It might not be the Baxter Building, The Fortress of Solitude or the digs of the Justice League. But when it comes to seeing the superheroes of tv, there’s no better place to be than at the Director’s Guild in Hollywood.

For a precious few nights, this glass mini-tower serves as the home of the William S. Paley Television Festival, an event sponsored by The Museum of Television and Radio that’s honored every show from the iconic (“The Twilight Zone”) to the currently popular (“Battlestar Galactica”), with such video luminaries as Mary Tyler Moore, William Shatner and Seth Green in attendance. An hour-long screening of the highlighted show begins the event, followed by another hour of moderated questions that can range from the sycophantic (George Lucas) to the hilariously outrageous (Trey Parker and Matt Stone)- with the audience q & a just as mind-numbing or out-of-control.

But no matter how the event plays out, the MTR knows how to pick ‘em. And with evenings this year dedicated to “American Idol, “The Office,” “Ugly Betty” and “The Simpsons,” nearly every night of the 2007 Paley Fest sold out within minutes (much to the ire of shut-out members who joined the MTR specifically to get the tickets). And no Paley panel is hotter than this particular evening. Indeed, perhaps no Fest program has seen such a truly high-powered assemblage like this Saturday night that’s devoted to NBC’s red-hot “Heroes.”

Delivering a superhero soap opera that’s far more engrossing than many bigscreen counterparts, “Heroes”’ slowly-unraveling saga of X-people has become NBC’s biggest hit, drawing both comic book geeks and regular viewers. And like such other popular tv serials as “The X-Files,” “Lost” and “Battlestar Galactica,” “Heroes” throws its cosmically connected characters into a suspensefully slow (sometimes painfully so), evolving saga. And as the show nears the end of its first season, we’ve been enthralled to see how such characters as the invulnerable cheerleader, time-holding nerd, flying politician, super parasite, mind-reading cop and split-personality killer will unite for what might be doomsday.

Thankfully, fans in the DGA don’t have to wait for Heroes- The Gathering, as nearly every one of the show’s avengers have been packed onto the stage. Among the eleven are Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Adrian Pasdar (Peter Petrelli), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Ali Larter (Niki Sanders), Leonard Roberts (D.L. Hawkins), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah Sanders), Santiago Cabrera (Isaac Mendez), Greg Gunberg (Matt Parkman), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet) and series creator Tim Kring.

Every Paley event begins with a “specially chosen clip” that somehow relates to the show at hand. And in “Heroes”’ case, it was a creaky educational film that showed a rat haplessly navigating a maze. But when injected with pituitary gland liquid, the animal quickly accomplished the task with super-rat speed. Could this be a secret clue that our heroes have actually been created by nefarious scientists- the “human genome project” masking chemically created super beings? I have a feeling we’ll find out sooner than later.

When it comes to the main visual attraction, the Paley fest usually offers an episode that will be airing after the event, usually in the next week. But with over a month for the next “Heroes” to air, we were treated to a repeat of “Homecoming,” where the “Save the cheerleader, save the world” storyline was paid off. But knowing this would be anti-climactic, Kring treated the audience to a vital clip between Linderman and Nathan Petrelli from episode #19, which will on April 23. Tune in to the end of this article for spoilers.

After this clip, eleven heroes and their mastermind emerged, all obviously happy to be in the DGA’s huge, sold-out screening room. There was a lot of superhero love in the air, all of it with the genuine camaraderie, and chemistry that distinguishes the show. But perhaps most eye-catching of all was high school “cheerleader” Hayden Panettiere in a leg-revealing dress. It was enough to make you feel like a perv, as the constantly hilarious Greg Gunberg was quick to point out- no mind reading power required for the comment.

And now, here are factoids from the hour long Q & A that delivered the goods, all while leaving more than enough cliffhangers to make us tune in, a formula that’s worked for “Heroes” in spades.

THE AUDITION PROCESS

-          “It was a new process for me, because I’ve never played a character like that,” says Ali Larter of Niki’s homicidal dual identity.” Despite auditioning with a super-villain case of stomach flu, Larter got the part.

-          “I auditioned for ‘Heroes,’ and it turned out to be ‘Survivor,’ remarked Adrian Pasdar on the cast’s continued nervousness whether they’ll meet as nasty, show-ending fate- something that only Kring knows for sure. And he ain’t telling. Both Pasdar and his tv brother Ventimiglia were among the last actors to audition for the Petrelli brothers.

-          Tim Kring may have wanted a translator when Masi Oka auditioned for Hiro in perfect Japanese. Oka also suspected that Kring’s Japanese skills were a bit off when he read how Hiro was supposed to yell “Bonsai!”- Japanese for the small trees that Mr. Miyagi groomed so well. But when the scene was shot, Oka nervously approached Kring and said, “I don’t want to be a Prima Donna. But I think the word you’re looking for here is “Banzai!” Oka was, of course, correct.

-          Greg Gunberg originally auditioned for Peter Petrelli, as his mind-reading cop didn’t exist yet. “I couldn’t have been less right for Peter” Gunberg laughed. And despite his “awful” audition, Kring had a feeling that Gunberg would be just right for the cop character he was working on. “I got an immediate hit for him to play the part,” Kring chuckled.

-          Mr. Bennet was only a guest-starring part, instead of a series regular when Jack Coleman auditioned for him- in “Coke Bottle glasses” no less. Thankfully, his company man would become a regular, and perhaps the show’s most complex and interesting character.

-          In yet another case of audition for a phantom character, “Heroes” narrator Mohinder Suresh didn’t exist when Sendhil Ramamurthy walked in to audition for the part of the 55 year-old genealogist Chandra (later to be played by Erick Avari). “I figured they were brining me in for giggles,” Ramamurthy said. “But I think that Tim saw the potential for the mythology of making the part into his son Mohinder. It gave the show the angle of a son trying to find out why his father was killed, and how he could avenge his death.” Let’s hope he does a better job of it, given the cliffhanger that finds Mohinder come up decidedly short against Sylar.

SUPER POWERS

-          Kring described his idea for the Heroes’ various powers as coming out of “who the characters are, and what they desire.” In the case of Nikki, it’s a woman who wants to be in two places at one time- leading to the personality split. For Hiro, it’s a worker bee trapped in an office cubicle- a place that anyone would want to teleport out of.

NOT “LOST” HERE

-          When pointed out just how much “Heroes” is head-above-water in its revelations when compared to the molasses-like progression of “Lost”’s plot twists, Kring commented “Because we have a much bigger premise, I could maneuver ‘Heroes’ in a slightly different way which allows us to avoid those pitfalls.”

-          Kring was well aware of how “Heroes” could climax prematurely, and was sure to keep the story anticipation going while allowing for some answers. “If you know where you’re going, you’ll eat through story quickly. So I try not to.”

-          “It’s like trying to do an “X-Men” movie 20 times, and always trying to do something new with each episode,” says the wonderfully giggly Panettiere, whom refers to her cheerleader as “meat” - especially given Claire’s penchant for self-immolation.

A BIT OF THE OLD ULTRA-VIOLENCE

-          Ironically, Steven Spielberg, the man who helped create the PG-13 rating when he ripped out a heart for “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” was one of the “concerned parents” who complained in the press about “Heroes” jarring gore. He was at least visually right, as the show’s early shots of brainless heads would be right at home in “Re-Animator.” “We put the shows together late, and the makeup and sound effects people always go for the gore. So I don’t see the end result until right before the shows aired,” Kring said. “I didn’t realize how many parents with kids were watching ‘Heroes.’ And we realized that we had to pick and choose those violent moments in future shows.”

CHARACTER BITS

-          “Mr. Bennet did have a first name, but it stopped the scene dead when I said it,” remarked Coleman. Don’t try to freeze-frame his character’s license either. It just reads “Bennett.” “The name’s probably an acronym anyways,” Coleman says.

-          The future-seeing artist Isaac Mendez originally had his hand cut off in the pilot. “It was such a giant injury that I didn’t think the character would be able to do anything else,” said Kring. The hand stayed, as did the character, whose work gives “Heroes” its biggest brush stroke to the comic book crowd.

“HEROES”’ END?

-          “The realism is that every show will be cancelled,” says Ventimiglia when asked if the show will end, possibly without revealing its secrets- something that the questioner figured might happen to “Lost.” But Kring gave a mightily reassuring answer, describing how each season of “Heroes” will be given a story arch that will satisfactorily wrap-up the big cliffhanger at hand. In the case of season one, this is the big bang that potentially wipes out New York and Peter Petrelli along with it. “We’ll go into season two with different bad guys and ideas,” Kring continued. “So any viewer will be able to watch ‘Heroes’ and jump off at the end of a self-contained season.”

THE CLIFFHANGER, AND SPOILERS AHOY.

“Heroes” resumes (after way too long a wait) on April 23^rd, with five shows left to take us to the season finale – sans any pit stops. And the one scene that fans were treated to from Episode #19 goes a long way towards explaining Mr. Linderman’s nefarious plans.

Taking place after Nathan Petrelli decides that it would be more advantageous to take Linderman’s offer of political power, as opposed to shooting him. The kingpin then gives his protégé a tour of Isaac’s future painting gallery. As Linderman explains it, the art is a “road map to a brighter future,” even if that brightness means an atomic blast. Linderman then reveals that he has a secret power himself, as did his friends when they fought evil together.

Evidently, the heroes have been around for much longer than we’ve thought. And despite his outwardly evil actions, Linderman is doing his darndest to paint himself as a do-gooder whose allies turned against him. Now the explosion he’s helping to engineer will clean the slate for a new future- a criminal master plan that puts Linderman into James Bond super villain status.

But that’s not the scene’s kicker, which occurs when Linderman unveils a painting of Nathan in the Oval Office, an American flag by his side. Knowing that the explosion will also mean the end of his brother, Nathan asks when Peter will meet his dream-foretold doom. “The curtain will come the day after you’re elected,” Linderman dryly responds.

I can’t wait to tune in on the 23^rd. But thanks to this terrific Paley event, the wait will be just a bit easier. It was probably the next best thing to being a fly on the wall of a particularly fun meeting of The Justice League.