Power Absorption

Power Absorption is the ability to steal the abilities of other evolved humans through physical contact, rendering them powerless.

Characters[]

Arthur Petrelli naturally possessed this ability. (Dying of the Light)
Tommy Clark naturally possessed this ability. (June 13th, Part Two)

Limits[]

Arthur Petrelli[]

With this ability, Arthur can remove the power of another evolved human by touching them. Arthur seems to gain immediate use of the stolen ability such as when he stole Adam's regeneration power and regenerated the damage to his nervous system and the hole in his throat from the tube placed there. Arthur can take multiple abilities at once from someone who has acquired multiple abilities. (Dying of the Light)

Firm physical contact seems to be necessary for this ability to work. Arthur hugged Peter to steal his abilities, and Knox forced Adam to place his hand in Arthur's grasp. However, skin-to-skin contact is apparently not required, as he absorbed Maya's power through her hospital gown and Hiro's power through his shirt.

When Arthur stole Adam's power, Adam rapidly died and decomposed due to the loss of the aging-suppression aspect of his power--his 400 years of age caught up with him in seconds. Peter suffered no obvious ill effects upon losing his abilities, although the process appeared to cause intense pain.

Arthur's use of this ability requires active concentration. He can choose to not steal abilities from an evolved human. Knox's hand brushed against Arthur's, yet no abilities were lost or gained. (Dying of the Light)

According to Arthur, the removal of abilities from a targeted evolved human is permanent (Eris Quod Sum), but they can, in fact, be at least partially restored. Matt Parkman Jr. partially restored Hiro's power, allowing him to stop time but not teleport (Cold Snap), and Peter Petrelli restored part of his power with the formula. Hiro's powers all eventually returned, but due to a brain tumor Hiro developed, he didn't have full control until his tumor was removed, showing that powers stolen can be fully returned.

All of the abilities Arthur stole made him so powerful that even the Haitian was only able to block him for a few minutes before he began to manifest his abilities again. Despite all of the abilities he has at his disposal, however, Arthur's stolen abilities otherwise still have their normal limitations. For example, a bullet through the back of his brain was able to kill him like it would anyone with regeneration,

Arthur seemingly uses his ability to take the catalyst from Hiro Nakamura. He later transfers the catalyst into the formula.

Tommy Clark[]

Arthur's great-grandson Tommy Clark inherited a version of this ability though his version is similar to Power Replication in that he can only keep one absorbed ability at a time.

Tommy possessed this ability from birth, absorbing his mother's regenerative abilities as she gave birth to him and his twin sister, resulting in her dying in childbirth. He later absorbed Hiro Nakamura's Space-Time Manipulation simply by being held by him, resulting in Hiro and Angela Petrelli separating the twins to allow Malina to keep her powers. (June 13th, Part Two) Once he got older and got a better control over his power, Tommy was able to touch Malina without absorbing her powers automatically. Angela mentions that they are older and their powers have "stabilized" by that point. (Project Reborn) Tommy is later able to teleport Phoebe Frady without absorbing her powers automatically as he did when he was a baby with Claire and Hiro. (11:53 to Odessa)

While he absorbed Hiro's power, Tommy showed a slightly different version of it, showing both the time travel and teleportation aspects, but only by touching the person or object he wishes to send, including himself and then the destination. (June 13th, Part Two) He also demonstrates the ability to freeze time once he learns that his power is beyond simple teleportation as he'd believed. (Sundae, Bloody Sundae) However, Tommy is shown to have a stronger version of Hiro's powers, with his mother telling him at one point that Hiro had told her that Tommy could do "far more" with Hiro's absorbed power than Hiro himself ever could. (Company Woman) Tommy later demonstrates an aspect of the power that Hiro himself could never perform: being in two places at once by splitting himself into two different Tommy's, both connected and both with the same powers. (Project Reborn)

Tommy has the ability to absorb his twin sister Malina's power of Elemental Control by holding hands with her. Without a conduit, they cannot safely channel the power, but unlike other powers Tommy absorbs, he only takes on Malina's while they are connected and does not lose his previously absorbed ability from taking it on. (Project Reborn)

Gallery[]

Other Examples[]

A prenatal Tommy absorbs Claire's ability to regenerate, making her nauseous, something she had never experienced since her powers developed. (Save the Cheerleader, Destroy the World, Chapter 24)

Quotes[]

"Ah, it feels good to breathe again."

- Arthur (Dying of the Light)

"You don't have your powers anymore, Peter... Because I have them now."

- Arthur to Peter (Dying of the Light)

"You're telling me all traces of Maya's ability have been removed from her system?"

"I take it all, and leave nothing behind."

- Mohinder, Arthur (Eris Quod Sum)

"I don't have my powers anymore, Nathan. Dad took 'em."

- Peter (Eris Quod Sum)

"You took my abilities."

"You gave me no choice, son."

"Are they gone forever?"

"Yes."

- Peter, Arthur (Eris Quod Sum)

Notes[]

In special feature "The Writers Forum" found on the Season 3 DVD, writers Tim Kring, Adam Armus, and Aron Eli Coleite reveal that Arthur's ability is a more developed form of Peter's Empathic Mimicry and they are actually different versions of the same ability.
It is possible that Peter absorbed this ability when he came into contact with his father (Dying of the Light). However, since he never used the ability, and since there have been other abilities that he was near and never absorbed, there is no conclusive evidence that Peter actually absorbed this ability.