Healing Factor: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''[[Wolverine]]:''' I've survived five different wars in my lifetime.<br />

 

A character is hard to kill, not because he doesn't get hurt, but because he has the ability to rapidly recover from serious damage. While it depends on how fast he can heal and how much of a [[Chunky Salsa Rule|beating]] his body can take, a character with healing factor will bounce back from severe injuries that other beings can't, often with no scars or medical treatment.

Reptilian characters, taking a cue from real-world lizards that can shed and re-grow their tails, are likely to possess at least a minor form of this. <ref>These lizards suppress their immune system to allow their stem cells to respecialize, which would be very, very bad in a human and is why we can't do it.</ref> Dragons, werewolves, and vampires [[Our Monsters Are Different|sometimes]] have it as well. Other [[Shapeshifting]] characters may have this packaged in with their powers, though it's often described as returning to their "default" form rather than regenerating. [[Nanomachines]] are a common justification for an acquired power by otherwise human characters in a [[Cyberpunk|technological setting]].

 

 

An in-universe, as opposed to plot-based, version of [[Hollywood Healing]]. Doing this to others is [[Healing Hands]] or using a [[Healing Potion]].

== Anime & Manga ==

* Loosely implied to be a [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire's]] source of immortality in ''[[Rosario to Vampire]]''. Their blood has a powerful regenerative effect on anyone, which Tsukune is quick to demonstrate once this is introduced. {{spoiler|To date, a quick infusion of vampire blood or the activation of the blood already present inside of him has saved him from being burned alive, slashed through the ''heart'', having his neck snapped ''twice'', taking two fatal slashes to the torso, having the entire left side of his body crushed, taking an absurdly long beating and a giant scythe-like appendage to the chest immediately after, and that's all in the first season.}}

* The eponymous warriors of ''[[Claymore]]'' are classified as Offensive or Defensive types based on their youki. Generally speaking, Offensive types can reattach recently severed limbs while Defensive types can grow new ones. As Awakend Ones become more common, this often results in Defensive types aiding the Offensives in [[Pulling Themselves Together]] mid-battle.

* Most of the major characters of ''[[Hellsing]]'', and the Nazi vampire [[Mooks]] that show up later in the manga, have impressive regeneration abilities; Alexander Anderson, for example, can take several headshots in rapid succession and keep fighting. Every single one of them is put to shame by Alucard, though, who ''allows'' himself to be near-liquified at the beginning of several fights just to completely demoralize his opponents before brutally killing them.<br /><br />Schrodinger probably takes the cake; it's implied that his ill-defined ability to be everywhere and nowhere lets him ignore any injury, and he shrugs off having his head splattered by an extra-large anti-vampire bullet.

** In the [[Audio Commentary]], when the staff and cast discuss C.C.'s powers, voice actress [[Yukana]] jokingly suggests probably the cutest version of a Healing Factor ever: that when C.C. is killed, her body breaks apart into several miniature C.C.s that run together to re-form her original body

* The guro h-doujin ''Mai-chan's Daily Life'' involves sex slaves with the ability to regenerate from virtually any injury, no matter how debilitating, mutilating, or fatal. Furthermore, unlike most of the above examples, some of them also have the ability to convert pain into pleasure, thus literally "getting off" on the sick, sadistic things their clients do to them almost as much as said clients do. Fortunately, they are almost always unable to bear children. If one of them does have a child, that kid won't be born with the trait, needing to develop it as it matures (though it's hinted that the powers kick in at a fairly young age).

* ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' - Ikusabe, one of the alchemic warriors employed by the Regiment. His Busou Renkin, Gekisen, not only arms him with a triple-bladed spear, but it also concedes him and his weapon regenerative abilities, all the way from the atoms. He manages to regenerate his body completely even after Papillon blows it up completely!

* Chirico Cuvie from ''[[Armored Trooper VOTOMS]]'' is called an "abnormal survivor," and has the capability to not only survive normally fatal physical injuries and illnesses, but to resist damage from certain types of injury, such as being burned alive by mecha fuel. However, as a negative side effect of this, he suffers extreme mental stress from all of the fatal injuries he has taken, to the point of being more or less outwardly emotionless. His early memories include being burned alive and shot through the heart.

*** He can do so without fear of shortening his lifespan because he regularly commits [[Grand Theft Me]] on others. It does however mean he burns through weaker bodies in just the three years he has before his transfer form can survive another transplant.

* The primary effect of the "Cure virus" in ''[[Ever 17]]'' is to give the infected party a healing factor that makes it impossible for them to be killed.

* The [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|Wolkenritter]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. They may have lost the [[Back From the Dead|Rejuvenation Program]], but they still have a [[Healing Factor]] that lets them recover a lot faster than a normal human. However, this has been getting weaker as time goes by, though thankfully for Vita, not so much that {{spoiler|[[Normally I Would Be Dead Now|her getting impaled in the chest]]}} could take her out permanently.

** Two seasons later, and we're introduced to the Huckubein, who can regenerate even better than the Wolkenritter. [[Dual-Wielding|Cypha]] proves this by [[Just a Flesh Wound|regrowing an arm]] that Signum cut off. Oh, and they're also [[Made of Iron|pretty darn tough too.]]

** Also there's the fact that after said two seasons the Wolkenritter's [[Healing Factor]] has finally faded away.

* Berserk [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelions]] have his ability, ranging from regrowing shattered bone to {{spoiler|manifesting whole limbs out of angelic flesh or its own AT Field}}. [[Eldritch Abomination|Angels]] have his by default, as all of them have S2 organs and couldn't operate alone without support units.

** Majin Buu is the living embodiment of this. No matter how badly he is destroyed he can always regenerate as long as any part of him still exists.

*** Meta-Cooler also [[Me's a Crowd|falls under a different trope.]]

** Also Road, who can't be killed unless you know her "true form".

** And Krory, who can heal himself by drinking Akuma's blood.

** "Full fighting capacity"? Later in the fight, he was buried under several tons of ice, ''punched through'' said ice, leapt around like a flea on acid, and was ''still'' able to run from a vengeful Amazon that very night without ever stopping to rest, and all that in his "weaker" [[Gender Bender|female form]]. In the manga, anyway (where Shampoo's arrival took place immediately after the [[Martial Arts and Crafts|Ice Skating duel]].)

** [[Lampshaded]] early on: his agreement with Shampoo to "half-kill (girl) Ranma" (long story) didn't work because he ''instantly recovered'' after the massive beatdown.

** On at least one occasion (during the first appearance of Shampoo), Ranma is beaten "half to death" by Genma and Soun, and looks to be in horrible shape. Akane says something that irritates him, and he pops upright, almost completely unhurt -- which causes Akane to ask, "Weren't you beaten to a pulp just a second ago?"

* The Immortals from the ''[[Mermaid Saga]]'' can regenerate from any wound, naturally, except burning to ash or having their heads completely severed.

** Finally, any of the monsters created by Chronos could have damage regenerated by spending some time in a giant test tube.

* ''[[Shikabane Hime]]'' in the show of the same name normally heal faster than humans, and can regenerate limbs given enough time. They can also have most wounds healed instantaneously by their contracted monk.

* Ulquiorra Schiffer of ''[[Bleach]]'' reveals that this is his special ability during the final stage of his fight with Ichigo. {{spoiler|It doesn't help.}}

** It is actually an ability of many hollows to self-regenerate. Ulquiorria mentions that most of the Arrancar gave up this ability to become more powerful.

** Then, there's Naraku. Being cut to bits is only a minor inconvenience to him.

* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', one of the less utilized advantages of {{spoiler|Kotetsu's [[Hour of Power|Hundred Power]]}} - one that doesn't see use until the thirteenth episode - is the ability to accelerate the speed of his healing by a hundredfold. Unfortunately, this only means that (at the absolute most) he can give himself less than eight-and-a-half hours' worth of concentrated healing, which, as any doctor will tell you, is barely enough time to sort out the ''cosmetic'' damage, let alone the serious stuff.

* In ''[[Tokko]]'', a healing factor is one of the powers gained by people with [[Powers Via Possession|phantoms]] living inside them.

* Inugami Akira of ''[[Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]'' has this on account of being a [[Big Badass Wolf|werewolf]]. During the full moon, he's [[Nigh Invulnerability|night invulnerable]].

* Both averted and played straight in [[One Piece]]. Characters who have eaten [[Superpower Lottery|Logia Devil Fruits]] ''appear'' to have healing factors. But in reality, they can just put themselves back together if they get cut while using their abilities. If they actually get injured, then they can't heal themselves simply by changing into whatever element they have. But then there's Marco, First Division commander of the [[Badass Crew|Whitebeard Pirates]], who actually does have a healing factor, thanks to eating a Mythical Zoan Fruit that lets him change into a pheonix.

* {{spoiler|Princess Ixquic}} from [[Cyborg 009]]. {{spoiler|Then it's subverted, since she's a [[Robot Girl]].}}

* Both Yukiko and Liselotte Werckmeister from ''11eyes'' share the same immortality with rapid healing factor and undying. It is revealed that the Voidstone is the source of the immortality and separating it from the host will disable that immortality.

* Akasha Bloodriver, one of the strongest characters of [[Rosario to Vampire]] has a very powerful healing factor that can cover up even the most fatal of injures. {{spoiler|Even cutting her in half won't be enough to kill her.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Wolverine]] of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' is the iconic [[Superhero]] example. This has been subject to extreme [[Power Creep, Power Seep]]; he went from "very tough, but can be killed by a single lucky shot from a [[Humongous Mecha]]" to "survive being at ground zero of a nuke". (He was also once regrown from a single droplet of blood that fell on a powerful [[MacGuffin|Ancient Artifact]] once, but that was more a demonstration of the artifact's power than his own, and [[Or Was It a Dream?|may have been hallucinatory]] anyway).<br /><br />An arc in his main book was written to tone this down -- by the same writer who had written one of the more ridiculous examples, ironically enough.It exemplifies [[Voodoo Shark]] - he could ''battle the Angel of Death'' if ever he dies in order to return to life, having beaten him before, but apparently can no longer do this.<br /><br />There's also Wolverine's [[Opposite Sex Clone]] X-23, who has all of Wolverine's powers. Though the exact nature of her healing factor outside of Limbo has yet to be determined. It apparently has [http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/677992.html some limit]. Wolverine's son Daken also inherited his fathers healing factor.<br /><br />Finally, Wolverine's arch-enemy Sabretooth had virtually the same power-set, including the healing factor. But all that was cut to an abrupt end. Literally, thanks to Wolvie's anti-healing [[Infinity+1 Sword|katana]] forged from the [[The Dark Side|dark area]] of his soul.

* [[Lobo]] from [[DC Comics]] has an absurdly over-the-top [[Healing Factor]], as he is partly a Wolverine parody. Plus, neither afterlife wants him.

** This is taken to such ridiculous extremes that at one point, one of his powers was that a single drop of his blood will grow into another Lobo.

*** In one story, Lobo was "killed" by having a very special bomb shoved down his throat. He exploded in a spray of crimson... only for EACH drop of blob to grow into a Lobo clone in a matter of seconds. The group of Lobos brutally murder the aggressor.... and then turn on each other, specifically murdering each other in bloodless ways, until only one remains. He announces that he is the true Lobo, and then goes off doing Lobo type things. It's implied that this happens regularly.

* ''[[Painkiller Jane]]''.

** More specifically, the Hulk's healing factor is much like his strength level in that it's tied into his emotional state. The Hulk not only gets stronger as he gets angrier, he also heals faster.

** Apparently, Hulk's healing is so fast that it took years for anybody to even notice it existed. He regenerates so quickly that nobody could tell that attacks could actually damage him to begin with.

** It depends on which version you're talking about. Gold and Modern Age Kryptonians were genetically engineered. Yellow solar radiation makes it happen faster. Silver age Kryptonians were normal humans on Krypton. When surrounded by a Red Solar Forcefield, Superman was human but escaping "Shredded every tendon in his legs." Upon escaping "his tendons instantly repair and all the pains of humanity melt away."

** Doomsday, in ''[[The Death of Superman]]''. He's borderline Type I as it takes someone in Superman's weight class to even take him on and then, he can regenerate from anything, including death. The process actually [[Informed Ability|supposedly]] makes him stronger each time with a new defense adapted to whatever killed him so he can never be killed the same way twice so in theory he's approaching Type I. He's shades of Type 4 also as, unlike some of the others on this list, when he's killed he actually stays dead for days or weeks.

* [[Man-Thing]] seems to come back from anything as long as he is in proximity to water.

* Holden Carver of [[Sleeper (Comic Book)|Sleeper]] has a healing factor as a [[Required Secondary Powers|Required Secondary Power]].

* Also in the DCU are the [[Blackest Night|Black Lanterns]], which can regenerate [[From a Single Cell]] and can usually only be destroyed by the combined light of a Green Lantern and any of the other colors.

* [[Vandal Savage]] is another DCU example; he got his immortality from a meteor back during the Cro-Magnon era. He possesses a [[Healing Factor]] (as well as other powers) that considerably slow his aging process to the point of it being almost nonexistent.

 

 

== Fan Works ==

 

 

== Film ==

** Or, according to ''[[Highlander the Raven]]'', severing their spine by any other means. They also can not regenerate limbs as seen when a fine young cannibal gets his hand cut off and in future episodes has no hand.

* John Oldman in ''[[The Man From Earth]]'' is unsure whether he has one of these (for instance, if you shot him, would the wound heal in front of your eyes?), all he knows is that he doesn't scar.

* The T-1000 from ''[[Terminator 2]]''. It's too bad that a lot of scenes from the end were cut, and are thus not canon. The protagonists did enough damage over the course of the movie, specifically highlighting the freeze-and-shoot moment, that the T-1000 isn't able to completely maintain his form. Moments include grabbing a handrail, and having his fingers stick and assume the color of the warning paint, and while he walks his feet tends to melt.

** This is also what tips John Conner off that his mom is the T-1000 in disguise.

** In addition, it has it's limits, as it {{spoiler|gets blown up with a grenade from the inside, and can't repair it's mangled form because of the pressurized impact and heat. That and it's fall into molten steel}}.

* In the third ''[[X-Men]]'' film, Wolverine fights a mutant who can regrow limbs instantly-- but is not immune to a [[Groin Attack]].

** Sammael from ''Hellboy'' can heal from any non-fatal injury almost instantly.

** The [[Steampunk|Clock Punk]] robots of ''Hellboy II: The Golden Army'' can repair themselves after being ripped to pieces.

* Brandon Lee's character in ''[[The Crow]]'' seemed to possess this ability. Right to the point of making a very bad religious joke in between successive on-target shotgun blasts. [[Author Existence Failure|Too bad the actor wasn't so endowed.]]

** Dude, too soon.

* In ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', Mina and Dorian actually wonder if they can be killed. They both heal from their wounds in seconds during their fight, prompting Dorian to note, "We'll be at this all day."

 

** The Mechanic's [[Healing Factor]] required him to be in contact with a machine.

** Stuntman's [[Healing Factor]] regrows the damaged tissue violently, leaving him disoriented and very hungry.

* In [[Diana Wynne Jones]]'s ''Chronicles of Chrestomanci'' series, the titular nine-lived enchanters can recover from mortal injuries such as broken neck or 100% burns, but only eight times, and it ''does'' indeed make them very hungry.

* Cormac limbs from the ''Saga of Darren Shan'' has the ability to regain lost body parts, when you cut off his head, two smaller heads appear. The guy who decapitated him was suitably freaked out.

*** [[Word of God]] is the The Lord Ruler wasn't fully decapitated - he only had his neck chopped about three-quarters of the way through. Similarly, when he was burned alive, only the outer layer of skin and muscle was burned. If he had been completely decapitated or burned down to the bone, he would have been killed, but considering how [[Physical God|powerful]] he is as a combatant, this is a lot easier said than done.

*** Feruchemists can save up their health in "goldminds" (feeling horribly sick the whole time) then splurge it all in one burst of incredibly fast regeneration. The Inquisitors' and the Lord Ruler's even-faster healing comes {{spoiler|from their ability to combine Mistborn and Feruchemical talents.}}

*** It's noted he carries around sticks of dynamite to alleviate his one weakness - that, as he possesses no other superhuman powers, he can be disabled pretty well by tying him up - although you need either well designed nets or several men to do so, because his healing factor still makes him deadly in hand-to-hand. To get around this, he simply takes the dynamite out and blows himself up, destroying the netting in the process. He doesn't really care because his healing factor has been going so long he can't actually feel pain any more.

* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' series, the Kencyr peoples have impressive healing abilities, although much of it requires ''dwar'' sleep, a hibernation-like mode of deep, restorative sleep which can, for severe injuries, last for weeks. Jame, the protagonist, sleeps for thirteen days after she arrives in Tai-tastigon with severely infected haunt bites (haunts being essentially zombies); her healing astonishes the human healer who tends to her. Kencyr can also regenerate lost teeth, and through ''dwar'' sleep can recuperate from punishing speeds on foot, allowing their armies to cover ground at a sustained rate much faster than human armies can attain.

* Averted, and possibly inverted, in ''[[The Belgariad]]'', where the gods have ''no'' healing ability whatsoever because they're normally invincible and have no need of it. {{spoiler|Meaning that when the [[Big Bad]] Torak is badly maimed, his injuries, consisting of horrible burns and a destroyed eye, remain exactly the same as when Torak received them, pain and all, even after thousands of years.}}

* In Octavia Butler's ''Fledgling'', the [[Our Vampires Are Different|protagonist]] recovers from being caught in a burning building--it's implied that she had severe head injuries and was ''blind'' at the start. At the end of the process, she's fine except for the amnesia, but she needs fresh meat as soon as possible, and is too hungry to notice where it comes from. {{spoiler|It's one of her brother's human friends, who was there trying to find and rescue her.}}

* As the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] are a bit [[Bloodier and Gorier]] than the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' TV series, it's much more evident that the Doctor has a certain degree of this ability in the novels than it is on TV. The Doctor regrows a tooth at one point. He walks on a severely broken leg, is severely stabbed, gets shot full of buckshot, has [[Heart Trauma|one of his hearts]] [[Made of Plasticine|ripped out]], [[Real Men Get Shot|etc.,]] and always gets better with a minimum of fuss and no medical attention.

* In the ''[[Parrish Plessis]]'' series, one of the abilities granted by [[The Corruption]] is enhanced healing. The effects aren't too extreme; the infected can still be killed by mundane means, and still need a while to recover from severe injuries like broken bones. It is, however, quite good at dealing with toxins, which lead some well-intentioned people to start spreading it around as a cure for the pervasive heavy metal poisoning in their slum. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Then the others side-effects of infection began to appear...]]

* Lanik Mueller from ''[[A Planet Called Treason]]'' comes from a family who achieved a [[Healing Factor]] through generations of genetic modifications. It takes a ''lot'' to kill a Mueller. (They routinely cut off each other's fingers and pry out eyes in childhood squabbles.) Puberty is kind of spectacular in them: In their teenage years, their healing factor gets somewhat out of control and they constantly grow many redundant body parts. Their body stabilizes once they reach maturity... except for the "radical regeneratives" whose [[Healing Factor]] remains out of control permanently. Such poor souls lose all rights and are treated as cattle from which organs are harvested for trade.

** Halfway through the book, Lanik's body is so gruesomely destroyed that the [[Healing Factor]] malfunctions spectacularly and accidentally regenerates his loose innards into a living conjoined twin. When Lanik recovers from feverishness enough to realize what has happened, he cuts off the twin and kills him in panic... {{spoiler|but the twin has the [[Healing Factor]] too, so it regenerates and becomes Lanik's [[Evil Twin]]}}.

* Atticus O'Sullivan of the Iron Druid books can regenerate almost any injury ... as long as his bare skin is in contact with soil.

* Trolls in Poul Anderson's [[Three Hearts and Three Lions]] regenerate unless damaged by fire. This is likely the origin of this concept for trollish regeneration that was later adopted by Dungeons and Dragons.

* [[Action Girl|Lu]][[The Hero|cy]] from ''Lucy's Blade'' has this, as does anyone who is possessed by [[Our Demons Are Different|Lilith]], which means they can't even get sick. But it isn't that super human - a seriously bad wound could still kill them because there is only so much energy Lilith has and is able to pump through a mortal body without killing her friend.

* Killing an engineered in ''[[Duumvirate]]'' is a matter of either inflicting direct brain damage or making them lose enough blood. Their regeneration isn't what makes this [[Dodge the Bullet|difficult]], however...

* Dr. Cherijo Torin of the ''StarDoc'' novels is this way, thanks to the interference of [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] in the process that created her. She even survives a point-blank gunshot wound to the head, although her [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|memories]] and thus personality are severely altered by the event.

* Vampires in ''[[Women of the Otherworld]]'' are like this. Their only special power is incredible healing. At one point, one vampire who had her throat cut is able to walk and talk a few minutes later.

* {{spoiler|Mirar}} one of the Wilds in [[Trudi Canavan]]'s trilogy "The Age of Five". He gained immortality through his great knowledge of healing magic. This even allowed him to {{spoiler|survive being crushed under the rubble of a collapsed building, as he used his healing magic to keep his brain and vital organs alive whilst his body repaired itself.}}

* Anyanwu from Octavia Butler's ''[[Patternist|Wild Seed'']] is a shapeshifter with an impressive [[Healing Factor]]; she can only be killed by something that would kill her instantly (presumably, decapitation or the like).

* The Dullahans in ''[[Durarara]]'', set in the same world as the above example also appear to regenerate their wounds, though it takes longer for them to heal. It's unclear whether it's possible to wound one badly enough to kill them permanently, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Appears to be the only sort of power ascribed to grim reapers in ''[[Dead Like Me]]'', beyond the ability to yoink souls out of bodies. An example George accidentally runs her hand through a paper shredder, losing a finger in the process. she picks it up out of the basket, holds it back in place for a few seconds, then goes and washes the blood off her hands.

** The Season 3 episode, "I Am Become Death", shows Claire {{spoiler|surviving a nuclear explosion at point blank range. As does Peter. And presumably Sylar, even though ''he was the one exploding''; Peter did the same thing at the end of Season 2}}.

** To be fair, {{spoiler|He got it from Ted Sprague, who was shown to have the [[Required Secondary Powers]] to survive it.}}

* [[Our Vampires Are Different|The Wraith]] in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]''.

** Taken to a disturbing extreme in the series two finale, where he is {{spoiler|trapped in a continual death-resurrection cycle for almost 1900 years after being [[Buried Alive]]}}.

** Taken to yet another disturbing extreme in the ''Children of Earth'' miniseries, where he has {{spoiler|a bomb implanted in his stomach. He regenerates from a few limbs and part of a head to a skeleton to his normal self over the course of the day... and starts regaining consciousness and screaming when his skin has yet to come back. The room he's locked up in is promptly filled with concrete, and he's rescued when the team breaks the concrete block by dropping it into a quarry}}.

** This regenerating thing of his is however not because of a natural, biological healing factor. Poor sod became {{spoiler|a universal constant in the parent series when Rose fixed the past a bit sloppily in her god mode. This peculiar being of his makes him too weird for the time sensitive Doctor.}}

* Adric from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has this ability, thanks to [[Human Aliens|his species']] capacity for incredibly rapid adaptation. It only gets mentioned in two of his stories, though.

** The [[DVD Commentary|Info-Text]] for ''State of Decay'' uses this to poke fun at a continuity error regarding a mysteriously disappearing patch and rip in Adric's trousers where he skinned his knee in ''Full Circle'', saying that apparently "Alzarian trousers heal as fast as their owners."

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' - Buffy has a lesser healing factor as part of her Slayer powers. She can't regenerate injuries in front of our eyes, but she does recover from serious injury much faster than a normal human (at least if she also gets medical assistance).<br /><br />Vampires also have this healing factor, though it may not be as strong as Buffy's. Spike was stuck in a wheelchair for several episodes, and Drusilla was heavily weakened by an attack which required a ritual to heal. In some ways it can be stronger than Buffy's, as vampires are clinically dead, they don't have to worry about things like blood loss.<br /><br />Spike recovered at some point before he actually got out of the wheelchair; in one scene he reveals he'd been faking it for an unspecified amount of time. Angel has been gutted and run through an unspecified number of times, particularly in his spinoff show. Illyria also threw him through two windows several stories off the ground.

* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', [[Robot Girl]] Cameron's epidermal layer heals unusually quickly, to the point that a gaping, deep wound that [[Feel No Pain|had to be stapled closed]] healed to the point that is just looks like a recently patched-up cut the next day.

 

== Myth and Legend ==

 

== Tabletop RPG ==

** The ultimate example of this ability is the Tarrasque. Its renegeration ability has no [[Achilles Heel|damage type exception]], meaning that no matter what you do to the monster it'll come back eventually unless you use a magical Wish to wish it stayed dead.

** In previous editions, there were particular forms of regeneration that varied from monster to monster. The D&D troll, arguably the most famous example, can quickly regenerate wounds from swords and axes, and by themselves these weapons can't kill them, although they can knock them out temporarily by reducing their hit points to zero. The only thing that ''can'' kill them are fire and acid, which also cause damage that can't be regenerated. Whether you blow them up with a fireball, or knock them out with a weapon and then set them on fire or douse them with acid, you need to burn trolls to kill them if you're using standard tactics. If beat into helplessness, they can then be drowned also if there is water nearby (as there often is as they often inhabit swamps). Trolls being vulnerable to fire is likely originally taken from the novel [[Three Hearts and Three Lions]].

*** ''Everything'' has ridiculously fast healing in 4e. For example, a power called "knee breaker" only lasts a few rounds.

** In the second edition of the game, a sufficiently high Constitution score (read: godlike) gave you this ability.

* This is the [[Planet of Hats|Hat]] of the [[Omnicidal Maniac|Necrons]] of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''.

** Well one of them, their primary [[Planet of Hats|Hat]] is that they are hyper-advanced robots.

** With a bit of help from [[The Corruption|mutation]], Tellos of the Soul Drinkers picks up this ability. It gets to the point where he can run into battle ''naked from the waist up'' without suffering meaningful damage. It doesn't help with injuries from before he gained this ability - so he can't regrow his hands - but that's not much of a problem when you have [[Chainsaw Good|chainsaws]] attached to your wrists. {{spoiler|It takes ''[[Earthshattering Kaboom|Exterminatus]]'' to kill him in the end}}.

*** The Carnifex is even tougher. One of them ''survived Exterminatus. On the planet's surface''. When they found it, they had to call in a heavy-duty orbital bombardment to finish it off.

* Regeneration is a game effect in Warhammer fantasy roleplay. It is common enough to be in the main rulebook rather than the army specific ones and it is cancelled by fire.

* [[Warhammer]] featured a hero called Valtan as part of their Storm of Chaos event who, by reason of being probably the avatar of a god, had a healing factor good enough that there was a 5 in 6 chance of him surviving any attack that took his last wound with no ill-effects, hopping back to his feet to fight again. In certain corners he became known as yo-yo Valtan.

 

== Video Games ==

** The healing factor is such that The Nameless One can spontaneously come back from the dead, too - there are a few quests in which 'killing' yourself is a valid solution.

* Vito of ''[[Mafia II]]'' can shrug off and recover from bullet wounds that would leave his mobster companions cringing in pain [[Cutscene Incompetence|(in cutscenes, at least)]]

* The Wood Golems in the ''[[Disgaea]]'' series have this as their passive ability, which regenerates 20% of their HP each turn. They can also pass this onto another unit by becoming a Magichange weapon for them.

* White Mages in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' have a version of this, when at level 25, they get Auto-Regen, which constantly restores 1 HP every 3 seconds. If they don't get hit after getting hurt and stand still for(At most) an hour, they can go from near-dead to full HP, so this trope does count.<br /><br />Most of the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games have a similar Regen spell, most of which restore a set percentage of HP each turn, while the one in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' restored HP constantly. If combined with a Haste effect, attacks that hit for less than 500 or so HP wouldn't even register on the status bar.

* Kyouya from ''[[Diabolo]]'', despite his terminal illness, claims to heal in his sleep (and considering after a night's rest some scratches on his face disappeared, this may not have been a bluff).

* ''[[Mega Man X]]'' gets it in the third game when he gets either the enhanced helmet or the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Golden Armor]].

** It's also very, very weak and the butt of several jokes about its insignificance. In a game where characters have tens of thousands of [[Hit Points]]: "I'm regenerating 5 health per second and there's nothing you can do about it!"

*** The Warrior class actually has several abilities and talents that perform exactly this; while other classes can heal with magic, warriors (and druids that use the same rage mechanic) are the only class that can heal grievous wounds with [[Hulk Smash|anger]]. Unlike the troll racial ability, they can return from the brink of death to greater than half health in mere seconds if left unmolested.

** In ''Warcraft 3'', you have to [[You Have Researched Breathing|research]] the ability if you want your Trolls to regenerate faster. Even then, it has about no effect during a battle, though it does help to save on Healing Salves after the battle.

* The final boss in ''[[Serious Sam]]: The First Encounter'', Ugh-Zan the Third, is a towering behemoth who is nearly impossible to kill thanks to his regeneration abilities. To kill him, a player will have to wear him down first with his own weaponry before activating an enormous death ray to finish him off before he can trigger his healing ability.

* The main character in ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' doesn't have much in his favor, but it helps that he can take a crushing blow from a Godzilla-sized hulking monstrosity, get pounded into the dust, and as long as he's still alive he'll shake it off in a minute or two.

* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', this rapid healing is one of the abilities of the Soldier class, as well as the Krogan Battlemaster class.

*** Developers handwaved this particular aspect of Drake as his health not actually representing his well being, but rather his (incredible) luck. The idea here is that Nate is effectively pushing his luck the longer he stands in the line of fire, and there is a point at which fate gives up on him and lets him die.

** Similarly, Marcus Fenix of ''[[Gears of War]]'' runs around without a helmet because this trope allows him to.

** All of the Servants have absurd levels of regeneration as well. The speed of regeneration depends upon the Heroic Spirit summoned as well as the amount of mana available, but even lost limbs will eventually regenerate. Though not quickly. To fatally wound a Servant, you have to destroy or damage the two points that serve as their core; their head or their heart.

* Several ''[[Pokémon]]'' abilities and moves do this, such as ''Recover'' or ''Rain Dish'' (when it's raining). The "Leftovers" item gives a Regen-like effect, while the ''Poison Heal'' ability grants it when the Pokemon is "suffering" from [[Standard Status Effects|poison]]. Introduced as an ability in its own right in Generation V, where Pokémon regenerate a small amount of health when recalled.

** Many Pokédex entries give certain pokémon this ability. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|This doesn't affect the game.]]

* ''[[STALKER]]'''s main character has a slow healing factor, assuming you don't bleed to death first...

** The mechanic is closer to [[Gradual Regeneration]], with some [[Heal Thyself]] and [[Hyperactive Metabolism]] thrown in if the player needs health more quickly. However, the right combination of high-level artifacts can bring this much closer to a super-human Healing Factor level, just beware the possible side effects...

** However, Bioshock 2 reveals that it's not all that it's cracked up to be. According to one Audio Diary, when a Little Sister fell off some railings, her leg bones regenerated in odd angles, forcing doctors to break her legs until it healed right. The diary ends with the doctor saying that although they may heal, he can confirm that they feel pain.

* ''[[Metroid]]'' - Ridley [[I'm a Humanitarian|devours his enemies]] to repair wounds. Aside from cloning/cybernetics, no one really knows how he [[No One Could Survive That|reappeared after being tossed down a kilometers long shaft or being completely disintegrated.]]

* Vamp in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series has the ability to recover from apparently-fatal injuries (including multiple stabbings and headshots), after the Patriots used him as a guinea-pig to test an experimental strain of nanomachines.

* In ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'', Alicia has a potential called "Mysterious Body." Apparently, ever since she was a little girl, her wounds were always very quick to heal. This comes from her power as a Valkyria, but is never explained from a practical standpoint. However, despite her gunshot wounds healing rapidly, she needs Welkin's knowlegde of herbs for a sprained ankle.

* ''[[Rogue Squadron]]'': Ships equipped with an astromech droid will gradually regain health as the droid makes repairs. However, if your droid is destroyed you lose this ability.

* ''[[Starcraft]]'''s Zerg have a healing factor, which shows up in-game as their units (and [[Organic Technology|buildings]]) being the only ones to regenerate [[Hit Points]] over time. Roaches in particular can go from near-death to full within seconds when burrowed.

* In ''[[Ghost Trick]]'', {{spoiler|Yomiel has a fragment of the Temsik meteor lodged in his body that constantly restores his body to how it was just before his death.}}

** Qualstio's final passive skill, Physidrawing, gives him high regeneration rates as well (in gameplay terms); it is not as strong as the bodily regeneration of the shra, but regenerates [[Soul Anatomy|all his]] [[Multiple Life Bars|gauges]] quickly. Plus, being intrinsic regeneration, it's still stackable with regeneration buffs.

* Many boesses in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' do not only have HP regeneration, but they also ''completely'' heal themelves when you defeat or successfully reduce their HP to certain amounts. Some endgame bosses tend to go so far as doing this ''three'' times.

* The ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' characters have something more like this kind of immortality in actual gameplay; they can be injured and knocked out in battle, but automatically revive after a couple of turns.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

** Laz'r'us grade nanites appear to be able to provide this, as witnessed on the two occasions they're called on (for Kevin and General Xinchub).

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Oasis has a healing factor according to [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/010401 this strip]. Whether this is the cause of her numerous [[Back From the Dead]] moments is unclear.<br /><br />** It's suggested by several characters within the strip (including Torg, Riff, and Oasis herself) that she's actually a ghost that possesses people to such a degree that they take her form clear down to her crazy hair making this more [[Grand Theft Me]] although the author hasn't cleared it up for us yet.

* One of the [[Super Soldier]] implants in ''[[SSDD]]'' has this effect [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20060623.html\]

* The protagonist in ''[http://atxs.comicdish.com/ ATXS]'', [[Raocow]]'s webcomic is so incredibly [[The Ditz|stupid]] that she has the ability to forget and thus, heal every and all wounds.

* In ''[[Elijah and Azuu]]'', it's common for both angels and demons to recover from grievous injuries, but one storyline firmly established that Azuu could easily regrow his arm after having it hacked off by a sword that specifically halts a demon's healing factor. His mom was injured by the same sword in an earlier story arc, and she had to consume several souls in order to recover.

* Webcomic artist [http://shivae.net/ Tiffany Ross] loves this one so much, two unrelated series have variations of it:

* {{spoiler|Justin}} of ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' was revealed to have this power. {{spoiler|Several of his ex-girlfriends [[Good Thing You Can Heal|took advantage of this]] [[Domestic Abuse|for their own amusement.]]}}

 

** Which is based on how G1 Starscream was [[Retcon|Ret Conned]] into having one to explain how he came [[Back From the Dead]].

*** But that was only his spark (soul) which was immortal, he didn't have a body, regenerating or otherwise. Which lead to him floating around like a ghost for quite some time until he could scam himself a new shell (or steal someone else's).

** Godmasters in ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce]]'' have this as one of their defining features.

** Megatron in ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'' can regenerate damaged parts of his body much more easily than ordinary self-repair systems thanks to the Armor of Unicron. Stealing a Dark God's power has its perks.

* A common [[Fanon]] in ''[[Kim Possible]]'' is that [[The Dragon|Shego]] has this as well. Probably inspired by the fact that her hands can generate a plasma-like fire [[Required Secondary Powers|hot enough to melt steel]] and never seems to have as much as a scratch after being kicked around by [[Action Girl|Kim]].

** Canon if you go by the movie where she survives a life threatening blow at the end without more then some messed up hair.

* [[Darkwing Duck|Bushroots]] Healing Factor is seldom seen, but he completely recovers from being squashed in his first episode and later from being shreddered into small pieces.

* Killface of ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'' has a rather handy healing factor. Metal pipe through the lung? Nah, tend to Simon's scraped arm. Rocket through the chest, and a gaping hole from the explosion? Fixed with a little bedrest. Though his [[Healing Factor]] was unable to heal his eyes after he was blinded by AntAgony.