Adam is attempting to spread the Shanti virus.	None.	+ He mentions to Peter that they are "going to change history",(Out of Time) to change history would require something with a massive impact, and in the future the Shanti Virus has wiped out 93% of the human race + Bob says that Adam was locked up because he began to talk about using "plagues and holocausts to punish humanity"(Out of Time). The devestation the Shanti Virus causes would therefore appeal to Adam in his goals + Adam himself would be safe from the effects of the virus due to his ability to regenerate and Bob believes Claire's ability could be used to prevent the virus
Linderman and Adam Monroe had similar ideals originally, but they had a disagreement of some sort.	None	+ Adam Monroe was held prisoner for 30 years by the Company. It was heavily implied that Linderman was the dominant figure in the Company up until his death. + Linderman might have realized that Adam wasn't actually interested in healing the world, but was interested in punishing the world. Linderman considers himself a healer and would not have accepted Adam's petty motivation of revenge. - Linderman was all for blowing up New York City. • There's a big difference between being willing to kill .07% of the human population, and happily wiping out 93% of the human population.
Adam is working for the Company.	None	+ Their cells were side by side and they were able to talk to each other. Normally you would want prisoners isolated to prevent people influencing each other. + They put Adam in the same situation as Peter to make Peter trust Adam and distrust Elle and Bob more easily. This means that Adam can use Peter and let Elle and Bob work on other things. - When Elle was in Ireland, she seemed pretty sincere about capturing Peter. Unless Elle is out of the circle and went there on her own, there was no reason to send Elle there in the first place, since Adam had him covered. • Elle's father could of known that Elle was after Peter and didn't want her ruining Adam's cover, so that's why he called her back. + When Maury made Niki's nightmare, he had no intention of attacking Bob but to make Niki attack herself. This meant that they could easily get rid of Niki without suspicion because she was getting out of control. + When Elle attacks Adam and Peter at the docks, Adam only gets pushed into the wall while Peter catches on fire. This could mean that she didn't want to hurt someone who is on the same team too badly. - However, Elle is a sadist and doesn't care who she inflicts pain too, just as long as she inflicts pain. - Adam can regenerate, so hurting him wouldn't be much of an issue. - Elle and The Haitian probably could of easily captured Peter together, leaving Adam to run off. Instead since Adam is independent she ran after him. • However if they didn't catch Peter, Adam's cover would of been blown and they would have wasted the last four months. - Unless she had something like tape or rope on her, Elle had little chance to catch Adam to begin with. He could regenerate from her bolts and probably couldn't off contained him even if she caught up with him. So unless she really wanted to catch him, It probably wasn't worth the effort.