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Peter Petrelli

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Peter Petrelli

Portrayed by	Milo Ventimiglia
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known abilities	Empathic mimicry Known abilities mimicked: Flight, Precognition, Rapid cell regeneration, Telepathy, Invisibility, Telekinesis, Space-time manipulation, Induced radioactivity, Super strength, Lightning, Phasing
Nicknames	Pete, Petey
Gender
Age	27
Date of birth	December 23, 1979
Home	New York, NY
Residence	Peter Petrelli's apartment
Occupations	former home hospice nurse, former mobster
Significant others	formerly Simone Deveaux (deceased), Caitlin
Parents	Angela Petrelli, Arthur Petrelli (deceased)
Sibling	Nathan Petrelli (older brother)
Other relatives	Niece: Claire Bennet Nephews: Simon Petrelli, Monty Petrelli

Peter Petrelli is a former home hospice nurse from New York City. His brother Nathan and mother Angela also live there. Peter discovers he has the ability to mimic the superpowers of others.

1 About
2 Character History
- 2.1 Season One
- 2.2 Season Two
3 Evolved Human Abilities
- 3.1 Powers Mimicked
- 3.2 Powers Exposed
4 Equipment
5 Memorable Quotes
6 Notes
7 Trivia
8 See Also
9 Fan Theories

About

Peter believes he has a greater place in life than just saving one person at a time, and he's willing to sacrifice himself to save the world.

His brother, Nathan, seems to disapprove of Peter's choice to become a nurse. Nathan also considers Peter the less favored son of their father.

Character History

Season One

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Peter Petrelli: Season One History.

Peter Petrelli is a hospice nurse who keeps having amazing dreams that he can fly. Later, he stands on top of a building, throws himself off, and is met by his brother Nathan, who can also fly. Peter eventually learns that his power is actually the ability to absorb the powers of those he meets. Peter visits Mohinder Suresh, looking for the author of Activating Evolution. While Peter and Mohinder are on a subway train, time freezes, and Peter has a visit from a Japanese man, who tells him that Peter must "save the cheerleader, save the world".

When he meets Isaac Mendez, Peter finished a painting depicting a dead and mutilated cheerleader. Peter realizes he must save this girl, and upon seeing another painting, heads to a homecoming, in Odessa, TX. There, he meets Claire Bennet, and manages to stop her from being killed by a mysterious stranger. He falls off a building and breaks several bones, although he quickly regenerates, mimicking Claire's power.

Outside the sheriff's department, Peter collapses and has a vision of himself bursting into red flames and exploding in the middle of the city. Peter meets the invisible Claude Rains, who helps Peter discover that he can access the powers he has absorbed by thinking of the person from whom he absorbed the ability.

Later, Peter visits Isaac's loft again, and confronts the painter about his association with Mr. Bennet. A fight ensues, and Simone is accidentally shot. Then, Peter visits Mohinder's apartment, but is confronted by Sylar, who begins to cut off the top of Peter's head. However, Peter heals his wound, fights Sylar, and dies when struck with a shard of glass in his brain. He revives when Claire removes the shard. At Kirby Plaza, Peter absorbs Ted's power, and has difficulty controlling it. Peter has a final confrontation with Sylar. They trade blows, and Peter's hands begin to glow dangerously. He tells Claire to shoot him, but Nathan appears, picks up his brother, and flies away into the sky where Peter explodes.

Season Two

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Peter Petrelli: Season Two History.

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

Evolved Human Abilities

Much mystery surrounded Peter's status and abilities, or lack thereof, early in the series. While every main character was said outright to have a power in press releases, Peter was simply billed as "trying to convince his brother he can fly". Later, after his brother flew, Peter himself displayed the ability to levitate not long afterward (Don't Look Back). Peter is actually an empathic mimic who duplicates the powers of others. His crude levitation sketch shows that he gained Isaac's ability to draw the future, but without needing to be induced by drugs (Don't Look Back). Later, Peter visits Isaac and finishes Isaac's painting without the aid of heroin or any other drug (Hiros).

Early on, Peter's duplicated powers typically only lasted while the person he was mimicking was nearby. He was unable to fly when not in the presence of Nathan, and he became visible when Claude walked away from him, but he was still able to use Isaac's precognition the day after he met him (Don't Look Back). In Distractions, he duplicated Claire's power of regeneration, even though he had not been near her for weeks; this was the first time he ever consciously "recalled" a mimicked power.

While Peter's crude stick figure drawings originally seemed to indicate that he could duplicate only someone's powers, and not their skills, the painting he completed at Isaac's studio seems fairly well done (though not of the same style). This could indicate that his ability is maturing and developing, much like the others with powers.

After Peter first discovered his powers, he generally used one power at any given time. As he gained greater control over his ability, Peter demonstrated that he was able to access multiple powers at once.

Powers Mimicked

Peter can duplicate the abilities of others evolved humans; after he has acquired the ability, he does not need to be in the person's presence. To date, Peter has conclusively duplicated the abilities of:

Flight from Nathan Petrelli. (Genesis)
Precognition from Isaac Mendez. (Don't Look Back)
Rapid cell regeneration from Claire Bennet. (Homecoming)
Telepathy from Matt Parkman. (Fallout)
Invisibility from Claude Rains. (Godsend)
Telekinesis from Sylar. (Unexpected)
Space-time manipulation from Future Hiro Nakamura. (Unexpected)
- Peter appears to be immune to Future Hiro and Hiro's effects. Peter was able to communicate with Future Hiro and is at this point the only person Future Hiro has visited and spoken to. (Collision, Hiros) Whether this was Peter's or Hiro's doing is unclear. The same scenario occurs when Peter is in Primatech Research and time completely stops. Both Peter and Hiro are surprised to find each other, indicating the unfrozen Peter was not Hiro's doing, but Peter's. (Truth & Consequences)
- Peter slowed and then stopped time when attacked with taser darts.
- Peter has moved himself and another person through time and space. (The Line)
Induced radioactivity from Ted Sprague. (The Hard Part)
Super strength from Niki Sanders. (How to Stop an Exploding Man)
Lightning from Elle Bishop. (Four Months Later...)
Phasing from D.L. Hawkins. (Lizards)

See also: Powers Mimicked by Future Peter

Powers Exposed

Other evolved humans have been within Peter's proximity, exposing him to their abilities. These abilities Peter has not yet exhibited:

Persuasion (from Eden McCain in Collision)
Intuitive aptitude (from Sylar in Homecoming)
Freezing (from Sylar in Homecoming)
Enhanced memory (from Sylar in Homecoming)
Mental manipulation (from the Haitian in Unexpected)
Melting (from Sylar in Parasite)
Enhanced hearing (from Sylar in Parasite)
Clairvoyance (from Molly Walker in How to Stop an Exploding Man)
Technopathy (from Micah Sanders in How to Stop an Exploding Man)
Alchemy (from Bob Bishop in Four Months Ago...)
Enhanced speed (from Daphne Millbrook in Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration)

See also: Powers Exposed to Future Peter

Equipment

Formerly

Activating Evolution—Chandra Suresh's book detailing the emergence of extraordinary abilities
Paintings — Drawn after absorbing Isaac's precognition

Currently

A pendant of the symbol.
A box containing some of his possessions.

Memorable Quotes

"I've been up here all night thinking about this, thinking about my destiny."

"What are you doing, Pete?"

"It's my turn to be somebody now, Nathan!"

- Peter, Nathan (Genesis)

"Saving you ...did I save the world?"

"I don't know, I'm just a cheerleader."

- Peter, Claire (Homecoming)

"Charles Darwin bred pigeons when he was working out his theory of evolution—married up various permutations to get maximum potential."

"What do you mean by that, 'maximum potential'?"

"I think he meant you, friend."

- Claude, Peter (Unexpected)

"Haven't I killed you before?"

"Didn't take."

- Sylar, Peter (How to Stop an Exploding Man)

Notes

Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), in a behind-the-scenes video, reveals that Peter passes out at the end of Fallout because he is overwhelmed by all of the abilities he has been absorbing.
Nathan Petrelli is Claire's biological father (Distractions), which would make Peter her uncle. Despite their many interactions, Peter was unaware of his connection to Claire, according to his mother, Angela (.07%).
According to Joe Pokaski, Peter has the ability to recall all of the powers of those he has been in contact with.
On one of the covers of Entertainment Weekly's May 11th, 2007 issue (#933, cover 3 of 5), Peter is shown to be exhibiting pyrokinesis, although, as of yet, he has not met either Meredith Gordon or Maarten, who are currently the only evolved humans known to possess pyrokinesis. He does, however, seem to exhibit the ability at the end of Five Years Gone and in Walls, Part 2. Some have also speculated that the picture may be a form of induced radioactivity. Others speculate that it is simply a continuity error on the part of Entertainment Weekly.

Trivia

In an interview, Tim Sale said, "Peter's [likeness] is kind of easier to caricature because he's got that silly hair and that kind of knife-like face."
Both his first name and last name, Peter and Petrelli, come from the Latin term petra meaning "rock".
In an interview, Jason La Padura said that Peter and Nathan were originally written to be twins.
According to the official site for the Season One DVD, Peter's AIM screen name is ppetrelli07.
In the commentary for .07%, Andrew Chambliss says that Tim Kring's early drafts of the pilot call Peter "Harrison", "Ethan", and other names. His last name was Cambell, and he was supposed to be in his mid-30s.
The style of a floppy angular fringe hairstyle has been named a Petrelli.