User:El Sandifer/Heroes/Characters/Claire Bennet

Claire Bennet, portrayed by Hayden Panettiere, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction Television drama|drama series Heroes (U.S. TV series)|Heroes. A cheerleader, Claire has the power of healing factor|rapid cellular regeneration. She is the adopted daughter of Noah Bennet and Sandra Bennet, and is the biological daughter of Nathan Petrelli and Meredith Gordon.

Plot
Claire was born to Nathan Petrelli and List of Heroes characters with special abilities#Meredith Gordon|Meredith Gordon, two people possessing abilities. Noah Bennet and his partner, Claude (Heroes)|Claude, who are agents of The Company (Heroes)|the Company, arrive at Meredith's house to study her and her ability until she blows the door open and Noah finds Claire and carries her out safely. Noah and his wife, Sandra, later adopt her.

When the show begins, Claire has discovered healing factor|her power. Frightened as to what it means, she confides in List of characters in Heroes#Zach|Zach, a high-school classmate who videotapes Claire testing her regenerative power by attempting to injure--and even kill--herself. Zach thinks Claire's power is the "coolest thing to ever happen in their town"; Claire believes it makes her a freak and wants nothing more than a normal life.

After the first four episodes of the series, a story arc called "Save the cheerleader, save the world" begins. Claire's ultimate fate is implied to be tied to the fate of the entire world. A Hiro Nakamura#Future Hiro|future version of Hiro Nakamura cryptically told Peter Petrelli: "Save the cheerleader, save the world." Isaac Mendez, a drug-addicted painter in New York experiences a vision of Claire being chased at her school. He also paints a picture of a blonde cheerleader with the top of her skull removed - the trademark of Sylar. Indeed, Claire does get attacked by Sylar, but is saved by Peter.

In "Company Man", Claire and her family are held captive by Sprague and Parkman. After a botched attempt to free the family by Mr. Bennet, Claire and her father convince Matt to shoot her to get Sprague's trust. She attempts to free her family after she regenerates, but is captured by Sprague in the attempt. After Sprague is shot and his radiation powers go violently out of control, Claire uses her regenerative powers to get close enough to tranquilize him. However, Claire is seen healing from severe radiation burns by one of Mr. Bennet's superiors, who insists that Claire be turned over to their employers. In the end, Claire is given to the Haitian, who is to keep her safe from Bennet's company.

Two days before New York is to be blown up, Claire is staying with her grandmother, Angela Petrelli. Knowing that Isaac has painted a picture of him about to explode, Peter gives Claire a handgun, telling her she is the only person who can get close to him if he begins to explode. In the season's final confrontation in Kirby Square, this turns out to be necessary, but Claire hesitates, pleading with Peter that there must be another way. Nathan flies down in between them at that moment and agrees with his daughter. Claire and the others can only watch as Nathan flies away with his brother high into the air where Peter then explodes, saving New York City but possibly sacrificing her birth father and uncle's lives in the process.

In the second season, Claire and her family have gone into hiding, living under an assumed name. At her new school, she quickly meets List of minor Heroes characters with special abilities#West Rosen|West, who discovers her powers, and reveals that he has powers of his own. When Claire notices a two-line scar on his neck, he explains that he was "abducted by aliens" just after meeting a man with "horn-rimmed glasses", who Claire recognizes as her father. Eventually she is kidnapped by the Company in an attempt to cure the deadly Shanti Virus.

Powers and abilities
Claire can healing factor|spontaneously regenerate any tissue in her body, allowing her to recover from almost any injury within seconds to minutes, though she does need to have foreign objects, such as a branch or a shard of glass, manually removed from her body and bones pushed back into position for the wounds to heal properly. Various characters in the series imply that having her brain removed would permanently 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. Her blood, when injected into others, temporarily grants them similar powers.

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 (comics)|Wolverine, although she is "less hairy and without claws."

Casting
Marc Hirschfeld, executive vice president of casting for NBC Universal Television stated, "When they were trying to decide who the cheerleader should be, I literally picked up the phone and said to the producers, 'You got to meet Hayden Panettiere'."