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David Brown examines the mainstream appeal of the geek-friendly US hit.
"What would be your superpower of choice: the ability to soar through the sky or the strength of ten men? Generations of adolescents have mulled this issue over amid raging hormones and acne, but what if wish fulfilment became reality? Turns out it might be a bit of a burden, if smash US drama Heroes is to be believed.
Demolishing the opposition in its debut season, this mash-up of X-Men and Unbreakable, created by Tim Kring (Crossing Jordan), has snagged more than an audience of hardcore geeks, regularly pulling in 14 million viewers Stateside.
In the post-Lost world, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to see genre TV reaching out to the mainstream, but this superheroes-without-the-spandex saga of ordinary Joes discovering burgeoning special powers has already left a firm footprint on the primetime landscape.
Although Heroes is more than just Lost with mutants, it does owe a nod to the desert island mindbender: it's a big, interconnected saga featuring a huge cast and an atmosphere thick with danger, conspiracy and a sense of mortality.
But with no unifying location in which the characters can congregate, like the shore of a beach or a school for the heroically gifted, the protagonists fleetingly ping against each other as though on a global pinball machine.
Uniting them will take Robert Altman-esque flair, but the threat of a mushroom cloud-shaped Armageddon is already getting everyone's knickers (worn underneath the trousers - this isn't Superman you know) in a right old twist.
Among those feeling the pressure are a sleazy congressional candidate (Adrian Pasdar) who seems to have taken the lyrics of R Kelly's I Believe I Can Fly a little too seriously, a drug-addled artist (Santiago Cabrera) plagued by prescience and an internet stripper (Ali Larter) who finds her reflection in the mirror has murderous intent.
Then there's cheerleader Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), who soon becomes the show's focus when she discovers she's virtually indestructible and impervious to pain, making her a bit like Wolverine but without the sideburns and claws.
Anxious to avoid being voted "most likely to survive a fall of 80 feet" in her high-school yearbook, Claire ends up confiding in her seemingly supportive old man. But Mr Bennet (Jack Coleman), with his horn-rimmed Cold War glasses, turns out to be a shadowy - possibly government-related - threat who wants to keep the existence of these extraordinary people a secret.
So far, so X-Files, but is there anyone here getting a kick out of taking an evolutionary leap? Cue cheery Masi Oka as Japanese pen pusher and Star Trek fiend Hiro Nakamura who's discovered, that if he screws his eyes up really tight, he can bend the space-time continuum.
Before putting his skills to the greater good, Hiro lives out every nerd's fantasy and starts to teleport himself across continents. With his cult status a near certainty thanks to a standout performance, it can only be a matter of time before we get Oka's face plastered on T-shirts with 'Super Hiro - it's good to be a geek' emblazoned beneath.
Although Heroes courts the favour of comic book fan boys with guest stars like George "Mr Sulu" Takei and Christopher "Doctor Who" Eccleston, plus a heavy internet presence complete with online graphic novels and pseudo-MySpace sites, its charm lies in the fact that it's set in a tangible universe in which the amazing can nevertheless occur.
Despite the overblown seriousness of a pilot episode weighed down with the faux-philosophical narration found on such shows as Desperate Housewives, Heroes has proved itself to be the most compelling, addictive hourly drama of the 2006-07 season. The Kryptonite that weakens its power could be that it chooses to focus on back story over plot momentum. But for the moment, you'll get such a thrill out of believing a man can fly."
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Now take a look at our full Heroes guide.
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