Matt Parkman

Background

Matt Parkman at age 13 was abandoned by his father, Maury Parkman, and raised by his absent-minded but well-meaning mother. Matt suffers from dyslexia and has a relatively low self-esteem thanks to his father's abandonment of him, his status as being overweight, and his dyslexia. Matt married Janice in his adult years and because of his lack of belief of himself in combination with his bad career as a beat Los Angeles cop with Janice's problems have strained their marriage but have nevertheless have been married 11 years.

Six months before the series premiere, Matt, while working as a traffic cop in L.A., came across Eden McCain, then known as Sarah Ellis, during a routine traffic check. When he asks for driver's license and a registration check on the car, Eden bluntly tells him that she stole it. When he asks her to step out of the stolen Lamborghini she tells him no and says that he should eat some donuts, like all cops. Obviously offended and upon seeing an open bottle of alcohol, Matt suggests she get out of the car quickly and Eden then uses her power of persuasion to tell him to leave her alone and go eat some donuts. Matt unable to resist does exactly that until he is snapped out of it by his good friend and partner the next day who encourages him to go in and take the detective exam for the second time. Matt fails because of his dyslexia and his wife, Janice, tells him to admit it but he refuses. He accidentally reads her mind but is unaware of it when he catches her think that he is her hero, thinking she actually said it.

Genesis

As of the first episode of Heroes, some time after the events six months before, Matt is having issues with his marriage with Janice and has taken and failed the detective advancement exam three more times. He is directing traffic outside the Walker home where the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Walker have taken place and where their daughter, Molly went missing. He first discovers his power to read minds, when he hears the distressed thoughts of Molly from outside the house. Despite receiving strange looks, Matt walks through the house to eventually find her hiding within a hidden storage room in the staircase.

Unable to explain how he knew where she was and how he found out the killer's name, Sylar, when it was classified, he is arrested by FBI Detective Audrey Hanson for suspicion of murdering or having part in the murders of the Walkers.

While being interrogated by Audrey Hanson, he attempts to explain and reveals his ability to Audrey, she is convinced and offers him a role in the case which he accepts but consequentially, he misses his and Janice's marriage counseling session.

The Good, the Bad and the Worst

As Matt worries about the continuous disentegration of his marriage, Audrey gives Matt a tour of the FBI facility in Los Angeles.

Audrey tells Matt she wants him to "question" or read the mind of Molly Walker to find out about Sylar, if she saw or heard anything. As they travel to the contained rooms where she is, the lights are turned off and they hear loud, thumping noise and grunts before they hear Molly's screams. They run down the hallway where they see Sylar trying to drag Molly outside and keep her quiet at the same time.

As Audrey gives chase to Sylar, Matt shows his love for children, as he comforts Molly, as she calls him her hero as he saved her twice. Matt looks up to see a guard stuck to ceiling with a desk on him that eventually falls down. Matt leaves Molly there and follows the way Audrey and Sylar went. Audrey cornered Sylar but Sylar displays telekinetic powers turning her own gun on her and cocks it ready to kill her, when Matt saves her life and shoots several bullets at Sylar, surprising him. Sylar's last second telekinetic cushion saved him but the unexpected force knocks him off his feet. Sylar slowly gets back up to his feet as Matt helps Audrey up and Sylar uses his telekinesis to levitate himself away before Matt can fire another shot.

Back at home, Matt gets into a really bad argument with his wife who suspects of adultery. Matt, in a rage, leaves the house and goes to a bar. He begins to get overwhelmed by all the thoughts of the people there but eventually reaches silence when he looks at a tall, bald black man who looks back. The man, solemn and silent, bows his head and the thoughts of others, overpowering Matt, quiet down before vanishing. Matt then passes out.

Captured

Matt wakes up in captivity under Mr. Bennet, strapped down to a table. Mr. Bennet explains that they had to drug him at a bar and when Matt questions where he is, Mr. Bennet refuses to tell him and what he is doing is merely standard procedure called bagging and tagging and studying these people, working for a secret company.

Matt angrily protests saying that he is a cop, working for the FBI, and tries read Bennet's mind but find that he is temporarily powerless thanks to the Haitian, who he recognizes as the man from the bar. The Haitian underestimates Matt who manages to get the name Claire from Mr. Bennet's mind, impressing both Haitian and Noah Bennet. Bennet tells the Haitian to wipe his mind of all of this and as the Haitian bends down over Matt, Matt blackouts.

Marital and Radioactive Problems

Matt wakes up a day later with a really bad headache on his couch. He thinks he has a hangover and his wife, Janice, throws the telephone at him. Janice reveals that he had been missing for a day and was so worried. Janice asks him where he was but Matt is unable to answer that. Instead firing off at her when she asks if he was gone with another woman, Matt listens to her thoughts and apologizes for worrying her and gives her everything she likes and wants, beginning to heal the rift between them.

The following day at work, Matt and Audrey chase a lead they believe Sylar is responsible where there is a corpse charred by microwave radiation with a fingerprint on it. It isn't Sylar, but a man named Ted Sprague who emits and generates radiation. The FBI think he is part of a terrorist cell and the two track him down to Karen Sprague's, his wife, hospital room where she has been diagnosed with radiation poisoning and later cancer. His wife is dying when Matt and Audrey try to take him into custody but Ted hurts the nurse by giving her radiation burns. Ted is about to cause real damage but Matt catches a thought from the dying Karen Sprague and through him saying Karen's dying thoughts aloud, Ted and Karen get to talk to each other and say goodbye. Matt disconnects with Karen who then dies.

Afterwards, Audrey convinces Matt to spend more time with his wife after that days events. At the end of the day, his ex-partner tells him that Audrey had pulled some strings to give him another chance at the exam. Matt, grateful, thanks his friend only to hear his thoughts to find that he is sleeping with Janice. Enraged, Matt punches him and gets suspended for a month. Unaware, Audrey asks for Matt's help in interviewing Ted Sprague. During the interview, Matt discovers that like him, Ted was abducted from a bar by the Haitian, saw the Haitian, and woke up with amnesia and that they both have marks on their neck. Then, Homeland Security, come in to take Ted in before Matt can learn more but Ted begs him to find the Haitian and to reveal that Matt is suspended and has no say, angering Audrey. Later after his wife confesses that she had been cheating on him, Audrey calls him to tell him that Ted escaped.

Odessa, Texas

In Odessa, Texas, Matt and Audrey investigate the crime scene in and around Union Wells High School about the death of Jackie Wilcox, a cheerleader there. Not to far from the high school, they find that an injured Sylar was intercepted by two people. They question Peter Petrelli, despite knowing that he is innocent, and as Peter synchs with Matt and when Peter accidentally activates it while Matt tries to read his mind, they have an uncomfortable feedback effect. They find out through Peter that Sylar's intended target was Claire Bennet.

Matt is outside trying to read Claire's mind as Audrey questions her along with her father but gets nothing but static similar to before he was abducted unaware that the Haitian was nearby negating Matt's telepathy. Suspicious, they stake out at Primatech Paper to see Mr. Bennet and the Haitian meet up. Matt recognizing the Haitian tries and succeeds in catching a thought from Bennet getting the word Sylar.

For the next two weeks, Matt keeps an eye on Primatech Paper but is spotted on camera alerting Mr. Bennet and in the episode Godsend, Parkman and Hanson intitate a raid on Primatech Paper Company. When the FBI and some members of Homeland Security like Captain Chase, Audrey's boss, find nothing, Captain Chase is mad and threatens to put Audrey on probation or maybe even being fired. Fearful of losing her job, Audrey tells Matt that their partnership is over. Matt, embarrassed and angry, confronts Mr. Bennet, telling he knows that they have Sylar, he knows that he was kidnapped, and will make him pay.

The Bodyguard

A review board part of the LAPD and FBI questions Matt on what he has been doing for the past few weeks. Matt tells him about the super-powered serial killer named Sylar and the board finds Matt's comments almost insane. When questioned again, Matt repeats the truth but is benched for six months and recommended to a shrink.

At home, Matt and Janice are trying to rebuild their marriage and Janice reveals that she is pregnant but is very upset at Matt with his stories about superpowers and being close to being fired. In the need of money, Matt takes up a job as a bodyguard. His assignment is Aron Malsky, a man who took the 2 million dollars from Linderman from D.L. who was unaware that Niki had paid her debt. Malsky took advantage of D.L.'s oblivious nature and exchanged it for a suitcase full of diamonds. Upon learning that the jeweler works for Linderman, Aron Malsky is on the run. Matt reads Aron's thoughts and is disgusted and learns that Linderman has sent an assassin to kill Malsky.

Matt sets up a perimeter but finds that this assassin is Jessica and she happens to be much stronger than she looks. Matt and Jessica and Aron play a cat and mouse game in an building under construction. Matt's psychic powers put him a step ahead of Jessica but Aron, in panic, refuses to listen. Matt goes to confront Aron as Aron finds a place to hide. Matt hears Niki's pleas and complaints within Jessica and Jessica discovers that Matt has powers too like herself, Micah and D.L. but finds that his pose no physical threat to Jessica. Jessica defeats Matt by using her super strength, knocking him senseless with a plank of wood and throwing him out of a window. Matt is only spared because he lands on a scaffolding and when he and the cops return to the top floor where he was in with Jessica and Malsky, they find Malsky with a fist-sized hole in his chest and his arm ripped off. Matt fins the diamonds though and decides to keep them.

Man and Company

Matt gets Janice an expensive diamond ring that she accidentally damages and is confused as why Matt found that diamond, saying the jeweler thinks she stole it.

Soon, Matt gets a call from Ted who wants to meet up with Matt and a woman named Hana Gitelman who has the ability to intercept, receive and transmit electronic signals of any kind. Hana answers all the questions they have and they team up to take down Bennet and disable the Primatech Paper. Hana reveals that she wishes to investigate Primatech and this secret company as Ted and Matt go to Mr. Bennet's home and Ted, being the loose cannon, holds the family at gunpoint. Matt discovers that Claire has a regenerative healing factor and Claire and her family discovers that her father isn't all that she says he is. Matt is unable to read Bennet's mind as he thinks in Japanese or some other language that Matt can't understand. Matt and Bennet are coming to an understanding but tread cautiously around Ted.

Soon when Thompson, Bennet's "ally" and the Haitian arrive and after a short battle, Ted gets shot and in pain, anguish and rage destroys the Bennet home, surprises the Haitian, and disables Bennet, Thompson and Matt. Ted could've destroyed the neighborhood or the entire city and its surrounding area if Claire had not stopped him.

Team Up

Thompson surprise Parkman and captures him. In Parasite, Matt is still under custody, heavily sedated, by Thompson, his illusionist associate Candice, and the Company. The next episode, .07%, Bennet has realized his wrong doings and forcing his thoughts onto Matt and Matt tricks his guard to free Bennet and himself from captivity, rescuing Ted in the process who under Matt's direction, learns to emit different types of radiation, in this case, an electromagnetic pulse to disarm them.

During breakfast the next day, Mr. Bennet bands Matt and Ted together to disable the tracking system in New York City and travel there and run into Peter and Claire where Noah and Claire are reunited and upon mimicking and absorbing Ted's power, barely manages to contain Ted's nuclear powers. The groups split, Peter, Claire and Ted leaving the city to prevent the explosion as Matt travels with Mr. Bennet to destroy the tracking system. Matt uses his powers to flatter the security and they are in the Kirby building.

How do you find a Walking Tracking System

The two run into Jessica and D.L. looking for Micah as they are waiting for the elevator. Matt recognizes Jessica and looks at her in fear and disgust while Jessica smiles and remarks that she is surprised that he's alive. They have a short conversation about each others goals but eventually part ways.

On their way to the tracking system on Earth, they run into Thompson who attacks Matt and almost kills him but Mr. Bennet kills him first by two gunshots to the head. The tracking system happens to be Molly who has the ability of clairvoyance and through that can locate anyone and anything. Matt refuses to kill her having thought the tracking system was a computer or a network but Mr. Bennet considers it necessary.

Finale

Matt is quickly knocked out by Mohinder and Matt assures Molly that she'll be alright. The threesome ask Molly to locate Sylar upon learning that Sylar has killed Ted and taken his power. Molly does and says that Sylar is in Isaac Mendez's loft. Matt goes there and narrowly misses Hiro, Ando and Sylar there but sees a painting of Sylar and Peter facing off in Kirby Plaza. Matt leaves to go to Kirby Plaza and intervenes in Sylar and Peter's battle, shooting several bullets at Sylar who sends them back at Matt critically injuring and causing Molly to rush to his side.

He is brought to a hospital at the end of the events but witnesses Nathan carrying Peter extremely high in the sky to safely explode.

Four Months Later...

During the four month gap, Matt has been maritially separated from Janice upon learning she was pregnant and the father was another man so to say. Matt still has feelings for Janice but doesn't want to be around that for the moment.

Matt has also adopted Molly and until Matt gets a place of his own he and Molly are bunking in Mohinder's apartment in Brooklyn.

Matt joins the NYPD and his boss discovers that he not only has potential in the field as a cop but has great skill in interrogating suspects, investigating crime scenes and is made a detective. He learns that Molly is having disturbing and frightening nightmares caused by the only person worst than the Bogeyman AKA Sylar. The person is very dangerous towards Molly because when she can see him, he can see her.

The Mysterious Nightmare Man

He learns that Molly is having disturbing and frightening nightmares caused by the only person worst than the Bogeyman AKA Sylar. The person is very dangerous towards Molly because when she can see him, he can see her.

Matt investigates the murder of Kaito Nakamura and after questioning Ando and Angela Petrelli and after reading their minds, learns that someone might have killed Kaito for revenge. Ando knows nothing more but Angela can easily counter Matt's mind reading. Matt and Nathan later save Angela from a mysterious attacker who made her attack herself. For protection from the mysterious attacker and to get the interrogators off her case, she says that she committed the crimes even though she and Matt both know that she didn't.

Later, Matt learns that his father was part of the founding 12 people of the Company, all of whom had powers. Molly asks Matt to find his father for him but Molly reveals that he is the Nightmare Man, the person tormenting her in her dreams, but Matt convinces her nevertheless. She locates him and tells Matt his location but is placed into a coma, trapped within her own mind and consciousness.

As Mohinder takes Molly to the Company for help, Nathan and Matt track down Matt's father, Maury Parkman, in Ohio. Maury reveals that he is a telepath too and also a skilled liar and manipulator able to deceive both Matt and Nathan by thinking that he is a target. Maury manages to trap them into their own nightmares while forcing them to fight each other to the death as he leaves. Matt is trapped in a jail and is beat and abused severely by prison guards and tormented by images of his wife saying that he abandoned his child just like his father abandoned him. Matt's power show him the illusion and telepathically speaking and projecting his thoughts to Nathan, is able to break the illusion.

As they investigate the apartment more, they find enough evidence to discover that Maury is targeting former members of the Company thinking that he killed Kaito Nakamura, tried to kill Angela Petrelli, is responsible for the mysterious deaths of other Company members such as Dallas Petrelli, Nathan and Peter's late father. They discover that Maury is now after Bob and is going to launch an attack on the main Company headquarters in Hartsdale, New York.

Facing his Father and his Fears

Matt and Nathan barely arrive in time to warn Bob who has the facility evacuated and checked. Bob has Mohinder and Niki prepare to use the virus on Maury as a weapon and to test the virus as he takes Nathan into his office while Matt goes to see Molly. Before he goes, Bob tells Matt that he might be their only hope since the only way to stop a powerful and realized telepath is bring in another telepath and that Matt can do anything Maury can do and can control everything associated with the mind and brain.

Matt skeptical and discouraged further uses his newfound ability to make others hear his thoughts, essentially talking to them telepathically, to converse with Molly and accidentally enters her mind with his powers. To his surprise, Matt finds Molly trapped in a house that is exactly the one Matt grew up in and where Maury left Matt. Matt furious when he can't get out calls his father to him as Maury wrecks havoc using Niki and unlocking the true limits of her strength. Matt draws Maury into Molly's mind surprising Maury. Father and son argue and have a verbal battle of wills, Matt recognizes his father's own nightmare and Matt strands Maury in his own fears and takes Molly with him out. Matt awakens to see Molly wake up but see his father lie still on the floor in a coma.

Mind Control

Matt returns to his life as a detective for the New York Police Department and with Molly back everything seems fine except that he has found out about Adam Munroe and how Linderman and his dad followed Adam, Linderman being the disciple and Maury being Adam's weapon. Molly wants to help and with her powers can find Adam and anybody in no time but Matt refuses and inadvertently uses his telepathic powers to manipulate the mind and thoughts of Molly to make her do what he says and don't worry about it.

Matt wishing to find out Adam's goals and how to protect the last of the surviving members of the Company forces his boss to let him take Angela Petrelli out of jail and to question her. Angela thinking that he is still at the level of mind reading toys with Matt but Matt surprises her when he has gotten past merely reading minds and has reached telepathic communication and mind control. Angela's formidable willpower and practice against Maury gives Matt a difficult time but eventually he commands her to tell him the truth. Angela cannot resist the strong psychic commands and tells him everything about Adam and gives him the name of the last remaining founder, Victoria Pratt.

Truth and Consequences

In the season 2 finale, Powerless, Matt has "pulled some strings" or has manipulated the minds of other people to clear Angela Petrelli of all charges and they meet up with Nathan to discuss Victoria's murder at the hands of Adam and how Peter assisting Adam in his mission most likely unaware of his true intentions. Angela remarks that Peter is very passionate and empathetic with others but can be incredibly gullible and Adam is probably using Peter's unique abilities to accomplish his own goals with immediate success. Angela tells them that the only way to stop Adam is catastrophic brain damage or decapitation and that a bullet to the back of the head and it has to be unremoved in order to kill him. She also reveals where the deadliest strain of the modified and engineered Shanti virus, Strain 138, is in at Primatech Paper in Odessa, Texas. Before Matt can leave, Angela shoots her thoughts at Matt saying that a bullet to the head will kill Peter as well if he has to stop him.

Upon meeting a defeated Hiro at Primatech, the three team up to fight Peter and take Adam down permanently. Hiro teleports ahead to directly confront the two again and as Adam goes into the vault to get the virus that will kill 95% of the world's population, Peter is about to do some serious damage to Hiro when Matt runs up and engages in a psychic battle like a tug-a-war with Peter but shows his newfound skill with his power, forcing Peter to let Hiro go. Peter blocks out Matt with a surprising display of telepathy and takes Matt out with a telekinetic blast. Nathan is able to convince Peter and tells Peter the truth. Hiro teleports to get Adam and teleports Adam away just as Adam drops the virus. Peter catches the virus using telekinesis and in the vault, Matt, Nathan and Peter rejoice.

Not seeing the hidden camera stored there by the Company, Matt, Nathan and Peter discuss how their parent's generation's unwise and unscrupulous actions almost destroyed the world and are ruining their lives and the Company is still doing them wrong. They plan to expose themselves as super-humans and Matt enthralls everyone to listen to Nathan and broadcast his announcement but unfortunately Nathan is shot twice by an unknown person and as Nathan falls wounded, Matt is unable to locate the person who shot Nathan but catches a fleeting glance.

POWERS AND ABILITIES

Matt is a telepath, but he is not a fully realized telepath. Initially he was unable to activate it at will and only able to passively overhear thoughts and had trouble figuring out whose thoughts he was hearing. Through practice and repetition, he learns to read specific thoughts from people, going deeper if needed and to tell the difference.

The very nature of Haitian's powers is able to nullify Matt's, naturally shielding those thoughts of others in his vicinity. Matt's sheer power as a telepath has enabled him to briefly overcome Haitian's psychic shielding twice, the second time giving him a nosebleed due to the strain. But generally he is completely unable to read the Haitian's mind, something he describes as a sort of silence similar to white noise.

Against other telepaths such as his father, Maury Parkman, and Peter Petrelli who are using their telepathy, Matt finds it difficult to read or enter the minds, often causing an uncomfortable feedback. He also states in the episode Nothing to Hide that he has a problem discerning and locating the specific thoughts of people in crowds causing him to feel overwhelmed and pass out. Matt also has trouble understanding the thoughts of those who speak a foreign language.

As of Volume 2: Generations, Matt is on his way to being a fully realized telepath. Bob Bishop, the head of the Company, and his own father have stated that Matt should be able to exercise complete control over all aspects of the mind, memories, thoughts, actions, senses, etc. He first begins to use his telepathy on another scale when he begins to telepathically communicate with others like when he and Nathan Petrelli were trapped in a nightmarish illusion and with a comatose Molly Walker.

Later, when he confronts the Nightmare Man AKA his dad, he learns that he is able to enter the minds of others and warp it to trap them in a coma or a catatonic state with a dream or nightmare scenario. He uses this ability to overpower and imprison his father in a deep sleep with his own nightmares and fears.

In the episode, Cautionary Tales, he learns that while he can read the thoughts of other people and psychically converse with them by allowing them to hear his thoughts, then he can twist and influence the thoughts and actions of others by implanting mental suggestions and commands as a form of mind control. With practice, he seemingly masters this ability easily making Molly and his boss change their mind and do things and overcomes Angela Petrelli's formidable will. In the season 2 finale, Powerless, he was able to engage in a psychic tug-a-war with Peter Petrelli, signaling that telepaths can easily combat other telepaths and can win or lose, as he does when he overpowers Peter, forcing him to let Hiro go.

 In Volume Four, the combination of the growth of his telepathy and the precognitive visions induced by Usutu grants him access to the "same plane of consciousness" that other precognitive characters access for their own powers, allowing him to draw the future.

ALTERNATE FUTURE

In the season 1 episode, Five Years Gone, when Hiro and Ando travel into the future accidentally, Matt is the director of the Department of Homeland Security and is directly involved with President Nathan Petrelli, who is actually Sylar in disguise. He has become ruthless and misguided, hunting down other superhumans and arresting them for terrorism. He mercilessy kills Hana Gitelman, Mr. Bennet, and Future Hiro but still has a soft spot for his family, Janice and his son, Matthew Jr. He has a developed a great deal of control with his powers, being able to affect memories and not only thoughts, and relive those memories. Also, he is able to endevor deeper into the mind, reading and understanding more complex thoughts and painful rip thoughts from others.

 In the alternate future "I Am Become Death", in which abilities are publicly available, Matt is living with his adoptive daughter Molly, his wife Daphne, and his own infant daughter. He attempts to talk his wife out of tracking down Peter. He watches Daphne die in his arms when she returns after trying to escape the nuclear explosion in Costa Verde.