Elemental Absorption

A trick those with Elemental Powers can do is absorbing their own element(s). For example, one may think someone with fire powers wouldn't be helpful in stopping a forest fire, but that person could simply absorb the flames and either store it or release it in a safer way. Alternately, someone with wind powers can suck the air out of an area.

See also Feed It with Fire (when this is done to restore health) and Energy Absorption.

Anime and Manga

 * Natsu from Fairy Tail, who uses Dragon Magic, can absorb fire. Ditto Gajeel with iron and Wendy with air.

Comic Books

 * Scorch did it to prevent the Martian Manhunter from spawning (Makes Sense in Context), but could only hold it for a few minutes- long enough for the JLA to defeat him, though.
 * Killer Frost absorbed heat in order to power her ice powers. Since you'd expect An Ice Person to be weak against fire, this tends to be a dangerous surprise for heroes facing her.
 * Johnny Storm can do this, although if it's heat (rather than fire) it's a strain and dumping the energy absorbed is a problem. In such cases he usually has to gain high altitude and then release the energy in a serious flare. After which he is usually only semi-conscious and needs someone to catch him.
 * Thor can absorb electricity.

Film

 * In the second X-Men movie Rogue absorbs Pyro's powers and uses them to put out the fires he had created, though she doesn't directly absorb the fire.

Literature

 * Harry Dresden of the Dresden Files does this on occasion. How do you escape a boat? Freeze part of a lake. How do you do that? Absorb the heat and release it as a fireball.
 * Done from time to time in the Codex Alera.
 * In the Sword of Truth, this is actually impossible without Subtractive Magic, and there's only one person  who has been born with this power in three thousand years.   There are a few people who managed to pick up Subtractive Magic, and thus this ability, by studying. There are also noted Banelings, including Darken Rahl and the Sisters of the Dark.

Tabletop Games

 * Many elemental creatures in Dungeons & Dragons tend to do this.
 * In 3 ed. even a PC race, genasi can learn to heal from one's element.
 * The Totemist class can invoke this using a soulmeld.

Toys

 * Bionicle: By default, most Toa are able to do this with their element. The only exceptions are Gravity and Psionics.
 * Vakama managed to defeat a Fire Entity simply by absorbing all the heat in the area.
 * Matau managed to defeat a Sonic Entity by sucking the air out of the improvised container the Toa Metru made to trap it.

Video Games

 * In MARDEK, if a character's elemental resistances exceed 100%, incoming attacks with that element will heal them. Which means that if they have 100%+ resistance to all 8, they'll be pretty much invincible.
 * Which is why characters never have Thauma resistance of any sort, and bosses get the Inversion: X attack which hits you with Thauma proportional to your resistance to X
 * In Final Fantasy games, monsters affiliated with an element are either immune to it or are healed by attacks of that element (be they spells or attacks with an elemental weapon). Some bosses can even change their elemental type during the fight, so you must figure out which one it is before attacking again. Fortunately, the player characters get access to the ability to absorb specific elements themselves in many games, whether by using high-level Elemental Materia, junctioning enough elemental spells to your Elem-Def stat, or (in most cases) by merely donning equipment that comes with such an effect.
 * Certain Heartless from Kingdom Hearts (mainly the ones that look like flying lanterns) can do this. Physical attacks and forms of magic other than the one they use and especially one that's opposite their own (i.e. blizzard->fire or fire->blizzard, etc.) will cause it damage. Getting hit by a magic attack that's of the same element as their own restores energy. Blue Rhapsody uses and absorbs Blizzard attacks. Red Nocturne uses and absorbs Fire attacks. Yellow Opera uses and absorbs Thunder attacks. Green Requiem absorbs all magic attacks and heals itself and other Heartless. Aquatank, a fish-like Heartless who uses thunder magic in Atlantica will regain health if hit by thunder magic. (Re: Chain of Memories)
 * The Organization XIII members seem to absorb their own elements as well. Of course, since the Kingdom Hearts games only have a very short list of elements you can actually use (even more so after they removed Gravity, Stop, and Aero for 2), the only ones who might ever actually get hit by an attack of their own element are Axel, Vexen, and Larxene in Chain of Memories.
 * In 358/2 Days, all thirteen elements are present as attacks in some way shape or form, and each member has a natural resistance to their element ("Nil" for Xemnas, Moon for Saix, Light for Roxas, etc.) that starts at 10% at level 1 and rises another 10% every ten levels. Mickey, Sora, Donald and Goofy also have a natural resistance to Light. The only character who doesn't have a natural resistance to an element is Riku, perhaps because Darkness isn't present as an element in the game.
 * This is a constant concern in the Shin Megami Tensei series, especially more recent entries, where demons can resist, repel or even drain attacks of certain elements - including physical attacks in some cases. Fortunately, the protagonist and his allies can gain these same Elemental Absorption abilities.
 * Some Pokémon abilities passively allow the user to absorb damage from an element and restore HP (Dry Skin, Volt Absorb, Water Absorb) or completely neutralize damage of a specific element (Flash Fire, Motor Drive, Levitate) and possibly raise stats.
 * In Dragon Age, you are able to do this in the Fade portion of the Circle Tower quest line. You have to be the fire man to do it, but you can still do it. And it's REALLY handy.

Web Comics

 * Fred, a fire elemental in What's Shakin' absorbs fire magic, which is why he hunts fire mages to consume their powers.
 * In Wonderella, an arson-obsessed villain/hero with a crush on a fiery superheroine makes a Deal with the Devil to absorb heat. Unfortunately it creates cold, absorbing even her powers, and she flat out rejects him.

Web Original

 * Most users of Elemental Powers in the Global Guardians PBEM Universe can do this with their appropriate element, as long as they are capable of generating that element in the first place. If all they can do is manipulate the element, then absorption is usually beyond the scope of their power.
 * Nacht of the Whateley Universe has magical darkness powers, and can absorb light-based attacks and make herself more powerful. Blot just absorbs all energy radiating on him all the time, which is why he looks like a human-shaped black spot all the time.

Western Animation

 * Ben 10: Heatblast absorbs the fire in a burning building while saving the people trapped inside.
 * Some Firebenders can use their abilities to stop fires, most notably Fire Lord Sozin who was able to absorb heat from magma in order to stop it from flowing.
 * Done even better when benders redirect lightning by having it pass through their body