100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Screen Capture from Heroes Season 1, Episode 1: “Genesis”
#73. Heroes Season 1
Medium
Live-Action Television Series
Release Dates
September 25, 2006–May 21, 2007
Credits
Directors: David Semel, Allan Arkush, Greg Beeman, Ernest Dickerson, Paul Shapiro, Donna Deitch, Paul Edwards, John Badham, Terrence O’Hara, Jeannot Szwarc, Roxann Dawson, Kevin Bray, Adam Kane
Writers: Tim Kring, Jeph Loeb, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, Natalie Chaidez, Jesse Alexander, Adam Armus, Kay Foster, Aron Eli Coleite, Joe Pokaski, Christopher Zatta, Chuck Kim
Cast: Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli, Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet, Jack Coleman as Noah Bennet, Tawny Cypress as Simone Deveaux, Leonard Roberts as D.L. Hawkins, Santiago Cabrera as Issac Mendez, Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura, Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman, Adrian Pasdar as Nathan Petrelli, Noah Gray-Cabey as Micah Sanders, Ali Larter as Niki Sanders / Jessica Sanders, Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh, James Kyson Lee as Ando Masahashi, Zachary Quinto as Sylar, Ashley Crow as Sandra Bennet, Jimmy Jean-Louis as the Haitian, Cristine Rose as Angela Petrelli, Thomas Dekker as Zack, Lisa Lackey as Janice Parkman
The Reason It’s Great
Say what you want about Heroes Season 2 through 4, but Heroes Season 1 was a phenomenal story arc that pulled audiences in to the epic saga of seemingly normal people developing superpowers. NBC’s marketing and teasers didn’t show much in terms of plot or characters. However, after the first episode aired, viewers were hooked.
The story structure, in the first few episodes, showed completely disparate events. No relationship was revealed between each character—other than the fact that they were developing abilities. Soon, we saw that characters were linked together via familial relationships and other plot points. What other medium used this scheme? Comic books, of course.
Not surprisingly, this wasn’t creator Tim Kring’s first foray into superheroes. His initial venture was the 1980s Misfits of Science which was canceled after only one season. However, twenty years later, Kring would make a very successful second attempt with Heroes.
The first season of this excellent show had everything—protagonists you loved and antagonists you loved to hate. On top of that, the twists and plotting of various reveals kept audiences on the edge of their seats. With that, Heroes Season 1 makes it to our list of greatest superhero stories … “Yatta!”