History Main / PowerCopying

* In ''Manga/SoulHunter'', Youzen is a master of [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]], and can copy someone else's power by taking their appearance. This even include imitating the power of their paopei, the sennin's magical weapons, even if he don't posses it himself. He can replicate anyone he have observed enough or met before no mather how far they are, and switch from one form to another, and thus from one power to another, in a split-second. This make him extremely versatile. However, even if he can take the appearance of someone stronger than him, he cannot imitate their strength and trying to use their power will quickly drain his energy.

* In the AlternateUniverse ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' fic ''{{Fanfic/Luminosity}}'', Addy can, upon physical contact, perfectly replicate the powers of any person with special abilities (called "witches"). She can only hold one at a time, however. And it's involuntary, so plans made expecting to oppose her generally involve finding a way to get her to bump into someone whose power she can't exploit.

* ''VideoGame/DistortedTravesty 3'': After the protagonists [[BagOfSpilling lose all the abilities they originally had]], they begin gaining new ones by copying powersets from other gaming heroes. Both get [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario's and Luigi's]] jumping power, Jerry gets [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Link's]] and (ironically enough) [[VideoGame/MegaManX Mega Man X's]] abilities, while Claire gets [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaI Belmont's]] and [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus's]] powersets. [[spoiler:Originally, they thought the video game characters were just merging with them until the crisis had passed... but it turns out that those characters gave up their lives and souls to pass on those abilities, and are never coming back.]]

** The King of the Chimera Ants, Meruem, is able to manifest and upgrade the powers of the Nen users [[CannibalismSuperpower he eats]]. He shows this after [[DevourtheDragon ingesting his Royal Guards bodies]] in the form of energy, as he is able to manifest their powers in a much higher level.

* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': The Heroes of Lallor were a team of superheroes who occasionally appeared as allies of the Legion in the Pre-Crisis continuity. One of their members was Duplicate Boy, who was generally accepted to be the most powerful hero of that era, even when Pre-Crisis [[ComicBook/SuperBoy Superboy]] was around. The reason was that Duplicate Boy could copy the powers of any hero of whom he was even aware of, could retain any number of powers for as long as he wished, and could combine them in any fashion he wished. He once copied the powers of Legionnaire Dawnstar without ever having met her personally or even been on the same planet as her, he simply needed to know she existed and what her powers where and he could copy her. The only things that kept him from being a complete game breaker was that he had a very strong sense of fair play and was not very imaginative. His usual response was to copy an opponents abilities to fight them fairly, or simply copy Superboy's powers and deal with a threat in the most physically direct manner possible. Dealing with magic or copying someone with ridiculous amounts of power (such as Validus) can overtax him and knock him out, as well.

* The ''Characters/MidnightSons'' [[BatFamilyCrossover crossover]] ''Midnight Massacre'' has ComicBook/{{Blade}} of the Nightstalkers, in his quest against all occult, reading a certain page from the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Darkhold]] and turning into Switchblade the Demogorge, who obtains the powers of anyone he kills. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard This power proves to be his undoing]] when he kills Comicbook/GhostRider, and feels the power of his Penance Stare as he obtains it, buying enough time for Prof. Hastings of the Darkhold Redeemers to fix things up.]]

* Xane from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia'' can morph into any of your army member that is not a Manakete, thus gaining his/her stats as well as movement and weapon types. He is very weak and cannot attack when untransformed, however.

** Similarly, combining incompatible abilities can make result in a harmful, possibly fatal reaction in a user.

** Characters/PowerGirl, Characters/{{Zatanna}} and Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} once fought a villain named Manuel Carlito (Siphon) who had the ability to copy the powers of any magic user in his vicinity. If he stayed within their vicinity past three hours the powers he copied would permanently become his.

* The Midnight Sons [[BatFamilyCrossover crossover]] ''Midnight Massacre'' has Characters/{{Blade}} of the Nightstalkers, in his quest against all occult, reading a certain page from the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Darkhold]] and turning into Switchblade the Demogorge, who obtains the powers of anyone he kills. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard This power proves to be his undoing]] when he kills Comicbook/GhostRider, and feels the power of his Penance Stare as he obtains it, buying enough time for Prof. Hastings of the Darkhold Redeemers to fix things up.]]

** ''Manga/BattleTendency'': Kars, [[spoiler:after [[FromBadToWorse being powered up by the Red Stone of Aja and the Stone Mask]]]], becomes an all-powerful amalgamation of the DNA from every creature that's ever lived or ever ''will'' live on Earth, and this extends to allow him the use of Joseph's [[ThePowerOfTheSun Hamon]].
** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': [[VillainOfTheWeek Rubber Soul]] does this by using a fake, EvilKnockoff version of Hierophant Green alongside Yellow Temperance in his Kakyoin disguise. It gives him access to some of Hierophant Green's techniques, like the [[GemstoneAssault Emerald Splash]].

*** Defeating each of the [[spoiler: corrupted bounty hunters]] yields an upgrade based on their powers. [[spoiler: Rundas]] gives Ice Missiles, [[spoiler: Ghor]] gives the Plasma Beam (which is explicitly stated to be his main weapon), and [[spoiler: Gandrayda]] drops the Grapple Voltage.

* [[spoiler:Nanami]] from ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' can learn any technique she sees once, and master it if she's seen it twice. This isn't limited to martial arts techniques, either - things she's been able to copy include body-remodification, super-strength, and ''necromancy''.

* This is how [[spoiler: JK's]] power works in ''LightNovel/JKHaruIsASexWorkerInAnotherWorld'', although the actual mechanism of transfer is a little... squicky. [[spoiler: She absorbs a copy of all the magic abilities of any man who ejaculates inside her. She also gets credit for all the experience they currently have. So if she screws an old, experienced adventurer, she gets all his powers and a bazillion experience points. She hides this fact for quite some time until a friend is killed and she goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]] Given that this character is [[spoiler: a very popular prostitute in a city full of soldiers and adventurers]] it's definitely a ChosenOne[=/=]StoryBreakerPower level power.

* ''Duplicate Boy'' was a member of the Champions of Lallor from the time of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, and was generally accepted to be the most powerful hero of that era, even when Pre-Crisis Superboy was around. The reason was that Duplicate Boy could copy the powers of any hero of whom he was even aware of, could retain any number of powers for as long as he wished, and could combine them in any fashion he wished. He once copied the powers of Legionnaire Dawnstar without ever having met her personally or even been on the same planet as her, he simply needed to know she existed and what her powers where and he could copy her. The only things that kept him from being a complete game breaker was that he had a very strong sense of fair play and was not very imaginative. His usual response was to copy an opponents abilities to fight them fairly, or simply copy Superboy's powers and deal with a threat in the most physically direct manner possible. Dealing with magic or copying someone with ridiculous amounts of power (such as Validus) can overtax him and knock him out, as well.

* Revolver Ocelot from the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series falls squarely into this trope. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the supplemental material]], after merely witnessing a tactic on the battlefield, he can them use said tactic thereafter. This certainly explains his ludicrous skills with revolvers, but he is noticeably clumsier as his younger self in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', where Snake [[LampshadeHanging calls him out]] on using a tactic he's only heard about in battle.
** At the end of the game [[spoiler:he fights Snake hand-to-hand, and uses CQC moves ''seconds'' after Snake uses them on him]].

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' has that and the Drive Forms. Each form's fighting style is a reflection of the person from whom the form is derived:

* The version of [=AMAZO=] from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' is a master of this. By the end, he's got [[WingedHumanoid wings]] and a [[DropTheHammer mace]], reflecting bracers, a GreenLanternRing, SuperSpeed and EyeBeams. The only way to stop him was to ''give'' him another power: {{telepathy}}, so that he could learn that he was being manipulated by a bad guy. [[VictoryIsBoring He eventually got bored with his "opponents"]], and decided [[BlackAndWhiteMorality their conflicts]] were now [[AboveGoodAndEvil beneath]] him (as the android doesn't just copy powers, ''[[AdaptiveAbility it evolves]]''), and headed off into space in search of meaning. When it returned, Amazo was basically a [[PhysicalGod God]]. [[spoiler: Lex Luthor later wanted to make himself an android body to gain Godhood using the same blueprints as Amazo.]]

** [[Characters/GenerationHope Hope Summers]]has this power along with the ability to influence the mutants around her.

** While not an anniversary series like the previous two, the ''Series/{{Avataro Sentai DonBrothers}}'' can also transform into prior Rangers, much like the Gokaigers. In this case, their Ranger forms are portrayed as {{Digital Avatar}}s and they're just switching the avatar they're using.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', [[spoiler:Velvet Scarlatina]] has an ability that is a combination of this and DittoFighter. She can take pictures of other characters' weapons with [[spoiler:her camera]], then perfectly mimic their fighting styles, complete with HardLight copies of their weapons that are nearly as effective as the real thing. The primary limitation seems to be that she can only copy a given person once, before she needs to take another picture, and the copied weapons do not last very long. Needless to say, the scene where she first displays this power was [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome rather badass]]. Later material expands on the downsides that edge it into AwesomeButImpractical territory; her semblance allows her to mimic any fighting style she sees, but everyone has a unique weapon and fighting style to go with it. Her hard light holograms allow her to get any use out of it but the specific dust for it is very rare and the constructs aren't as strong as the original.

-->-- '''[[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]''', [[WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears Ruby-Spears animated series]] (1995)

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'': [[spoiler: Lila]] has this power, as she came from the same MassSuperEmpoweringEvent as the main characters. The show was very sly in revealing this, by having her spend most of her screentime with Diego, whose powers are the most subdued out of the siblings, thus she could just pass it off as mundane marksmanship. But when she fights the entire family, she matches their powers exactly. The only limitation is that she cannot use more than one power at a time.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Rensa can use the powers of the Level 5 espers and any esper within a 200 meter radius, but one at a time. She cannot copy a power that she cannot understand, like Gunha Sogiita's. It is pointed out that she can't use a power as well as the original because esper powers require vast computational skills. She adds that if an esper dies, she can't copy their power anymore. [[spoiler: When she tries to copy Touma's [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]], her arm blows up.]]

* The Adventurer class in ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'' has the unique ability to learn any skill that the user has seen and heard the name of. This includes forbidden skills like Drain Touch, which regular classes don't have access to. When Kazuma realizes this he decides to remain an Adventurer instead of changing to a stronger class, since it would prevent him from being able to learn whatever skills he wants.

* In ''Manga/ShuumatsuNoWalkureRecordOfRagnarok'' [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} the Biblical Adam]] is shown to have this ability. The passage Genesis 1:27 in which he's described to have been made in God's image is taken to mean he's [[SemiDivine a copy of]] [[AllMythsAreTrue the gods]] [[RageAgainstTheHeavens and as such, able to copy their abilities to use against them]].

* The ''Fanfic/SuperwomenOfEva'' series' initial heroine Spirit (real name: Hikari Horaki) -- whose superhero identity, unlike most of the others, is not based on a DC or Marvel character but rather an original idea created by [=Mike313=] -- has the ability to absorb angel DNA to acquire their powers in addition to her FlyingBrick and [[HealingFactor regenerative]] abilities. However, unusually for this trope, Hikari does not make use of this power much aside from her initial acquisition of Sachiel's ability to fire cross shaped energy blasts, which she has in every appearance as one of her trademark attacks (which is a lot; Spirit is probably the series' most frequent guest hero, appearing in multiple stories, by all 3 authors). Which means she's somewhat lacking in power compared to [[spoiler:Her evil counterpart, Rei III who has the power of many angels.]] She does, however, also take Bardiel's ability to take over Nerv weapons [[spoiler:which she uses to seal Rei III in bakelite]] in her title story, and in orionpax09's ''[[Fanfic/SOELilithsHerald Lilith's Herald]]'' (Rei as Marvel's Silver Surfer) Hikari accidentally takes Sahaquiel's ability to fire explosive projectiles of its own mass (in Spirit's case her feathers).
** In the latest chapter of ''[[Fanfic/SOELilithsHerald Lilith's Herald]]'' Spirit finally willingly makes use of this power and copies the powers of most of the previous Angels fought thus far through DNA samples Rei obtained for her, making her similar in power to her final foe in the Spirit story, although it manifested differently (that enemy mostly used its hands to wield its power while Spirit creates energy whips from her hair, and fires Ramiel's focused energy beams from her eyes). Conveniently the Angels that had no powers like the 6th (which was a big whale thing that just crashed into stuff) or the 8th (which just sat in a volcano doing nothing) were the ones Rei couldn't sample.

** Synch from ''ComicBook/GenerationX'', could copy the powers of any single superhuman within his radius, and more than once he was shown using borrowed powers better than their original owners, and he could use his power for lots of secondary effects like identifying and tracking other mutants. It's just that none of that helps him when faced with an entirely mundane threat like a bomb.
** Gen-X's archenemy Emplate could this too, by feeding on a mutant's marrow via the mouths in his hands. Unlike most others, however, he must do this to survive. Basically, he's a mutant vampire. His victims gain the same mouths on their hands he has, and the same compulsion to feed, also similar to [[OurVampiresAreDifferent certain vampire stories]].
** Mimic, on the other hand, need only be in the proximity of another superhuman. He gets a bonus, too: The main Marvel Universe Mimic has permanently taken on the powers of the original five X-Men in addition to this, and his ParallelUniverse double, the Exiles version, can hold any five powers at a time (though at half the original power level each).

** [[Characters/GenerationHope Hope Summers]], mutant messiah, has this power along with the ability to influence the mutants around her.

Despite this power's unpredictable nature, it can come with some steady RequiredSecondaryPowers that can a clever weilder can make use of. For instance, if the copying only requires proximity and not physical contact, they might be able to sense the presence of other superbeings even if that person is hiding, disguised, or otherwise keeping a low profile, which is also an easy way to deduce a SecretIdentity. And if they're part of a team, they can train in their teammates' abilities and provide backup-muscle in that teammate's specialty.

* Grimoire Stones in ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl'' can contain enemies' skills along with regular class skills.

** Power Copying is one of the abilities of the Vampire class. When they are targeted by certain monster abilities, they have a chance of learning them.
*** Returns in ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' with the Catmancer class, but with slight differences.

** Also Dmitrii from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'', who can copy ''Soma's'' magic souls by being hurt by them... However, it makes him a pathetically easy boss if you know what soul to use on him - he ''will'' copy that attack, no matter what it is, so making him use a weak and easily avoidable attack makes the battle a cakewalk. Later on, [[spoiler:it turns out that by having his soul absorbed by Soma, Dmitri was able to copy Soma's power of domination, at which point he becomes the game's GreaterScopeVillain]].

* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13451279/1/My-Hero-Academia-Mega-Izuku Mega Izuku]] is a {{crossover}} between ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' and ''Franchise/MegaMan'', where Izuku has a Quirk that allows him to transform his hands into guns - and also allows him to "copy" the Quirks of other people by either defeating them or having permission to do so, which gives him a new weapon that has a similar power.

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'': [[spoiler: Lila]] has this power, as she came from the same MassSuperEmpoweringEvent as the main characters. The show was very sly in revealing this, by having her spend most of her screentime with Diego, whose powers are the most subdued out of the siblings, thus she could just pass it off as mundane marksmanship. But when she fights the entire family, she matches their powers exactly.