This reminds me of Peter Petrelli, from Heroes. He started out just able to mimic the powers of those he was around, but then later started copying them for good. As a villain, the latter is more interesting, but as a hero, I like the former. It's just one more annoyance to put in his way. Maybe he's like Mimic from the X-Men comics: able to copy up to five superpowers. If he wants to use another, he has to let go of one.
"Maybe he's like Mimic from the X-Men comics: able to copy up to five superpowers. If he wants to use another, he has to let go of one." I had a similar thing in mind. Having a limit to how many he can have is a good idea
There's also the Peter Petrelli limit from season 1 of Heroes (which is similar to the Jean Grey/Phoenix outcome): The more power the character has, the harder it is to control, leading essentially to a meltdown.
"The more power the character has, the harder it is to control, leading essentially to a meltdown." Another excellent point Cogito. Having 20+ powers and having no problems wouldn't make any sense (not that I would give him 20+ powers-I probably couldn't think of that many powers to give him!)
