If Adam ends up being a Big Bad, I hope there's more to it than hatred at Hiro for stealing his girlfriend 'cause that's kinda dumb. Number one, he wasn't even that into her at first. Number two, if it wasn't for Hiro, he wouldn't have cleaned up his act and become a "hero." Number three: I'm sorry, but 300-400 years is a long time to get over someone "stealing" your girlfriend. He would have theoretically had dozens of loves throughout time, and most, if not all, would have been much more significant than the one in Japan with Hiro's girl. Was the very brief time he spent with her really that big a deal? There certainly didn't appear to be any chemistry to me. I mean we get the idea that the world's going to be hanging in the balance. This should have been a great, epic love affair. That's why I'm hoping it ain't the case. Surely Adam's got more interesting things to pee in his pants about.

It seems obvious (from the 30 year incarceration) that Adam has seriously fallen out with the Company. Most of the Company are related to our Heroes in some way, so I guess his gripe would extend to the next generation and beyond.

[breaking this up so its easier to read]

You underestimate the power of love. Sure he had plenty of other women in his life, but Yaeko was the only one he truly loved. And if you have a heart already prone to anger then you'll be angry for a long time. Hiro was his only friend. Hiro made him a hero, then knocked him to his knees. The anger boiled up, to the point where he was only angry and vengeful at everyone, not just at Hiro.

Huum, I get what you're saying. I understand the writers' intent. Just doesn't ring true to me. Perhaps if he had had a thirty year passionate love affair with her and had written her sonnets and junk ... and then Hiro had taken her. A couple weeks or so with someone who happened to be around who he had to be told loved him? For me, not so much.

yeah, well it varies from person to person. I can sympathize with Adam. I get him.

Ok. Not only did he steal his princess, Hiro stopped him gaining power and Japan. He then was betrayed by the Company that he helped join together and was thrown into a cell to be kept there.

He has every right to be evil

I think that his anger was simply started by Hiro, and perhaps 400 years of going through crap (when he could have been the hero of japan, with a princess no less) would get tiresome. add the fact that the organization he started betrayed him (30 years in jail would suck, even with elle to keep him company ) and you get an angry person that wants to lash out. It is understandable, and that is what makes him a great villian. The best villians are always the ones with you can empathize with.

I agree with you Hart, wasn't his first responce to finding out he was unhurtable something about how rich this will make him, and oh, yeah, I can get the girl too. And she wasn't a princess, Hiro called her Princess Cherry Blossom, but she was not royalty, she was the swordmaker's daughtor, from a small village that hired Adam to protect them ala "The Seven Samari" and "The Magnificent Seven" or even "The Three Amigo's". He still could have gone on to be the hero of Japan, with or without Yeako (Princess Cherry Blossom).

I am actually more skeptical about HOW and WHY Adam Monroe got to Japan in the first place, and how he was able to survive there as a foreigner (none of the Japanese seemed to bat an eyelid over his obvious foreign-ness!)...

Perhaps he already had some evil schemes in mind even at that early part in history, and Hiro's betrayal made him flip totally...

He came on a merchant ship, and stayed.

Why wouldn't he be able to survive there as a foreigner? Do you get all freaked out when you see a person from a different country in your neighborhood? I would hope not! Most likely, you'd be more curious about them then hostile. I don't think the people of 17th century Japan were barbarians who killed anyone who didn't look like them, they were quite civilized actually, and thus, tolerant of foreigners.

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but your post shows little sense of context.

Merman would not get "freaked out" by a foreigner living in his neighborhood because he lives in the modern world where foreigners are common in almost every corner.

A Japanese person in 1671 would be "freaked out" by a foreigner, especially a white dude, walking around because they were practicing isolationism at the time.

From Wikipedia:

From 1641 to 1853, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan enforced a policy which it called sakoku. The policy prohibited foreign contact to any outside country. During this time, the culture of Japan developed in ways mostly free of influence from the outside world and had one of the longest stretches of peace in history; however, in the absence of modernization, Japan eventually fell prey to foreign powers, and the harsh regime of economic and military development that Japan subsequently imposed on itself worked to modernize and militarize Japanese society.

It has nothing to do with barbarism.

To this day, Japan is still not comaparatively tolerant of foreigners.

Back to the topic at hand...

I don't want to believe that Adam is still holding a grudge over Yaeko. That would be silly considering the extent of their relationship.

What I want to believe is that Adam was a fop and a nair-do-well prior to meeting Hiro, content to simply wander the countryside getting drunk and surviving off of his cons. At that point, he really could have gone either way. Meeting Hiro forced him to a cross-roads where he was just about set to become a selfless hero. However, because of Hiro's betrayal, Adam's learned to look out for Numero Uno, which over the years became a god-complex. He doesn't live his life to get revenge on Hiro, but if he can settle the score, he will. So in the end, Hiro just created the biggest wanker in history.

Anyway, that's how I want to look at it. We really won't know until Adam confronts Hiro and starts crying and whining about his love for his little Cherry Blossom Princess, then I stop watching the show.

That red part there... yeah, that was Adam. With all the guns destroyed, what could have stopped Adam from conquering Japan? Some samurai? No problem. An army? Sweet, he didn't have any plans that day...

Did anyone else know that Heroes was a true story? Some of it's in real time, but they gave Hiro Nakamura a HD-Cam and he just jumps around the world and through time re-filming everything that happened to him. Strange that the writers strike is affecting what is in effect a Reality show...

Remember Claude's concerns about the vivisections going on within the company. Surely they ripped Adam open numerous times during his 30 years in prison. Besides, 30 years in prison is plenty to be upset about in and of itself.

First of all, since it IS a television show, Adam can be as ****** off about that as he wants. I mean, they haven't really shown us any other bit of Adam's life, so we, as viewers, really only have Hiro's betrayal to hang on to. The writer's wouldn't NOT let that be a huge factor in Adam's villainy.

Adam may be a lot older than 400 years. I've been thinking he may have got to Japan from a shipwreck. Assume for a moment that he was on a ship that was sunk in the Pacific. Maybe even burned and sunk by pirates. (Or maybe he himself was a pirate.) Eventually, since he doesn't drown, he will float ashore somewhere. If he went through sufficient trauma to forget most of his identity, learned to speak Japanese, had forgotten he could speak English until Hiro spoke it to him, etc ...

He could be Adam. That Adam. (Although in that case he should be four feet high and brown-skinned.) He could be Gilgamesh, too.

They were practicing isolationism at that point of time. I do believe it was the dutch who were allowed in for trading, but most of the time (even now) the children will cry when they see a white person. Its just that they are not used to us. My friend Jared taught over there for about a year and his first day one of the children burst into tears because they were just not used to seeing whitey.

after the 16th century is when the gaijin started coming into japan and eventually became hired as body gaurds and such.

I know it doesn't have to be historically accurate, it is a tv show. These things occasionally do annoy me, but whatever. David Anders got in on his good looks. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

Also, it would be dang cool if Adam was THE Adam. But I HIGHLY doubt that would occur.

I doubt Adam's sole reason for "saving the world" is revenge for Hiro. In fact, I doubt that has much to do with it. Like Bob said, he began to think of himself as a god.

That would be the point at which I stopped watching the show.

Adam seems to suffer from some megalamania. Anyone thwarting the least of his plans would be subject to his unending wrath. He seems the type to hold a 400 year long grudge.

I think that he isn't really upset about Yaeko anymore, (since she's dead now, and it's been 400 years) I think he has more hatred towards the company than anything. But, I think when Adam meets Hiro again, I definatley think there will be some tension (and by tension, I mean more sword clashing).

Just my opinion.

You mean that bit that happened after 1853?

I think that Adam is still upset that probably the only best friend he had betrayed him and can't wait for his revenge. I also think that when Adam started the Company, he had some good intentions at first. With everyone who had powers at the Company at his disposal, he was able to do some good around the world. I believe that through manipulation, everyone did exactly as he said. When he realized how much power he really had control of, he did gain a God complex and made a turn for the worse. That's when the original 12 decided to betray him and lock him up in the cell. Probably after that the 12 went their separate ways while the remnants of the Company pursued it's own interests.

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If we can assume that Adam's healing protects him from poison as well as physical trauma, one wonders how alcohol would have any pleasure for him. The anoxia of imbibing is the stimulus for the endorphin production, and his healing would render the booze as useless as water as a toxin. One would think. So Adam as a sodden drunkard, so drunk that he is unconscious and Hiro must take his role for one episode, is out of keeping with his healing power.

Wolverine is a model for that power, and he is unaffected by alcohol or tobacco.

It’s possible that the first time Adam’s power manifested was when he got hit by the arrows. That would explain why he was so shocked and frightened when his wounds healed. If his powers manifested when he was young then I’m pretty sure he would have noticed it ages ago. So I think, his powers hasn’t manifested yet during those times that he was drunk. Remember, Claire couldn’t heal before. Her powers started to manifest when she 16 (or was it 15) when she had a terrible wound. The scene with Jackie, the cheerleading uniform and broken glass, remember? So Adam, might have been the same. It’s like the terrible injuries he received from the arrows activated his powers. Who knows right?