Isaac Mendez - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

Isaac has the power of precognition, which allows him to depict images of the future, usually while in a trance-like state. While in this state, his pupils and irises fade into light white color and he becomes unresponsively focused on painting the images in his mind. Very little context comes to Isaac when he sees the future. He can't tell anything about the people, places, or events involved beyond what he specifically sees at that moment. Thus, he is often surprised to find out weeks later what his work is actually depicting. Also due to the previous heroin use, Isaac was not able to clearly remember certain images after he painted them, as he stated in "Better Halves". It would seem that his precognitive abilities also augment his natural abilities as a painter, as Simone once complimented how much she appreciates the works he creates when he is high, and from the way Peter completed the unfinished portrait in "Hiros" when he first actively duplicated Isaac's power despite the latter having no innate talents whatsoever as a painter. It showed that Peter was painting an image he could partially see, so it could be suggested that Isaac's power allows one to trace an image from the future, rather than paint it from scratch

Originally, Isaac's powers were triggered by the use of heroin, and he was unable to use his powers without it. During the episode "Hiros", Peter Petrelli mimics Isaac's precognitive ability without the use of heroin to finish a picture when Isaac was out of drugs. A TV Guide article from early October, 2006, revealed that he would eventually try to find out if his power works without using heroin. In "Seven Minutes to Midnight", Isaac attempted just this, but was unsuccessful. He does so successfully in "Fallout", after relaxing and taking advice from Hiro Nakamura to concentrate. Neither Peter, nor Sylar, after acquiring Isaac's abilities, needed heroin to paint the future.

In "Distractions", it is revealed that it's possible for Isaac to paint specific people and places if he honed his powers. This honing skill is used to find Peter but Isaac thought it did not work when he drew what seemed to be random scenery when actually Peter was invisible at that location. As evidenced in the episode Isaac reveals that he can interpret his drawings far better than while on heroin.