Heroes and WiR

Sure enough, when confronted with the prospect of killing of a character, Heroes took the girlfriend route. Simone died this past Monday, conveniently ending the possibility of our heroes going public with their superpowers this early in the series.

Meanwhile (to the tune of a certain Christmas song), it's beginning to look a lot like X-Men. Heroes was, from the start, an X-Men dupe. Genetically mutated superhumans with powers that, to most, seem like magic. But now, Dr. Suresh is talking about potentially supressing the powers of various heroes. The twist is still the Magneto character, Sylar. In X-Men, Magneto controls the powers of various Mutants by persuading them to become part of his army. Sylar skips the intermediary bodies, and gains control over other heroes' powers by consuming them. The relationship with cannibalism and consumption is further emphasized by Sylar's inability to gain new powers without killing heroes.

Recently, we've seen several heroes struggle to control their powers. Sylar and Peter Petrelli are two sides of the same coin: Peter can't control the powers he absorbs once he gets them, and Sylar can't control his lust for new powers. I think it could be argued at this point (though this may change later) that Sylar's version of the control problem is his inability to absorb without destroying/consuming. Perhaps his native ability--absorbing the powers of others (like Peter)--can be controlled in such a way that he can gain powers without killing. This is all speculation. You can bet I'll be watching as the story unfolds.

Next week: Mr. Bennett's past, and Claire's adoption.