Ability Absorption

Ability Absorption is ability to steal the ability / abilities of another evolved human.

Arthur Petrelli's Ability Absorption
With this ability, Arthur could remove the ability of another evo by touching them.

As shown in Dying of the Light, Arthur gained immediate use of the gained ability, such as when he stole Adam Monroe's rapid cell regeneration, Arthur regenerated the damage to his nervous system and the hole in his throat from the tube placed there within a few seconds.

Arthur could take multiple abilities at once from someone who has multiple abilities, as shown with Peter in Dying of the Light.

Physical contact is required for ability absorption to work. Arthur hugged Peter Petrelli to absorb his abilities, and Knox forced Adam's hand into Arthur's. However, skin-to-skin contact was not required, as Arthur could absorb Maya Herrera's poison emission through her hospital gown and Hiro Nakamura's space-time manipulation through his shirt in Our Father.

When Arthur stole Peter's abilities in Dying of the Light, Peter suffered no obvious ill effects, although the process appeared to cause intense pain.

As shown in Dying of the Light, Arthur doesn't absorb abilities upon contact, Knox's hand brushed against Arthur's, yet Knox retained his fear induced enhanced strength.

According to Arthur in Eris Quod Sum, the removal of abilities due to ability absorption is permanent. However, this has been proven incorrect as Matt Parkman, Jr.'s activation and deactivation partially restored Hiro's space-time manipulation, allowing him to just stop time. Hiro's space-time manipulation eventually fully returned, but due to a brain tumor Hiro developed, he didn't have full control until his tumor was removed, showing that stolen ability can be fully restored.

Due to all of the abilities Arthur absorbed as of Our Father, the Haitian was only able to block them for a few minutes before he began to manifest his abilities again.

Arthur's absorbed abilities still have their normal limitations. As shown in Our Father, a bullet through the back of his brain was able to kill him, like it would with anyone with rapid cell regeneration.

In Our Father, Arthur seemingly uses ability absorption to take the catalyst and Hiro's space-time manipulation from Hiro Nakamura. He later transfers the catalyst into the formula.

During the eclipse, Arthur was unable to use his Ability Absorption.

Arthur's Absorbed Abilities
It would make sense if Arthur absorbed all of Peter's (potentially) absorbed abilities, which would include:

Tommy Clark's Ability Absorption
Tommy Clark's ability absorption is more like ability replication, in that he can only hold one absorbed ability at a time.

Tommy manifested Ability Absorption at birth, absorbing Claire Bennet's rapid cell regeneration as she gave birth to him and his twin sister, resulting in her dying in childbirth.

Tommy 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.

As shown in Project Reborn, Tommy could absorb his twin sister Malina's power of elemental control by holding hands with her. Without a conduit, they couldn't safely channel the power, but unlike other powers Tommy absorbs, he only gained use of elemental control while he was holding Malina's hand and didn't lose his previously absorbed ability from taking it on.

Notable Users

 * Arthur Petrelli (deceased)
 * Tommy Clark

Similar Abilities

 * Ability Replication (the ability to replicate abilities without stealing them)
 * Empathic Mimicry (the ability to copy other abilities)