[5] The season premiered on September 22, 2008 in the United States on NBC and on Global in Canada, with a one-hour clip-show and two regular episodes.

Some of them join forces with Arthur Petrelli (Robert Forster) (Peter's and Nathan's father) at Pinehearst Company, who wants to find a formula that gives ordinary people abilities in order to make the world a better place.

Character arcs involve Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) discovering her origins, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) trying to decide his loyalties, Peter losing his ability, Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) giving himself an ability, and Hiro Nakamura's (Masi Oka) discovery of a family secret.

After the destruction of Primatech and Pinehearst, the heroes attempt to lead normal lives until Nathan tells the President of the United States (Michael Dorn) about people with abilities, and runs a government force, headed by Emile Danko (Željko Ivanek), to round them up.

Micah Sanders (Noah Gray-Cabey), posing as "Rebel", starts to help people with abilities hide from the government.