Tailkinker

Chosen answer: Because he's an idiot. From the story point of view, they needed the vault to actually be physically open so that the release of the virus would be a credible threat. Unfortunately, this required that Peter conveniently forget that he could simply walk through The Wall and use his telekinesis to tear the door open instead. Peter's increasingly large arsenal of abilities, where he ended up having pretty much any ability required for any situation, led to a situation where it became necessary to either have Peter apparently forget that he had a given power, as with the vault door scene, or become naively trusting, as with his refusal to scan Adam's mind to confirm his good intent. This problem, which simply made Peter look increasingly dumb as the show progressed, may well have been a key factor in the decision to severely reduce his ability during season three.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Telekinesis. Stop or deflect the bullets, slow his fall so that he'll survive. Very useful power.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: No explanation is ever given as to precisely how the process works. The subject is rendered powerless. If Arthur had the ability to return the ability if he wished to, it's certainly not shown in the show and it seems unlikely that he would have been interested in doing so. Later events suggest that the stolen power is not actually completely gone, as Peter Petrelli was able to use the power-serum to partially restore his own absorption ability, and Hiro's power is eventually partly revived by the infant Matt Parkman, suggesting that, in both cases, some vestiges of their original ability was still present.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Yes, of course he does. That's the point. He wants to do something to stop humanity going through the same cycle of death and destruction that gets played out every so often. By releasing the Shanti virus, he'll wipe out the vast majority of the human race, dropping the demand for Earth's diminishing resources to a manageable level and allowing the survivors to start over with a relatively clean slate.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Sylar is supposed to be able to copy powers through empathic mimicry, as we see him do with Elle's electrical abilities. If he does that, then it appears that the powers genuinely become innate to him, as if they were his from the start, whereas if he takes them in his usual way, they don't - he has access to them, but they don't become innate and thus can be erased by the Shanti virus. When Gabriel killed Brian Davis to take his telekinetic ability, he felt terrible guilt over having done so and thus his empathic mimicry kicked in, making the telekinesis an ability which the Shanti virus couldn't remove. This is also why the Company could only detect his telekinesis when examining him, despite the fact that he possessed many other abilities at the time.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Basically, yes. Using others to further his agenda and ultimately restore his health and allow him to establish a powerbase.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: There's something of a difference between Maury using his powers against Matt to take him out of the equation and actually killing him. Maury is prepared to work against his son if necessary, but doesn't want to see him dead.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Hiro's powers aren't terribly reliable at the time - he's okay with using it himself, but doesn't want to risk her ending up somewhere unsafe.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Probably not - he survived through earlier eclipses unscathed. The eclipse appears to negate powers, but doesn't appear to actually remove them, as they all return once the eclipse finished. Arthur's ability, on the other hand, forcibly strips powers away from people, which is something of a different thing. Adam can apparently survive a temporary negation, but having his ability removed completely resulted in his death.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: They didn't create it - it first manifested in Shanti Suresh. Their original reason for experimenting on it was probably to find a cure, just as real-world virus labs experiment on highly contagious viruses with that aim in mind. However, the effect of blocking access to powers was clearly of use to the Company in dealing with powered individuals, so their experiments also produced alternative strains of the virus, including the one used on Sylar and Niki Sanders that removed their abilities. These experiments may also have resulted in the ability negation pills given to Peter Petrelli during his time as a "guest" of the Company between seasons one and two. While the risks are obviously considerable, careful security precautions can be set up to guard against accidental release. Somebody insane enough to wish to release one intentionally is, of course, another matter entirely...

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Yes, he was intentionally infected by the Company to remove his powers and make him easier to handle.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Sylar's not bothered about the risk of capture - his confidence in his abilities is high enough that he probably thinks that he would be impossible to take down anyway. And you have to remember that he's driven by a hunger to take new abilities - he's not going to be happy with the idea of waiting for the perfect moment. She's relatively isolated, her only companion being another cheerleader, no reason to wait.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: It's partly study, partly containment, partly potential recruitment. Simply talking to the targets isn't going to get them what they need to know - they're looking for detailed genetic information, plus they want to install the tracking isotopes, neither of which could be done during a pleasant chat.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Not exactly. Their intent is that the destruction of New York will act as a focus for the entire nation, a rallying point of sorts. The plan is that Nathan will be in a position to show strong leadership after the explosion, giving him a high public profile and a strong support base as the outraged and shocked nation unites behind him. This support could then be used to put him into the White House where he can continue to further their agenda. Not so much a puppet, more a willing ally, but the effect is much the same.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Sylar's powers are stolen and forcibly impressed into his DNA, unlike most of the empowered characters where the DNA is natural. It's entirely understandable that his powers might be more difficult to determine under those circumstances.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Peter doesn't have perfect control over any of his abilities - he has to be able to focus on certain mental keys to be able to use them with any degree of certainty. With his acquired radioactivity power beginning to run out of control, any possibility of focus is gone - he's scared, he's in considerable discomfort if not outright pain. He's simply not able to do it, so Nathan has to step in to help get him clear of the area.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Confirmed powers prior to that point were telekinesis, freezing, kinetic projection, eidetic memory, liquification, enhanced hearing, precognition and radioactivity. There may have been others as well, but those are the definites.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Angela intends to turn Sylar into an asset to the company. By allowing him to take Bridget's power, Angela's hoping to create a bond of trust between them. If it doesn't work, then the Company's not lost an agent with an effective combat power, nor have they given Sylar a power that could make him any more dangerous. If it does work, they trade an agent with a minor ability for a new agent of extraordinary power who still has that same ability, so they've lost nothing. As for poor Bridget, yes, she probably does know who Sylar is, but she could hardly anticipate that Angela would bring her, a loyal agent, down to the holding cells to "feed" her to a serial killer. We never see her after Angela says that she's there to feed Sylar - for all we know, she did try to run, but didn't even make it out of the door before Sylar got her.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: There's no indication that it applies to anything other than the visible light spectrum.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: The writers kill off characters as and when it serves the purposes of the overall story for them to die. All characters have some potential to them - just as with real life, not all of them will get to live up to that potential. It sucks when a favourite character is killed off, but that's the nature of a TV show - characters, particularly recurring characters like Elle or minor villains like the German, are going to die on a regular basis.

Tailkinker ★