Isaac Mendez is a fictional character from the American television show Heroes with the ability to paint future events during precognitive trances. Isaac's artwork, which appears on the show and its graphic novels, are shown to be accurate predictions of future events.
Comic book artist Tim Sale creates drawings of the artwork on comic book paper approximately 11"x17" in size.[1] His technique includes the use of wash and charcoal pencil.[2] Sale's drawings are usually black, gray, and white because he is colorblind,[3] although a few paintings also have colors. Santiago Cabrera, who plays Isaac, influenced Sale to create some of the artwork in the style of Francisco Goya's Black Paintings.[1][4][5] Dave Stewart then uses a computer to add coloring before the art is enlarged to the appropriate size. The prop department then creates the artwork seen on the show based on the original art.[1]
On March 7, 2007, NBC announced that four of the artwork pieces would be autographed by Sale and sold in two auction charities a week apart. The proceeds benefited the Epilepsy Foundation, a charity that promotes awareness and research to cure epilepsy. Cast member Greg Grunberg, who frequently helps fundraise for the foundation, assisted with the auction. The on-screen artwork and original drawings for "Exploding Man", "Eclipse", "Claire on the Stairs", and "Hiro and the T-Rex" were autographed by Sale for the auction.[6]
Noah Bennet explains to his wife that Isaac's paintings are never wrong. Isaac's paintings always, consistently, come true (While, ironically enough, the actual futures experienced by time-travellers Hiro Nakamura and Peter Petrelli vary whenever they travel forward in time)- but the context of the situation is not always given. The painting of New York exploding came from Hiro's perspective, and the paintings of the exploding man standing in Kirby Plaza came from Peter's dreams. Isaac's paintings are a reliable source of information on events, but not context.
| Featured Appearance | Description |
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| "Genesis" |
A woman holding a portfolio case while standing in a doorway. Isaac shows this painting to Simone when he tries to explain his precognitions. This artwork appeared in extended director's cut of the pilot episode when it aired at San Diego Comic-Con, but was cut from the network version.[7] |
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A painting of a man facing a rock monster surrounded by fire and destruction named Uluru.[8] Isaac walks past the painting in his studio during the director's cut of the pilot episode. In the aired version of the pilot, the painting appears as a screensaver on Hiro Nakamura's computer and as the cover of the comic book Micah Sanders is reading, 9th Wonders!, which is written and drawn by Isaac. The painting is seen again among Isaac's "earlier works" that are rejected by Simone Deveaux in "Homecoming". Uluru is also on the cover of a 9th Wonders! that a Union Wells High School student is reading in "Homecoming". In the Heroes graphic novel Isaac's First Time, Isaac reveals to Eden that Uluru appeared to him when he got high before his first art gallery showing. |
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"Eclipse".[6] The depiction of a full solar eclipse which happens later in the first episode.[9] Simone stops Isaac from destroying this painting. This artwork was sold for $7,650 during the Epilepsy Foundation charity auction on April 2, 2007.[10] |
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A hand holding a glass with a bubbling liquid inside.[11] Isaac destroys this painting. This is the hand of Ted Sprague, who is seen in "Seven Minutes to Midnight" boiling a glass of water with his radioactive powers. |
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An unfinished painting of a girl appearing to be in a yellow jacket. |
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The depiction of a burning bus which Isaac's newspaper confirms to be a suicide bombing in Israel.[12] |
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"Train Wreck".[1] The depiction of a fiery train wreck.[13] Claire Bennet saves a man from this incident and Isaac sees the story on the news. |
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A portrait of a man jumping off a building and seemingly flying.[14] Peter Petrelli is inspired to test his theory that he can fly after seeing this painting. Tim Sale said this is his least favorite painting because he could not capture Peter's mood as Milo Ventimiglia had yet to film the scene.[1] This painting was telekinetically cut in half by Sylar in "How to Stop an Exploding Man". |
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A large explosion and the resulting mushroom cloud in Midtown Manhattan.[15] When Hiro travels five weeks into the future during "Don't Look Back", the explosion happens at 11:52 AM EST on November 8, 2006. This painting is shown as being done on the concrete floor of Isaac's apartment. However, the "painting" is actually a rubberized mat which was originally black-and-white but was replaced with a colorized version so that it would not need to be colorized during post-production.[1] This painting is viewed from Hiro's perspective when he visits the future in "Don't Look Back." |
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| "Don't Look Back" |
In Hiro's "five weeks into the future" time frame, Hiro discovers issue #14 of the comic book 9th Wonders!, which details events of his and Ando's journey. Isaac wrote and illustrated the book. |
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In Hiro's "five weeks into the future" time frame, there are many paintings of a symbol resembling an RNA helix. This symbol appears in many places throughout the series. |
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| "One Giant Leap" |
A picture of a girl walking away from a boy in a school hall. A previous scene indicates these are Claire and her classmate, Zach, respectively. |
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A couple kissing under a red umbrella. A previous scene implies that the couple is Peter and Simone. |
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| "Collision" |
Peter standing amidst apparently floating locker doors.[16] This later occurs in the episode "Homecoming", when Peter confronts Sylar and has locker doors hurled at him. |
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"Claire on the Stairs"[6] Claire in an amphitheatre as a shadowed figure approaches her. Comes to pass in "Homecoming". This artwork was sold for $25,000 during the Epilepsy Foundation charity auction on March 26, 2007.[10] |
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"Tourists"[17] Hiro and Ando standing before a dank cityscape, under a blood-stained banner with part of the word "Homecoming".[18] Comes to pass in "Fallout". The painting later appears in the art gallery of the Corinthian Hotel and Casino's website as part of the Heroes 360 Experience. |
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A close up of a frightened Claire.[19] Comes to pass in "Homecoming". |
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| "Hiros" |
"Shadow Chasing the Cheerleader"[1] A shadowy figure[20] standing over the prostrate figure of a cheerleader. When Isaac is unable to complete the painting on his own, Peter mimics Isaac's power and finishes the bottom-right section of the painting. This reveals the figure is standing over the prostrate figure of a cheerleader whose head has been severed.[21] Comes to pass in "Homecoming". |
| "Better Halves" |
A painting of Mohinder spreading ashes in a river. Comes to pass in "Seven Minutes to Midnight". |
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Niki Sanders next to a suitcase of cash. He later wipes off a layer of paint which covered an RNA-shaped tattoo on her back revealing that the painting is actually of Jessica Sanders.[22] The painting that appears in the episode is a cropped version of Sale's original artwork, which shows the suitcase on a table next to cards and gambling chips.[23] |
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| "Seven Minutes to Midnight" |
An image of Charlie, a waitress, serving food at a diner.[24] |
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A flame-engulfed car from the scene of Ted's escape. Occurs at the end of the episode. |
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| Isaac's First Time |
A painting of a woman getting hit by a bus. When Eden asks Isaac when he first knew about his ability, he tells her that the woman who he painted confronted him during his debut showing at Simone's gallery. As she leaves the gallery, Isaac sees the bus hit the woman. |
| "Homecoming" |
A picture of Peter in front of Union Wells High School at 8:12 P.M., presumably dead.[25] Simone sold this painting to Mr. Linderman, but Nathan purchases it back for Peter. Nathan destroys it upon seeing it, but Simone provides Peter a digital copy. Comes to pass at the end of the episode. Peter survives by absorbing Claire's regeneration power and regenerating from the dead. |
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"Exploding Man"[6] A picture of a person glowing bright red, later described by Isaac as an "exploding man." [26] This artwork was sold for $8,500 during the Epilepsy Foundation charity auction on March 26, 2007.[10] Occurs at the end of How to Stop An Exploding Man where Peter explodes but due to Nathan's intervention causes no damage to New York. |
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| "Fallout" |
Sketches of Hiro socializing with Charlie before her death.[27] |
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"Hiro and T-Rex".[6] A picture of Hiro brandishing a katana while encountering a carnotaurus, a predatory dinosaur.[28] Comes to pass when Hiro unsheathes the replica katana at a full sized model of a dinosaur at the museum.[29] At Simone's suggestion, Hiro takes the painting to trade it for Linderman's sword. However, Hiro's father, Kaito, tears the painting into several pieces in "Distractions". Due to a production error, the painting is seen in one piece at Isaac's apartment in "Unexpected".[30] Hiro delivers the painting, held together with tape, to Linderman's curator in "Parasite". This artwork was sold for $9,200 during the Epilepsy Foundation charity auction on April 2, 2007.[10] |
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| "Distractions" |
A painting of Isaac and Simone holding each other on the rooftop of her father's building. |
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The same rooftop, but this time supposedly after the apocalyptic explosion. Hiro and Ando arrive at this scene in the episode "Parasite". |
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A street corner with pedestrians in the background (Peter and Claude would be seen in the foreground, but are invisible and thus were not included in the painting). |
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A purse invisibly being taken off a woman's arm (revealed earlier as done by Claude). |
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A bird's eye view of a taxicab with action lines surrounding it (likely with an invisible Peter falling toward it). |
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A half-invisible Peter, sitting next to a crushed taxicab. |
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| "Unexpected" |
A view of the top of the Deveaux building, where Peter's footprints can be seen. This was used by Mr. Bennet and The Haitian to locate him later in the episode. |
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Peter standing in Isaac's apartment. This comes to pass, as immediately after Isaac finishes the painting, he finds Peter standing behind him. |
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| "Parasite" |
Four portraits of Isaac, semi-decapitated in the manner Sylar kills his victims. One of the paintings shows the gun Mr. Bennet gave him in "Unexpected" lying next to his corpse. Hiro found Isaac murdered in the same fashion when he traveled six weeks into the future in "Don't Look Back". |
| ".07%" |
A painting of Isaac semi-decapitated with Sylar standing in the foreground. Comes to pass as soon as Isaac finishes, as Sylar was watching him. |
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A portrait of Peter hovering above the ground. This portrait was cropped from a painting of most of the main cast members that Sale created for the November 3, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly.[31] |
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"Girl on Autopsy Table"[32] An oil-on-canvas painting of Claire lying on an autopsy table with her chest open. Came to pass during "Collision". This painting appears in the Corinthian Casino's art gallery both in this episode and on its website. |
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| "The Hard Part" |
A painting of Micah in a burning building. |
| Corinthian Hotel & Casino website (part of the Heroes 360 experience) |
"The President Stands Alone"[33] An oil-on-canvas painting of a man standing alone in the Oval Office of the White House. Comes to pass in "Five Years Gone" |
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"The Mirror has Two Faces"[34] An oil-on canvas painting of Niki and Jessica's faces in a split reflection. Niki appears in one half while Jessica appears in the other half. Comes to pass in "Collision". |
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"Unknown Man"[35] An oil-on-canvas painting of an over-the-shoulder view of Noah Bennet with out-of-focus bodies in the background. Comes to pass in "Collision". |
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| "Lizards" |
A painting which depicts the death of Kaito Nakamura. It was said by Noah Bennet to be the first of eight painted before Isaac's death that hadn't come true at the time (1/8). |
| "Kindred" |
A painting which depicts the death of Noah Bennet while a blonde girl (Claire) stands nearby with a man (West) in shadows (8/8). ("Cautionary Tales") |
| "The Line" |
Claire Bennet bleeding and lying on a staircase (2/8). ("The Line") |
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A man holding a vial of clear liquid (Shanti virus) (3/8). ("The Line") |
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Niki Sanders hitting a door (4/8). ("Out of Time") |
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Peter Petrelli and Howard Lemay standing together with a biohazard symbol at the bottom (5/8). ("Out of Time") |
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Hiro Nakamura and Takezo Kensei sword fighting (6/8). ("Out of Time") |
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Mohinder Suresh after firing a Company issued pistol (7/8). ("Cautionary Tales") [36] |
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