Isaac Mendez

An artist living in New York who can paint future events during precognitive trances. He also writes and draws a comic book called 9th Wonders! which has also been shown to depict the future.



Character overview

Plot

Isaac Mendez's story began in the first episode, where he was a struggling, tortured artist living in New York City. His girlfriend and art dealer was Simone Deveaux (Tawny Cypress). Mendez was addicted to heroin, and had little success quitting permanently, which put a strain on his relationship with Simone. This strain is worsened when Isaac realized he could see ambiguous future events and paint them only when high on heroin. Isaac at first assumed the paintings to be "evil" and tried to destroy them, but Simone saw them as artistically impressive. Near the end of the pilot, Isaac overdosed. Simone brought help in the form of nurse Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), who realizes that Isaac has painted a picture of him without having previously met him. With Peter's help, Isaac survives the overdose.

After he recovered, Isaac seemed to have accepted his "destiny" to save New York from a large, nuclear-level, mushroom cloud explosion he saw in one of his precognitive trances and painted on his loft floor during his overdose. Isaac had also come to believe he needed the heroin to "paint the future". Simone doubted Isaac's powers and would not stand idly by while he ruined his life using heroin, so she left him. During their conversation, Simone also mentioned that Isaac's comic book, 9th Wonders!, may be late as he continued with his precognitive painting.

In the fourth episode, Simone came to Isaac requesting new paintings for a showing at her art gallery. Isaac offered earlier works instead, saying that he needed the newer ones to tell the future. Simone doubted she could even sell the older ones and was still unconvinced of Isaac's powers. Isaac proclaimed he knew about her kiss with Peter the previous evening. Simone assumed that Isaac had followed her, but he showed her his drawing, saying he had made it seven weeks prior. Isaac then said he needs money for "painting supplies", by which he meant heroin, which he hoped would help him find a way to stop the nuclear explosion. Simone left and Isaac broke out his "tools" to shoot up. At one point in the episode, he said "I'm gonna be a hero". After shooting up, he experienced a vision of Claire Bennet(Hayden Panettiere) at her school around Homecoming time, being chased and cornered by a shadowy figure.




Save the cheerleader

In the fifth episode, Peter visited Isaac to find images of "the cheerleader" that a future version of Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) told him to save. However, Isaac was distraught over the current state of his life and felt he'd wasted his time. Peter disagreed and persuaded Isaac to look past their differences. Peter found the kind of painting he was looking for, though Isaac explained he could not finish it, as he was out of both heroin and money to buy more. Peter still believed they should keep trying and, through his ability to mimic other people's powers, managed to paint the picture himself, saying he could see the finished work in his mind. The phone rings after he finishes. Isaac explains that it's just some Japanese man that he can't understand, and Peter realizes that it's Hiro.

In "Better Halves", Isaac and Peter realize they don't know who the cheerleader was or where she lived. They noticed that one of Isaac's canvases of the future was missing. Isaac realized that Simone had taken it to sell with his other paintings. He didn't remember what he had painted since he was high at the time. After Peter left to try to track down the painting another way, Eden McCain visited Isaac's apartment, claiming to be a fan.

In the following episode, Isaac and Eden were in a paper plant in Odessa, Texas where Mr. Bennet worked. Bennet told Isaac that he helps people with special powers to better use them, and suggested that he could teach Isaac to use his powers without heroin. However, Bennet desperately needed Isaac to finish a painting of an attack, which he believed would let him protect his daughter Claire. Isaac tried again to paint without the drugs, but after that proved unsuccessful, Mr. Bennet had Eden persuade Isaac to take heroin willingly and paint an image.

In "Homecoming", Isaac painted a picture of a man glowing brightly, which Isaac later describes as "a man exploding", rather than anything related to Claire. Then, in "Fallout", he began painting again, though he didn't believe the paintings to be anything more than art since he hadn't taken any drugs since painting the previous image. After Eden told him that Claire had been saved, he realized that the future could be changed. Eden gave him a phone and an access card, suggesting that he do something. To that end, he called Hiro and arranged a meeting. After meeting Hiro, seeing the future issue of 9th Wonders!, and realizing that his most recent drawings were in fact of events from the then-future, he decided to again paint without heroin. Relaxed and advised by Hiro to concentrate, he successfully activated his powers, painting a picture of Hiro, brandishing a katana, encountering a dinosaur. Hiro also mentioned that Isaac had been killed by Sylar (Zachary Quinto) in an alternate future.




Back to business

Two weeks later in "Godsend", Isaac is doing well and has returned to New York. He's maintained his friendship with Hiro and Ando, who are also in New York. At his loft, Isaac is visited by Simone and Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar). Simone didn't realize Isaac was home and Nathan, Peter's brother, is there to check out the "future paintings". Now clean and able to paint without heroin, Isaac professes his continued love for Simone. She's speechless. Suddenly, Hiro returns, disappointed that he was not able to find the real sword. Hiro then excitedly greets Nathan ("flying man"), who had met once previously. After introductions and catching up, Hiro states that Linderman has the sword he wants. Simone remembers that Linderman is an avid art collector, as she has sold him several of Isaac's paintings. To this end, Simone recommends Hiro travel to Las Vegas with one of Isaac's paintings and meet Linderman.

During the events of "Distractions", Isaac is revealed to be actively seeking Peter Petrelli via his power because he has seen that Peter explodes. Isaac is later revealed to be working with Mr. Bennet when he calls him to notify him of Peter's whereabouts.

Later, during the episode "Unexpected", Mr. Bennet visits Isaac at his apartment, where Isaac tells him about the search for Peter and how he has discovered that Peter has been invisible. Mr. Bennet then tells him about how this means that Peter has met an old friend (Christopher Eccleston) of Mr. Bennet's. He then gives Isaac a gun and tells him he expects him to be a hero. Later, after Peter escapes Bennet and the Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis), and Claude abandons him, he appears in Isaac's apartment blaming Isaac for "turning him in". He attacks Isaac with his telekinesis, then turns invisible when Isaac pulls out the gun. As he dodges around Isaac's apartment, taunting him, Isaac tries to listen to where he is and shoot him. He finally hears a distinctive sound, but when he fires it is revealed he has shot Simone, who collapses into Peter's arms.



Relapse

Isaac blames Peter for Simone's death and tries to shoot him, but Peter escapes. Isaac places Simone's body on his bed. Later, the police, having been sent by Nathan Petrelli, come to his home, saying that Simone was reported missing and neighbors heard a disturbance and gun shots. Then Mr. Bennet and Candice, disguised as Simone and hiding Simone's body, come in and the police excuse themselves. Bennet says they have created an alibi in which Simone will be in Europe for months. Isaac is clearly distraught and begs Bennet to take him with him. But they leave, and Isaac decides to go back to using heroin. He paints a series of pictures, including one of which shows himself with his head sliced open. This was seen in the episode "Don't Look Back," where Hiro travels to the future and finds Isaac dead in his studio just as Isaac is depicted in his painting.




Death

In the episode ".07%", Isaac is giving a messenger (who works for the publishing company), the new comic for 9th Wonders. As a gift, he also hands over his sketch book. As the man leaves, Isaac looks at the pictures of himself with his head sliced open. Later, Sylar locates and confronts Isaac, who has just finished painting another picture of his death. When Sylar comments that most people start screaming at that point, Isaac calmly states that he has accepted his fate. He also reveals that he has also painted a vision of Sylar's death. When Isaac refuses to give Sylar the drawings, Sylar flings him to the ground and impales Isaac's wrists and ankles with paint brushes. Isaac states that he sent the painting away and that all his life he has destroyed everything he has loved. He goes on to say that he can now die content and, through this final act, can "finally get to be a hero." Sylar stands over Isaac, the camera pans away, and Isaac screams as Sylar slices into his skull.

Later Isaac's body is seen, dead on the floor, the top of his skull missing as Sylar uses his ability to paint the future, albeit in a twisted, more nightmarish style.



Legacy and the Series of 8

In "Five Years Gone", Hiro has taken over Isaac's loft, and used it to construct a timeline resembling a giant mobile in an attempt to track the path of his trips through time and their effects, intending to isolate a point in history that he can travel to in an attempt to avert the destruction of New York.

In "The Hard Part", Sylar is using Isaac's loft to continue painting the future.

In "Lizards", Noah Bennet reveals that Isaac Mendez had painted eight paintings and had sent them out to unknown locations prior to his death. Noah Bennet is the first to receive one of the eight paintings which depicted Kaito Nakamura laying dead on the ground. In "Kindred", Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) discovers another painting in Isaac Mendez's loft which had yet to be sent out. This painting depicts Noah Bennet laying dead on the ground from a gun shot wound to the head, while Claire stands near by with an unknown shadowed character.

In "The Line," the final 6 paintings in the Series of 8 are discovered by Noah Bennet and The Haitian. The remaining six depict Claire Bennet lying on a staircase; a man holding a vial of clear liquid; Niki Sanders (Ali Larter) pounding on a door; Peter Petrelli and an unknown man standing together looking out of a window, with a bio hazard symbol visible; Hiro Nakamura and Kensei sword fighting; and Mohinder Suresh after firing a pistol, possibly one issued by The Company.



Powers and abilities

Isaac has the power of precognition, which allows him to depict images of the future while in a trance-like state. While in this state, his pupils and irises fade into light white color and he becomes unresponsively focused on painting the images in his mind. Very little context comes to Isaac when he sees the future. He can't tell anything about the people, places, or events involved beyond what he specifically sees at that moment. Thus, he is often surprised to find out weeks later what his work is actually depicting. Also due to the previous heroin use, Isaac was not able to clearly remember certain images after he painted them, as he stated in "Better Halves". It would seem that his precognitive abilities also augment his natural abilities as a painter, as Simone once complimented how much she appreciates the works he creates when he is high, and from the way Peter completed the unfinished portrait in "Hiros" when he first actively duplicated Isaac's power despite the latter having no innate talents whatsoever as a painter

Originally, Isaac's powers were triggered by the use of heroin, and he was unable to use his powers without it. During the episode "Hiros", Peter Petrelli mimics Isaac's precognitive ability without the use of heroin to finish a picture when Isaac was out of drugs. A TV Guide article from early October, 2006, revealed that he would eventually try to find out if his power works without using heroin.[1] In "Seven Minutes to Midnight", Isaac attempted just this, but was unsuccessful. He does so successfully in "Fallout", after relaxing and taking advice from Hiro Nakamura to concentrate. Neither Peter, nor Sylar, after acquiring Isaac's abilities, needed heroin to paint the future.

In "Distractions", it is revealed that it's possible for Isaac to paint specific people and places if he honed his powers. This honing skill is used to find Peter but Isaac thought it did not work when he drew what seemed to be random scenery when actually Peter was invisible at that location. As evidenced in the episode Isaac reveals that he can interpret his drawings far better than while on heroin.