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Becoming a Super Hero Fugitive with Masi Oka of Heroes
by Troy Rogers
 NBC's Heroes makes its third season return on Monday, February 2 as our favorite TV super heroes come back as "fugitives" in Volume Four: Chapter One called "A Clear and Present Danger". Much has happened after the explosive action at Pinehurst and Primatech as the heroes attempt to move on from the past, with Hiro caught in a mortal circumstance and needs to lean on Ando (James Kyson Lee) in a super capacity. After surviving the run of villains, the third season of Heroes opens the fourth chapter in which we'll see many of the heroes become fugitives.
With Heroes set to return to continue Season 3: Volume Four, we called upon our super human ability to throw our voices through the invisible phone lines to join a conference call with Hiro Nakamura actor Masi Oka to talk about losing his powers, how it would affect him if he actually had a power, why we haven't seen more of his own real life Kendo abilities, and the philosophy of being a super hero as he becomes more of a teacher when the season returns.
THE DEADBOLT: If you had Hiro’s power, how would it affect you if you suddenly lost it?
 MASI OKA: I would be bummed, without a doubt. Hiro kind of takes it in stride and I think deep down inside he’s bummed. But he’s always an excerptor of destiny so he realizes that this is fate, this is destiny. He had his chance so he’s kind of going back. He’s okay with it, at least first. I don’t know, it would be kind of sad. Once you’re used to doing something, it’s difficult to adjust to life. But, at the same time, you know it’s how life goes and I guess you just have to adjust to it.
And in many ways that’s what’s happening with the world right now. Many people who were financially stable, because of the economic crisis, all of a sudden might find themselves without hope and stuff. And even with us, in many ways we’re very fortunate to be working right now - next year, two years, whatever from now - it’s possible that we’re completely yanked off and I won’t be having this press conference with anybody [laughs]. So it happens to us all of the time whether it’s power or not. So I think the important thing is just to chin-up and realize this is a new situation and now we must adjust.
THE DEADBOLT: Have you or the writers tried to incorporate more of your real life Kendo skills into Hiro?
OKA: You know, we’ve been trying to. We did a lot of that in season one. I’m not sure what the reason is for the decline in a lot of sword play. I’ve been trying to put it in there as much as I can. But unfortunately we faced a little bit of a budget cut last season and we couldn’t afford a sword and I had to fight with a French bread.
THE DEADBOLT: That’s not the same thing.
 OKA: Not quite the same. A stale French bread just has nothing to it but hopefully there will be more. I haven’t been able to do it but I’m hoping that the writers definitely put more in there because it was definitely a lot of fun.
THE DEADBOLT: Now that Hiro is trying to teach Ando to become a true super hero, does that involve his Red Lightning? Or is it something else?
OKA: Well, I think being a hero in Hiro’s mind is a philosophy. It’s like sticking to the super hero bible of doing things to save the world, sacrificing yourself for others, and never using your power for your own personal gain. So I think it’s trying to teach him that philosophy whether it’s a super charging power, the Red Lightning, or helping other people. That’s part of it and I think that’s what Hiro is trying to ingrain in Ando, who’s been very helpful to Hiro. But he needs to get him more open to helping other people.
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