10 Saddest Deaths In Heroes, Ranked

Heroes may be a story about powered people and hope for a brighter future, but the series is also packed with emotional deaths. Heroes originally aired from 2006 to 2010, and during its run, the show amassed a dedicated fanbase. The series explored characters with powers in a way that was unique and exciting at the time. While superhero shows experienced a tremendous surge in the following years with the rise of the MCU in 2008, subversive superhero movies like Watchmen in 2009, and grounded superhero TV shows like The Boys in 2019, Heroes was ahead of the pack.

Heroes chose to avoid looking at hero stories purely through the lens of heroes and villains, instead presenting flawed and deeply human powered people. However, with a more grounded approach to superpowers, there are people who make mistakes, or choose a darker path. The series explores the deaths of fan-favorite heroes, of innocent victims who get caught in the crossfire, and powered people who find themselves being collected by a monstrous killer. These deaths create an emotional and resonating message throughout the show.

10 Eden McCain

Eden McCain is initially an antagonistic character in Heroes. She first appears as the unsuspecting neighbor of Chandra Suresh, who becomes close to Mohinder when he moves into the apartment. However, she is actually an undercover plant employed by the Company to keep tabs on the Suresh family and their research. Prior to being picked up by the company, she used her powers of persuasion to commit petty crimes, but she was forced to cooperate with the Company or be imprisoned.

However, she clearly has mixed feelings about her role in the Company, and using her powers to make others comply with them. Eden begins to turn away from the Company, and begins to act more out of her own free will than what she is being forced to do for the group. Seeing how much of a threat Sylar presents to other evolved people, Eden hoped to compel him to kill himself, but Sylar was too strong. Realizing the terrible things he could do with her own powers, she opts to shoot herself to stop Sylar acquiring her ability.

9 Isaac Mendez

Isaac Mendez was one of the first heroes to appear on the show. He has the power of precognition, which allows him to see the future and capture it in incredible paintings. Isaac is a pivotal person in the first season of Heroes, where it is revealed that he has drawn and published a series of comics which depict the actual lives of the heroes in the series as they play out.

However, Isaac struggles with a substance addiction, which causes him to be increasingly paranoid. As he begins to get a handle on his powers, Isaac draws a painting of the future that depicts his own death by the hand of a mysterious killer. As it turns out, Sylar is one of the unfortunate victims of Sylar, who kills other powered people in order to inspect their brains, and thereby unlock their powers in himself.

8 Lydia

Lydia was a late addition to the show who appeared during the fourth and final season. Lydia had the power of empathy. More than typical feelings of empathy, Lydia could literally mirror peoples feelings, wants, and emotions through physical touch. She is then able to manifest these elements on her body in the form of tattoos which reflect the individuals she is linking with. Lydia is also a part of the carnival and a close confidante of Samuel Sullivan.

However, Lydia’s death comes nearly as swiftly as her arrival when she begins to turn away from her friend Samuel. Samuel’s vision to gather powered people together and reshape the world as he saw fit did not align with Lydia’s beliefs. Eventually, Lydia is replaced by Eli, a former member of the carnival who was banished but has now returned to aid Samuel in his vision. Samuel orders Eli to kill Lydia when he learns of her revolt, and Eli shoots her. Lydia then dies in the arms of Samuel, as she sees his horrifying vision of the future.

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7 Simone Deveaux

While Isaac’s death was emotional, the death of his estranged ex-girlfriend is even more upsetting. Simone Deveaux is not someone who has any powers, but she did have the misfortune of becoming entangled in the events that play out due to her relationship with Isaac and Peter Petrelli. Simone and Isaac had a challenging breakup, before she moved on to begin a romantic relationship with Peter.

However, she continued to check in on Isaac to offer support and get answers through his paintings. As Isaac’s paranoia increased, and he was lied to by the Company about the threat of other people with powers, he grew weary and suspicious of others, especially Peter. One night, Peter visits Isaac for guidance, but Isaac lashes out and tries to shoot him. When Peter turns invisible to escape, Isaac accidentally shoots Simone. She then dies in Peter’s arms.

6 Elle Bishop

Sylar is one of the most complex characters in the series, and directly responsible for many of the deaths that happen. However, later in the series, he begins to have a change of heart, and attempts to become more heroic and good. Part of this change happens when he meets Elle Bishop, played by Kristen Bell, an agent of the Company with the power to control electricity. Elle is also someone who is somewhat damaged and broken, and so, she and Sylar form a connection.

The pair’s relationship was tumultuous, full of lies and deceit, but the two were intertwined. When they reached a point of peace and mutual respect, Elle was the first person who Sylar was able to acquire powers from empathetically. Despite this, the secrets and lies between them did eventually lead Sylar to turn on her once again. Sylar scalped Elle, despite already having her powers, and then doused her body in flammable liquid, and sparked a flame with the powers he had acquired from her.

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5 Charlie Andrews

Initially, Charlie Andrews is a character who appears and is swiftly killed in the same episode by Sylar. She is a waitress working in a small town who has developed the ability to perfectly recall information and learn at an incredible pace. Sylar tracks her down and kills her in his signature style, leaving the bloody mess for the local sheriff to find and investigate. However, Charlie was fortunate enough to meet Hiro Nakamura briefly before being killed.

Hiro quickly develops a connection with her, and is devastated by her death, which leads him to travel back in time to save her. However, Hiro is still just learning to control his powers, which give him control over time and space, and he goes back too far in the past. Hiro is able to connect with Charlie in the past, and the pair form a romantic connection, but she reveals that she is terminally ill due to a blood clot in her brain. Then, Hiro’s powers flare up, and he teleports back to present day, which means he once again loses Charlie.

4 Daphne Millbrook

Daphne appears in Volume 3 of Heroes, where she becomes the nemesis to Hiro after stealing a formula from him with the aid of her super speed on behalf of Arthur Petrelli. Simultaneously, she begins to form a romantic relationship with Matt Parkman. Daphne and Matt have a brief but happy relationship, with visions of a future where they made a life for themselves together.

However, in the present, Daphne ends up being shot and captured by government agents. When she is finally rescued and rushed to hospital, Daphne is too far gone to recover. Matt uses his psychic abilities to give her a dreamlike happy ending where he fulfills her wishes before she quietly passes. Despite having a happy ending in her mind, her death is incredibly upsetting, leaving Matt grieving and devastated by the loss.

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3 D.L. Hawkins

D.L. Hawkins is the father to Micah Sanders, and the estranged husband of Niki Sanders. At the beginning of Heroes, D.L. is in prison due to being wrongly accused of committing several murders. In reality, Niki’s alternate persona, Jessica. D.L. is a loving father to MIcah, and a caring husband who tries to do all he can to protect and support his family. In order to put his powers of phasing to good use, and make his son proud, D.L. gets a job as a firefighter, saving peoples’ lives on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, due to his wife’s split personalities, and the other persona’s tendency to get into dangerous situations, he needed to chase his wife to L.A., where a new persona had taken over and started working as a dancer in a club. Upon his arrival, Niki resurfaces, and D.L. leads her out of the club. However, a disgruntled customer who was enjoying her dancing shoots D.L. in the chest before he has time to phase. He dies away from his son under these tragic circumstances.

2 Niki Sanders

Shortly after D.L.’s death, Niki opts to move with their son Micah and begin a new normal life away from the troubles that plagued their past. They move in with D.L.’s family, and with their family irreparably broken, they lean on each other for support. At this point, Niki has gained some degree of control over her powers, being able to utilize them without changing personalities and communicating with her persona’s like Jessica.

However, just like her husband, she finds herself thrown into a situation where she has to be the hero. Monica Dawson, a young girl who is Micah’s second cousin, is caught in a dangerous situation. Niki successfully manages to rescue her, but, in the process, she becomes trapped in a burning building. Moments later, the building explodes, killing Niki, and leaving her son an orphan who lost both his parents in a very short period of time.

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1 Nathan Petrelli

Nathan was not the most pleasant or likable character in Heroes in the early seasons of the show. However, over time, his relationship with his brother improves, he finds and forms a connection with a daughter he never knew he had, Claire Bennet, and he becomes a better man. Just as he makes these changes, however, he finds himself in his toughest battle yet, facing Sylar.

Sylar, with his incredible array of powers, is able to kill Nathan, but Sylar is discovered unconscious by Angela, Noah and Matt. Angela convinces Matt to transfer the rest of Nathan’s memories to Sylar’s mind, and forces his shapeshifting power to make him look like Nathan. Sylar then lives for a period of time, unaware of his true identity, believing he is Nathan and continuing to have his relationships with Peter and Claire without them knowing the truth. When he is then later revealed to be dead in Heroes, it hits twice as hard due to experiencing the loss twice.