History Main / MetaPower

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': The brother of All for One had as his Quirk the ability to transfer said Quirk to other people. Since the quirk itself did nothing, it was believed that the original holder was Quirkless. His quirk then merged with a SuperStrength Quirk given to him by All for One, turning into "One for All", super strength that can be passed down through generations, and the main character Deku is its ninth holder. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that One for All can also allow its user to use the Quirks of its previous users.]]

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': Makuta Gorast's MaskOfPower, the mask of disruption, has the ability to make a target lose control over one of their powers, which for some powers can be fatal.

* The Marvel Universe has a CosmicKeystone for power itself simply called the Power Stone. The nuances are vague, but it's stated to grant unlimited access and control over all power and forms of energy in the universe. Anyone who wields it can will themselves into invincibility, making themselves so strong they can literally singlehandedly destroy a planet with one punch. They can also turn it on anyone nearby, magnifying their abilities until they lose control and their powers backfire on them. It's unstated if it can be turned around to dampen or nullify powers, but it seems reasonably within it's capabilities to do so.

** ''[[{{Characters/MarvelComicsHopeSummers}} Hope Summers'' has the similar ability to copy any mutant power in her vicinity, seemingly without limit. She's also demonstrated the ability to cure the PowerIncontinence of any mutant she touches, with her forming a telepathic bond with new power manifestations. A made up BadFuture had her becoming a HiveQueen of all mutants after amplifying their powers to the point where they were consumed by them, becoming mindless drones. [[{{ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen}} Hickman's X-Men]] lists her power as "Omega Level Power Manipulation", and she usually uses it to synch up with and amplify the powers of mutants she's working with.

* ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'' has the four enhancement metals: Aluminum (erases all the burner's metal reserves), Duralumin (when burned simultaneously with another metal, consumes the entirety of the other metal for a massively amplified effect), Chromnium (as Aluminum, but affects someone you were touching rather than yourself), and Nicrosil (as Duralumin, but affects someone you were touching rather than yourself). Of the eight base metals, Bronze lets you detect allomancy, and Copper protects you and those near you from Bronze and emotional allomancy. There is also Lerasium, which if burned by a non-Allomancer permanently makes them Mistborn.
* ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'': One of the most advanced Awakening powers, currently only achievable by the GodEmperor, is to take control of other Awakeners' constructs. It's played for BlackComedy when it's mentioned that the GodEmperor personally has to reboot the nation's zombie legions whenever a commander forgets their operating codes.

* In the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', the "Name of Names" or the True Name of the LanguageOfMagic grants dominion over all spells cast in that language. Anyone who knows the Name of Names can erase or alter other spells pretty much at will.

Not to be confused with a character who happens to have powers over the FourthWall (e.g. FourthWallObserver or ReadingAheadInTheScript), nor someone with outright AuthorPowers over a given setting - that's MetaFiction. The MetaGuy, who is GenreSavvy but not fourth-wall aware, is likewise not an example of this trope.

Despite the name of the trope, this is not to be confused with a character who happens to have powers over the FourthWall, that would include FourthWallObserver and ReadingAheadInTheScript, or someone with outright AuthorPowers over a given setting. The MetaGuy, who is GenreSavvy but not fourth-wall aware, is also not an example of this trope.

* AntiMagic: Magical abilities simply do not work on this people with this power.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Mercury Black's father Marcus is revealed to have had the unique ability to take away other people's Semblances, which he did to his own son in order to remove what he considered to be "a crutch". The power appears to work even after its user's death, as following Mercury killing him he still didn't get his Semblance back, forcing him to be a BadassNormal when basically every other fighter uses a Semblance.

* ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'' has the four enhancement metals: Aluminum (erases all the burner's metal reserves), Duralumin (when burned simultaneously with another metal, consumes the entirety of the other metal for a massively amplified effect), Chromnium (as Aluminum, but affects someone you were touching rather than yourself), and Nicrosil (as Duralumin, but affects someone you were touching rather than yourself). There is also Lerasium, which if burned by a non-Allomancer permanently makes them Mistborn.

* Emperor Bellows in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' forbids witches from using more than one type of magic and enforces this through the coven system, in which witches choose a type of magic to specialize in while their ability to use any other kind is completely removed via magic tattoos.

** In Season 2 the lion turtles are revealed to have the ability to both grant and take away Bending, which they gave to humans to defend themselves as they foraged through the Spirit Wilds 10,000 years ago.

** The first season villain Amon is the leader of the Equalists, who feel that people with ElementalPowers have an unfair advantage, and that the world would be a better place if no one could bend at all. Amon himself can't bend, but has the power to remove other people's bending ability. [[spoiler:Naturally, he's a hypocrite: he's actually a very good waterbender, and his PowerNullifier is actually bloodbending.]]

* In ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', Seth is a "power dealer", whose power is to permanently remove another person's power but to then be able to confer it on one other person. He can store them indefinitely (and not just one at a time) but not use them himself.

* ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'': The Disable move prevents the opposing Pokémon from using one of their moves. Only one move can be disabled at a time, and in
[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation]] the move is chosen at random, while in all subsequent generations it affects the last move the target used, failing if they haven't used one yet.

* ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'': The Disable ability prevents the opposing Pokémon from using a (randomly-selected) move.

** Jack Slash's secondary power is the ability to influence the Shards of other parahumans due to having the Broadcast Shard, which gives him an uncanny insight into the workings of their powers, nudges him from having the Slaughterhouse Nine engage in fights with other parahumans that they can't win, and even influences other parahumans to use their powers in ways that are counterproductive. It's so subtle that he doesn't even know he has it, but it's what he's used to make the Slaughterhouse Nine one of the most dangerous villain groups in the world. Its main AchillesHeel is that it's useless for dealing with the unpowered, but since Jack is surrounded by dangerous parahumans most of the time actually getting a competent enough non-cape into position is easier said than done.
** The supervillainess Ingenue has as her power the ability to boost one aspect of a person's power in exchange for another, such as boosting their overall power but at the cost of fine control, or vice versa. It also has the downside of turning those she uses it on homicidally insane from prolonged use. She also has the ability to see people's powers.

* ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': Calypso can not only sense other mutants but she can identify what their powers are and what class they are in.

* ''Anime/TheSevenDeadlySins'': Holy Knight Deathpierce's power is the ability to alter the rhythm of magic, causing the powers of people around him to not work properly if he doesn't want them to.
* ''Manga/BlazBlueRemixHeart'': because Mai Natsume unwittingly absorbed the power of the Azure and it reacted with the power of the mysterious "grimoire" she absorbed, she herself has become a grimoire that can copy abilities from one person and then put it to another, but cannot use them herself.

* ''Manga/AliceAcademy'': Yuzu has the Alice "Steal", which removes another person's Alice and turning it into an Alice stone.
* ''Anime/TheSevenDeadlySins'': Holy Knight Deathpierce's power is the ability to alter the rhythm of magic, causing the powers of people around him to not work properly if he doesn't want them to.''

* Emperor Bellows in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' forbids witches from using more than one type of magic and enforces this through the coven system, in which witches to choose a type of magic to specialize in while their ability to use any other kind is completely removed via magic tattoos.

* AntiMagic: Magical abilities simply do not work on this person.
** ManaBurn: The nullification works by attacking whatever power stores they use to do magic.
** ManaDrain: The magical power stores are being drained to power up the user in some way.

** ManOfKryptonite: A power consisting of having power over the specific weaknesses of someone with powers.

*** AntiMagic: If the power being nullified happens to be magical in nature.
*** ManaBurn: The nullification works by attacking whatever power stores they use to do magic.
*** ManaDrain: The magical power stores are being drained to power up the user in some way.
*** ManOfKryptonite: A power consisting of having power over the specific weaknesses of someone with powers.

These are also known as "meta powers", but despite the name, this is not to be confused with a character who happens to have powers over the FourthWall, that would include FourthWallObserver and ReadingAheadInTheScript, or someone with outright AuthorPowers over a given setting. The MetaGuy, who is GenreSavvy but not fourth-wall aware, is also not an example of this trope.