In 2012, the song was featured in the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Its first heard on a pick-up truck radio by the main characters, the song is important to both "flying through the tunnel" scenes and played over the closing credits. The main character Charlie affectionately refers to it as the "Tunnel Song" due to not knowing the actual title.
In the days following Bowie's death in January 2016, the song was streamed on Spotify more than any other Bowie song.
Rolling Stone named the song the 46th greatest ever, and NME named it the 15th greatest. Bowie scholar David Buckley has written that "Heroes" "is perhaps pop's definitive statement of the potential triumph of the human spirit over adversity."
The music video was filmed and released in 1977, before the creation of MTV.
The sight of the song's producer Tony Visconti embracing his girlfriend by the Berlin Wall inspired the song's lyrics.