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"Every blow you strike is fueled by its motion, Toa... and the power of motion is mine to absorb. Hit me or my pet and you only make us stronger!"
Vezon, BIONICLE

Some devices, characters, Humongous Mecha and/or supernatural beings have the power to absorb Ki, Life Energy, Energy Weapons, and sometimes even Liquid Assets. The absorbed power may be part of a Charged Attack, it may be available to power the user's Tim Taylor Technology, it may be the result of an artificial Negative Space Wedgie, or the power may just be a specialized form of Deflector Shields.

The traditional Achilles' Heel of Energy Absorption users is Phlebotinum Overload. Particularly astute protagonists will think to Reverse Polarity and use the power as a substitute for Energy Weapons before it overloads....

Energy Absorption is usually, but not always, an example of Feed It with Fire. Compare and contrast with Adaptive Ability, which has a similar effect, but without the risk of Phlebotinum Overload. Also contrast Energy Donation, for when this goes in the opposite direction. See also Elemental Absorption when this is done with Elemental Powers. Rare Radiation-Immune Mutants may go beyond mere resistance and actually feed on or absorb radiation. See also Going to Give It More Energy when a person deliberately feeds one energy until they can't absorb anymore.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Black Clover:
    • Ladros has the ability to absorb other people's magic and re-emit it in the form of ki lasers or healing. He also learned how to forcibly disperse incoming magic into the air around him so he can absorb it at a pace he can handle, rendering him immune to the usual Phlebotinum Overload associated with this trope.
    • Charmy's Food Magic, which she switches to from Cotton Magic when she gets sufficiently angry, allows her to "eat" any magic she comes in contact with and add it to her own. Appropriately enough, her spirit companion changes from a sheep to a wolf during this switch, who has the same ability. Unlike Ladros, there is no known level in which she can overload herself; she has absorbed everything a Magic Knight Captain, empowered further by an elf, has thrown at her without slowing down, though it may be mitigated by her expending magic power via attacks at the same time she's absorbing it.
  • Bleach:
    • Nel can absorb Ceros by swallowing them and fire them back, enhanced by her own power.
    • Yumichika's true power is the ability to absorb the life force from his opponent, killing them. He can also use that absorbed energy to heal any injuries he might have in a form of Vampiric Draining.
    • Ukitake's shikai absorbs the attack of his opponents and fires it back with a little twist to make it hard for the opponent to predict the retaliatory strike.
    • Quincies use this to absorb ambient Mana and even steal it from their enemies in order to power their attacks.
    • The antagonist of the first OVA can absorb spiritual energy.
    • In the anime-only Invasion arc, this is Nozomi's true ability.
  • Buso Renkin: The special ability of the Sword Samurai X, the buso renkin of Shusui Hayasaka is to adsorb any energy-based attack with its blade and transfer the energy to the cord dangling from its hilt so that the wielder can make a short-range energy attack of their own. The author has said that he gave the weapon this ability because he was tired of seeing swords firing energy attacks.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • In Dragon Ball Z, Androids 19 and 20 could absorb energy with their hands. This included from people directly and energy blasts.
    • Yakon could suck up light and eat it, which included a Super Saiyan's Battle Aura.
    • In the anime, Majin Buu annihilated countless worlds before he was sealed by Supreme Kai Shin, and the life force of these worlds served to make him stronger, a fact he highlights in delight when facing Vegito with an enormous energy sphere.
      Super Buu: [after absorbing Gohan] Every time I have destroyed a planet, I have taken a piece of its energy with me. This orb is the culmination of eons of destruction. We're going to play catch, if this falls to the ground, you can say goodbye to this planet as well. Are you up for the challenge?
    • In Dragon Ball GT, Goku tries to take down Super 17 with a variety of ki-based attacks, only to discover that he can increase his strength level by absorbing them.
    • In the Return of Cooler movie, Cooler hooks Goku and Vegeta up to the Big Gete Star that brought him back from the dead to drain their energy, and suffers the Phlebotinum Overload version of this trope. Yakon is taken down in a similar way.
    • As of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Goku can absorb Ki once he transforms into the Super Saiyan God.
    • In Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta learned the technique Spirit Fission, which allows him to absorb his opponent's energy every time he hits them.
    • The villain Moro is a wizard who can passively absorb energy from life around him, to the point that Goku and Vegeta didn't even notice it was happening the first time they faced him. He can also drain entire planets of life, which gives him his title of planet eater.
  • Fairy Tail:
    • Part of Jellal's Batman Gambit, the Tower of Heaven is really made out of magic-absorbing Phlebotinum, so firing the Kill Sat at the tower actually harvests the energy necessary for the ritual.
    • Acnologia is the Dragon of Magic itself, meaning he can devour any magical attack used against him.
  • Getter Robo: Part of Shin Getter Robo's ability to combine with anything includes this. The Getter's ultimate goal would presumably involve reconstituting the energy and mass of the universe back into itself.
  • Gundam:
    • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray has the Gold Frame Amatsu, whose Maga-no-Ikutachi ("Living Sword of Evil") backpack can grab an enemy mobile suit and drain their power. Since SEED mobile suits operate on finite power batteries instead of the nuclear fusion reactors seen in other Gundam universes, this obviously can cause quite a problem for Gold Frame's enemies.
    • Gundam Build Fighters has the Star Build Strike's "Absorb Shield", which can absorb enemy beam attacks and later release that energy to supercharge the MS's performance. Doesn't work so well on beam sabers, though, and of course, cannot absorb physical ammunition.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Diamond is Unbreakable: Yuya Fugami's Stand, Highway Star, can take the nutrients of a victim and transfer it to Yuya, which he uses to recover his own wounds.
    • Golden Wind: Carne's Notorious Big absorbs kinetic energy it senses to grow its size. Someone moving their limbs around won't grow it in any noticeable way, but the hundred-thousand RPM of a plane engine is enough to make it move/grow at unparalleled speed.
  • Kurau Phantom Memory: Kurau can absorb Rynax energy and let sentient Rynax return to their world through her.
  • In Little Witch Academia (2013), dragons get bigger and stronger the more magic is used on them. A rather small one is freed in a dungeon about halfway through, and becomes the main conflict of the story very soon after.
  • Lyrical Nanoha:
    • Nanoha's Starlight Breaker works by absorbing the residual energy left by magical attacks in a battlefield and firing it in a massive beam. This makes it both deadly and cost-efficient since it doesn't completely rely on a mage's own power, which is the main reason why Nanoha decided to teach it to Teana after StrikerS.
    • The Book of Darkness in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's is powered by the energy absorbed from the Linker Cores of various mages and other magical beings.
    • Miura Rinaldi from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid is another mage who is specialized in Breaker magic. This is not surprising considering that she's Nanoha's Expy.note 
  • Naruto:
    • One of the Six Paths of Pain's bodies the Preta Path has the ability to absorb chakra in any form. Pain channelled the Preta Path through the corpse of an overweight Kusagakure shinobi. This ability is primarily defensive in nature as it is capable of absorbing chakra from an individual through physical contact. In addition to this, the Preta Path is able to absorb ninjutsu-based techniques, thereby nullifying their effect. This is done by forming a barrier around the user's entire body, allowing them to absorb attacks from all directions. Naruto counters by overloading it with nature chakra, turning the body into a frog statue.
    • During the 4th Shinobi World War, Nagato himself used the Preta Path power to absorb Killer B's chakra while he was in his Version 2 form. He then apparently used the chakra to revitalise his body to its state before it was emaciated by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. The ability of the Preta Path is a standard ability of those who wield the Rinnegan.
    • Other examples include: Kisame's sword Samehada has similar capabilities, and is capable of giving the chakra to its user to keep their stamina up and heal wounds. Yoroi (who absorbs through his hands), Jirobo (who absorbs through the sphere of earth he trapped his opponents in), the Aburame Clan's insects, and Zetsu (through his spores) can also use this, but can only absorb chakra from the opponent directly, and not their techniques (Zetsu can also restore it to someone else). Hashirama Senju, and anyone who acquires his cells in their body (Yamato, Zetsu, Madara, and Obito), can absorb chakra using Wood Release as a medium or with physical contact to some extent. Madara claims Hashirama's Wood Dragon bound the Nine Tails in their final battle, and using said dragon himself he overpowered and dissolved Naruto's Bijuu mode.
  • Saten from NEEDLESS uses his power of Energy Absorption and Release to simulate other abilities, such as freezing people and places by draining the heat from them, agitating molecules in the air to create enough energy to deflect other energy attacks, and unleashing giant energy beams of his own.
  • The prepubescent looking Hinako Ninomiya of Ranma ½ can absorb both Ki and Life Energy (causing her to transform into a curvaceous adult), and then return the energy in a ki attack of her own (causing her to revert to her child form).
  • Jegan from Rave Master uses a Dark Bring, Yggdrasil, which absorbs energy and converts it into plant-life.
  • Reborn! (2004): Tsuna's Zero Point Breakthrough Custom/Revised absorbs others' Dying Will Flames and converts it to his own power.
  • Used constantly in Sailor Moon, especially in the first season, in which each of the Dark Kingdom's Evil Plans of the week is always to drain Life Energy from people to reawaken Queen Metalia.
  • Meliodas from The Seven Deadly Sins has this ability, utilizing it to devastating effect by having his allies target him to unleash a Charged Attack in the climax of the first season.
  • The titular Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann absorbs the energy of a big bang after it is converted into Spiral Power.
  • In Toriko, Acacia's Appetite Demon Neo combines this with Extreme Omnivore by eating attacks directed at it, absorbing the energy in the process. It even manages to eat and absorb a supernova.
  • YuYu Hakusho: Yomi has a technique where he creates a barrier that can absorb all Demon Energy fired at him, seemingly without any limit. Yusuke was able to defeat it by mixing Spirit Energy in with his Demon Energy, allowing it to bypass the barrier.

    Comic Books 
  • The DCU:
    • Brother Power the Geek: If injured to the point of unconsciousness, Brother Power can revive by recharging himself with energy.
    • Captain Atom is able to absorb any form of energy, sending it back into the 'quantum field'. However, if he absorbs too much in one go, it catapults him through time.
    • The Parasite from Superman is all about this. He absorbs life energy from other beings, and even gets any powers they have (he even got Spider-Man's agility and spider-sense during the crossover Superman and Spider-Man). He also absorbs their skills and memories, although it's got a major downside for him as well: he has to constantly absorb the life force of other beings, or else he'll 'starve'.
  • Marvel Universe:
    • Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics): Carol Danvers can absorb immense amounts of energy, to the point that it's the keystone of her cosmic powers as Binary, linking herself to the power of a white hole.
    • Dazzler: The eponymous character can absorb an infinite amount of energy in the form of sound and convert it into light-based attacks. She's absorbed the full-powered cry of Black Bolt (capable of destroying mountains) with little difficulty, consumed the solidified sound energy super-villain Klaw, and once at Galactus's behest the sound of exploding galaxies in order to use her to recover an AWOL herald. Phlebotinum Overload isn't an issue for her because she immediately turns sound into light rather than storing the energy in her body, with larger amounts simply letting her create more powerful lasers.
    • Doctor Strange: Strange is a master at this, and he has even shown the ability to absorb powers on the conceptual level, such as when he faced the demon Arioch, who was confident that Strange couldn't possibly beat him, as he had the ability to literally become as powerful as he wished to be. Strange just outright stole that power from him.
    • The Incredible Hulk:
      • As Red She-Hulk, Betty Ross is able to absorb energy, such as radiation and the Power Cosmic, to increase her power level, and can discharge energy by touch.
      • The Immortal Hulk has a similar ability to drain Gamma Radiation, which he uses in Avengers: No Surrender to depower General Maverick. He uses it a few times in his own series, but stops after it it's turned against him by the One Below All.
    • Iron Fist: In his first series, the Iron Fist could absorb things like radiation and even normally fatal magic, which Danny didn't know about.
    • Man-Thing: Wundarr the Aquarian is a pastiche on Superman's origin mutated by cosmic rays to absorb energy. Unfortunately, when he reaches his upper limit, he involuntarily releases all the stored energy explosively, necessitating various containment measures. Exposure to a Cosmic Cube greatly altered this ability. He now no longer has an upper limit, but his energy absorbing has expanded into a field that nullifies all energy above a certain threshold, effectively rendering him invulnerable to most forms of harm. This also applies to himself, rendering him incapable of offense, but he's fine with that because the upgrade also enlightened his mind to follow pacifism.
    • The Mighty Thor:
      • Mjölnir can be used to absorb and redirect virtually unlimited amounts of energy. Thor has used Mjölnir to absorb Hyperion's atomic vision, the Silver Surfer's Power Cosmic attacks, and Heimdall's blue cosmic flames. Absorbed energy can be amplified 10- to 100-fold before being redirected at Thor's attacker. One of Mjölnir's greatest feats occurrs in Thor #407, in which the hammer manages to contain the galaxy-destroying power of a Null Bomb before using the power to reignite a dying sun.
      • The Absorbing Man usually absorbs the properties of matter but can absorb the properties of energy as well.
    • Power Pack: In addition to receiving power from disintegrating matter, Katie can absorb various forms of energy attacks.
    • Silver Surfer: This is one of the standard abilities that comes with the Power Cosmic, most notably used by Galactus and his heralds, such as the Silver Surfer. They also have the ability to redirect the energy to anywhere else, be it another dimension or back at the enemy.
    • X-Men:
      • Rogue and Bishop, in different fashions. Bishop's is the more traditional version: he absorbs every kind of energy around him and can channel it into bursts of pure kinetic blasts; he's also been shown to store the energy in his body to increase his stamina and Healing Factor. Rogue, though, suffers from a Life Drain "gift": if she physically touches anyone, she immediately and uncontrollably begins pulling the life force from their body. In most cases this allows her to copy other mutants' powers, but touching non-mutants can put them into comas or outright kill them (this also happens with mutants, but their powers go before their vital energy does). It's also revealed that Rogue's powers also drain mental energy, meaning that other people's thought patterns and personalities are forcibly ingrained into her own mind, leaving her with severe issues.
      • Sebastian Shaw for yet a third variety; he absorbs energy (almost always kinetic though in Avengers Academy he displayed the ability to absorb electricity and magic, to varying extents) to fuel his own Super-Strength.
      • The same goes for Strong Guy from X-Factor, but he has to release the energy he absorbs within 90 seconds, or suffer (even more) permanent distortion to his body. Oh, and he's in constant pain due to the existing distortion. If all that wasn't bad enough exerting his power too much puts strain on his heart (he had a near-fatal heart attack after absorbing the explosion of an alien bomb, and recently one punch from the most powerful incarnation of the Hulk threatened to put him back on the critical list).
      • Wolverine's old buddy Maverick can absorb kinetic energy, such as being punched by super-strong opponents or falling from great heights (although there was supposedly a limit as to how much damage he could absorb), and later learns how to channel said energy into energy blasts emanating from his hands or to fuel the power of his blows. However, he loses his powers after M-Day.
      • All three Summers brothers have powers related to energy absorption in some way. Cyclops's Eye Beams are a product of his body absorbing sunlight and other ambient energy. Havok's body can absorb ambient cosmic energy and release it in the form of a blue concentric beam. Originally, Havok had to wear a special suit to control this ability but no longer needs to. In X-Men: Emperor Vulcan, he displays the ability to absorb power from a star. Vulcan, the third Summers brother, can control, manipulate and absorb energy to a far greater extent than his brother.
      • Multiple Man's Self-Duplication power, Depending on the Writer, is based on a near-instant absorption and redirection of energy to restructure surrounding matter into a duplicate. Although, given the fact that the energy of a simple snap of the fingers was enough to forcibly break down and reassemble approximately 100kg of mass, the opening number to West Side Story could probably end interstellar wars.
  • Winter of Stormwatch can absorb all forms of energy, including kinetic, and use it for everything from energy blasts to super-strength to flight. He discoveres that he has upper limits to this ability when he fights the High.

    Fan Works 
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Monster X (San and Vivienne Graham). They can absorb electrical energy to feed and strengthen their attacks.
  • Child of the Storm:
    • Mjolnir, as per canon, though Thor rarely needs to use it.
    • Carol's shield turns out to be able to do this, as it's made of Uru and enchanted like Mjolnir. Since she has no inherent superpowers beyond being a Super-Soldier, it gets much more use. Unfinished Business reveals that it's actually a Morph Weapon, capable of turning into her canon battle-suit and, if charged up sufficiently, granting her Flying Brick powers. In a pinch, it's also a convenient substitute for the shattered Green Lantern.
    • Ván, the ancient (and lost) sword of Frey, could absorb any energy, up to and including Phoenix Fire, and was designed to fight Surtur.
    • Kryptonians absorb solar energy as a matter of course, allowing Harry to give Clark an emergency boost.
    • The Parasite a.k.a. Robert Reynolds/The Void has this as his main power, originally through Sympathetic Magic, before being able to absorb energy on contact and on proximity and reuse it as fuel for magic and Flying Brick powers. However, he suffers from Crippling Over Specialisation (genius at Sympathetic Magic, useless at everything else), and he's effectively on a battery, so he can be worn down quite easily.
  • Facing the Future Series: In the first story, Vlad Plasmius modified gloves invented by Jack to steal the strength of Dark Danny , Future Danny, and Future Sam. However, it backfired and made Dark Danny stronger than ever.
  • Make a Wish, a Harry Potter fic, has Harry acquire a sword that's always sharp and can turn into a scythe if desired. It gets the power for this by draining "ambient energy" from living things in its vicinity, making plants wither and animals and people feel uneasy.
  • Mega Man Reawakened: Spark Man draws electricity from the power plant to attack.
  • The Moonstone Cup: Draining power from one's opponents to fuel your own spells is a recurring trick among wizards; a major feature of this is that, until the energy is spent, the wizard develops an "overlay" of the mind it came from. Twilight first draws on the power of her semi-final opponent, the dragon Zlatan, to turn his dimension-manipulating magic against him. In the finals, she takes in the powers of the other Elements of Harmony to help her against Amarok, but as the match wears on the excess energy begins to threaten her life due to how she's handling it. It takes a Journey to the Center of the Mind with mental representations of her friends to help properly use the energy and fight Amarok. Later, she's shown doing this to inanimate objects. Useful when facing the pissed-off queen of dragonkind ...
  • Origins: Normandy SR-2.5 is fitted with molecular shielding which absorbs any incoming energy fire and stores it in a multipurpose capacitor. Said energy may be used to power shields, engines, weapons, or a combination of all three. Thankfully, Garrus prevents any overloads through superior calibrations.
  • Origin Story: Sentry's energy blasts end up being something like 'solar energy concentrate' which Alex Harris can absorb to power up.
  • The Peace Not Promised: In Harry Potter canon, the Sword of Gryffindor (being made of goblin silver) will repel mundane dirt but absorb things that make it stronger. Here, the sword is exposed to dragon fire, manifesting it when the sword is swung.
  • Power Rangers Mythos: The villain Avanth has managed to disable the Morphing Grid- the usual source of power for all Power Rangers — by setting up his various nodes to draw on its power and use its energy for himself. With its power drained, the Grid is too weak to support the use of a conventional Morpher, particularly with Avanth still contaminating the Grid to further his own plans, requiring the heroes to use the ancient and mysterious Mythos Morphers due to their special connection to the Grid.
  • Triptych Continuum: Some pegasi can pull this off with the kinetic energy of wind, but whatever's been absorbed has to be used up or redirected in a hurry. It's described as an emergency technique to be utilized when there's no time to set up an equal-and-opposite gust or unwind a tornado, and that idiots who rely on it don't last long. By contrast, lightning can't be absorbed, but very few pegasi are capable of redirecting it. Rainbow Dash knows the first technique, but not the second.
  • With Strings Attached: Paul doesn't know much about this ability, but after he was drained of a lot of his energy, he realized he was internalizing the heat from a fire and other things. Brox, recognizing that this is his true power, renames him "Paul Power-Holder". In The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World, Paul learns to consciously draw energy from his surroundings. He takes down a man encased in an “energy mecha” this way. He also tastes energy, generally as fruit.

    Films — Animation 
  • Godzilla: The Planet Eater: Ghidorah drains Godzilla's electromagnetic energy through sustained contact. When Godzilla attempts to use his heat defense mechanism against Ghidorah, Ghidorah siphons off the energy even faster than Godzilla can generate it.
  • Titan A.E.: The (almost-)MacGuffin turns out to be a world-creating ship capable of absorbing the Energy Beings who had destroyed the Earth. It's implied that this is the reason why they destroyed Earth in the first place.
  • White Snake (2019): The jade hairpin can sap energy from others, which is absorbed by its user. The Fox Spirit explains this can have collateral effects on the one doing the absorption, such as memory loss, explaining how Blanca loses her memory upon using it in battle at the start of the film. When Blanca and later The Master use it to absorb energy again, they turn into giant pythons and seem to get Drunk with Power.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In The Andromeda Strain, the alien germ is being investigated in a sealed lab which will detonate with a nuclear explosion if the lab's seals are breached. The scientists find out the germ will do this with the nuclear explosion, and multiply exponentially.
  • A weaker version in Evolution (2001). The alien lifeforms turn out to use fire to amplify their Hollywood Evolution. Originally, it was triggered by the meteorite superheating in the atmosphere. Near the end, the US Military decides to use napalm to burn the alien lifeforms before they spread to the world. This results in a giant amoeba-like creature that begins to split in two. Earlier, someone entertained the thought of nuking the aliens.
  • Godzilla:
  • Kronos (1957) features an alien device/war machine that is sent to Earth to absorb energy to take back to its alien creators; it grows ever larger the more it absorbs.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Iron Man's suit absorbs Thor's lightning bolt in The Avengers (2012).
      Jarvis: Power to four-hundred percent capacity.note 
      Tony Stark: How about that? [fires a supercharged repulsion blast back at Thor]
    • Black Panther (2018): The Black Panther suit absorbs impact energy for later release, providing the ability to shrug off attacks and respond with an amplified counterattack.
    • Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos gains this ability from the Power Stone, using it to absorb the flames created by one of Iron Man's firebombings and then shoot them back at him.
  • MonsterVerse:
    • Of the nuclear kind in Godzilla (2014), with the MUTOs seeing nukes as more of a pastry than a weapon of mass destruction. This becomes a problem later when the MUTOs snag a live and ticking nuke under everyone's noses to feed their young.
    • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019):
      • Godzilla is empowered after being crippled by the Oxygen Destroyer by the application of a massive dosage of radiation (a close-range nuclear explosion), which instantaneously heals his wounds and makes him even stronger and more energized than ever before.
      • King Ghidorah is able to turn the tide of the Final Battle back to his favour by absorbing the electrical energy of a nearby power grid, allowing him to release a mass barrage of lightning from his body which wipes out all the jets in the air and knocks Godzilla away.
      • After King Ghidorah manages to critically injure Godzilla by lifting him up and dropping him from the lower stratosphere, Ghidorah starts to finish him off by draining the radioactive energy from Godzilla by biting with his three heads, although he's interrupted before he can kill him.
    • Godzilla vs. Kong: The battle axe Kong wields is able to block and absorb energy, particularly that of Godzilla's Atomic Breath. This not only makes it an effective defense against Godzilla's primary weapon, but empowers and strengthens the blade, giving it Absurd Cutting Power that can cut through Godzilla's hide and Mechagodzilla's hard armor that even Godzilla himself could not harm.
  • Star Wars: In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Yoda counters the Sith's Force Lightning by "catching" it with his hands, holding it for a moment, and sending it back towards its caster. It seems, however, that he can only absorb so much of it before it all explodes outward.
  • X-Men Film Series:
    • In X-Men: First Class, any energy, even the kinetic force propelling bullets, is something Sebastian Shaw can fully absorb into his body, and it is stated that this is how he was able to retain a youthful body. However, retaining his youth is literally the least he can do with it, as he is capable of sending the energy right at someone or something. His absorption skills are potent enough to also absorb the entire explosive output equivalent to that of a nuclear bomb.
    • In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bishop's mutant ability allows him to absorb any form of energy and redirect it, which he uses to charge his gun.
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League: Batman gets fitted with reverse-engineered Kryptonian tech gauntlets built by Alfred. They can absorb all sorts of blaster fire (from the Parademons mainly in the film) and even Superman's Eye Beams (though they really get pushed to their limits there and batman has to get rid of them because of the heat).

    Gamebooks 
  • Lone Wolf: The blade of the Sommerswerd can harmlessly absorb most offensive spells directed at its wielder. Sometimes, the energy is even used to heal Lone Wolf. However, the protection can rarely be foiled if the attack comes from an artifact at least as powerful as the Sword of the Sun, like with Kimah's Orb of Death or Vonotar's Ring of Power.

    Literature 
  • Bolo: Later models of Bolos have Deflector Shields which can shunt power from energy weapon hits to the Bolo's power cells. One short story features a Bolo which loses both its reactors to battle damage but is able to continue fighting since it's still getting shot enough to keep it powered.
  • Gray magic in The Children of Man works primarily by reflecting and transforming the more normal color magics.
  • The Familiar of Zero has Saito's sword, Derflinger. Derflinger has the ability to consume any magic his blade encounters and can later use it for his own spells, such as controlling the body of his wielder should they lose consciousness. He does have a limit on how much and how fast he can consume magic.
  • Inkmistress:
    • Asra can drain energy from living or inanimate things to fuel her magic it turns out.
    • Raisa can gain energy by absorbing emotions from people nearby.
  • The titular monster of It Came from Beneath the Sink! is the Grool, a sponge-like lifeform that feeds on negative energy from emotions like fear or anger. It not only grows stronger and healthier but can channel its power to cause accidents and misfortune, which in turn gives it more energy to feed on. By contrast, giving the Grool positive energy like love and tenderness causes it to wither and die.
  • When petite brown-haired Suzuho of Magician's Academy removes the hair ribbon from her ponytail, she transforms into her blue-haired alter ego Suzuka, who is foul-talking and violent. She also absorbs all magical power in her region (which is a real problem at the Magician's Academy).
  • The Langston Field from The Mote in God's Eye absorbs any sort of energy — pass through one and it will slow you down and drain your body heat. The authors are very thorough about exploring the implications of this technology, and the rules of space combat in the setting are mostly controlled by the way Langston Fields absorb, store, radiate, and get overloaded by energy applied to them.
  • Of Fire and Stars: Spells cost part of the mages' energy, which they can restore quickly through draining some from the surrounding area or another person.
  • The main protagonist of The Point, Scarlett Winter, is a post-human who is listed as level 3. Level 1 post-humans are strong or fast, Level 2 are telekinetic, and level 3 (very rare) is any other power, with hers being energy absorption.
  • Rebuild World:
    • Akira once encounters snail monsters who absorb energy from a nearby ruined building (wrecking its Ragnarök Proofing in the process) to shield themselves. They still need to prepare their shields, so Akira uses Hit-and-Run Tactics on them.
    • While escorting a Big Badass Rig, Akira fights mechanical monsters that look like white Mini-Mecha. One of them plugs itself into the rig to super-charge its Deflector Shields. Akira uses his sword to cut the floor out from under it, severing its connection.
  • The Secret of Crickley Hall: In the titular Haunted House, twelve-year-old Loren often feels tired; to her adolescent life force, the ghosts are apparently drawn.
  • Shakugan no Shana: The Guze no Tomogara maintain their continued, unnatural existence in this world by feeding on humans' power of existence. The first villain's evil plan is to go even further by casting a "City Devouring", a spell greatly feared for its ability to consume and convert everything into a huge supply of usable energy.
  • Star Wars Legends/Star Wars Expanded Universe:
    • "Molecular" shields absorb at least part of the energy of incoming laser blasts to power the weapons of the vehicle they protect.
    • Sufficiently skilled Force-Users have the ability to absorb lightning attacks without injury, a technique called Tutaminis. Then again, their weapon can do the same thing, so it's mostly for bragging rights. Someone should have told Luke, "Now, when you meet up with the Emperor, don't throw your lightsaber away. It can block Force-Lightning!"
    • Energy absorption is one of the two theories about how Vader caught that blaster bolt in The Empire Strikes Back (the other is that he had an indestructible glove). A few Jedi in the Legends universe, most notably Corran Horn, can also absorb heat energy and the power of a lightsaber's blade.
    • In Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, a stormtrooper hits a captured Luke Skywalker, who then says "Please don't hit me". When he's hit again, he breaks the blaster. Another tries to shoot him.
      "Please don't shoot me, either." He turned the palm upward in a friendly shrug and let the astonished troopers stare at the only effect of the Force-blunted blasterfire: a faint curl of steam that trailed upward from his unmarked palm. "Let's try to end the day with nobody else dying, shall we?"
  • In Super Powereds, this is Vince's ability. Until recently, it's been a Blessed with Suck kind of power due to his inability to control it. The whole point of the secret program is to help the Powered (those who have superpowers but not the ability to control them) to become Supers (superpowered people who can control their abilities). Vince is first introduced after he accidentally drained an entire county of power, when trying to fix a toaster and receiving an electric shock. His doctor put him in an isolated dark ward to wait for the accumulated power to slowly bleed out of him. When demonstrating the power to Nick, Vince has him light a match and then absorb its energy (including heat), turning the match to ash. When Nick asks why the match turns to ash, Vince explains that he also absorbs the match's potential energy due to his inexperience. Unfortunately, his arch-nemesis in college is An Ice Person, meaning Vince can't absorb his energy because cold is the absence of energy. The best he can do is charge himself up with fire beforehand and use it to counter the ice, coupling it with his superior tactical and hand-to-hand combat skills. He is later chastised by his gym teacher for only charging up the bare minimum in order not to feel exhausted for fear of losing control. The teacher gives him a year to get over it and learn to use his power to the fullest or risk getting cut from the Hero Certification Program. It's eventually revealed that Vince lets go of his inhibitions when his friends are in danger, such as when he absorbs a forest fire in California and continues to use that fire for the following year. In Year 2, he learns that he can absorb and emit kinetic energy, meaning he can now Megaton Punch with the best of them and be able to take a crippling blow without a problem (the other fist simply stops, losing all momentum). The one ability he has no one thought was possible is to absorb the energy created by another Super.
  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: As part of his The Assimilator powerset, Rimuru can use his Skills to absorb a foe's attacks (including magical or energy-based ones) or even directly siphon off their magical energy to replenish his own.
  • Wild Cards:
    • The Amazing Bubbles can absorb kinetic energy and later release it in the form of detonating "bubbles". Thing is, the energy stores on her in the form of fat, and she's always absorbing kinetic energy, even by walking. Still, the fat storage is helpful, as she uses it to cover up the fact that she's a famous model.
    • The Reflector can absorb any kind of energy, which makes him physically stronger. Despite being perhaps one of the most powerful aces in the whole saga he is defeated twice, once by Mr. Gravemold, an energy absorber himself, and once by Modular Man by making a whole building collapse on him, trapping him under the rubble.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Severin can drain the mystical energy from anything supernatural he touches, and gets stronger every time he does.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In "The Eaters of Light", the beasts are capable of feeding on all forms of light, even that located inside living beings, killing them instantly.
    • The Great Vampires are capable of draining all of the energy from an entire planet in seconds, and EU material reveals that they are also effectively immune to energy weapons, as they can absorb any radiant energy thrown at them. Yet, like conventional vampires, they are vulnerable to a stake through the heart, so the Time Lords created massive 'bowships' that would fire enormous steel bolts to impale them.
  • In the first season of The Flash (2014), Farooq Gibran a.k.a. Blackout can absorb and emit electricity. Since Barry's speed is related to electricity, Farooq ends up draining him, which temporarily robs him of his speed. However, after Farooq nearly killing Dr. Wells causes Barry to regain his speed and even faster than before, Farooq's second attempt at draining him results in Farooq burning out from the overload.
  • Monster Warriors: In "Buzz!", a huge electricity-sucking bumblebee starts draining all of Capital City's power supply.
  • Stargate SG-1:
    • After fighting the Asgard for some time, the Replicators gained the ability to absorb almost any directed energy weapon. A Human-Form Replicator stated that self-destructing a ship on a Replicator-consumed planet will simply provide them power.
    • There are also the intelligent microbes from "Message in a Bottle". It's determined that staff weapons and zat blasts feed them. When the Self-Destruct Mechanism is activated, they tell SG-1 (through O'Neill, whom they've taken control of so they can communicate) that the explosion will only feed them.
    • The Ori planet shield in "Beachhead" (though others are implied in future episodes) uses energy absorbed from attacks by other weapons (for example, a nuclear bomb) to expand and eventually collapse a planet into a black hole.
    • The Stargate itself is one. Because it's made of naquadah, it can absorb a wide range of different types of energy (lighting, radiant heat) and use them to power itself. It comes in handy when normal power source is broken or lost, as was the case when humans first found it on Earth. If it absorbs too much energy, it will explode.
  • The space amoeba from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Immunity Syndrome" is surrounded by a field that can drain all energy from any approaching starship.
  • Supernatural: After the Nephilim Jack Kline explodes in The Empty, he becomes a "power vacuum", allowing him to absorb all types of power — even God's.
  • Due to the fact that the Ultramen of Ultra Series fame rely heavily on beam attacks for their Finishing Moves, many of their more pesky kaiju foes can do this, such as Bemstar from Return of Ultraman, who possesses a Belly Mouth that sucks up any energy attacks thrown at it. Some of the really nasty monsters graduate to transforming it into an Attack Reflector.
  • After going through the Hex twice, Monica Rambeau in WandaVision gains some kind of superpower. The first major use of it is when she takes a bullet for the Maximov kids, and seemingly reduce the kinetic energy of the bullets as they harmlessly pass through her body.

    Podcasts 
  • Reversal from Roll to Breathe can absorb any kind of energy, mainly lasers or fire, and direct it back at the enemy.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • A shambling mound being hit by lightning causes it to grow.
    • Most golems will be healed and granted temporary hit points when targeted by a specific type of elemental damage — iron golems have fire, ice golems have cold, and flesh golems, in a Frankenstein reference, have lightning. This can be exploited by the golem's creator by casting cheap spells on their own golem to reinforce it before a fight.
    • A rimefire griffon's bite siphons heat from its target's body; in game terms, this resolves as it dealing cold damage.
    • The Expanded Psionics Handbook introduces the power Energy Adaptation that converts 10 energy damage into light, Radiant armor that does the same, and the power Energy Conversion that allows you to store and release the energy damage that it prevents.
  • In GURPS, the Absorption enhancement turns your Damage Reduction into a battery that you can use to heal yourself or improve any one of your primary stats.

    Toys 
  • BIONICLE:
    • This is Vorahk's ability, though it's specifically stated that it needs to be in physical contact with the target to trigger the power and keep that contact during the absorption.
    • The Nui Stone is able to absorb Toa Energy in a 3000 Kio radius and transfer it to a Toa.
    • The quote above originates from Vezon, the Final Boss of the 2006 storyline. One of the powers the Mask of Life gave him after making him its guardian was the ability to absorb kinetic energy, so any attack that struck him or his mount Fenrakk will only make them physically stronger. They can also get stronger by attacking things themselves, so that even in the event that an enemy hurts them indirectly (creating a vacuum, dehydrating the air, increasing or decreasing the temperature to extreme levels), all they have to do to restore their energy is to literally stomp on the ground continuously and very hard. Things only get slightly easier later on when Fenrakk transforms and loses the ability to share Vezon's ability, but gains extremely powerful energy blasts in exchange. Due to its game-changing abilities, Vezon loses this power when he loses the mask.
    • As a more mundane example, it's stated that a version of this is actually how most of the residents of the Matoran Universe draw their sustenance, and the exceptions that actually eat food are seen as repulsive.
  • In Transformers: Generation 1, the original bio for G1 Decepticon Thundercracker stated that he had the ability to steal electricity from nearby sources, like power lines, in order to make himself stronger, but this power was never used in any Transformers media.

    Video Games 
  • AMC Squad: Micky has a special item called the "Laser Absorber," which, upon activation, allows him to absorb lasers from enemy weaponry and convert them into armor points for his S.M.A.R.T. Suit.
  • There are several of this style of power in City of Heroes, most of them simply drain health or stamina from nearby enemies to either heal or recharge the user. Then there is the Warshade power Eclipse, which drains stamina from nearby foes to increase the damage resistance of the user, and the titular Energy Absorption that allows an Ice Armor Tanker to drain stamina from enemies in order to boost his defenses.
  • In Crysis, it is said that the alien structure acts as a giant power sink draining energy from the surrounding environment to power itself up. This leads to an expanding bubble of flash-frozen mountain jungle around it. Guess what happens when they detonate a nuclear weapon in an attempt to destroy it.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Throughout the series, there are examples in the spells/effects Absorb Health, Absorb Magicka, and Absorb Fatigue/Stamina. They do Exactly What It Says on the Tin. There are also a number of (typically legendary artifact) items that grant these spell effects as long as you are using/wearing the item.
    • In Oblivion, there is spell absorption, which at 100% makes you immune to magic (and thanks to a bug, unable to use telekinetic and summon spells).
    • In Skyrim, Spell absorption also (mostly) protects against shouts.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • In general, the games have a number of energy absorbing abilities, from the Dragoon's Lancet to the Element Eater abilities.
    • In Final Fantasy VI, Celes has an ability called "Runic," which absorbs the MP of any single spell cast, completely negating the effect itself. This effectively means that magic is worthless until Celes absorbs a spell or selects a different action. This is very helpful against the boss you fight shortly after recruiting Celes, but is rarely useful afterwards, unless you know an enemy uses powerful magic and can fight effectively without using magic of your own.
  • Leoric, Gul'dan and Malthael in Heroes of the Storm all have abilities that directly drain an enemy's hit points. This operates according to a mechanic called "percent damage" where the more health the enemy has the more health they take with each drain. This is an important balancing mechanic in the game, since there are also characters with infinitely scaling hit points.
  • Hiveswap: Folykl's whole deal thanks to her voidrot. She needs to siphon off excess psionic energy from Kuprum (or any other Troll with psychic powers) in order to live, as she doesn't produce any herself. If Kuprum becomes unavailable to siphon energy off of temporarily, she'll hop onto the nearest Troll with psionics until she can find him again. Such as when Joey and Xefros needed Kuprum to charge Mallek's battery so he could power his devices. Comes into more practical use when needing to break up Azdaja and Konyyl's fight. With Folykl running half the distraction by leaping onto Azdaja's back and draining his psionic energy. Though he recovers quickly and throws her off with an overload of said energy.
  • Delsin Rowe, the protagonist of inFAMOUS: Second Son, finds out that he's a Conduit (labeled as a "Bio-terrorist") who can absorb and copy another person's powers, but suffers from blackouts every time he acquires a new one.
  • The King of Fighters: Heidern's "Bringer" grab-attacks let him nick a little energy from the opponent.
  • A not-uncommon ability among League of Legends Champions:
    • Kassadin's innate passive absorbs magic damage and turns it into additional attack speed.
    • Morgana has an Anti-Magic Shield.
    • Hecarim has an aura that absorbs enemy and ally damage into self-healing.
    • Maokai can create areas of effect that absorbs enemy's magic damage, then explodes on demand.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • Sarara's block special in Magical Battle Arena, which creates a shield that will absorb most attacks that strike it, making them heal her instead.
  • Master of Orion 2 has the Energy Absorber, which absorbs a quarter of the damage from an attack in combat, and allows the equipped ship to fire it back like a regular energy weapon in the next turn.
  • Metroid:
    • The eponymous creatures feed by absorbing energy from living things through an unknown process. According to the Metroid Prime Trilogy lore, their victims lose no blood or other body mass but appear unable to survive without the energy the Metroids drain. This power is the only known way to kill an X Parasite, which is exactly why the Metroids were made in the first place. After being infused with Metroid cells, Samus herself gains a similar power that allows her to safely absorb X, and by Metroid Dread, once the Metroid DNA fully integrates within her, she can absorb any energy within a certain proximity of her, even from machines.
    • Many enemies in the Metroid Prime subseries have beam-absorbing abilities.
  • Mega Man 7: Be ready to slide away when Shade Man flies up to the top of the room, because he'll steal some energy if he grabs you on the way back down.
  • In Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge, Zephyr's Cobra ST carries a shield that can absorb any attack you throw at him. If you shoot his shield again with a powerful blast while he's absorbing, it'll be destroyed, and he'll have to fight the rest of the battle with only his really big Arm Cannon.
  • Overwatch has Zarya, a Tank whose gameplay is about applying powerful particle shields onto herself and her teammates, with any damage they absorb being redirected into her giant particle cannon. The cannon itself starts off rather weak, but becomes far more devastating as it gets charged, so Zarya really wants to bait opponents into shooting her barriers and make them regret having done so.
  • The main antagonist of Episode 6 of Phantasy Star Online 2, Shiva, has the ability to absorb Photons, the Applied Phlebotinum around which the entirety of ARKS' combat technology is built. Furthermore, she can grant the same power to her subordinates. This enables them to effortlessly curbstomp ARKS' strongest warriors in the beginning of the episode; what follows is a desperate scramble to try and figure out some way to circumvent it and level the playing field.
  • In Pokémon, there are several abilities that nullify damage taken from certain types, instead of raising one of the target's stats.
    • Volt Absorb, Water Absorb, and Earth Eater will all heal the user if they take hits from Electric, Water, or Ground attacks, respectively.
    • Flash Fire boosts the power of Fire moves if the user is hit with one.
    • In Generation V, Sap Sipper, Lightningrod, and Storm Drain nullify Grass, Electric, and Water moves, respectively, to increase Attack (Sap Sipper) or Special Attack (Lightningrod and Storm Drain), provided the user doesn't have a type immunity to the move. The latter two will also redirect attacks of the absorbed type toward the user in double and triple battles. Before the fifth generation, however, the latter two only provide redirection rather than absorption.
  • Primal Carnage: The Ceratosaurus' roar grants it the temporary ability to leech the stamina of humans it attacks. This makes it more difficult for them to escape (since stamina is used for running and jumping) while at the same time giving the Ceratosaurus more energy to keep up the assault for longer.
  • Project Eden has the extractor weapon which allows you to slowly kill enemies while charging your batteries.
  • Wolf, the Malevolent Masked Magician of Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- The Prophecy of the Throne, has the ability to absorb magic. He can nullify spells used against him, or drain it (and the life) directly out of a person.
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Demons can have, depending on their position on the food chain, various absorptive abilities, allowing them to siphon the energy of various enemy attacks (even Physical attacks) and using it to replenish their own HP. However, is is worth mentioning that even Elite Tweak has its limits and no demon by itself is perfect.
    • This is a skill multiple Shadows and Personas can have in the related Persona series.
  • The Utwig Jugger in Star Control II has a shield which refills its energy banks when shot. Used correctly, this can make it one of the most powerful ships in the game, able to take down the Ur-Quan, Kohr-Ah, and even Chmmr battleships without much trouble.
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • The penultimate light-side ability in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is Force Absorb, which converts offensive Force attacks against you into mana.
    • In the "Hope" cinematic trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, Satele Shan demonstrates her mastery of the tutaminis technique by catching a lightsaber with her bare hands. It clearly takes a lot out of her, and she's saved from the stalemate by her future lover Malcolm.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Ness and Lucas have an ability called PSI Magnet which they can use to absorb energy attacks and use them to heal themselves.
    • Mr. Game & Watch's bucket can absorb energy attacks (and turns them into flat oil). Absorb three and he can spill the full bucket of oil to damage opponents.
  • In Sword of the Stars, one of the "shield" sections available is the absorber. It cuts energy weapon damage by 75% and uses that energy to recharge the energy-based weapons of the ship it's on. Ships with this section and an all-energy weapon layout are going to be duking it out for some time.
  • In the Touhou Project spinoff fighting games, Yukari can open a portal to absorb enemy bullets, which are turned into projectiles of her own which can be released using another ability.
  • Warcraft/World of Warcraft:
    • Several classes have limited absorption abilities, often of their primary elements. Warlocks can drain hit points with their Drain Life ability. Deathknights can use an Anti-Magic shield that gives them additional runic power when absorbing damage. Mages can gain various side benefits with talents, such as absorbing mana or spellpower from the negated spells. Mages can also steal enemy buffs, although only for a maximum of two minutes.
    • Lorewise, this is how the Blood Elf racial ability Arcane Torrent works. The Blood Elves passively absorb mana from their foes and the environment, which they can then expel all at once to stun an enemy. Draining mana from people more intentionally and directly is also possible.
    • Preceded by The Frozen Throne expansion pack of Warcraft III, with the Blood Elves' Spellbreaker unit. Playing the magic addiction card of the former High Elves, the Spellbreaker can absorb any magic buff from any unit (friend and foe alike), to the bane of casters everywhere.
  • X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse: Bishop appears as one of the cloned X-Men and absorbs certain kinds of gun fire, forcing you to get creative when he shows up.

    Web Animation 
  • Four characters from RWBY have shown this ability:
    • Yang Xiao Long can absorb kinetic energy from the hits she takes, so the longer a battle goes on, the stronger she gets. After getting smashed through several concrete pillars by a Mini-Mecha, she is able to No-Sell the Mecha's next attack before punching it to pieces.
    • Nora Valkyrie can channel electricity into her body, giving her Super-Strength. During the Vytal Tournament, one of her opponents shocks her with a cattle prod; she just grins and knocks him halfway across the battlefield. It is shown later that she has limits: absorbing too much electricity at once leaves her bedridden with scars across her whole body.
    • Adam Taurus can also absorb energy by blocking attacks, ranged and physical, with his sword. Blake compares his semblance to Yang's. He then releases the energy in powerful Sword Beam attacks. Unlike Yang and Nora, Adam needs a weapon to use his semblance, as he can't absorb attacks that hit him personally.
    • Professor Ozpin can store kinetic energy in his cane, and has been building its reserves for centuries. In "Witch", Oscar uses the majority of it in a single attack, creating a Fantastic Nuke that blows up a Grimm the size of a small city and keeps Salem from reforming for quite some time.

    Webcomics 

    Web Originals 
  • Academy of Superheroes: In a peculiar variant, Arc converts kinetic energy into Super-Strength and Super-Speed. This includes her own kinetic energy, so she charges up her powers by running back and forth.
  • The unnamed Eldritch Abomination narrator from Axel Taiari's "Beyond the Visible Spectrum" feeds via energy absorption.
  • This is the basis of many of Trayen's powers in Phaeton. He absorbs the element, assimilates it and uses it.
  • Several Whateley Academy students in the Whateley Universe can absorb energy in one way or another. Buster can only absorb kinetic energy attacks.
    • Blot absorbs all E-M radiation, which is why he looks like a living blackness; the more radiation he absorbs, the stronger he gets.
    • Several characters, like Icer, absorb heat and can use that ability to create ice.
    • A couple, like Negator, can absorb or block whatever energy or phlebotinum powers other mutants' superpowers.
    • Lancer, a PK brick, can absorb energy attacks and fire them back at his opponents.
  • Assault from Worm can absorb and immediately redirect kinetic energy at will.

    Western Animation 
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In "Balloonenstein", after Meatwad's attempt to remove the electricity inside him by storing it in a balloon ends up supersizing it, Frylock attempts to destroy with his powers but only makes it bigger due to the rubber.
  • Ben 10:
    • Morningstar/Darkstar is essentially an energy vampire. It doesn't work on Ghostfreak, as he is a ghost-like alien, and therefore has no energy to absorb.
    • Kevin 11 has this power for a time in the original series, at first only shown absorbing electrical power — until he meets the Omnitrix.
    • In Ben 10: Alien Force, Chromostone can absorb and then redirect energy. Redirection is usually done in the form of energy beams shot from the hands. Diamondhead also gains this ability.
    • In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Aggregor also has these powers. Coincidentally, he's the same alien race as Kevin and after alien powers (much like young Kevin in the original series). However, his plan seems to be going over better than Kevin's did — until Kevin absorbs his powers.
    • This is Feedback's signature power in Ben 10: Omniverse.
  • Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness: The Mongolian Fire Fist Demon, which gets stronger (and bigger) each time it is hit with an attack.
  • In the Megas XLR episode "Buggin' the System", the team encounters blind metallic creatures that absorb energy whenever it's in front of them.
  • Lord Tirek from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has this ability, making him Nigh Invulnerable unless you hit him with such a powerful blast that it overwhelms him before he can absorb it.
  • The New Adventures of Superman provides a classic example of the abovementioned Phlebotinum Overload: Superman deals with the Parasite by letting him absorb his nigh-infinite powers until he simply explodes, fatally. (Deliberately arranging for an enemy's death is seriously out-of-character for the Man of Steel.)
  • Ninjago: In "The Hatching", it's explained in a flashback that Wu and Garmadon used blades forged from "Chronosteel" to drain Time Masters Krux and Acronix of their Elemental Powers, which they then used to create a Time Vortex to send the Krux and Acronix into.
  • In OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, former P.O.I.N.T. member Laserblast had this power, forming an energy bubble around himself that knocks down his foes and takes their energy. K.O's Superpowered Evil Side T.K.O. also has this power. This is because they are father and son.
  • Gigabyte from ReBoot. It turns out this ability was an aspect of the Web Virus that was combined with Megabyte and Hexadecimal to form Gigabyte. Bob refers to viruses possessing the ability as "Class 5".
  • In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, after Dr. Landon falls into his own mutant-destroying compound, he ends up mutating into a large green reptilian creature, and the only way to ease the constant pain he endures while in this form is to absorb electrical energy, which also increases his size.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Strange Energies", after gaining godlike powers and going on a destructive rampage, Ransom simply absorbs the phaser fire of the Cerritos.
  • Static Shock has a variation with a villain who gains his powers through self-experimentation in bypassing metabolic processes for gaining energy. This gives him the power of matter absorption, of which energy absorption is a side-benefit, but makes him increasingly denser the more he absorbs with a hunger to absorb more. Eventually, he becomes too heavy to move and needs to be carted to custody with a crawler-transporter. This example deconstructs the trope because he succeeds in bypassing eating to gain energy but doesn't have any way to expel said energy, leading to the density problem. Also, since he doesn't actually have a capacity limit like he would with a stomach, he can't feel full, thus the unending hunger.
  • Transformers: Prime: The Energon Harvester can absorb energon from anything, including Cybertronians.
  • In Winx Club, Bloom can absorb regular fire and make it dissipate. She has a tougher time doing it with magical fires though.
  • The Necros introduced in season 4 of Wakfu. Some disaster in their past turned all of the inhabitants of their world into Wakfu-starved beings who feel nothing but constant unending hunger for Wakfu. While this is a horrific state of existence that they want to end someday, it has the benefit of making them nearly impossible to fight for users of Wakfu-based attacks like the Eliatropes. The Necros just absorb the Wakfu thrown at them. They notably can't absorb the destructive Stasis energy the same way, though it's usually not a problem since not many others can use Stasis like them. In the Final Battle between Yugo and Goultard vs. the Necros king Toross Mordal, Yugo has to resort to creating a Stasis energy sword alongside his Wakfu energy sword to gain the edge needed to prevail against Toross.

    Real Life 
  • Any matter or energy which crosses the event horizon of a black hole will become part of its mass, making it larger.


 
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Koo-Koo, The Energy Mutator

In the episode "Pet Peeved", Duck Dodgers adopts an energy mutator called "Koo-Koo" who looked perfectly adorable until it absorbed electrical energy where it gets turned into an ugly monster.

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