Claire Bennet (Heroes)

Claire Bennet was a college student and former cheerleader, adopted by Noah Bennet and his wife and was the biological (and illegitimate) daughter of Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon and niece of Peter Petrelli and Flint Gordon. After the defeat of Samuel, she revealed her secret on live television, exposing the existence of "evos" to the entire world. Four years after her reveal, she was killed in an apparent terrorist attack at the Odessa Unity Summit, an event meant to celebrate peace between humans and evos in her hometown, despite her ability. With the help of Quentin Frady, her father Noah embarked on a mission to uncover the truth behind Claire's and the people responsible for it. Noah eventually learns through time travel that Claire had died giving birth to twins Nathan and Malina after Nathan inadvertently stole her power who's destiny is to save the world from a coming disaster. Unable to save Claire, Noah instead sets out to protect her children. She was an evolved human with the ability to rapidly heal from 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 to go into hiding with her family from Company agents seeking to make Claire the subject of brutal biological experimentation into her ability. Claire and her family came out of hiding after the dissolution of the Company.

On a personal level, Claire loved 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 and considered for a time joining a family of special individuals.

After revealing evos to the world, Claire became estranged from her father and fell pregnant with twins Nathan and Malina. Claire ultimately died in childbirth after Nathan inadvertently stole her power. However, her children carry her legacy by being destined to save the world from the H.E.L.E.

Evolved Human Abilities -

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 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 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 (brain , 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. This is later confirmed in Brother's Keeper, where she loses an entire foot and quickly regrows it.

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. Future Sylar was able to take Claire's ability by telekinetically sawing her head open, and 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.

In Into Asylum, when Claire consumes a mass amount of to win a game, her competitor comments on how she doesn't even look drunk. She later admits to Nathan that her liver heals itself, resulting in everlasting sobriety.

On June 13th, Part One, Claire dies in childbirth of cardiac arrest from a traumatic seizure. For an unknown reason, her power does not bring her back and she permanently dies. Her father is unable to understand this as Claire always comes back when her weak spot is not blocked which it was not this time. On June 13th, Part Two, Angela realizes that Claire's son Nathan inherited Arthur Petrelli's ability absorption powers and took Claire's abilities from her as she gave birth, resulting in her when she endured complications during the childbirth.

Equipment -

1. Activating Evolution--Chandra Suresh's book on the emergence of extraordinary abilities, given to Claire by Zach
2. Her necklace--a necklace given to Claire by her biological mother, Meredith Gordon
3. A tape--Zach's documentation of Claire regenerating
4. A wind chime--a set of wind chimes Claire used as a signal to the Haitian that she needed to see him
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Primatech's fingerprint files--prepared as evidence against the Company, later used to find Level 5 escapees.
8. A taser--used on Level 5 escapees.
9. A glass shard--used to temporarily kill Sylar.
10. Multiple mobile phones -- used to contact various others.
11. Heart pendant necklace--a necklace given to Claire by her foster father, Noah Bennet, and later sold. Nathan buys it back for her.

Memorable Quotes -

"I walked through fire, and didn't get burned."

• Claire, to Sandra (Genesis)

"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)

"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)

"You're just giving him what he wants. Attention. He's like a child throwing a tantrum."
"Well I'd like to give him a good spanking."

• Angela, Claire (Dual)

"I heal. It's like what I do."

• Claire (to Tracy) (Brother's Keeper)

"I like to think of myself as just a girl who happens to have powers. And it's just one thing in a list of attributes—loyal, friendly, regenerative, good skin, you know."

• Claire (to Gretchen) (Pass/Fail)

"My name is Claire Bennet and that was attempt number...I guess I've lost count."

• Claire to news cameras (Brave New World)

"Blood?"

• Claire's last word (Save the Cheerleader, Destroy the World)

Notes -

1. 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).
2. While looking on Gretchen's laptop, Claire's birthday can be seen as August 8 on her "sign up" profile. (Hysterical Blindness)

Claire's Age

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. Also, in Building 26, Claire notes that Noah has been telling her that Sandra and Lyle are safer knowing less since she was 15. Given this would have taken place in 2006, this places her birthday around 1991. 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 places her birth in 1989. 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 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). In Exposed, Sandra explicitly said Claire was 17. Further, Claire attends college during Season Four, implying that she is eighteen years old. This means that Claire was born anywhere from 1989 to 1991, depending on when the season is set.

Trivia -

1. Claire reveals she discovered her ability the summer before season one on the day of her adoptive mother's, Sandra, birthday on June 8 through a deleted scene from Nothing to Hide (released on the DVD). She wanted to surprise her mom with brownies when she accidentally cut open her thumb with the knife. And by the time she ran over to the sink, it had regenerated itself.
2. In a deleted scene from Seven Minutes to Midnight Claire and Eden McCain seem to be longtime friends and know each other very well. On the original scene from the episode, they barely talk as if they don't know each other.
3. Claire collects teddy bears from all around the world. Her father brings them back to her from his "business trips". (Six Months Ago). In a deleted scene from Company Man, it was Claude who gave her the first teddy bear.
4. 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.
5. Claire's phone in Season 1 is a pink T-Mobile Sidekick II.
6. Claire appeared in every episode of Volume One and Volume Three.
7. 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. (One Giant Leap)
8. According to Pinehearst's file on Claire, she weighs 109 pounds and has green eyes (see file) (It's Coming).
9. During most of the third season, Hayden Panettiere had to wear a wig because she cut her hair short in real life.
10. Claire is a virgin. (Strange Attractors)
11. According to Noah, Claire's phone number is 703-555-0187. (The Fifth Stage)
12. According to a Pinehearst file (number 981100A) found at the Quarry, Claire's Social Security number is 612-80-XXXX.
13. Claire is the first ever hooded character to be removed of the hood (along with goggles and earmuffs) covering her face. (A Clear and Present Danger)

Where is Claire when she becomes naked and how does it happen?