Claire Bennet

Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet

Claire Bennet, portrayed by Hayden Panettiere, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. She is a high school cheerleader-turned-agent with the power of rapid cellular regeneration.

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 forced to go into hiding with her family from Company agents seeking to make Claire the subject of brutal biological experimentation into her ability. Recently, Claire and her family have come out of hiding.

On a personal level, Claire loves 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.

Her ability is considered to be the most valuable and powerful in the world, and as such Claire, and by extension her family, has been targeted by villainous individuals seeking to acquire it.

Character History

Genesis

Claire, having discovered that she has the power to rapidly heal herself, asks her classmate Zach to video her jumping off an abandoned gravel plant and surviving. Walking home, the two come across a train wreck, from which Claire rescues a trapped man, but never takes credit for the incident. Meanwhile, Claire finds herself attracted to Brody Mitchum, though their relationship quickly turns sour when he tries to rape her and inadvertently kills her when she is impaled on a tree branch. Claire is taken to a coroner, but revives when the branch is removed from her brain. To avenge Brody's wrongdoings, Claire causes Brody to have an accident, though Claire walks away unharmed.

At her high school's Homecoming, Claire is pursued by Sylar, but is ultimately saved by Peter Petrelli, though her friend Jackie Burkhart is not. After the tragic events at Homecoming, Claire decides to tell her father about her abilities. However, Claire is surprised to find that those around her are mysteriously losing their memories, and learns that a Haitian man, under the orders of Mr. Bennet, is responsible. The Haitian befriends Claire, and tells her what little he says he knows of her past, including the fact that her mother died in a fire fourteen years ago. After some research, Claire finds Meredith Gordon, her birth mother, and learns that Nathan Petrelli is her birth father, both of whom are evolved humans.

Life changes for Claire when Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague take her family hostage, her home burns, and her powers are discovered by Thompson. Claire is forced to go into hiding from the Company. Eager to be normal and find out about her biological family, Claire travels to New York City and meets the Petrellis. After saving her uncle Peter's life, the two team up to help stop an impending explosion.

Generations

Claire attends her first day of classes at Costa Verde High School, and is assured by her father that she'll be fine, who also warns her not to stand out, or else the Company will find them. At school, she meets a boy who can fly and connects with him. When talking about their abilities, Claire notices marks on his neck, and he recalls an experience with a man with horn rimmed glasses. To hide her relationship with West, Claire lies to her father and tells her that she has joined the cheerleading team. However, her plan backfires and when she doesn't make the squad. To pay back Debbie Marshall, Claire and West play a prank on Debbie while she drinks, causing her to get kicked off the team, and leaving a spot for Claire.

Claire and West continue their relationship and he meets Sandra. As the two spend time, West sees Noah and tries to leave, but Claire tells him that he is her father. Thinking it is a trap, he flies away. Noah shows a newspaper article about her prank, and warns that the family it is no longer safe and that they must move. Claire tells him that if they do, they are leaving without her.

At school on her last day, she is contacted by Bob at her cheerleader practice. He slips up and calls her "Miss Bennet", and Claire runs home. When she arrives home, she sees her father's laptop open with the image of the Mendez painting that shows his death. Claire then warns her mother that her father was right and they need to leave town immediately, but Bob shows up with a gun, and surprisingly, Sandra recognizes him as the Regional Sales Manager for Primatech Paper. Bob takes Claire with him, and conveys to Claire how valuable she is to them, and takes some blood from her. Bob takes her to switch for his daughter from Noah. Once she reaches her father they hug briefly then he pushes her into West's arms so he can fly her to safety. Unfortunately, Elle is able to zap West and Claire, which sends them plummeting to the earth. Mohinder shoots Noah in the eye and kills him. Claire tries to run to her fathers side but West intercepts her. They land at her house and Claire is left with the task of telling her mom that her father has died.

Bob delivers an urn with Noah's ashes to the Bennets. Claire, her family and West scatter the ashes into the sea. She tells her father that she should have listened to everything he said. When she sees Elle in a car spying on them, she confronts her, punching her hand through her car window and threatening to expose the Company. Claire goes through Noah's paperwork, preparing to go public with her ability and expose the Company's secrets. While packing up her father's files to bring down the Company, West arrives and tries to stop her from revealing his secret. Angered, she gives him his file, and tells him "there is no 'us' to worry about anymore." Afterward, Noah returns home, revealing to his family that he is still alive, thanks to Claire's regenerative blood. He tells Claire not to expose the Company, and informs her that he has made a deal, and will again be working for them. In exchange, his family will be left alone to lead normal lives.

Villains

After seeing Nathan get shot during his press conference, Claire calls Peter, offering to help out, but he tells her to stay at home. Soon after, Claire is attacked by Sylar in her Costa Verde home while she is alone. Sylar begins to terrorize her while she locks herself in a closet after arming herself with a kitchen knife. Suddenly, Claire slips out of the closet and stabs a distracted Sylar through the chest. She runs to the front door but he throws her against the wall. Sylar opens her skull so he can view her brain. She asks if he is going to eat it, but Sylar replies "Claire, that's disgusting." Sylar obtains her regenerative power and finds more. After replacing the top of her skull, he tells Claire that she is "different" than the others; that she's "special," and that he couldn't kill her even if he wanted to because she, and now he too, can never die. Sylar then leaves the house and, later, Lyle and Sandra come home to find Claire clutching Mr. Muggles as she sits trembling upon the living room table.

The Butterfly Effect

Claire can no longer feel pain, which causes her to feel as if she is not human anymore. Claire proceeds to make another video, where she throws herself in front of a passing train, but Peter flies in time to save her. Peter tells her that he can't help her find her way again, and he teleports away. Claire proceeds home and walks into her father's office to find her father. He shows her several assignment tracker profiles for Level 5 escapees, and bring Meredith forward, telling her that she will need protection now more than ever before.

Sandra Bennet insists that Claire go back to school, but Claire says that she should be out hunting down villains like her father. When Claire asks to be taught how to fight "bad guys", Meredith Gordon allows her to skip school and takes her to an empty storage container where she burns the oxygen out of the air. Claire begins to have flashbacks of her encounter with Sylar and pleads with Meredith to stop. Meredith continues until Claire admits that she wants to learn how to fight not to help people, but to hurt Sylar. That night, Claire convinces her two mothers to let her go to a "sleepover", but in actuality, she drives alone with a box of Noah's files from the Company beside her.

Claire tracks down Stephen Canfield, a man who can create black holes. She finds him and stuns him. Canfield creates a vortex and Claire's stun gun is sucked into it. Claire agrees to help Canfield after being convinced by the story of his situation. She helps him phone his wife, where he arranges to meet up with her. Noah Bennet and Sylar break into the house, and Claire expresses her shock at seeing her father with Sylar. Assuming he's been tricked, Stephen creates a black hole and flees the area. Sylar, Noah and Claire hold on while the black hole begins to rip up the house. Claire begins to slip, and is almost pulled before Sylar saves her life by grabbing her hand.

Claire reluctantly tells her dad where Canfield is meeting his wife but makes him promise not to hurt him. When at the place, Canfield tells Claire that his family didn't show up because they're scared of him. Noah points a gun at Canfield and tells him to make Sylar (who is standing by the car) disappear. Canfield says he doesn't want to be a murderer and sucks himself into a black hole.

During the ride home, Claire expresses disbelief that her father is working with Sylar after everything Sylar did to her. Claire returns home, and her mother tells her that she's happy that Meredith got to Claire in time. Claire tells her that she didn't see Meredith.

Claire and Sandra team up to find Meredith, with Sandra reminding Claire that it's always "one of us, one of them".

They arrive at Doyle's Marionette Theatre where Sandra prepares a diversion for Doyle by pretending to schedule a birthday party appearance as Claire tries to rescue a petrified Meredith. Doyle uses his power to control all three women and forces them to play Russian roulette. Claire has Sandra shoot her, then as Doyle thinks that she is dead, she attacks and subdues him from behind.

Noah arrives and tranquilizes Doyle. Meredith says that Claire caught Doyle, and Noah tells Claire that she has done a good job. Claire walks away, clearly still feeling uneasy with Noah, and is followed by Sandra, who says she will talk to Claire.

Eris Quod Sum

After catching Eric Doyle, Claire and Sandra arrive home. As they are getting out of the car, they notice the lights flickering. Inside, they find an injured Lyle lying on the floor, who manages to say to Claire, "bitch is back". Claire finds Elle sitting at the computer, electricity sparking from her body. Claire tells her to get out and Elle tries electrocuting Claire, but it has no effect. Claire tries to forcibly remove Elle, but Elle flips Claire onto her back. She attacks Claire again, but Lyle throws a bucket of water on her, short circuiting Elle's powers. Elle apologizes, saying she needs help and had nowhere else to go.

Elle explains that she cannot control her ability anymore, and mentions that some girl gave her a Pinehearst card saying that they can help. Claire, who seeks help for her inability to feel pain, convinces Elle to go with her to Pinehearst.

On the plane, Elle starts to panic, causing electric current to emanate from her, interfering with the plane's electrical systems. Claire tells Elle to channel her electricity into her and together, they manage to stop the plane from crashing.

Arriving at Pinehearst, they see Peter falling from a window of the building's seventh story. The girls notice that Peter isn't healing; Peter explains that his abilities are gone. Claire helps Peter to the vehicle, but Elle heads for the building, apologizing to Claire.

Claire is tending to Peter's wounds as Nathan and Tracy show up. Nathan insists on seeing Arthur. Peter is reluctant to mention Pinehearst, but Claire tells him.

Claire, not knowing it was her mother that had caused it, rushes into a train wreck to save an innocent man.

Claire is determined to save a powerless Peter, as he saved her at Homecoming. She distracts Knox and Flint, allowing her and Peter to escape. When they capture her, Claire learns that Pinehearst is specifically after her, and she escapes with help from Peter.

Later, it is implied by Arthur that Kaito hid a third part of the Formula, and in the end of the episode Angela reveals that this 'catalyst' was in fact hidden in the blood of a person. Claire realises that this catalyst was her, and that is the reason Pinehearst is after her. Earlier in the episode, Arthur had a file on Claire, possibly suggesting he will soon send his team after her.

Arthur draws a picture of a wounded Claire being carried by Noah Bennet. Later,Angela assigns Noah Bennet to watch over Claire as it's likely Arthur is coming after her. Noah tries to teach Claire how to fight at Stephen Canfield's house, but she is still angry with him as his abandonment of her. She then admits that she used to hate him leaving; Noah wants to talk about it but Sylar and Elle show up to capture Claire. However, they find that their powers don't work due to the eclipse. Noah beats down Sylar but Elle takes Noah's gun and attempts to shoot him. Claire sees this and takes the bullet for him. Noah manages to knock out Sylar and Elle and get away with Claire, but her powers are also stopped by the eclipse and she is unable to heal from the wound. Noah takes Claire home where he treats her wounds with a first aid kit, feeling that her wound is not serious enough to go to the hospital and unwilling to risk the chance of her suddenly healing through it if her powers return. Sandra later comes to bring her some food and finds her unconscious with a pool of blood around her as the wound was apparently more serious than they thought.

Sandra rushes Claire to the emergency room, where the emergency room doctor explains that Claire has never been been sick before (and had therefore, never worked up an immune system), and is now suffering from an infection. Soon after questioning the whereabouts of her father, Claire flat lines. After the doctors' failed attempts, Claire is pronounced dead, only to be revived seconds later, as the eclipse ends. Sandra rushes her back home before anyone notices her miraculous recovery.

Later that night, Noah comes home and talks to Claire, who tells him that she died. Noah realizes that if Claire had died but been revived, then the same thing may have happened to Sylar when the eclipse ended. Noah and Claire rush downstairs to find Sandra held hostage by Elle and Sylar, who say that they need to take Claire. After Elle threatens to kill Sandra and Sylar starts to cut Noah's throat, Claire agrees to go with them. At that moment, Hiro teleports both Elle and Sylar out of the house before teleporting Claire, saying "Save the cheerleader...". They arrive in Manhattan, 16 years ago, where they witness Kaito giving an 18-month old Claire to Noah.

Claire tells Hiro Nakamura to meet her later, she follows her baby self and meets her mother, she introduces herself as Bonnie, a neighbour’s niece and helps to take care of the child. She reassures Sandra that she will be a great parent.

Noah then enters the room and is startled by the sight of Claire. He questions her identity and is not fooled by her lie. Claire tells him that she is here to protect the baby and that he will fall in love and protect her. The phone rings, it is the company calling. Claire warns Noah not to pick up and take away his “Claire-Bear”. He considers than puts the phone down, smiling at the nickname.

Later on, Claire meets up with Hiro Nakaumra on the rooftop. With his English back, Hiro explains that he has the catalyst now, not her. Before they can teleport back, Arthur Petrelli appears, he throws Claire away before knocking Hiro to the ground and stealing the Catalyst. He throws Hiro over the edge and than tells Claire to send Angela a message, that he has won before sending her back to the present.

Just as they are about to walk out of Primatech to help Peter in Pinehearst, Sylar locks Claire, along with her father, her biological mother, and her biological grandmother in the building. Over the PA system, Sylar says that he will show them, one by one, how they're all monsters, just like him.

Angela fears that Sylar can't be stopped, since he has Claire's ability, and Claire informs them that, if something is jabbed in the back of her head, her brain is cut off, and is "shut down". The four split up, with Noah and Meredith going after Sylar, and Claire staying in an office with a gun to protect Angela.

Soon after, Sylar calls the office, giving Claire the ultimatum of either leaving the building with Noah and Meredith "to live happily ever after", but having to shoot Angela, or to continue protecting Angela, and have him kill Noah and Meredith. Claire says that if he killed them, she'd hunt him down and kill him, to which Sylar asks "who's the monster now?" Claire thinks, cocks the rifle, and shoots the phone responding "you are."

On the office computer, Sylar shows Claire surveillance footage of the bullet-proof cell in Level 5 which he locked Noah and an adrenaline-pumped Meredith who is uncontrollably releasing bursts of flames in. Claire and Angela leave the office to try to help Noah and Meredith, but as they turn a corner on their way to Level 5, Sylar kidnaps Angela before slamming Claire against the wall, telling her that since she didn't choose before, he had to "up the stakes"- to either save Noah or Angela. His newly stolen ability tells him that she's going to save Noah, and he then lets her go.

Claire finds the cell, and after a couple of failed attempts, Claire jumps through the heated glass, shattering it completely, and allowing Noah to escape. Claire picks up one of the pieces of broken glass, and after Meredith tells her to go and kill Sylar, she and Noah run to go looking for him. Claire bursts into the room, stabbing the back of Sylar's head, just as he was about to kill Angela. Noah tells Claire that the whole building is about to go up in flames so he takes Angela out, while Claire goes back for Meredith.

Meredith tells Claire that she has to go as Noah comes back to get her out of the building. Claire tells her mother "I love you, mom" as the cell fills up with flames, and she and her adoptive father escape the building as it explodes behind them. They meet up outside with Angela, as they watch the building burn down.

Fugitives

At a school in Ithaca, Claire startles Anna by asking her where Lecture Hall D is located. She apologizes for startling her, and the two introduce themselves. Claire explains that she is checking out potential schools with her grandmother. She says that the entire thing was her grandmother's idea, however, and that she's just along from the ride. Suddenly, Ricardo Silva grabs Claire from behind and uses his ability on two security guards, causing one of them to shoot Claire in the stomach. However, after Anna disarms the guards, Claire regenerates. Afterwards, Ricardo tries to assure Anna that all he wanted to do was protect her, but Anna refuses to listen. Claire says that she understands that Ricardo only did what he had to do to protect Anna, and she tells her that people like him are hard to come by in this world -- especially for people like them.

Claire is going over college brochures when Angela comes in and mentions that an elite education is vital. Claire thinks otherwise but Angela wants Claire to have a normal life. Claire worries that Sylar is still alive but Angela maintains that he is dead. Claire doesn't believe her and says that her father has starting taking trips again and that if necessary she'll find Sylar.

Claire goes to leave her home, whilst hearing Angela on the phone with someone. She listens in and hears Nathan talking to Angela, who admits she can't control Claire. Nathan warns Angela that Claire must be kept away from Matt and Peter while they take them down. Angela notices Claire, so Claire abruptly leaves.

Claire walks down a New York street while calling Peter, she warns him that Nathan plans to round up Evolved Humans and that Matt is their next target. Peter says he will talk to Angela and that Claire should warn Matt.

Claire arrives at Matt's apartment just as he finishes drawing. Claire asks has anyone come to get him and Matt shows her the drawings. He says he doesn't understand how they happened. As he looks at a picture of him with a dart on his neck, someone shoots a dart into his neck through the window. Danko's team arrives and hold Claire at gunpoint while Matt passes out.

Claire is being held at an airplane hanger. After being awakened by Nathan he tells her to go home and forget what she has seen. She says she won't but he puts her in a car and has her driven away.

Claire recovers whilst in the car and knocks out the driver. She sees the plane departing and runs to it and climbs into a landing wheel bay.

Aboard the plane, Claire moves to the cargo hold, finds Peter and frees him, then frees Mohinder. Peter absorbs Mohinder's ability and they both break from their shackles. Claire frees Tracy, grabs a taser and heads to the cockpit, stunning one guard and threatening the pilot. She is shocked when she notices the co-pilot is her father.

Claire is at home, trying to borrow fifty dollars from her father, when she finds a note on the table that says "Heading out of town--on business - love Dad." Claire is suspicious and calls her dad. She confronts him about the past, and says reminds him that the last time he was "on business" he was chasing down bad guys with Sylar. Sandra comes home needing help with the groceries. Claire and Noah end their conversation, but Claire still feels suspicious.

Claire tries to escape the wreckage of the crash with Peter, but her father interrupts them, takes Claire and then tries to shoot Peter but cannot bring himself to do it.

Claire is taken back to the military camp where Nathan is waiting and makes plans to send her home. Claire is unwilling to forsake her friends, though and rages against both of her fathers and their betrayal of the others.

Claire is seen in shackles by Ando and Daphne and Daphne rushes off to rescue her.

Daphne and Claire return to 's location and notice that Matt, Hiro and Mohinder are now there. They exchange greetings, when Daphne is shot abruptly by one of Nathan's men. Claire takes fire for the rest of the group, preventing any further harm falling upon Daphne. Matt telepathically causes one of the men to shoot the others, whilst the others run away.

Danko drags Claire back to the camp, and threatens her with a bullet to the brain. Noah and Nathan however both show up in time and command Danko to stand down. Danko and Nathan have words while Noah escorts Claire to a car and warns her that Danko will be watching her like a hawk now. Claire reluctantly accepts to finally go home.

Back in Costa Verde, Sandra assumes Claire has been looking over college placements. Claire tells her about wanting to go to a school near home and Sandra is ecstatic. After she leaves, Claire receives anonymous text messages from a mysterious stranger called Rebel, telling her to fight and not give up. The sender reveals no more than that they hate them as much as Claire does.

Claire receives urgent text messages from "Rebel" while eating waffles with her family. After Sandra comments that neither Noah nor Claire have said anything about her college tour trip, Claire abruptly leaves the table and Noah follows. They argue, and Claire states that she can't act like nothing has happened or keep lying to her mother. Noah tells her that she has to play ball or else they will come for her and nothing will stop them. He then tells Claire he has enrolled her in Costa Verde Community College. As he leaves her room, she receives another text message from Rebel, telling her to warn "Alex" at Sam's Comics.

Claire finds Alex and delivers her warning message. Alex mocks her, saying that someone named Victor put her up to this for revenge and she convinces him by cutting her own hand and healing. The door opens and Claire sees her father come in. She distracts Noah by calling him while Alex smashes him over the head with a rack of comics. He and Claire run out and speed off in Alex's car.

Claire tells Alex she was sent to warn him that the agents were coming for him. She guesses he is on a list and asks if he has a power. He replies that he can breathe underwater, and he's glad he met someone else who has a power because he felt like a freak. Claire orders him not to use his cell phone or credit cards, then she spots a car making its second pass. They run behind a bush for cover before a team of agents swarm around the car.

Later, Claire and Noah discuss what she was doing today, and Noah says if he can't control her then she will be in danger, and Claire tells him she can't be controlled.

When Claire gets home, she tells Sandra about the operation Noah is on. Noah suddenly arrives home and Sandra starts to yell at him.

Noah goes to Claire's room and tells her that Sandra has asked him to move out until he becomes a better person, father and husband, and stops telling lies. They reconcile. When Noah leaves, Claire opens her closet door where Alex is hiding and hands him a sleeping bag.

Alex recalls the moment that Claire came into the store where he worked and showed him her ability. He then becomes a fugitive, but when she comes into the closet where he is hiding and hands him a sleeping bag, she is a reminder that there is still beauty in life.

Claire is caught with Alex in her closet by her mom, Sandra. Instead of being mad about it, Sandra wants to help them. Sandra tells her that she is not as fragile and in need of protecting as Claire and Noah think. She says that she is smart enough to know that there is a van parked outside watching Claire. When the people out of the van come in to the house, Alex is hiding and is not discovered. Sandra then makes an ID for Alex using Lyle's license. Sandra and Lyle drive the car out of the garage in hopes of creating a diversion for Alex and Claire. Alex and Claire manage to get a head start. When the people from the van catch up with Sandra and Lyle, Sandra tells them that she is only going to the movies with her son. Realizing they have been tricked, the scouts run after Alex and Claire who jump in the pool and share a kiss as they hide from the Agents. The Agents leave and Claire succeeds in getting Alex to the train. Back at her house, Claire talks with Sandra in her bedroom, and is told that there's popcorn in the microwave. Claire opens it and it's empty, she turns around and is surprised by the presence of Eric Doyle, who's eating the popcorn. She backs away from him. Doyle greets her as "Barbie" and shows her a message from Rebel in his cellphone, saying she will help him.

In the Bennet house in Costa Verde, Claire opens the microwave and finds nothing. She turns around and is confronted by Eric Doyle who has received a text message from Rebel saying "Claire will save you." Claire tells him to get out of the house. Sandra comes down and Eric asks help from both of them. He explains he just wants to be a puppeteer again and make people happy. Claire immediately refuses. Sandra warns him telling that there are agents parked outside the house. But Eric explains that Rebel made a fake call to misdirect them but they would be back very soon. Then he asks why they don't catch a comes-back-to-life barbie. Claire says she got a free pass but if she would help anyone they would come after her. Eric questions her loyalty to her own kind, says they burned his theater and expresses that she wouldn't know the feeling of being hunted. He tells them that he's changed and that he wouldn't force anyone to do anything against their will. He then leaves the house.

Claire speaks with Sandra about whether she should have helped Doyle, and they decide that Claire should help others, but that she can't have them barging into the house. Claire then decides that she will try for Alex's old job at Sam's Comics.

After being grilled by the manager, Claire rings Noah asking him how he managed to live two lives for so long, he asks her in response, does she want to hear what she wants or the truth. Claire doesn't know. Noah says he loves her and hangs up.

Claire receives a message from Rebel that agents are closing in on Doyle nearby. Doyle uses his ability to knock Rachel Mills out, and Claire saves him from being tasered by Jason.

Later that night Claire hands Doyle a new identity, to start over again. Doyle asks her if he deserved help because he spared the agent's life. Claire says this is about who she needs to be right now. Doyle thanks and leave.

Claire lies on her bed, and receives a message from Rebel, telling her that her free pass is up, and agents are coming for her. Agents burst into the house, pushing Sandra aside and searching Claire's room. Outside, Nathan is floating in the air, holding Claire in his arms as the agents search the house.

Heroes Evolutions

Operation Splinter

In chapter 4 of Operation Splinter of the iStory, the Primatech contracted player and another agent find a file on a teenager named "Claire Bennet" in a file cabinet in Red Eye's former apartment. The file states that she has an ability, and the player deduces that her file was among those that Red Eye compiled for Gael Cruz as the Kill Squad's target list.

The Agent

In chapter 1 of The Agent, Rachel Mills listens as Danko notes that the senator's daughter turned the transport flight into a National security emergency and points to her. Several agents stand around the daughter, and her hands are tied behind her back.

Suddenly, Rachel feels a burst of air and another blond girl appears, and then both the new girl and the senator's daughter disappear. Next, Rachel hears people say that Claire has disappeared, and pieces together that Claire is the senator's daughter's name.

Shortly thereafter, Danko sends both a main search party and a separate squad led by Rachel after Claire and the other detainees. He gives Rachel explicit orders that if something happens with the main search party, she is to capture Claire by any means necessary. Danko also answers that if capture is not possible, Claire should be killed by a shot to the back of her skull.

The search parties locate Claire and the fast girl next to the smashed tail of the plane. However, before a proper ambush can be organized, the fast girl stands up as if she might take off and Gibson opens fire. His shots send the fast girl and Claire onto the ground, and then he pauses when another fugitive faces off with him. The other agents keep firing, but Gibson is forced to shoot the other recruits in the main search party and Rachel's squad. Danko shoots Gibson dead before he can kill Rachel, who is the only recruit left standing from both parties. The other fugitives then flee, leaving the fast girl's body and Claire. Danko then produces a tie and takes Claire prisoner.

In chapter 3 of The Agent, Danko sends Rachel Mills and Jason to Costa Verde, CA, on a mission to track down and capture Alex Woolsly. He also informs them that Claire is in the same town and may have helped Alex in escaping prior capture. Danko instructs them to inform him if they get any evidence that Claire is involved, and then await further orders.

While in Costa Verde, Jason gets security camera footage streamed to his cell phone from a camera that covers an alley Alex drove through in his car with Claire. Rachel briefly sees the video on Jason's phone, but Rebel deletes it off of Alex's phone and their organization's server.

Later, Rachel talks with Alex's friend, Liliane, and learns that one of the workers at Sam's Comics told her he saw Alex with a blond girl shortly before Alex disappeared. The witness didn't know the girl's name, but Rachel suspects it is Claire.

In chapter 4 of The Agent, Claire tells Rachel Mills and Jason they shouldn't be there when they search her house looking for Alex Woolsly. When Rachel stands near the pantry, Claire glances at her adopted mother. After Rachel searches the pantry and doesn't find anything, Claire says something sarcastic to her.

Powers and Abilities

Claire can spontaneously regenerate any tissue in her body, allowing her to recover from almost any injury within seconds to minutes — though she does need larger, embedded foreign objects (such as a branch or a shard of glass) to be manually removed from her body, or bones pushed back into position for the wounds to heal properly. Although Sylar, after studying and taking her power, remarks that he wouldn't be able to kill her even if he wanted to and that she will never die, writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite have confirmed that methods such as decapitation would indeed kill her.

In addition to simple healing, Claire has been shown to regenerate extremities. In the second season episode "Lizards", she experiments with the limits of her powers, cutting off a toe. A new toe rapidly grows into place. When her blood is injected into others, they are also healed, even if they were dead for a while, with no apparent ill-effects.

Thanks to her power, she has an incredibly high pain tolerance; Claire states in "The Butterfly Effect" that, when injured, she feels pain just as severe as anyone else who was injured in such a way, but her power quickly deadens pain. When asked about this, series writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite would only comment that she "feels pain, but not the way most of us do." Claire, describing her response to pain to West, says "I feel pain; I just get over it quickly." Between her tolerance for pain and seemingly unlimited healing potential, Hayden Panettiere compares her character to the X-Men character Wolverine, although she is "less hairy and without claws." Since having her brain examined by Sylar, Claire has stated that she no longer feels physical pain of any kind. With the temporary loss of her powers in "The Eclipse", it is shown that Claire's abilities protect her from diseases, although this also leaves her immune system weak as she has not built up a resistance to any sickness.

Equipment

• Activating Evolution--Chandra Suresh's book on the emergence of extraordinary abilities, given to Claire by Zach
• Her necklace--a necklace given to Claire by her biological mother, Meredith Gordon
• A tape--Zach's documentation of Claire regenerating
• A wind chime--a set of wind chimes Claire used as a signal to the Haitian that she needed to see him
• 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.
• 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.
• Primatech's fingerprint files--prepared as evidence against the Company, later used to find Level 5 escapees.
• A taser--used on Level 5 escapees.
• A glass shard--used to temporarily kill Sylar.

Notes

• 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. 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 her age as 19. 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) Template:Epp. In Exposed, Sandra explicitly said Claire was 17.
• 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).

Trivia

• Claire collects teddy bears from all around the world. Her father brings them back to her from his "business trips". (Six Months Ago)
• 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.
• Claire's phone is a pink T-Mobile Sidekick II.
• Claire appeared in every episode of Season One.
• Her first name, Claire, is of Latin and French origin. It means "famous" and is also known as "bright" and "clear".
• Her last name, Bennet, is a variant of "Bennett", meaning "blessed".
• 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. (Collision)
• According to Pinehearst's file on Claire, she weighs 109 pounds and has green eyes (see file) Template:Epp.

External Links

• Claire Bennet's official MySpace page
• Claire Bennet's official Friendster page