The Mutant Tardigrades are the main antagonists of the 2015 American horror film Harbinger Down.
When the crabbing boat Harbinger recovers a crashed Soviet space capsule containing a cosmonaut infected with mutant tardigrades, the ship's crew members become infected.
Appearance
Like most tardigrades, these are microscopic, eight-legged creatures with cylindrical mouths. In large groups, these mutants are capable of infecting and assimilating living things and transforming their bodies into horrific monsters.
Powers and Abilities
The Mutant Tardigrades possess the following powers and abilities:
- Assimilation of biomass
- DNA absorption
- Shapeshifting
- Infection of humans
- They can create objects from pure matter or projected in other forms, using either for creation or destruction.
Fate
The final conglomeration of tardigrades is frozen in the ice after Sadie intentionally crashes the ship into an iceberg. However, with rescue choppers closing in, it is implied that they will spread to the mainland.
Trivia
- The film was heavily inspired by the 1982 film The Thing.