I'm a faithful listener of the 10th Wonders Heroes Podcast and and a reliable poster on these boards but I've run into this continued reference and discussion of "Five Years Gone" as if were STILL the future to come.

Its not. The Future shown has been changed due to the change brought about by the Heroes in Seaon 1 as well as Season 2 (the Virus) and irrevocably in Season 3 by Sylar getting Clair's power.

However, needy, power hungry, over compensating Sylar,still is. The Future has changed. It is no longer inevitable he will become President. Yet, many still think he will.

I will grant you. Attempts maybe made by Sylar. He may even succeed for a short time. As recently as "An Invisible Thread" Sylar still has Presidential ambitions and he inhabits Nathan's body so he's at least partially there...all he needs is to run a successful election; keep the others "Heroes" at bay; recover his psyche from Matt Parkman shove it back into his own body. Simple.

Its not I don't believe Sylar won't continue to seek power over others. I just think he'll discover a more "organic" way to power then the ultimately unsatisfying fiction of having to pose as Nathan Petrelli to have any of the things he really wants.

Becoming President in the guise of Nathan would be Sylar's way of seeking not just authority and ultimate power but a sense of legitimacy and being both at the apex of American Society and controlling it. He would soon discover this is an illusion. The last three President's have had their legitimacy--unfairly or not--questioned. Inevitably Sylar may find himself as much as prisoner of the Office as he if HRG had him under lock and key. It would not full fill Sylar's desires for belonging--that is being an accepted, loving member of a ruling elite family. This is something he has only in his guise as Nathan Petrelli but not as himself. (This somewhat explains Sylar's change in attitude in Season 3. If you were a relatively, poor, alone, outcast, struggling to make a living in a city famous for catering to the rich, who finds yourself suddenly accepted into the bosom of the Rockefeller family, how would you feel? )

As President Sylar would not be seeing primarily to his own wants and desires but to those of powerful families and industries, the demands of State, and the American People. If he thought Virginia Grey was needy and demanding; Luke or Maya or Alejandro annoying, just wait till he has to deal with pesky old Congress the Courts , the News Media and the American People With constant demands on his time and an in ablity to wily nilly kill anyone who was frustrating him or even use his powers without having a revolt on his hands. Inevitably Sylar would quickly tire of the role and blow his own cover as Nathan.

To a superhuman with global dominating ambitions the Presidency is a small, cloistered figure-trapped in Washington. Not an all power mobile figure, who can pick up and go as he desires and do what he wants, when he wants.
But what about his command of the army, navy, airforce, hardware and people? Nukes, etc. He wouldn't want to give that up? Would he?

What is an army of mere humans and machines against an Army of Specials? Sylar could control the nukes through someone like Micah, he could destroy, freeze ships, planes other equipment with someone like Traci.

Should Sylar meet up with the Carnies and observe Samuel he would learn learn how to control whole groups of Specials. I'm not saying he and won't continue to collect powers like trinkets for himself--ones he finds fascinating or useful. I just think he'll learn to have some restraint, and discretion about what he takes and when.

As a head of an army of Specials, Lost Boys and Girls, Sylar (Luke, for example) would have to contend with fewer people, therefore fewer demands on himself as a result. If Sylar can have the same power as all the governments in the world with a few emotionally dependent Specials, wouldn't he?

Now you see where I'm going. Its what I've been saying since I began watching the show. With the right Specials Sylar could literally control the world, he could form a new society and put him at the head of it With a gang of lost boys and girls and Sylar could rule. As time went on, Sylar's courtiers would grow and grow up they would fear him and feel the need to hide their children, should another Peter or Sylar arise.

In the meantime, some Specials would arise band together to inevitably challenge him. At least I've shown that the Presidency is hardly, in the "Heroes", world the be all and end all of positions of power.

Still, Sylar may change or be further altered by circumstances or come to other conclusions, join or he may stop being Sylar, possibly temporarily or even suffer decapitation from a Future Rampaging Clair. My point is the Future is not going to be the one in "Five Years Gone" whatever happens.

it is true that the 'Five Years Gone' future went bye-bye with the stopping of the New York explosion, BUT a lot of 'futures' still come true in a round-about way ie Peter wasnt able to STOP exploding, Sylar HAS become Nathan, Future Peter always seems to have that scar etc

Matt Parkman and Sylar are forming a "friendship."

Here's the thing. I think it's fact that the "5 Years Gone" future has changed. Sure we're seeing some stuff sort of come to light. However it doesn't look like it's still heading in that direction overall. Some little things, yes but I don't think that's because they're making a conscious effort to follow that continuity. I think it's a result of the writers liking certain ideas and still writing in that fashion. That future is GONE. We've never really been told why Peter had the scar. The one true thing they've stuck to in "5 Years Gone" is Sylar posing as Nathan and becoming president. If anything, I believe they might still be heading down that path but not the same future we saw in 5 years gone. Well... Especially since that future had New York blowing up and Nathan/Sylar being there for the world. It also had a healthy bad ****** Hiro and we don't see them going in that direction, at least not at this point. I am totally on board with "Five Years Gone being Gone" - I think we can move past that and not get distracted with the references they're making either on purpose or accidentally.

As I was writing this I did start to think about what Samuel has said this volume. You can change 1 thing without affecting other things. Well, maybe Nathan taking Peter to the sky in "How to Stop an Exploding Man" didn't completely change "5 years gone" but it sure did change a majority of it. Again, the only thing still resembling that timeline is that Sylar can shapeshift. Nikki is gone, Hiro is not "tough confident Hiro" etc. - Once again, that future is Gone

In the 5YG future, Sylar was not a shapeshifter, it was illusion. He aquired it from Candice in that future. He never got that ability from her. He got a different ability, shapeshifting, from Kevin Martin. Shapeshifting and illusion are two different abilities. Hiro can sill become bada$$ as we saw and I think that's still in the cards. I think a lot of female fans are waiting for that as well. Also, I would not mind seeing Claire become her bada$$ self, but in a good way and not a villainous way, like we saw last season. It would also be interesting if in such a future her name became Claire Nakamura because she and Hiro tighed the knot

Well in many futures Nathan is President Isaac Mendez painted it then Sylar painted a twisted Self portrait of Sylathan, perhaps he foresaw New York being spared remember Sylar did not paint that. I do however believe that 5YG is gone but we will see because i really think that even if Sylar does resurface like Angela's dream suggested he wouldn't object to being nathan

I think this is another hint of things moving in the five years gone future's general direction. Obviously the exact details aren't going to be the same but some there will be certain similarities.

Don't forget that in this future Matt Parkman was working for "the president" as director of homeland security, basically his right hand man when it comes to controling the evolved human threat. If you think about it, Sylar impersonating Nathan (whether through illusion or shape-shifting) would definitely work on a great number of people, but there's no way he'd be able to decieve a skilled telepath for very long, especially when they work together so closely. He also witnesses "Nathan" phase through a solid door and pull F_Peter out without asking any questions as to how that's possible... This leads to the possibility that Matt was in fact aware of Sylar's deception and that the two have been working together for some time.

However, the theory breaks down slightly because F_Peter presumably also had access to Matt's ability (though he doesn't display it in that particular episode) but it's very possible that F_Peter never actually met in person with Sylar as Nathan and/or tried to probe his thoughts.