History Main / MaterialMimicry

'''Thor:''' [[TranquilFury You were foolish to take on the essence of Mjölnir's, mortal]]. The [[DropTheHammer hammer's]] power is not yours to control. ''[[OnlyTheChosenMayWield It is mine!]]''\\

** In ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'', Shift was originally an accidental clone of ComicBook/{{Metamorpho}} (he was a part of the original that had split off and developed his own personality), but eventually, he underwent DivergentCharacterEvolution, gaining the ability to absorb and mimic almost any substance he touched, whereas the original Metamorpho could only mimic elements found within the human body.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The zorbo is a [[YowiesAndBunyipsAndDropBearsOhMy malevolent koala-like creature]] whose skin takes on the properties of the surface it stands on, becoming more durable depending on if it's on wood, stone, or metal.

* ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': Syd, the Pink Ranger, can transform her fist into any material she touches.

* The parody comic ''ComicBook/CaptainBiceps'' has him defeat the Absorb Man ersatz by throwing a stale baguette at him, making him much easier to punch than water or brick. An inconvenient side of Absorb Man's power is also seen when he steps in a dog turd.

-->-- '''The Absorbing Man'''

* The {{Supervillain}} [[TheAdjectivalMan Absorbing Man]], a longtime opponent of ComicBook/TheMightyThor and the Comicbook/IncredibleHulk, can absorb the properties of anything that touches him, including solid objects, and energy. This extends to inanimate substances like steel and concrete, nuclear and magical energies, or even other people like ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules. ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' sees him learn to absorb the properties of entire objects like rockets. Stonewall, his biological son, has also [[LamarckWasRight inherited this power]].
** Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, he is often depicted as never being able to catch on that absorbing the physical characteristics of something means getting the weaknesses that come with it. Thor once defeated him by having him come into contact with hydrogen gas, which then harmlessly dissipated. In a battle with the Hulk on top of a skyscraper under construction, the roof collapsed and both fell hundreds of feet to the ground. Sneering at the Hulk, he said all he had to do to survive the fall was to reach out and grab a piece of falling debris, absorbing its properties. Unfortunately, he grabbed a shard of glass, [[LiterallyShatteredLives and didn't have time to grab something else before hitting the ground]]...
* ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'': William Markus fought crime under the name 'Amazing Man' after an accident involving the Ultra-Humanite gave him the power to copy the properties of materials he touched. [[LegacyCharacter His two grandsons]], William Markus III and Markus Clay, took up the mantle after he died, though Clay's transformations only affected his skin.
* In ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'', Shift was originally an accidental clone of ComicBook/{{Metamorpho}} (he was a part of the original that had split off and developed his own personality), but eventually, he underwent DivergentCharacterEvolution, gaining the ability to absorb and mimic almost any substance he touched, whereas the original Metamorpho could only mimic elements found within the human body.

* ComicBook/{{Firestorm|DCComics}} had a StalkerWithACrush named Casey Krinsky with substance-copying abilities. She is defeated when Firestorm's transmuting abilities interact oddly with hers and accidentally [[TakenForGranite petrify]] her.
* Percival "Grunge" Chang from ''ComicBook/{{Gen 13}}'' started with the power to take on the properties of anything he touches by molecularly bonding to it. After [[ContinuityReboot Worldstorm]], his powers were expanded to PowerCopying.
* ''ComicBook/GenerationX'': Mondo's power is to copy the properties of substances.

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} has an enemy called Anomaly, a clone of a gangster who can take the properties of what he touches.
* ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'': ComicBook/KateBishop's boyfriend Johnny Watts, AKA Fuse, has this superpower, transforming successfully from steel to brick to rubber to even water. He wears Vibranium piercings for transformations into that element, but staying in that form too long cuts into his intelligence so he saves it for emergencies. [[spoiler:His sister Ramone has a similar power, but in her case the transformation into Vibranium is mostly permanent]].

* David Banner in ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' gets this power after injecting himself with Bruce's DNA, taking elements from the Absorbing Man. In the climax, he goes through electrical, rock, and water-based forms in quick succession.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': The Absorbing Man shows up in the "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E1Shadows Shadows]]" and "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E2HeavyIsTheHead Heavy is the Head]]" , working for [[spoiler: HYDRA]]. He is never actually [[ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames called Absorbing Man as a name, only as a descriptor]], instead going by [[AlliterativeName Carl Creel]] (his real name from the comics). Creel enjoys absorbing things so much that he keeps a collection of unique materials to use and [[spoiler: HYDRA]] rewards him with new additions to the collection for completing missions.

[[folder:WebComics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': Carl "Crusher" Creel, a Franchise/MarvelUniverse {{supervillain}}, can absorb the qualities of anything he touches. This ability makes him a dangerous opponent, but it also means he often absorbs the weaknesses of whatever he's touched and most of his defeats come from heroes who exploit this. Thor shows him why taking on {{Mjolnir}}'s properties was a bad idea in the "[[Recap/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroesS1E13GammaWorldPart2 Gamma World Part 2]]" episode.
-->'''Absorbing Man''': [[WhyIsntItAttacking Fight back!]]\\
'''Thor''': I cannot... for I am concentrating...\\
(''Absorbing Man rushes him, only to freeze in his tracks'')\\
'''Absorbing Man''': I - I can't move! What's goin' on?!\\
'''Thor''': [[TranquilFury You were foolish to take on the essence of Mjolnir, mortal]]. The [[DropTheHammer hammer's]] power is not yours to control. ''[[OnlyTheChosenMayWield It is mine!]]''\\
(''Thor proceeds to use [[GrievousHarmWithABody Absorbing Man as a hammer]] against the Leader's robot suit)''

* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fight a villain with this superpower, called the White Monster, in the DenouementEpisode "[[Recap/TeenTitansS5E13ThingsChange Things Change]]". The White Monster actually gets tougher when it absorbs a liquid like oil since it can then reform like [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay the T-1000]].

Related tropes include CannibalismSuperpower, TheAssimilator and PowerCopying which are about absorbing the powers of other characters rather than materials. See also ElementalArmour, where the character is only encased by the substance without transforming. Contrast TheMagicTouch, where touching causes the object to change as well as TakenForGranite, where the transformation is against the victim's will and freezes them.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Pica, with his Stone-stone Fruit ability, is able to assimilate with and move through stone that he comes in contact with. When he emerges, his skin is made of stone.
[[/folder]]

* ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} had a StalkerWithACrush named Casey Krinsky with substance-copying abilities. She is defeated when Firestorm's transmuting abilities interact oddly with hers and accidentally [[TakenForGranite petrify]] her.

* The Absorbing Man shows up in the "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E1Shadows Shadows]]" and "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E2HeavyIsTheHead Heavy is the Head]]" episodes of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', working for [[spoiler: HYDRA]]. He is never actually [[ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames called Absorbing Man as a name, only as a descriptor]], instead he going by [[AlliterativeName Carl Creel]] (his real name from the comics). Creel enjoys absorbing things so much that he keeps a collection of unique materials to use and [[spoiler: HYDRA]] rewards him with new additions to the collection for completing missions.

* The Absorbing Man shows up in the "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E1Shadows Shadows]]" and "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E2HeavyIsTheHead Heavy is the Head]]" episodes of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', working for [[spoiler: HYDRA]]. He is never actually [[ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames called Absorbing Man as a name, only as a descriptor]], instead he goes by [[AlliterativeName Carl Creel]] (his real name from the comics). Creel enjoys absorbing things so much that he keeps a collection of unique materials to use and [[spoiler: HYDRA]] rewards him with new additions to the collection for completing missions.

* The {{Supervillain}} [[TheAdjectivalMan Absorbing Man]], a longtime opponent of ComicBook/TheMightyThor and the Comicbook/IncredibleHulk, can absorb the physical characteristics of anything he touches. This extends to inanimate substances like steel and concrete or even other people like ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules. ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' sees him learn to absorb the properties of entire objects like rockets. Stonewall, his biological son, has also [[LamarckWasRight inherited this power]].

!!Examples

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:Toys]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': The [[OurGeniesAreDifferent absorbent genie]] from [[Recap/WakfuS1E9RuelsBag "Le sac de Ruel" ("Ruel's Bag")]] takes on the properties of whatever he eats and since he has been feasting on Kamas (coins), the other characters cannot even scratch him. [[spoiler: Ruel defeats him by tricking him into eating some chocolate coins and he starts to melt.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'': Kecleon's [[SecretArt Ability Color Change]], while presented as ChameleonCamouflage, functions closer to this trope. Its type changes to that of the last attack that hit it.

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': The [[OurGeniesAreDifferent absorbent genie]] from [[Recap/WakfuS1E9RuelsBag "Le sac de Ruel" ("Ruel's Bag")]] takes on the properties of whatever he eats and since he has been feasting on Kamas (coins), the other characters cannot even scratch him. [[spoiler: Ruel defeats him by tricking him into eating some chocolate coins and he starts to melt.]]

----

---> '''Absorbing Man''': [[WhyIsntItAttacking Fight back!]]
--->'''Thor''': I cannot... for I am concentrating...
--->(''Absorbing Man rushes him, only to freeze in his tracks'')
--->'''Absorbing Man''': I - I can't move! What's goin' on?!
--->'''Thor''': [[TranquilFury You were foolish to take on the essence of Mjolnir, mortal]]. The [[DropTheHammer hammer's]] power is not yours to control. ''[[OnlyTheChosenMayWield It is mine!]]''
--->(''Thor proceeds to use [[GrievousHarmWithABody Absorbing Man as a hammer]] against the Leader's robot suit)''

* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fight a villain with this super power, called the White Monster, in the "[[Recap/TeenTitansS5E13ThingsChange Things Change]]" episode. The White Monster actually gets tougher when it absorbs a liquid like oil since it can then reform like [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay the T-1000]].

** Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, he is often depicted as never being able to catch on that absorbing the physical characteristics of something means getting the weaknesses that come with it. Thor once defeated him by having him come into contact with hydrogen gas, which then harmlessly dissipated. In a battle with the Hulk on top of a skyscraper under construction, the roof collapsed and both fell hundreds of feet to the ground. Sneering at the Hulk, he said all he had to do to survive the fall was to reach out and grab a piece of falling debris, absorbing its' properties. Unfortunately he grabbed a shard of glass, and didn't have time to grab something else before hitting the ground...

* In ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'', Minmax found a sword that can do this, although it had protections against copying excessively weak materials (like, say, the flesh it cuts). [[spoiler: Shortly thereafter, Minmax cluelessly touched it to an [[NegativeSpaceWedgie oblivion hole]]. This removed the sword's copying ability, but it [[AchievementsInIgnorance may well have been the most powerful thing he could possibly have replicated with it]], as the resulting "nonexistent" sword was ''[[GameBreaker utterly immovable]]'' by any force except Minmax himself.]]

* ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} had a StalkerWithACrush named Casey Krinsky with substance-copying abilities. She is defeated when Firestorm's transmuting abilities interact oddly with hers and accidentally [[StalkerWithACrush petrify]] her.

* The {{Supervillain}} [[TheAdjectivalMan Absorbing Man]], a longtime opponent of ComicBook/TheMightyThor and the Comicbook/IncredibleHulk, can absorb the physical characteristics of anything he touches. This extends to inanimate substances like steel and concrete or even other people like ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules.
''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' sees him learn to absorb the properties of entire objects like rockets. Stonewall, his biological son, has also [[LamarckWasRight inherited this power]].

* The {{Supervillain}} [[TheAdjectivalMan Absorbing Man]], a longtime opponent of ComicBook/TheMightyThor and the Comicbook/IncredibleHulk, can absorb the physical characteristics of anything he touches. This extends to inanimate substances like steel and concrete or even other people like ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules. ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' sees him learn to absorb the properties of entire objects like rockets. Stonewall, his biological son, has also [[LamarckWasRight inherited this power]].