Hana Gitelman

Heroes character box
name = Hana Gitelman


caption =
actor = Stana Katic
debut = "Unexpected"
power(s) = Electronic reception / Cyberpathy
full name = Hana Gitelman

Hana Gitelman ( _he. חנה גיטלמן) is a fictional character introduced in a four-part arc of the "Heroes" graphic novels. She made small appearances in the series proper during "Unexpected" and "Five Years Gone", but has primarily featured in supplemental material. She is played by Stana Katic on the TV series.

Character's background

Origin

Hana is a third-generation Israeli soldier. Her grandmother fought in the resistance against Nazis, and her mother, Zahava, fought in the Six-Day War. Both died when a bus the three of them were traveling on was hijacked by Abd al-Hadi Ghanayem and driven off of a cliff (the Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 massacre). Hana survived, but was hospitalized while the funerals of her friends, mother, and grandmother took place. Afterwards, she was sent to a boarding school and a psychologist by her father. The psychologist's analysis cited that Hana had "abandonment issues" and "Asperger's Syndrome" and her time away at school only seemed to worsen this. Hana's anti-social behavior didn't mix well with trust exercises, which failed due to her fellow students disliking her. Eventually, Hana joined the army in hopes of becoming a paratrooper. Instead, she was given a "desk job" in Army Intelligence for Mossad [ [http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/novel_013.shtml Heroes ] ] because her commanding officer believed she only wanted vengeance. The comic confuses IDF Intelligence (Mod'iin), where it is possible a young recruit would serve, with Mossad, where it is extremely unlikely that a raw recruit would work during the time of IDF service. Her following series of promotions meant little to her, as she lamented her status as a soldier kept out of battle.

One night, while patrolling her base, Mr. Bennet approached her. She hesitated to shoot him, questioning if she was shooting him for security or revenge. During her moment of indecision, Bennet disarmed her and made a proposition.

Working for Mr. Bennet

Hana was taken to an unknown location in Alaska by Bennet, who had claimed that he was with the CIA. There, she was tested physically and mentally, ultimately resulting in the first significant manifestation of her powers. Hana displays an ability to mentally intercept electronic messages such as phone calls, text messages, e-mail, and the like. At first, she is unable to shut her power off, resulting in them bombarding her consciousness beyond her ability to withstand it. Bennet knocks her unconscious and she awakens weeks later. Bennet, at her bedside, realizes that she has been sending out the electronic message "Kadima" for some time while in her sleep. Bennet tells her that her vocal cords are dry after being asleep for so long, and she then begins consciously sending Bennet text messages to avoid talking, first explaining that "kadima" means "attack." (The word actually means "advance" or "go forward".) With this, Bennet tells her that she's ready for her first mission.

Hana is sent to spy on a base of operations for Dr. Henry Strauss, a scientist who developed a powerful killer bacterial formula. As Strauss prepares to sell his formula to the highest bidder, Hana waits outside, just close enough to intercept a message. Just as Bennet receives it, Hana is attacked by Strauss' guards and captured. Though she escapes the base's prison area, she's quickly confronted by soldiers and a tank on the outside.

Once confronted, Hana quickly says she's in the CIA, only to learn from her captors that there is no record of her being in that organization. They also tell her the numbers she provided were disconnected and the base in Alaska doesn't exist. After mulling over what went wrong in both her recent and distant past, Hana escapes.

Independent operations

After assuming the alias "Samantha", Hana lays low and begins seeking information about "the man in horn-rimmed glasses." Scorned and perhaps even blaming Bennet for her sudden manifestation of powers, Hana seeks to make him pay. Furthermore, she finds at least one other who shares her sentiment. She intercepts an electronic message in leet code from someone by the name of "TEDDYBEAR616". She is then seen driving away from Missoula, Montana, on a motorcycle.

She next appears at the cabin of Ted Sprague, who is behind the screen name and is also in hiding. Hana reveals her powers to him and suggests they team up. She suggests that her powers will allow them to find Bennet and his associates, at which point Ted can "nuke" them. She then turns the topic to the marks on their necks. Hana shows Ted data relating to the hypodermic needle used on them, and hopes Ted's old job in pharmaceuticals can help. Suddenly, Hana realizes that an army of operatives are coming for Ted. Hana leaves on her motorcycle, telling Ted he can contact her by sending an e-mail to "anyone".

They meet up again to contact an acquaintance of Ted's, Matt Parkman. Parkman is reluctant to join forces with them at first, but Ted convinces him. Ted and Matt agree to surprise Bennet at his home. Hana, however, leaves them to find Bennet's superiors. She follows a wireless signal she believes to be orders coming out of Odessa, Texas. On her way, she is distracted by the signal coming from a hotel room, possibly in Nevada. A child molestor was preparing to film an underage girl stripping, while 352 potential viewers watched live. Hana quickly stops the man and lets the girl go, then sends messages to law enforcement agencies around the United States. As she leaves the room and police officers enter, Hana notices that the signal from Odessa is gone. Still, she is actually somewhat relieved that she was sidetracked in this way.

Current activity

In the graphic novel "Family Man" [http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/downloads/Heroes_novel_023.pdf] Hana is shown to be driving across Route 66 when she receives a message from Mr. Bennet. He wants her to help him "shut it all down." She agrees.

Through the events of "War Buddies", [http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/downloads/Heroes_novel_024.pdf] [http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/downloads/Heroes_novel_025.pdf] a six-part series, it is revealed that Hana is unsure about her choice to help Mr. Bennet. She wonders whether she can trust him, but feels as if she has no other option. Bennet gives her one file to find that "would help [her] take down the entire kingdom." In order to get to it, Hana finds and sleeps with a man who has the appropriate level of clearance. She steals his swipe card, and retrieves the file from The Pentagon. As she reads the file, Hana discovers that there was a covert operation in Vietnam during 1968. Hana learns that the operation went awry and most of the team died, but the medic had the ability to heal others' wounds by touch. She learns through the file that the two survivors were Mr. Linderman and Nathan and Peter Petrelli's father. Hana breaks through Linderman's firewall and she learns that he has rigged the election so that Nathan Petrelli will win. She decides that she will unrig the election, but that she will need help from friends.

"The Death of Hana Gitelman"

Bennet manages to track Hana down and enlists her help in destroying one of two tracking systems, while he, Ted, and Parkman deal with the system in New York. After having an "End of the World" party, a celebration people in Tel Aviv have when the world is supposed to end the next day to live like there is no tomorrow, Hana travels to China to board a Shenzhou spacecraft, so she can shut down the tracking satellite. As she approaches the launch site, however, she finds herself surrounded by five guards.

Hana begins to fight the guards, as their commander arrives and calls them off. Hana was able to falsify credentials as an Israeli engineer who, at China's invitation, was already scheduled to join the flight crew. She takes her station in the spacecraft, and the flight commences. Once in orbit, Hana begins a scheduled spacewalk, taking the opportunity to find the tracking satellite. She attempts to issue a self-destruct command to the satellite, only to be infected by a computer virus. Dying, Hana launches herself to the satellite, manually disabling its systems. She rides the satellite into the atmosphere, where her body is incinerated on reentry. Hana survives, however, as a consciousness existing in computers. She is last seen chatting online with Micah Sanders. In later Graphic Novels, Hana and Richard Drucker plan the downfall of the Company, and both appear to be dead due to the deletion of the Company mainframe in The End of Hana and Drucker.

Online Activity

Hana also runs her own [http://www.samantha48616e61.com/ "Underground"] web page which you can secretly link to through the [http://www.primatechpaper.com/ Primatech Paper] website. The user name and password was given in her initial web comic.

Alternate future

"Note - The following information reveals an alternate reality in which New York City is destroyed by a nuclear explosion.."

In "Five Years Gone", those with special abilities are deemed threats to the rest of the world, and Hana is seen working with Mr. Bennet to protect evolved humans by changing their names and providing them with the means to cover up the fact that they have abilities. She is later killed by Matt Parkman who is now working as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Powers, abilities and resources

Hana has the ability to act as a living electronic transmitter and receiver, capable of intercepting and interpreting virtually any form of electronic signal and transmitting coherent signals of any type through thought alone. E-mail, text messages, and phone calls are all simple for her to receive and reproduce if necessary. Her range is implied to be around thirty feet at the time of her first spy mission. Her powers were awakened by mental and physical tests combined with repeated use of unknown drugs, sponsored by Mr. Bennet. Hana believes Mr. Bennet's tests were the cause of her powers.

Aside from her superhuman abilities, Hana's time as a soldier has rendered her capable of handling most types of firearms with ease and skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat. She was also an Army Intelligence officer in the Mossad for some time, and is well-trained in espionage and tactical planning.

Hana primarily travels using her personal motorcycle, as first seen in "Wireless" part 4.

Notes

*Her surname is misspelled as "Gittelman" in some of the graphic novels.

References