Warning: Spoilers ahead for Children of the Vault #3
By giving one of the Children of the Vault the ability to consume matter and energy, Marvel has taken a famously dismissed ability from DC Comics and turned it into something incredibly powerful. Everybody with superpowers can’t be lucky enough to gain something like telepathy, super strength, or flight, and some abilities are often regarded as useless or written off as jokes — until now.
In Children of the Vault #3 by Deniz Camp, Luca Maresca, Carlos Lopez, and Cory Petit, Cable and Bishop attempt to take down the City by firing micro-singularity bullets toward it. Several of the Children spring into action to stop their City-Mind from being destroyed, and Olvido stops one of the bullets single-handedly — by swallowing it whole.
The micro-singularity disappears into the seemingly endless dimension he reveals as he opens his mouth, proving that matter and energy consumption are some of the coolest powers out there.
Marvel Did What DC Comics Never Managed
In terms of DC’s grossest superpowers, Matter-Eater Lad walked so that Olvido could run, and he’s often derided for his hyper-consumption abilities. Tenzil Kim (of the Legion of Super-Heroes) has a unique physiology that allows him to eat anything and live to tell the tale, but DC never managed to tap into that potential. Although Matter-Eater Lad has managed feats like eating asteroids, he’s hardly the first in line to save the world. Yet Olvido stepping in to stop the micro-singularity from destroying the Children’s home shows that (literally) consuming energy and matter, with the right application, can solve even the most catastrophic problems. While its utility isn’t as obvious as being able to punch through a mountain or move objects with telekinesis, it’s still incredibly versatile.
Tenzil Kim and Olvido’s abilities aren’t a precise comparison. Matter-Eating Lad’s powers are quite literal in that he can bite, chew, and eat practically any material or substance. Olvido’s powers are more closely linked to energy absorption, which he used to defeat even the incredibly powerful Magneto in X-Men: Legacy #240 by Mike Carey, Clay Mann, Jay Leisten, Brian Reber, and Petit. Both Matter-Eating Lad and Olvido consume energy in their own ways, however, and Olvido’s latest technique even comes after the rapid evolution and improvements the Children undergo each time they die. Even their post-human technology recognizes that this type of ability is worth keeping around.
Olvido’s Abilities Further Overpower The Children
The post-humans already have a number of impressive abilities in their midst, and Olvido fits right in. His abilities aren’t relegated to the sidelines; they’re rapidly called upon to respond to Bishop and Cable’s assault on the City. Under the right circumstances, they could be turned against many mutants (or other enemies getting in the way of the Children’s agenda to claim the world for themselves), just as they were used against Magneto. Given that Olvido has a literal “pocket universe” inside him, the possibilities are endless. After all, at the end of the day, Galactus is actually the ultimate consumer of matter. Marvel’s Olvido has taken matter-eating from a DC Comics joke to a chillingly powerful ability.
