Power Parasite: Difference between revisions

Whatever the case, these villains are [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] enough to know that, if they can't beat 'em, ''be'' them. In direct defiance of the [[Superpower Lottery]], and through manipulating the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], these villains completely absorb, implant or outright steal someone elses' abilities as their own, giving them a better chance at fighting their enemies. Said new abilities may or may not have an affect on the overall health or mental condition to the villain in question. In terms of [[Playing with a Trope]], when your whole ability is to steal other abilities think of it as a Power Sponge, especially if it ends up like a black hole, but such examples are rare.

 

 

This is the [[Opposite Tropes]] of [[Super Empowering]]. More often than not, such an ability is a secret twist in the story, so these are '''Unmarked Spoilers'''.

{{examples}}

* ''[[Bleach]]'' takes an unusual twist by having the Power Parasite, Kugo Ginjo personally train [[The Hero]] to achieve a power (Fullbring) suitable for absorption to use as an upgrade. Upon accomplishing this, Ginjo gained a skeletal set of armor, along with the ability to grant upgrades to his fellow Fullbringers by slashing them with his sword.

** Aaroniero Arruruerie can absorb anyone into him, like Metastacia. Since Metastacia possessed Kaien Shiba at the time, Aaroniero also absorbed Kaien. He used Kaiens' face and his Zanpakuto to fight against Rukia.

** A lesser-level example is Danzo Shimura, who embedded several Sharingans on his arm and used pieces of Hashirama's DNA to get Izanagi.

* ''[[One Piece]]'': Marshall D. Teach is one of the stand-out cases, since he absorbed Whitebeard's Devil Fruit by using his own darkness/gravity powers. Especially notable since he's the ''first'' to ever achieve such a feat in the entire series, and it's treated '''very''' seriously. Worse still, two years later he's still at it, which means he (and probably his crew) more than likely has even more powers now.

 

* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' member [[X-Men/Characters/80s Members|Rogue]] has this as her superpower; depending on how long she touches a victim, it lasts from minutes to ''forever.'' In her first appearance, she got her [[Flying Brick]] ability by permanently absorbing it from [[Ms. Marvel]]. Since Rogue's power also absorbs memories and personality traits, it took Ms. M years to recover.

** The so-called Mutant Messiah [[X-Men/Characters/2000s Members|Hope]] has a similar power, being able to "borrow" (consent optional) the powers of other mutants.

* [[Depending on the Writer]], minor ''[[Iron Man]]'' villain the Controller can sometimes steal powers with his [[Mind Control]] technology; even then, it only works on psychic powers.

* ''[[Superman]]'' foe [[Meaningful Name|the Parasite]] has this as his shtick. It comes with a time limit, so he has to continuously drain a person's power to have it. In keeping with the "doesn't necessarily make them winners" aspect of this trope, he's not that dangerous (being defeatable by simply staying away from him does that) unless paired with other villains to back him up, and he'll betray them [[I Want Them Alive|if they suggest killing Superman]].

 

* The nerdlucks from ''[[Space Jam]]'' transform into the Monstars via this tactic; specifically, by stealing the talent from professional NBA players.

 

* In the ''[[Mistborn]]'' series this is what Hemalurgy does. By killing a person with a metal spike and implanting that spike in your own body, you can steal one Allomantic, Feruchemic, or human power from them. Some Hemalurgists, like the Steel Inquisitors, might have up to twenty spikes.

* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', Voldemort steals Dumbledore's wand by the last book. It's a lot more mundane than the other examples, but its effects were still deadly.

* In an example of this type of parasitism similar to the [[Stargate SG-1|example below]], the Yeerks from ''[[Animorphs]]'' will use other creatures as hosts for their specific abilities.

 

* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', this is what Peter Petrelli's power started as, and he qualifies as a Power Sponge.

** Gabriel Gray/Sylar is the archetypical ''Heroes'' example of this process, since most of the people he stole from wound up dead, as a result.

* The Goa'uld of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' fame could be considered a strange example of this, as while they can't steal powers ''directly,'' they can possess people who do have those powers. One villain, [[Magnificent Bastard|Ba'al,]] tried to do this with season ten villain Adria, who had god-like powers. Unfortunately, those same god-like powers prevented her from being taken as a host. This is also the reason why Goa'uld sometimes take hosts that aren't human- when they take Unas as hosts, they do so because the Unas are far tougher than humans, but their bodies are more difficult to control and repair.

 

* In ''[[Champions]]'', characters can obtain this ability by purchasing Power Transfer.

* Mayfair Games' ''[[DC Heroes]]'' used Power Drain for this ability.

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', this is called diablerie and considered the most serious crime a vampire can commit. Notably, it's also a form of [[Cannibalism Superpower]] which requires ''eating the soul'' of the target.

** In ''[[Birthright]]'' some of the raw [[In the Blood|bloodline]] strength, sometimes along with abilities, can be [[You Kill It, You Bought It|stolen by killing its carrier]] in specific ways, though the killer should have at least some of divine touch to begin with. Blood Abominations tend to be very, very powerful because by the time people knows of them, they usually already have slaughtered ''lots'' of "blooded" folk and chose bloodtheft as the road to power.

 

* Yuuki from ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'' is able to steal power [http://www.sgvy.com/archives/Edda12/Issue1/Page1.html from] [http://www.sgvy.com/archives/Edda12/Issue1/Page3.html Otsana] [http://www.sgvy.com/archives/Edda12/Issue4/Page1.html and] [http://www.sgvy.com/archives/Edda12/Issue4/Page2.html Shebi]

 

* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', the Meta steals the AIs and armor modifications of his fellow Freelancers, which provide the corresponding abilities ''to'' their Freelancers.

** Gets even worse in 9KnackeredSouls (A crossover fic between ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' and ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'') when it gets revealed he can drain the magical power of unicorns to restore himself and possibly even the life force of other ponies. [[Lightning Bruiser|As if he wasn't hard enough to take down already.]]

 

* Despite being the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Mega Manning]], the [[Ruby-Spears]] adaptation of ''[[Mega Man (animation)|Mega Man]]'' showed the Blue Bomber stealing the weapons of Robot Masters by touch, usually leaving them unable to use the same.

* [[Evil Counterpart]] Kevin 11 from ''[[Ben 10]]'' had this as his special ability, but never really took full advantage of it (except in an alternate future where he used it to become a combination of Sylar and Naraku) and even stopped using it entirely after his [[Heel Face Turn]]. Kevin's ''own'' evil counterpart, Aggregor, has the same ability and no qualms about using it.

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[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]