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{{trope}}
[[File:T1000 head hole 4185.jpg|link=Terminator (franchise)|frame|Good thing indeed.]]
{{quote|''"As far as I can tell, [[Wolverine]]'s secret weakness is that he heals so quickly that he forgets not to be injured in the first place."''}}
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', Piccolo, and all Namekians, are established as having regenerative capabilities. He first demonstrates this During the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Unless his head is destroyed, he can use these powers to regenerate himself.
** In the sanitized Saban/Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z, Tenshinhan says his arm will grow back when Napa cuts it off. He's [[Never Say "Die"|sent to the next dimension]] "before it can happen". Tenshinhan is human, and does not have this ability in the manga or the original Japanese.
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** Sesshoumaru takes this even further. When he's finally [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|so badly injured]] in a fight that he [[Badass in Distress|needs to be rescued]], his [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|anger]] at Inuyasha's sympathy for his plight results in him healing the damage to his [[Handicapped Badass|only arm]] with [[Up to Eleven|pure fighting spirit]] alone. That doesn't end the fight, however, as his enemy then [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|stabs]] him [[No One Could Survive That|through the heart]] causing everyone to think he's dead. He [[Came Back Strong|comes back strong]] instead... and [[Tranquil Fury|very, very angry]].
* Quon of ''[[Towa no Quon]]'' recieves injuries that would be fatal to just about anyone else almost [[Once an Episode]].
== Comic Books ==
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* In the pages of ''[[New Avengers]]", the Sentry ripped Carnage in half and threw him into the sun. Of course Carnage came back about five years later. How? It turns out that {{spoiler|because the Carnage symbiote is part of Cletus Kasady's bloodstream, it was able to put Cletus in a coma and keep it alive, nearly dying to do so}}. Considering the random stuff Carnage, Venom and other symbiotes have done, this is completely believable compared to some other resurrections.
▲== Fan Fic ==
▲* In [[Oh God, Not Again|Oh God, Not again!]], Harry encounters a Sphinx in a maze and well,
{{quote|'''Sphinx:''' Right. Do not worry, though, as I am not permitted to kill you. That said, healers can work all sorts of miracles these days.}}
* George in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'' can [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshift]] from “himself hurt” to “himself not hurt.” He recovers from a broken ankle, various cuts and scrapes, and finally multiple fractures after he falls through a roof. He has to be conscious to do this, so if he were killed he wouldn't get better. (Then they'd have to tote him off to the [[Death Is Cheap|resurrectionist]].)
* In ''[[Calvin and Hobbes:
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Madoka Magica]]'', Sayaka's [[Healing Factor]] is the only thing that kept her alive after Sachiel burned most of her skin off (including her arms). Sachiel himself has a somewhat subverted example of this. Sayaka keeps lopping his limbs off, until she realizes that puncturing his lungs has about the same effect it would have on a human being, and that he has a hard time regenerating more than one body part/organ at a time.
* While it's never been shown in the anime canon, this is a common piece of [[Axis Powers Hetalia]] [[Fanon]], supported by the fact that in the manga, Russia survives his heart falling out on a regular basis, and China has a scar directly over his spine from when Japan stabbed him. It's so prevalent that "consensual [[Gorn|guro]]" is quite popular among certain sections of the fanbase, with characters treating killing each other like a form of S&M.
== Film ==
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* Sabertooth and Deadpool in ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' Origins.
** Averted in the the Origin's movie. Wolverine only takes serious damage during intense battles. Even when he's a lumberjack with spinning buzzsaws, cliffs, axes, and giant cords of wood all over the place he doesn't so much as get a knock on the head.
* Used multiple times in ''[[The Faculty]]''. However its subverted in the case of [[What the Hell, Casting Agency?|Jon Stewart's]] character, who after being turned back human isn't able to regenerate and is subjected to an eyepatch and four missing fingers at the movie's [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue|closing]].
* The T-1000 from ''[[The Terminator|Terminator 2]]'' showed off the movie's control of newfangled CGI technology, getting blown around and smashed apart, yet always flowing back together (Though he eventually got enough damage to make his disguise power less than effective).
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{{quote|'''Dorian''': "If that had been permanent, I'd have been very upset!"}}
* Used rather often in ''[[Highlander]]'', much like the TV series. Except that there was no temporary death in the films, they just got shot and kept on going.
== Literature ==
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** Tobias rarely entered combat as a hawk, preferring to do espionage for the rest of the characters. After he got his morphing back, he could join his friends in combat. Then he got hurt along with them. Probably more because he wasn't experienced in combat.
* In one of the ''[[Thieves' World]]'' novels regenerating character was subdued and ''sold as a slave to local [[Playing with Syringes|vivisector]]''. This was supposed to 'solve' two problems at once: both his regular wanton murder of poor little mobsters and vivisector cutting up slaves again and again counted as 'a bit too much' even by [[World Half Empty|local standards]]. {{spoiler|Well, one problem -- but hey, it's still better than nothing.}}
* Happens in some of the City Watch novels in ''[[Discworld]]'' thanks to the werewolf and golem who join the force.
{{quote|"We can rebuild him. We have the pottery."}}
** Also Reg Shoe, the zombie. He can't really ''heal'' per se, but his limbs get chopped off disproportionately often.
** [[Discworld]] vampires also have this ability, as demonstrated by [[
*** Otto's condition goes well beyond this. As a vampire with a vulnerability to sunlight, he's chosen a profession in photography. Using ''flashbulbs''. If he's the slightest bit careless in taking a picture, he goes up in smoke, but it's not a problem since he keeps a vial of blood in his pocket which breaks and revives him instantly.
* The hero of Chuck Wending's novel ''[[Double Dead]]'' can heal anything as long as he has enough blood in his system (he is a vampire, after all). This is taken [[Up to Eleven]] when he actually {{spoiler|burns to death in the sun, is carved up by cannibals, and only regenerates once his ''decapitated head'' bites off the cannibal leader's tongue.}} It's not quite [[From a Single Cell]], but it's close.
* In Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's ''[[Inferno]]'' and its sequel ''Escape From Hell'', the damned souls in Hell can and do heal from injuries up to and including [[Stuff Blowing Up|being exploded into a cloud of vapor]]. Of course, they're really [[Blessed with Suck]](after all, they are in Hell), since healing is often a slow painful process during which one is [[And I Must Scream|fully conscious but incapacitated]], and [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|one can never die]].
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* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', Angel laughs off the notion of going to a doctor for a cut, until Freckles urges that it could [[Scars Are Forever|scar]] on her.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Claire Bennett from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. The only reason she is not the [[Trope Namer]] is because it isn't a direct quote, but several characters [[Lampshade Hanging|have mentioned]] that she would be a lot less pretty if she didn't have her regeneration. She's chopped off her own toe just to see if it would grow back. In less deliberate instances, she's also gotten her neck snapped and had a sharp branch put through her skull, accidentally grabbed hot cookware, and wedged her hand in a running garbage disposal (all in the first four episodes!)
** There was a bit where her mom dropped her wedding ring into a pot of boiling water and Claire reached in to get it back, whereupon Mom chides her for being "flashy", noting that "we do have a strainer".
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** Angel sustaining an injury that would kill a normal human is pretty much a [[Once an Episode]] thing.
** Buffy, Faith and Kendra (slayers, basically) also heal faster than regular humans, which can lead to awkward questions posed by those not in the loop. For example, in the season 2 episode "Ted", the police wouldn't believe Buffy hit her stepfather in self-defense, because she had no bruise where he had hit her.
* In ''[[Star Trek:
** On a similar note, changelings are immune to all regular infections, including STDs, so they have no qualms sharing [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Body Fluids]] with each other. This also proves nearly fatal when {{spoiler|Section 31 develops a ... something that ''can'' infect Changelings.}}
* Most of the reapers on ''[[Dead Like Me]]''. The fact there's a spring sticking out of your mattress is no reason to get stabbed almost every time you go to bed, George. Sometimes they intentionally abuse their [[Healing Factor]], though, or each other's; Roxy seems to think running Mason over is a perfectly appropriate punishment.
* Sikozu of ''[[Farscape]]'' has the ability to reattach lost extremities. Thus, she's had her limbs lopped off on ''several'' occasions (and one of her [[Fingore|fingers]], in the episode ''Coup By Clam'') - the most severe being ''Twice Shy'', in which she has both an arm and a leg ripped off by {{spoiler|the true form of Talika}}.
** Also, Pilot once had this trope ''forced upon him'' by the rest of the crew, because a [[Mad Scientist]] had demanded one of his limbs in exchange for assistance.
*** A different episode finds them encountering another Leviathan that's overrun by some very unpleasant people. They too are abusing their Pilot's regeneration, but not just out of sadism. The first words the traumatized being can say "in simple enough fashion" for the [[Translator Microbes]] to be able to let the others understand are, "[[
* Given how often [[Forever Knight|Nick Knight]] gets shot in the line of duty, his quest [[To Become Human]] could easily get him killed unless he changes his habits.
** It showed up with other characters too. Vachon lost a hand in the plane crash in 'Black Buddha', and LaCroix survived being impaled by a flaming torch in the pilot, though we only find that out in season 2.
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** This is the day after Cameron has been blown up, run over, pulled a metal spike out of her head, pressed between two trucks and staple-gunned the wounds on her face closed. John, by contrast, has "only" been in a car accident, and already she's looking much less injured than him.
** Worth pointing out that as Terminators are living tissue over a metal endoskeleton, any injuries they receive are ''literally'' [[Only a Flesh Wound|just a flesh wound.]]
* In ''[[Star Trek:
* ''[[The Collector (TV series)|The Collector]]'': Morgan's [[Healing Factor]] is shown A LOT, which also [[Incendiary Exponent|shows the hellfire filling him]].
* ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' used this to no end. Duncan was always getting hurt in some way during fights and having to heal, and "watch me shoot/stab/whatever myself and die, then revive" was a popular way to show immortality to a mortal. Averted, though, with Xavier St.Cloud's hand. Chopped off body parts do not regrow. Neck wounds also tend to leave scars.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], [[Myth and Legend]] ==
* Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle tore out his liver every day until he was rescued. Boy Prometheus, it's a Good Thing You Can Heal now isn't it? Of course, the regeneration was part of his punishment for giving humans fire - so that his liver could be torn out every day for the rest of eternity and not just once.▼
* Ares would be injured a bit in greek mythology...thank you Diomedes for stabbing him.▼
* Norse mythology has several instances of this. Odin hangs himself (for three days), stabs an eye out, and stabs himself with a spear to get knowledge. Loki gets chained down and has a snake drip poison/acid on him.▼
==
* The character Yoshimitsu, who has appeared in every single ''[[Tekken]]'' game, has healing abilities beginning in ''Tekken 3''. He can heal through meditating, or through draining lifeforce from an enemy. Like Shatterstar, he has an attack where [[Deliberate Injury Gambit|he stabs himself]], inflicting damage but is able to hit an enemy for even more damage with it. He is also able to spin while in this state to further damage someone hit with this attack, with his sword still in him. Yoshimitsu can also spin away from his opponent at an incredibly rapid speed, an attack that requires expending his own life to do, and which causes him to lose his balance and faint temporarily if done excessively.▼
* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', the Toa Mata could regenerate their decayed flesh and organs after awakening from a millennia-long coma. Presumably other characters can do this too, provided that their organic parts weren't removed by force, and their metal pieces are still intact. Nocturn is a character who could even regrow an arm after Pridak had torn it off, but he wasn't able to grow a new tentacle (this is why he uses a launcher in that hand instead).▼
** Yoshimitsu from the ''[[Soul Calibur]]'' series has similar techniques including flying into the air, lighting his sword on fire, then stabbing it through his own chest and dropping out of the air onto your opponent for massive damage to both you and your opponent. You can regain your health in identical ways to Tekken.▼
▲* The character Yoshimitsu, who has appeared in every single ''[[Tekken]]'' game, has healing abilities beginning in Tekken 3. He can heal through meditating, or through draining lifeforce from an enemy. Like Shatterstar, he has an attack where [[Deliberate Injury Gambit|he stabs himself]], inflicting damage but is able to hit an enemy for even more damage with it. He is also able to spin while in this state to further damage someone hit with this attack, with his sword still in him. Yoshimitsu can also spin away from his opponent at an incredibly rapid speed, an attack that requires expending his own life to do, and which causes him to lose his balance and faint temporarily if done excessively.
▲** Yoshimitsu from the Soul Calibur series has similar techniques including flying into the air, lighting his sword on fire, then stabbing it through his own chest and dropping out of the air onto your opponent for massive damage to both you and your opponent. You can regain your health in identical ways to Tekken.
* Played straight in ''[[Xenosaga]]''. Albedo has a powerful healing factor (he can regrow his own head!), but is driven to madness upon the knowledge that he cannot be killed while his brothers can.
** Not to mention that unlike most Healing Factors, Albedo can continue to lecture an innocent loli while decapitated.
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* Both Vorcha and Krogans in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe can heal: Vorcha heal very quickly as a natural ability, which gives them a somewhat horrifying appearance from the mass of scars they receive, and Krogans are so naturally tough and resilient that their anatomy allows them to continue functioning even when they shouldn't be capable, while their body heals the injuries. Both can have their regeneration shut down (temporarily, but permanently in the games based on how combat works) through inflicting incredible amounts of simultaneous, wide-spread damage (the Warp biotic effect) or [[Kill It with Fire|burning them]].
{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Wrex}}''': "Ah, the benefits of a redundant nervous system!"}}
▲* Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle tore out his liver every day until he was rescued. Boy Prometheus, it's a Good Thing You Can Heal now isn't it? Of course, the regeneration was part of his punishment for giving humans fire - so that his liver could be torn out every day for the rest of eternity and not just once.
▲* Ares would be injured a bit in greek mythology...thank you Diomedes for stabbing him.
▲* Norse mythology has several instances of this. Odin hangs himself (for three days), stabs an eye out, and stabs himself with a spear to get knowledge. Loki gets chained down and has a snake drip poison/acid on him.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' includes a "Regrowth" feature that can be bought on [[Regeneration]] and [[Healing Hands|Healing]] that allows one to regenerate lost limbs and other bits of the body. Handy, except that there's no way in the rules for one to lose limbs or bits of the body, so the only time this comes up is when the GM wants to make the Regrowth seem useful.
* ''[[Dungeons
==
* Gregory of ''[[Dominic Deegan]]: Oracle For Hire'' does this to some extent. He once proposed selling his organs to make money, since he could get them back with healing magic. Which doesn't make a lot of sense considering he could use his magic to heal other people just as well.
* ''[[The Wotch]]'' has Tie'l, an alien who can heal. Slower than usual though, an arm-tentacle takes a week to regrow. Much like the quote at the start of this page Tie'l also [http://thewotch.com/index.php?epDate=2006-09-29 points out].
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'''Schlock''': Yeah, but I get blown up kind of a lot. }}
==
* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', Splatterman was once dropped through a mulcher. He regenerated. Calling his power a "[[Healing Factor]]" just doesn't seem to get the message across...▼
* In ''[[Western Animation/Legion Of Super Heroes|Legion Of Supe Heroes]]'': while Superboy ignored a distress call [[Crying Wolf|thinking it was frivolous]], Brainiac 5 got blasted with a surprise shot. In slow motion, with the hand itself going flying off and the still sparking stump shown as Brainiac falls into a [[Pieta Plagiarism]] in Lighting Lad's arms. Thankfully, he's a [[Do-Anything Robot]] with [[Telescoping Robot|telescoping]] extensions, so he could heal right quick. Didn't make the let down any easier to take though.▼
** Mr. Easter's life is a series of one big catastrophe after another, all of which land him in the morgue. Of course, one of his powers is coming back from the dead after three days.▼
* The Shadow of [[Less Than Three Comics|LessThanThree Comics]] quasi-fame. Puts himself in obvious danger to save time, and to intimidate his enemies. Once leapt through the windshield of an oncoming car, to force the driver to crash, sending the two of them flying thirty-feet, breaking several bones, just to find out who the guy worked for.▼
* Tennyo in the [[Whateley Universe]] has such a phenomenal regeneration ability that literally nothing seems to stop her. She once had her leg blown off by cyborgs with vulcan cannons, and she regrew the leg by the time it took her to fly over and grab the cyborgs. If you think that's good, Carmilla had her head chopped off and just grew a new one, but she's an [[Eldritch Abomination]].▼
* Veldron of [[Super Stories]] regenerates when fatally injured. Unfortunately others seem to take this as an invitation to hurt him or put him in danger, assuming he'll just heal and not realising that he has to be just about dead for the power to kick in.▼
* Khalid Shamoun of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'': Evolution has the ability to regenerate himself from things that would normally kill him. It's even invoked by the scientists, when it's revealed that {{spoiler|he was the kid from the prologue who got shot for mouthing off, to demonstrate that rebelling would result in death}}. It becomes a [[Deconstructed Trope]], however, in that it's shown that his ability to regenerate is failing more than usual in recent history.▼
* ''[[Bartleby Tales]]'' directly addresses the [[Power Perversion Potential]] in this—as early as the first chapter, a character not only survives swallowing a live grenade, but actually gets off on being blown to pieces and [[Pulling Themselves Together|reassembling himself]].▼
== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲* In ''[[
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' has an interesting example about this trope. The only times Shego has used her sharp claws to slice Kim's clothes is the times Kim was wearing clothes that can regenerate themself. But what's strange is during the second time, Shego sliced through the battle suit and scared Kim's skin enough that it resulted in blood. After the battle suit regenerated itself, Kim's wounds were never seen ever again, thus apparently the battle suit did not only heal itself but also the wounds of it's host. Weird...
* Swampfire in ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]''. Those Lasers go right through him... then the holes immediately close. This has become part of Ben's [[Shooting Superman|basic fighting style]] with him.
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** Notably, he has ripped off his arms 40 times in one episode, recovered from being completely liquified, taken a thousand punches in the face, gotten dragged through a field of giant clams, cheese graters and educational television, and has been ripped in half. Ironically, the latter event occured in an episode that revolved around [[Fridge Logic|Spongebob never leaving his house for fear of hurting himself]] after smashing his hip.
*** In at least one other episode, he ripped '''himself''' in half (as part of a victory dance).
***He has actually eaten his own arms in fear. In a popcorn bag.
* ''[[Transformers]]'' wobbles back and forth on this. You have Optimus Prime being dismembered in ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' and being okay, but a few shots to the torso kill him one movie later. ''[[Beast Wars]]'' Waspinator explodes so much that Rattrap has a collection of his parts, but {{spoiler|Dinobot}} dies just with minimal injuries. In one episode of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' people live with just their heads, in another a stab to the gut nearly kills you dead.
** These can be justified by Transformers having different anatomy: {{spoiler|Dinobot}} died because he was low on energon [[Determinator|but continued to fight anyway]]. In ''Animated'' most of their important parts appear to be ''inside'' their heads and body, so a stab to the gut could be fatal while being decapitated would be the equivalent of cutting/disconnecting the cord connecting a computer and the monitor (debilitating, but reversable).
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* It's a common gag in classic cartoons where a character's head is blown off in someway, only to spontaneously regenerate and carry on as if noting happened.
==
▲* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', the Toa Mata could regenerate their decayed flesh and organs after awakening from a millennia-long coma. Presumably other characters can do this too, provided that their organic parts weren't removed by force, and their metal pieces are still intact. Nocturn is a character who could even regrow an arm after Pridak had torn it off, but he wasn't able to grow a new tentacle (this is why he uses a launcher in that hand instead).
▲* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', Splatterman was once dropped through a mulcher. He regenerated. Calling his power a "[[Healing Factor]]" just doesn't seem to get the message across...
* The ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' made Darth Vader an example of this. Turns out when your arm is cybernetic anyways it can repeatedly be destroyed.
▲** Mr. Easter's life is a series of one big catastrophe after another, all of which land him in the morgue. Of course, one of his powers is coming back from the dead after three days.
** ''[[Splinter of the Mind's Eye]]'' has an Obi-Wan possessed Luke cut it off in a lightsaber duel.
▲* The Shadow of [[Less Than Three Comics|LessThanThree Comics]] quasi-fame. Puts himself in obvious danger to save time, and to intimidate his enemies. Once leapt through the windshield of an oncoming car, to force the driver to crash, sending the two of them flying thirty-feet, breaking several bones, just to find out who the guy worked for.
** Even before he becomes Vader, Anakin's arm is damaged in an episode of ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]''
▲* Tennyo in the [[Whateley Universe]] has such a phenomenal regeneration ability that literally nothing seems to stop her. She once had her leg blown off by cyborgs with vulcan cannons, and she regrew the leg by the time it took her to fly over and grab the cyborgs. If you think that's good, Carmilla had her head chopped off and just grew a new one, but she's an [[Eldritch Abomination]].
** Cut off yet again in ''Star Wars: Purge'' comic
▲* Veldron of [[Super Stories]] regenerates when fatally injured. Unfortunately others seem to take this as an invitation to hurt him or put him in danger, assuming he'll just heal and not realising that he has to be just about dead for the power to kick in.
** Again in ''[[Star Wars: The Force Unleashed]] 2''
▲* Khalid Shamoun of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'': Evolution has the ability to regenerate himself from things that would normally kill him. It's even invoked by the scientists, when it's revealed that {{spoiler|he was the kid from the prologue who got shot for mouthing off, to demonstrate that rebelling would result in death}}. It becomes a [[Deconstructed Trope]], however, in that it's shown that his ability to regenerate is failing more than usual in recent history.
▲* ''[[Bartleby Tales]]'' directly addresses the [[Power Perversion Potential]] in this—as early as the first chapter, a character not only survives swallowing a live grenade, but actually gets off on being blown to pieces and [[Pulling Themselves Together|reassembling himself]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Injury Tropes]]
[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
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