Theory:Exposed future

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The following fan theories are about exposed future.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
The "exposed future" is not avoidable this time.	None.	+ Future Peter has changed too much in the past, unlike Future Hiro and thus made it impossible to correct everything. - Changing the past is what could prevent the "exposed future". - Hiro and Peter have been able to change the past before. • Maybe they will realize that every time they change the future the next one is worse. + In the very beginning of Heroes, it was said that the evolved humans "will not only save the world, but change it forever". It's just the matter of time when people discover that there are special individuals among them, but the world will be saved, not destroyed. It's Heroes, you know. + The future that Future Peter was originally from was a future in which evolved humans were hunted down and persecuted. Although the future changed to a future where abilities were commonplace after Future Peter shot Nathan, the original "exposed future" still will come to be, since Nathan has alerted the President to the existence of evolved humans and has turned in many names to him. - Peter notes that the formula is one of problems with the original exposed future.
Noah Gray is the child of Sylar and Elle Bishop.	None.	+ Sylar and Elle could bond over having problems dealing with their powers, as they did in the present day. - Elle also died in the present day. + Sylar and Elle might have produced Noah the child in an alternate timeline, a timeline where Elle didn't die. After all, Sylar only reverted back to his old self after Peter interfered in the events that took place.
Noah Gray's mother is Sandra Bennet.	None.	+ The Grays are living at the Bennet house in Costa Verde. + Maybe Noah Bennet dies and Sandra discovers that she was pregnant and later dies in child birth. - Sandra has never had an intimate moment with Sylar, not even a non-consensual one. + This theory suggests that Sylar is Noah's adoptive father.
Peter is the source of the explosion.	Peter has already exploded once in How to Stop an Exploding Man.	+ Peter absorbs lots of powers and being part of an army of powered people might overload him. + Peter has been directly tied to three bad futures: the "explosion future," the "outbreak future," and the "exposed future." - Future Peter was killed by Future Claire.
Peter is a catalyst for time's rifts.	All the dark futures have been indirectly Peter's fault.	+ In the "explosion future," Peter is set to explode (How to Stop an Exploding Man). + In the "outbreak future," Peter assisted Adam in releasing the virus (Powerless). + Future Peter's interference with the past (The Butterfly Effect) seems to have caused the "exposed future". - Future Peter came from the original "exposed future".
The "exposed future" is going to happen anyway, no matter how many heroes try to stop it, and even because they are trying to stop it.	None.	+ After Hiro watched his death by the hands of Future Ando, he started acting coldly with Present Ando. Because of that, the two of them almost ended their partnership, which could be one of the reasons which led Future Ando into killing Future Hiro. - Ando seems to have regained Hiro's trust. + After Sylar's attack, a consequence of Future Peter's actions to stop the "exposed future", Claire starts to search for answers, and she's getting very close to Pinehearst. Future Claire was a Pinehearst agent. - Pinehearst seems to have been destroyed; it is doubtful Claire will work for it. + After seeing Sylar in her dream, Angela brought him to the Company and led him to believe he could be a better man. Future Sylar was a normal guy trying to control his dangerous ability. - Angela's dream is very different from the "exposed future". In the "exposed future," Hiro is killed with Ando's ability, Peter is killed with Claire's gun, and Claire lives to adulthood. + It was confirmed that the future Hiro visited, the one Peter visited and the one Angela dreamed with are the same by a BTE interview. - Sylar being a good guy is probably not a defining part of the "exposed future". - Sylar has returned to his murderous ways. - Sylar is dead, and his body might have been destroyed by the fire. + Sylar's attack to the Company, a consequence of Future Peter's actions to stop the "exposed future," ended up with the escape of several evolved humans of Level 5, Knox among them. Afterwards, Knox started working at Pinehearst. Future Knox worked for Pinehearst. - Knox working for Pinehearst is probably not a defining part of the "exposed future". - Knox is dead.
Peter and Hiro must work together to stop the "exposed future".	None.	+ Hiro and Peter went to the future separately, but both saw the "exposed future", indicating that neither stopped the "exposed future" without the other. - Both Peter and Hiro have lost their powers. + You don't need powers to be a hero. + Peter has regained his powers. • Peter's restored power has yet to be confirmed to be empathic mimicry.
Sylar took Claire's ability in Future Peter's timeline.	None.	- Angela blames this on Future Peter. - Future Peter did not point out that it would have happened anyway. + In this timeline, Claire practically quotes Sylar, saying she's "different" and "special". + In this timeline, Claire works for Pinehearst. The writers say that seeing Peter fall out the window "averted or delayed" Future Claire's employment by Pinehearst. This suggests that Future Claire's recruitment happened when she and Elle came to the Pinehearst building, which they did because Claire had lost control of her ability when Sylar attacked her. - This could also suggest that Future Claire was recruited at some other point, but crossing paths with Peter's incident prevented this. + In the I Am Become Death timeline, Future Claire works for Pinehearst, even though she had reason to go to Pinehearst with Elle. - It could be both that Claire going to Pinehearst was caused by Future Peter's intervention, and that Peter's incident at Pinehearst was caused by his knowledge of the future.
In the "exposed future", the planet will be shattered by an evolved human with the power of earth manipulation.	In the "exposed future," as seen in I Am Become Death, we saw a newspaper which said, "Man causes earthquake in Australia", killing hundreds of thousands.	+ It will require a tremendous power to split the whole planet in pieces. An ability like earth manipulation would do the trick. - Not even the most destructive ability introduced so far has caused enough damage to destroy a planet. + That's because Stephen Canfield wasn't a villain. If he were, he could have inflicted far more terrible harm than killing a man once in his lifetime. + He would gain nothing by destroying the planet. • Peter and Ted Sprague had induced radioactivity and used to lose control over it, thus putting towns and cities in danger. If the same happened to Canfield, his ability would be powerful enough to destroy the world - but not in the predicted way. • Stephen had a control index of 60%, a good one compared to Ted (12%) and Peter (27%), though not as good as Sylar (76%).
If Hiro (or anyone with space-time manipulation) decided to go to the past to change the future so the world wouldn't explode, his goal would be not to let Sylar take Claire's ability - again.	None.	+ If Sylar hadn't obtained regeneration, he would never dare to assault Primatech. Thus the twelve villains would be never unleashed. • With Arthur dead and Hiro powerless, there are no more known characters with space-time manipulation. • Peter will probably be able to remember Hiro if he takes the formula, and gain space-time manipulation.
In 2011, world destruction will be inevitable. Even if they stop this future from coming true, there will always be something new.	None.	+ In both the explosion future and the exposed future, 2011 is dark. No matter how many times they save the world, something else happens. Maybe they just can't fight the future. - In the explosion future, the world wasn't destroyed. + In the explosion future the world may not have been physically destroyed, but New York was destroyed, the president was a psycho killer, not to mention every evolved human was going to be murdered, it's possible to call that pretty dire. In the Outbreak future, 2011 was not a noted time, however by that time, the world must have been wiped out. 2011 doesn’t look good. • All disasters stem from the same source - the evolved humans.
The "Exposed Future" happens now in a similar way.	None	+ Nathan "exposed" the evolved humans at the beginning of Fugitives. - The formula has been destroyed. + It wasn't destroyed before a number of humans received it. One of these powers could be the cause of the world exploding. + Nathan has convinced the government to conduct a program that could cause a similar 'war' as anticipated by Pinehearst's augmentation of marines.
The exposed future was prevented by Future Peter shooting Nathan, changing the future to that where everyone has abilities and the world explodes. The destruction of the formula, death of Arthur and Nathan's turn have caused the future to change back to where the "specials" are exposed and hunted.	None.	+ Angela tells Future Peter that he is causing a butterfly effect, making a worse future. • The future changed multiple times in Volume 3 by the acts of time travellers. - Future Peter notes that one of the problems with the original exposed future is the formula. • Future Peter never said any such thing.