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Peter Petrelli, portrayed by Milo Ventimiglia, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. He is a hospice nurse-turned-paramedic in his mid-20s with the power to absorb and mimic the powers of other people with special abilities, or powers. Sensitive and compassionate, the character was initially defined by his complex relationship with his older brother, Nathan. Since that time, Peter Petrelli has had to deal with the outcomes from the decisions that his abilities force him to make.

Character history

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Alternate futures

• In the alternate future of "Five Years Gone", it is revealed that Peter was the bomb that destroyed New York City. The rest of the world believes that it was Sylar who had exploded. In this alternate future, Peter resides in Las Vegas with Niki Sanders, with whom he is now romantically involved. He has a very prominent scar across his face, although it is never revealed how he acquired it. When he rescues Ando and "future Hiro" from Matt Parkman, he stops time and teleports them both away, subsequently telling Ando what happened to him after the explosion. He subsequently aids Hiro in infiltrating the building where his past self is being held captive, only to be confronted by Sylar, who reveals that he has been posing as Nathan for an undefined amount of time. Furiously denying Sylar's claims that Nathan betrayed the Heroes before Sylar replaced him, Peter and Sylar clash, Hiro and Ando returning to their original time as their battle shakes the building. This version of Peter has also gained a variety of powers, including pyrokinesis, enhanced strength and speed, and electric manipulation, though the latter two are only seen within the official graphic novels.
• In the alternate future of "The Second Coming", Peter (with the same scar across his face as the "Five Years Gone" timeline) is running from something and enters a warehouse, where he encounters a black haired, much darker Claire, armed with a handgun, obviously planning to kill him. Peter begs for his life, but Claire merely says "I'm sorry, Peter. I always loved you," and fires. Peter stops time just as she does so, avoids the bullet, takes the gun out of her hand, and then teleports into the past and shoots Nathan. He possesses at least two abilities the present Peter does not have: a form of illusion casting to make himself look like present Peter and a form of body possession to hide his younger self in the body of Level 5 inmate Jesse Murphy, with Peter's being the dominant consciousness. After realizing that his actions have triggered a "butterfly effect" that he cannot predict- including Sylar taking Claire's power and the breakout at Level 5-, this Peter "extracts" his younger self from Jesse's body, taking him to the future to explain his actions. Future Peter subsequently tells his past self to find Sylar, whose power of intuitive aptitude will allow Peter to predict the long term consequences of his time traveling actions, before he is shot dead by Future Claire, the presence of the Haitian negating his ability to heal.

Casting

Jason La Padura, the casting director for Heroes, stated that the character of Peter Petrelli was the hardest to cast due to conflicts regarding the Petrelli brothers' ages. La Padura states the Petrelli brothers were originally written to be twins, and it became obvious in the production process that in order to have correct dynamic between the two characters, Peter had to be the younger brother. Milo Ventimiglia's role as Peter was one of the last to be cast and the most difficult. Greg Grunberg originally auditioned for the role of Peter Petrelli but instead landed the role of Matt Parkman.

Powers and abilities

Empathic mimicry

Peter's original ability is to mimic the powers of others, acquiring powers simply by being near someone. Peter is eventually stripped of his abilities by his father Arthur Petrelli, before later regaining a modified form of this ability called ability replication through the formula.

Series creator Tim Kring stated that Peter's original ability is "based on his empathy and his ability to connect with people." As well, Claude refers to Peter as empathic. According to Dr. Suresh, Peter's DNA automatically resequences itself to mimic the abilities of those around him. At first, Peter could only mimic powers while in close proximity to their source, but then learned how to recall previously mimicked powers with greater and greater ease with the help of Claude. Angela Petrelli describes Peter as being "the most powerful of us all".

During a confrontation with his father in "Dying of the Light", Peter is stripped of his empathic mimicry as well as every ability he had previously absorbed.

Prior to his confrontation with his father, Peter used the following abilities, not including powers used by future incarnations of himself:

Ability replication

In the mid-season finale, "Dual", he injects himself with a power granting formula and gains a new, more limited mimicry ability called ability replication. He is once again able to mimic others' powers, but now he requires physical contact to do so, and can only retain one ability at a time, losing the previous power each time he gains a new one. Heroes producers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coliete said in an interview that, " is still trying to get a handle on his powers. Just like during the first season, it’s going to take him some time to get a handle on these powers." By the time of the episode "Cold Wars", he has gained enough control over his mimicry that he can touch people without taking on their powers if he wants to.

References

1. Walls, Part 2 May 8, 2007 Official Heroes comic - Joe Pokaski, Michael Gaydos
2. "heroeswiki.com/Interview_%28Jason_La_Padura%29".
3. Wizard Entertainment - 12/29/06
4. "Behind the Eclipse Spring Annual #1".
5. Director: Jeanot Szwarc, Writer: ] (2007-02-05). "Distractions". Heroes. Season 1. Episode 14. NBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
6. Director: Daniel Attias, Writer: Aron Eli Coleite (2007-11-05). "Out of Time". Heroes. Season 2. Episode 7. NBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
7. http://www.primatechpaper.com/AT_2.0/assignmentTracker.php?subject=03291e769d3aaeb13296b63e277ea87c (password: TSntz14b)
8. "BEHIND THE ECLIPSE: WEEK 14".
9. "BEHIND THE ECLIPSE: WEEK 16".

External links

• Primatech Paper tracker site

heroes wiki

• Heroes characters
• Fictional characters from New York City
• Fictional nurses
• Fictional American people of Italian descent
• Fictional paramedics
• Fictional empaths