Angel, parte III

Powers & Abilities
Angel has the usual powers and weaknesses of a vampire, along with some abilities which may be unique to him. Some of his vampiric powers are greater than average, because of his age and perhaps his bloodline. His talents may be divided into three main categories: physical, sensory, and mental. He is also skilled in a number of different areas.

Angel’s entire physiology is of superhuman quality. His strength, though ill-defined, is far beyond that of normal humans: he can punch through wooden walls, leap 15 feet straight up, rip apart bicycle chains, throw a man across the lobby of the Hyperion when angered, and so forth. His motor skills and reflexes far surpass those of humans, for example he once spun around and caught a crossbow bolt fired at his back from no more than fifteen feet away and has (As Angelus) evaded multiple point-blank shotgun blasts. He also has standard vampire durability against most forms of mundane physical damage; he once jumped down from a four-story rooftop without sustaining any apparent injury, and has described being shot as feeling "like a bee sting." Nonetheless, Angel is not indestructible. He has all the vulnerabilities of a Buffyverse vampire: direct sunlight will cause combustion that would eventually kill him if he stays out in the sun's rays for more than a few seconds. A stake through the heart and decapitation would instantly kill him. In addition, certain objects of religious significance to Christians — specifically Bibles, crucifixes, and holy water — can burn his flesh. He can be rendered unconscious by poisons and tranquilizers, though he has survived dosages that would be fatal to a human. Also, Angel, like all Buffyverse vampires, can not enter a person's home unless he's invited by one of the occupants, though this rule does not extend to the home of non-human entities, public facilities, and temporary lodgings like a motel room or an abandoned house. At least two of Angel’s senses — his smell and hearing — are also superhumanly acute. On many occasions he has tracked people through the streets (or even sewers) of Los Angeles by smell alone; his olfactory talents are apparently superior to dogs, as he does not need to sniff the ground to track in this manner. Like all Buffyverse vampires, Angel can also smell fear. He can also tell when two people have had sex; in the episode "Ground State", he tells Lilah Morgan, "I can smell you and Wesley all over each other." He, at one point in the series, was also quickly able to smell that Wesley had sex with a bleached blonde the night before. His hearing is so sensitive that he once was able to eavesdrop on a conversation happening in the lobby of a hotel while confined in the hotel’s basement. As vampires are primarily nocturnal, his sight may also be of superhuman quality, though this is less certain; he has been noticed using night-vision goggles, for instance. Through Angel and Spike, the viewer learns the differences between human and vampire senses of taste: while the episode "I Will Remember You" reveals that a vampire's ability to taste conventional human food is dulled, we also learn that vampires can easily taste subtleties in blood (fear makes a person's blood taste pleasantly salty; Slayer blood is an aphrodisiac and stimulant; cold, hot, and warm blood all have different tastes; human blood is preferable to otter blood, which in turn is preferable to pig blood, etc.) According to Spike, blood smells "metallic, sorta", like pennies ("Damage") .

Angel possesses at least two superhuman cognitive abilities. One is a photographic memory; he is able to recall visual impressions in great detail and fidelity (it is unclear whether this ability is unique to Angel; it is possible that he possessed it as a human being and it carried over into his unlife, or it could be one of the effects of the Gypsy curse designed for him to suffer for his past sins). Angel has also displayed a receptive "psychic connection" to vampires he has sired, though this appears to depend on his relationship with them. For instance he never experienced any visions of Drusilla's activities yet he did with Penn. Despite being part of a collective with Drusilla for a while, he appears to be closest to her when tormenting her as a human, his limited affections reserved for his sire Darla who possessed such a close connection to Angel. Penn was treated more as a child and was trained specifically by Angelus for a period of time. This ability was not further developed to explain its true extent and was never displayed with his other progeny, Lawson, with whom he did not have a long or important relationship.

Angel is a highly skilled combatant. Generally he prefers to fight unarmed, using a style that seems to blend several different disciplines and to take advantage of his superhuman strength and speed. Angel uses a lot of circular attacks such as spinning kicks and spinning back hands. He, unlike Buffy, likes to stay grounded in his attacks and rarely does any jumping moves. He has been said to be equal to Buffy in terms of fighting and slightly better than Spike. Finally, Angel's great weakness is his love of talking, a weakness which he shared with Angelus. In other fights, Angel clearly displays his skill at fighting. He was able to defeat Marcus Hamilton in the final fight at Wolfram and Hart. Prior to the episode "Destiny", Angel fought Spike from time to time, displaying clear dominance throughout the nineteenth century, until Spike's ensoulment, which changed him dramatically. When the two battled for the Cup of Perpetual Torment, Spike defeated a severely demoralised Angel, going so far as to drive a stake into Angel's shoulder, showing that he could have killed him if he wanted. It must be said though that during this fight, Angel was feeling depressed and lacked self-confidence due to his position at Wolfram and Hart and the loss of his best friend and the woman he loved, Cordelia Chase. After "Destiny" however, and following his getting over the depression and regaining his confidence, Angel did show a slight dominance over Spike in several mostly inconclusive encounters, even going as far as to violently pummel Spike in an elevator while in puppet form, although it remains open to debate just how seriously Spike was taking that particular fight. Though Angelus has admitted to a disdain for fights in which his victory is not certain, a mindset which most likely contributed to his failure to match Spike's record at defeating Slayers, he has certainly proven himself possessed of the necessary skill, going so far as to dominate the combat for significant portions of his battles against both Buffy and Faith. As Angel, his mentality (And in some cases, his personal connection with the Slayer in question, as with Faith.) is much more given to defensive fighting when faced with human opponents, but has repeatedly managed to hold his own in spite of this limitation, such as when he fought with and executed a plan to subdue the rogue Slayer Dana in short order. He has mastered many varieties of weapons, favoring broadswords and axes. As Angelus, he once demonstrated proficiency with a shotgun; it’s not clear whether Angel’s ensouled persona also possesses this skill. His arguably greatest asset as a combatant is his self-confidence and determination, coupled with his ability to seize any advantage. While Angel lacks Spike's uncanny ability to sense an opponent's weakness, he has far greater ability to remain calm, and follow a plan. Angel is also quick to adapt to his foes' abilities, as he did in defeating Marcus Hamiliton. He also possesses some skills in magic, on several occasions demonstrating impressive ability in spells and wizardry. In conjunction with his drinking of Marcus Hamilton's Senior Partner-infused blood in the final episode, all of Angel's abilities may have increased dramatically. Whether the effects of his blood-imbued strength boost are temporary or not remain unseen. As Angelus, he displays a considerable skill in manipulating others emotional states to devastating affect, able to provoke full blown arguments with a few carefully chosen words and, with time and effort, drive the emotionally unstable to insanity. He is also an expert at both physical and psychological torture. Angel will probably not use these 'talents' if he still has them; however, it is possible that he may have done so during the time between "Reunion" and "Epiphany," as even Darla did not recognize him as either Angel or Angelus, and the full extent of the actions he was capable of committing at that time were unknown. In the episode "You're Welcome", Cordelia passed on her visions to Angel in the same way that she had originally been granted them by Doyle. Angel was given a psychic connection to the Powers That Be, allowing him precognitive visions that he utilised in the last few episodes of the series. As he told Connor, he has "very nice handwriting." During the episode "Lovers Walk", he is also seen reading La Nausée by Jean-Paul Sartre. The fact that the cover features the original French title suggests Angel is proficient enough with French to read the book in its original language. While not arrogant in any sense of the word, Angel is fully aware of his incredible abilities. In one episode he tells an opponent "If you're lucky, you'll last ten minutes, tops. Really lucky, you'll be unconscious for the last five."