Peter Petrelli

Peter Petrelli, portrayed by Milo Ventimiglia, is a fictional superhero on the NBC superhero 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, Peter was initially defined by his complex relationship with his older brother, Nathan. Since that time, Peter has had to deal with the outcomes of the decisions that his abilities force him to make. Towards the end of the first season, Peter absorbs the ability of a man who is practically a ticking time bomb. In desperation all the characters in the series race to try and save New York City in fear that Peter will "blow up" the city like a bomb. Minutes from when he's about to explode, Peter's older brother, Nathan, flies him high above the skyline and saves the people of New York City.

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 Petrelli'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 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, " eteris 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.

Peter's current ability is Claude Rains's invisibility as of ''Save the Cheerleader, Destroy the World''.

References

External links

Primatech Paper tracker site

Peter Petrelli
on the ''Heroes'' wiki

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrelli, Peter
Heroes (American TV series) characters
Fictional characters from New York City
Fictional nurses
Fictional paramedics
Fictional empaths
Television characters introduced in 2006
American male characters in television
Italian superheroes

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