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Cryokinesis is the ability to reduce the temperature of matter, causing it to freeze.

Characters[]

Confirmed

Future

Limits[]

The range of this ability appears to be quite short. Sylar did not have to have physical contact with the roadway in order to freeze it--he merely pointed his hand at the asphalt--but he did have to open the door and lean down from the vehicle.

While the range is short, the total volume of space affected can be quite large. In Cold Snap, Tracy was able to freeze an entire parking garage; while the effect was centered on her body, it expanded slowly (Micah was able to outrun it) to encompass thousands of cubic meters.

Sylar[]

In Don't Look Back, James Walker was found frozen solid, mid-bite. In Road Kill Sylar managed to coat a large stretch of highway with ice in seconds and in The Hard Part Sylar froze Hiro's sword to the point of shattering. These events indicate that he can rapidly freeze a human body or cause hundreds of cubic feet of ice to form from ambient moisture in seconds or decrease the temperature of metal to the point of breaking.

Future Sylar[]

In Five Years Gone, Sylar easily manifested the ability in both hands to fight Peter. He showed he was able to generate significant energy as his fight with Peter nearly broke down a locked door that two soldiers and Matt Parkman had trouble breaking down.

Tracy Strauss[]

Tracy was able to completely freeze an adult human in seconds, causing his body to shatter when he fell to the ground. She can similarly freeze flowers and leather straps to the point that they become brittle and shatter under their own weight or with little to no effort on her part. In Dying of the Light, Tracy begins to demonstrate more control over her abilities: she is able to freeze the outside of a glass container without causing it to shatter; she also can induce extreme cold in human being without actually freezing him. Tracy does not appear to suffer any ill effects from being in contact with objects that she has frozen with her ability. Nathan noticed that when she freezes things, her hands don't even get cold.

Thick, insulated clothing provides protection against Tracy's ability. Danko believed she could only channel her ability through her hands, as he blocked her by placing heavily insulated gloves on them (A Clear and Present Danger), although she was able to eventually shatter the gloves (Building 26). She has since honed her ability to the point she can cause the pinpoint freezing of objects (Ice Queen, Part 1) and create simple ice constructs, such as the spikes with which she killed a former Building 26 agent (Ice Queen, Part 2). She also froze Claire Bennet after Claire touched her arm, and the freezing continued after she removed her hand.

Tracy's ability can be suppressed or countered by keeping her exposed to intense heat (Building 26).

Ambient humidity apparently increases the effect of her ability, as noted by her freezing part of a parking garage when the sprinklers were turned on (Cold Snap). In accomplishing this feat, however, she froze her own body in the process; she subsequently shattered when Danko shot her. However, after being washed out into the river, she managed to somehow reform herself on the shore, albeit naked. (Ice Queen, Part 1)

After Tracy was shot by Danko (Cold Snap), her abilities seemed to change or evolve. Upon being shot, Tracy shattered into a thousands of pieces of ice, though Tracy retained consciousness, even winking her eye. The ice seemed to melt, and Tracy soon thereafter formed back into her natural self (Ice Queen, Part 1). Since then, Tracy seems to be able to take the form of water and ice (Prodigals, Part 1), being able to form back into herself at will, and to control herself while in those forms, capable of assuming different forms and shapes. It should be noted, however, that this is an unusual new aspect that Tracy has developed. It is unknown exactly how it is related to her original capacity to freeze things. Regardless, Tracy has demonstrated great control over this new aspect of her ability, though she occasionally loses control when stressed and upset, involuntarily turning into water (Acceptance) and freezing things without meaning to (Brother's Keeper). She has since learned to turn her clothes into liquid as well, as she solidified herself and wasn't naked.

Should she be attacked, Tracy's body can change into water to prevent damage by knives and bullets. In her liquid form, Tracy can quickly travel by depositing herself in a body of water, and then moving through it. (Prodigals, Part 1).

Using her ability to produce water from her hands, Tracy seems to be able to propel herself high in the air. She can also exert some influence over water sources outside her body, as she causes a geyser to erupt during a battle against Eli's clones (Prodigals, Part 3)

Peter Petrelli[]

After coming into physical contact with Tracy, Peter accidentally froze Flight 195's fuselage, opening a hole in it.

Mick the Ice Guy[]

By pouring water into his hand, Mick was able to roll it over and freeze it into a snowball. He also used his ability to create beautiful ice displays at the Odessa Unity Summit that looked like ice crystals bursting from a small point, and then falling like snow. He also used his ability offensively against Luke, by grabbing Luke's neck and beginning to freeze it.

Gallery[]


Notes[]

  • Jason Badower, creator of the graphic novel Road Kill, said he didn't want Sylar's freezing power to look like Iceman from the X-Men.
"A beam of ice never made any sense to me and wouldn't look right in the Heroes world. I figured that the air around his hands would simply just get really, really cold rather than a beam of ice shoot out of his hands. I figured he could then extend and direct the coldness around his hands towards the road (I couldn't get him leaning out and touching the road -- how would he steer the semi?!). But where does the water come from that forms the ice? Is it the oxygen in the air slowing down? Should I have drawn the ground wet from rain? Given that there was no direction for the latter in the script, I opted for the former. So my comic implies that he could freeze someone from a short distance (3 feet?)."
  • It is unknown if "freezing" refers to the unconfirmed ability "temperature manipulation" mentioned by the assignment tracker map.
  • In a question and answer session, writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite confirmed that James Walker had the ability to freeze things before he died, but that Sylar stole it from him after he killed him. "Killed. Absorbed. Tested. In that order."

See Also[]

  • For the similar ability to take on the properties of water, see Water Mimicry.
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