View source for Nigh Invulnerability

{{trope}}
[[File:saint of killers 4192.jpg|link=Preacher (Comic Book)|frame|"Not enough car."]]


{{quote|'''The Tick:''' Urgh! Got to... pull myself to... gether! [[Beyond the Impossible|Must... defy... laws of... physics!]]
'''Arthur:''' Fight it, Tick! Fight that black hole!|''[[The Tick (animation)]]''}}

[[Super Toughness]] on steroids.

Someone is tough. [[Implacable Man|Merely fighting them won't make them go away]]; if at all possible their defeat requires one to figure out ''how'', which is a legendary quest in and of itself. Usually the ability of the [[Big Bad]] in sci-fi and fantasy settings, few heroes get this one. (Except in [[Superhero]] series, with [[Superman]] being the flagship example.)

Either one has to find their [[Achilles' Heel]], or else summon up a nuclear-bomb's worth of power in the last episode, either through [[The Power of Love]] or [[Ki Attacks]] or ''really'' heavy armaments (e.g. [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]) and hope for [[Villain Decay]].

Sometimes a vaguely defined nigh-invulnerability is just a way to make a hero [[Strong as They Need to Be|only as tough as he needs to be to advance the plot]].

There's a number of ways one can have '''Nigh Invulnerability'''.

* ''Being a [[Physical God|God]]'': Face it. Sometimes you [[Complete Immortality|CAN'T]] [[Kill the God|kill a god]]. It's physically and theologically impossible. However other gods can sometimes kill gods, so they do technically fit the "nigh" part.

* ''Divine Protection'': The character themself is not a god, but can survive anything due to intervention of a favorable god/guardian angel/spirit of parent that has been [[Obi-Wan Moment|'struck down and become more powerful than you can possibly imagine']].

* ''Made of Diamond'': Way, way beyond [[Super Toughness]]. The power of the [[Implacable Man]] and [[The Juggernaut]], nothing does anything to this being. [[The Frantics|Not a boot to the head]], or [[Immune to Bullets|a bullet to]] [[Eye Scream|the eye]], or [[Drop the Hammer|a sledgehammer to]] [[Groin Attack|the groin]]. Sufficiently strong characters ''might'' be able to [[Blown Across the Room|knock them through a wall or mountain]], but just one hit like that won't have any lasting effect. This is generally what people first think of when referring to this trope.

* ''Made Of Air'': Going the opposite direction, there doesn't seem to be something to fight... but that "something" can fight ''you''. Either they have the power of [[Super Smoke]] or the [[Intangible Man]] completely at will so that you can't attack them, or they may [[Elemental Shapeshifter|exist in some form]] that makes direct confrontation just not possible. (A [[Astral Projection|possessing spirit]], for example, who [[Body Surf|jumps from body to body]].)

* ''[[Blob Monster|The Blob]]'': a common variant of this, when the character is made of some sort of fluid stuff that makes him tangible, but completely impervious to damage with bludgeoning or piercing weapons.

* ''Made of Rubber'': Somewhere in between the last two, where most attacks just seem to bounce off with little to no effect to the victim.

* ''[[Healing Factor|Regeneration/Regrowth]]'': They have the truly nasty tendency to recover from anything. [[Off with His Head|Cut off their head]], [[Losing Your Head|and it grows back]]. Cut them to pieces, and they [[Pulling Themselves Together|just reassemble themselves]]. [[Kill It with Fire|Burn them to ashes]], and mail them to Mexico, Norway, and Hong Kong, and they'll rebuild themselves [[From a Single Cell]]. Whether the character can survive being [[Disintegrator Ray|utterly atomised]] varies from fiction to fiction.

* ''[[Resurrective Immortality|Resurrection]]'': You technically ''can'' kill them, but the problem is that they don't ''stay dead''. Just pray that they don't the have [[Adaptive Ability|the ability to adapt to whatever that managed to kill them before such that]] [[It Only Works Once]].

* ''Can Only Kill Part Of Him'': [[Fighting a Shadow]]. Similar to Regeneration/Regrowth/Resurrection, but basically the whatsit that you were fighting was just its... "representation" in the same world. Killing its body in this dimensional plane is a mild setback... if at all, as it can grow that back very quickly or replaced. Technically not that different from [[Back From the Dead|Resurrection]] except for semantics. Usually applies to gods, demons, and [[Cosmic Horror]].
** ''The Proxy'': Another example of [[Fighting a Shadow]], but differing in that the individual in question is very much present in the world and very much capable of dying through conventional means. They usually make use of other bodies or identities in order to conceal themselves and reduce the risk of death or injury through direct contact. The proxy could take the form of a remote-control robot, a cloned flesh puppet, or a victim of mind control or possession, and is usually killable. If the proxy is encountered often enough, it can give the ''semblance'' of invulnerability.

* ''[[Spare Body Parts|External Repair/Spare Body Parts]]'': Like regeneration and/or regrowth, but external, most common with machines but occasionally works for the undead or supernatural foes. Chop off an arm? Meh, if it's too damaged to reattach, no big deal: it's replaceable. Blown into tiny chunks? Allies or drones will show up and rebuild. In some cases, they can modify themselves, or even abandon their body entirely after building a new one to transfer into, or, if they're ''Made Of Air'' underneath it, choosing a new one to possess.

* ''Multiple Bodies'': The classic power of the [[Hive Mind]]. Killing one body [[Star Trek|is irrelevant]]; at worst, it will reduce it's cognitive abilities; more often, though, the only way to kill him is to kill ''all'' of him, as even one survivor may be able to recreate a whole new army of selves.

* ''[[Winds of Destiny Change|Extreme Luck]]'': The part where the clumsy hero/heroine can dodge everything just because of extreme luck. The only problem is if the extreme luck is unwieldy.

Contrast [[Made of Iron]], where no explanation is given for an individual's incredible resilience. Compare of course [[Physical God]], [[Implacable Man]], [[The Juggernaut]], [[Intangible Man]], [[Blob Monster]] and [[Made of Indestructium]]. Taking this the logical step ''beyond'' nigh invulnerable gives the character [[Complete Immortality]] or may even make the character [[The Omnipotent]]. See also [[Immortal Life Is Cheap]], which applies to such cases as Multiple Bodies and Regeneration.

{{examples}}

==Subpages==
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Anime and Manga|Anime and Manga]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Comic Books|Comic Books]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Fanfic|Fanfic]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Film|Film]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Literature|Literature]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Live-Action TV|Live-Action TV]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Multimedia|Multimedia]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Tabletop Games|Tabletop Games]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Theater|Theater]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Video Games|Video Games]]
* [[Nigh Invulnerability/Web Comics|Web Comics]]

== Web Original ==
* In the [[Whateley Universe]], they have all of the above. Lancer (and plenty of the villains) is Made Of Diamond. Phase and Jinn Sinclair are Made Of Air (due to completely different powers). Aqueous is [[The Blob]], being composed of living water. Jody Cooms is Made Of Rubber and even calls herself Plastic Girl. Carmilla and Tennyo have the regeneration thing down: Carmilla has been torn in half, and another time decapitated (she was meditating and literally didn't notice until she found the decapitated head which also hadn't died); both fall into the projected avatar/FightingAShadow category. The unstoppable supervillain Deathlist is of the [[Good Thing You Can Heal]] type: he's a forcefield-protected head on a robot body with the ability to teleport the head to safety in the worst case scenario; he has killed more superheroes than any other villain in history.
* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'''s [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-682 SCP-682] has [[Adaptive Ability]] and [[From a Single Cell]] on top of its [[Super Toughness]].
* The ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' has characters that fit all of the categories on both sides of the law:
** Byelobog really is ''the'' "White God" Byelobog from Slavic myth, while Ganesha really is the Indian elephant god.
** Crusader is protected from harm by the power of God himself, as is Mercy, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the popular concept of angels.
** The Shield and Stone are Made of Diamond, as is the [[Powered Armor]] worn by the appropriately-named superheroine Diamond.
** La Fantomas is Made of Air.
** Mercury is a liquid metal Blob.
** Cascade and Sand are Made of Rubber (well, Made of Water and Made of Sand, respectively, but the effect is the same).
** Splatterman is a supervillain whose [[Healing Factor|regenerative powers are so quick and effective]] that he's pretty much immune to all harm.
** Tsugha is an [[Eldritch Abomination]] whose "body" is only a part of the larger creature that exists in another dimension entirely.
** Slave is a remote-controlled [[Super Robot]] Proxy that's been destroyed dozens of times. Its operator keeps rebuilding him,
** Swarm, a mutant who can transform into a horde of cockroaches and seems to conjure new insects out of thin air when the old ones are crushed and destroyed.
** Los Hermanos has thousands of duplicate bodies and has survived his own "death" dozens of times.
** Fiasco is lucky, and can cause other people to be unlucky. He avoids injury by following [[The Karate Kid|Mr. Myagi's]] advice: "Best defende, no be dere."
* In ''[[Fine Structure]]'', the Powers are all of the "made of diamond" version. It takes a diamond-tipped syringe to break Arika's skin, and even not even that will work on Jason. But both of them pale in compairison to Anne Poole, who is possibly the single most indestructible object in existence. {{spoiler|When she gets thrown into a black hole, ''[[Divide by Zero|the Universe breaks before she does.]]''}}
* The [[Deus Est Machina|AI gods]] of [[Orion's Arm]] are so invulnerable that one of them engineered an all out war against itself just so it didn't have to expend any energy scraping off some outdated armor.
* In ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'', [[Hero Antagonist]] Captain Hammer has [[Super Strength]] plus apparent invulnerability, as in at least one scene he appears prepared to stop a runaway van with his body. This is subverted in Act III when the explosion of Dr. Horrible's malfunctioning [[Death Ray]] causes Captain Hammer to experience pain for the first time in his life, revealing him as a [[Miles Gloriosus]].
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' has the Meta, who has survived the following: a missile pod missile, sustained Gatling gun fire, {{spoiler|[[One-Man Army|Tex]], several point-blank shotgun rounds, a knife in both shoulders and ''getting stabbed in the torso with the energy sword''.}}
* [[Homestar Runner|Trogdor the Burninator]] in his second appearance in Peasant's Quest (A parody of the [[King's Quest]] line of games) is invulnerable when you try to kill him. But congratulations on getting to the end!

== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', you can kill the [[The Messiah|Avatar]] all you like, but unless you get lucky enough to kill him in the [[Super Mode|Avatar]] [[Unstoppable Rage|State]], you're going to have to deal with his [[Reincarnation]].
* Parodied in ''[[Drawn Together]]'', by the character Captain Hero, especially in an episode in which he and Foxxy Love go through an extreme form of BDSM relationship: because Captain Hero was indestructible, Foxxy could act out her most violent desires without fear of injuring him permanently (this disregarding the fact that ''all'' of the characters in the series die on a frequent basis, only to return shortly afterwards as if nothing had happened).
* The ''[[Transformers]]'' are a nigh-invulnerable ''race'', generally of the "Spare Body Parts" variety. They don't generally regenerate on their own, though some can, but pretty much any damage can be repaired; the line between what can be repaired and what's fatal, however, is nebulous at best.
** Generally speaking, a Transformer can survive pratically anything as long as their spark chamber (equivalent to a human's heart) and CPU (equivalent to a human's brain) are both physically intact. As you would expect, these two components are typically located within the most heavily armored parts of their bodies, making it even more hopeless for an average human to fight one, even before taking into account the difference in physical size between an average Transformer (20–30&nbsp;ft. tall) and a human (~6&nbsp;ft. tall). Inflicting significant damage to other body parts will certainly slow them down, though, and might even render their vehicle form(s) useless. After all, a Transformer who lost an arm can't change into car mode with the car parts that form that arm now missing.
** When ''[[Transformers Animated|Animated]]'' Starscream is revived by a piece of the Allspark lodged in his head, he gains the resurrection method. Anytime that he is killed, the Allspark resurrects him. Discovering this, the Autobots opt to just capture him.
*** Then, of course, he is [[Killed Off for Real]] when he has the Allspark fragment removed at the end of the show.
*** In the G1 continuity that Starscream's spark is immortal, allowing him to possess other Transformers, and apparently float through time and space since he turns up in ''[[Beast Wars]]'' too.
*** An ability that was copied into ''BW'' Rampage. Rampage can regenerate, but he's later killed by a spike of [[Pure Energy|raw energon]] going through his spark. In an earlier episode, a processed energon knife cutting parts of his spark did not do the job (though Megatron says it would've killed anyone else, and he takes it as proof of Rampage's immortality) however. It's unknown whether Starscream could be similarly killed.
*** Animated Megatron goes at ground zero of an explosion capable of destroying everything in a hundred-mile radius. For comparison, the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear device ever made, had a complete destruction radius of 40 miles. Megs survives (though he's pretty banged up).
** ''Animated'' Soundwave also deserves mention, being able to take Spare Body Parts an order of magnitude further than your average Cybertronian (and, indeed, he's ''not'' Cybertronian. Possibly that has something to do with it). Twice now he's been reduced to a component the size of a human hand and remained online.
*** This ability is somewhat balanced out by his tendency to shatter if you hit him hard enough. The downside of a body without any Cybertronian alloys in it.
* Vilgax from ''[[Ben 10]]'' is not only Made Of Diamond to the point where he lived through being attached to a nuclear warhead as it was used to blow up his ship, but he has a tank full of healing fluid in case his next ship blows up partially, giving him Regeneration while he's in there. He's the [[Implacable Man]]'s [[Implacable Man]].
** Ultimate Aggregor from [[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]. He [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|takes a beating]] from Humongousaur (one of Ben's strongest aliens) and gets right back up without a scratch, even saying that he ''didn't feel a thing''.
* In Disney's ''[[Gargoyles]]'', Demona and MacBeth are essentially immortal. Due to a pact they made back in Medieval Europe, when one dies they both die. However, due to some weird twist of logic with the pact (or just the "Weird Sisters" reviving one of them), since one of them wasn't killed directly they both come back to life shortly afterward (Elisa Maza once temporarily killed Demona to keep her from fighting MacBeth so she could talk to him). Allegedly, the only way for them to permanently die is to kill each other.
* ''[[Futurama]]'':
** In the straight-to-DVD film "The Beast With a Billion Backs," the title beast is from another universe and made of "electromatter," which the professor describes as "normal matter's [[Never Mess with Granny|bad-ass grandma]]." Nothing can hurt it except something else made of electromatter.
** One episode showed it was commonplace for robots to periodically upload a copy of their memory which will be uploaded into a new body if they are destroyed, with Bender being the exception because of a design flaw.
*** Completely contradicting the previous episode where Bender championed the cause of broken-robots, which, although still fully sentient and aware, were generally just melted down for recycling materials (for beer cans and paper-weights and the like).
*** And contradicted by a later episode in which Bender's body is destroyed and he reflexively uploads a backup into The Cloud to become a "robot ghost"—which may also qualify as an example.
*** In "Jurassic Bark", Bender jumps into a pool of ''molten fucking lava'' in order to  {{spoiler|save Fry's fossilized dog}}. His sole injury is a slightly expanded torso chassis.
** Leela is a very possible contender. In addition to being a {{spoiler|genetically modified sewer mutant}} that has never lost a single fight during the series' run, she also survived a {{spoiler|[[No One Could Survive That|near-universally fatal space bee sting]]}}, suffering a mere two-week coma instead.
* Most characters from ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' and ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' can survive vicious beatings, gunshot wounds, falling from cliffs, and explosions unless the creators want the character to die
** Subverted in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]?'' with Dip, a mixture of various solvents that broke down the ink that Toons are drawn from in what is essentially permanent death for them.
* Professor Impossible from ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' is seemingly unkillable due to his body having the properties of elastic. He once swallowed an explosion meant to destroy an entire island in a failed attempt at suicide.
* Signature power of the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Mysteron]] [[Evil Twin|Agents]] and the eponymous [[Phlebotinum Rebel]] in both incarnations of ''[[Captain Scarlet]]'', although the method varies: the original series has them as classic Made Of Diamond [[Implacable Man|Implacable Men]], while in the remake they're more vulnerable but will still get up again right after being put down. Both versions also mix in shades of the [[Fighting a Shadow]] version since the Agents are merely cloned puppets and the Mysterons themselves remain aloof and untouchable no matter how many plots Spectrum foils.
* In ''[[Invader Zim]]'', it's specifically stated that their consciousness, personality, emotions and memory are all stored in their PAKs. In a fully scripted but never animated episode, Zim could take over Dib this way; his physical body would be dead, but his mind would be in a new body, so that's okay. This theoretically applies for every single member of the Irken race, which would make them all immortals who change bodies every so often (as it's unlikely their best soldiers would be allowed to die when they're still usable). Since a PAK can attach to someone even after you killed the body hosting it and is made of the same Irken metals that allowed The Massive to go through a star without being heavily damaged, the only way to kill an Irken is to either take the PAK to Irk and have it be erased by the Control Brains or hide it away from all living life. Basically, if Zim wasn't [[Lord Error-Prone|such an idiot]], he'd be nigh unstoppable.
** In the same script, though, Zim claims that Dib's "filthy human body chemistry isn't compatible with the PAK. It would've destroyed you!" Of course, considering the source, that may not be the case...
* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' has [[Show Within a Show|the Crimson Chin]], a [[Superman]] parody. Timmy himself became this when he wished for superpowers.
* The [[DCAU]] version of [[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman]] isn't ''quite'' as tough as his comics counterpart, but is still monstrously hard to kill.
* The characters of ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'', combined with extreme [[Status Quo Is God]].
* "[[Darkwing Duck]]" has two of these characters. The Liquidator is a villain made out of water. And Dr. Bushroot, a mutant plant/duck that has can regenerate after being run over by a runing lawn mower.
* Roger from ''[[American Dad]]''. He's seemingly immortal, and invincible. Of course, he's an [[Amusing Alien|alien]], and not only that, he was an alien who was literally used as a ''crash test dummy'', so it's no surprise he's practically unkillable.
** Apparently even his superiors weren't aware of how invulnerable he was, as they fully expected him to have died from blunt trauma. Oh and he's fire retardant too (which he hilariously did not know).
* Grandfather from ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. He survives a [[Colony Drop]] to the face without even a scratch and just dusts himself off afterwards.
* In the episode "Schooled" of ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]],'' Amazo has absorbed the powers of, among others, Superman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, meaning he is [[Made of Diamond]], [[Intangible Man]], and has [[Super Reflexes]] and [[Super Speed]].
** Unfortunately for the android, Amazo only seemed capable of using one of these powers at a time after [[Calling Your Attacks|announcing which hero he's emulating at the moment]], making him vulnerable to team-based tactics.
* In the early seasons of ''[[South Park]]'', Kenny was always killed off [[Once an Episode]], only to inexplicably return the next week. In later seasons, it's revealed that he will always resurrect due to a [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraftian]] curse that was placed on him. Worse yet, because of the curse no one can remember any of his previous demises.
* The titular character from [[The Tick (animation)]]. The [[Trope Name]] is even invoked frequently when referencing him.


== Real Life ==
* [http://www.cracked.com/blog/worst-life-ever-the-story-of-kazuyuki-fujitas-skull/ Kazuyuki Fujita's skull.]
* [[wikipedia:Water bear#Physiology|Water Bears]]. Can survive extreme heat and near Absolute Zero temperatures. Can survive being exposed to lethal doses of environmental toxins and radiation. Can survive six times the pressure of the deepest part of the ocean. Can survive without water for a decade. Can survive ''the vacuum of space''.
* Michael Malloy, a target of gangster/bootlegger duo Tony Marino and Joe Murphy in the early 1930s. He survived being given enough alcohol to be fatal, being given whisky spiked with antifreeze, being given several drinks spiked with antifreeze, turpentine, horse liniment, and rat poisoning, being fed a sandwich made with spoiled sardines, metal shavings, and tacks, being fed a sandwich made with oysters soaked in wood alcohol (which could cause blindness, and ''that'' didn't work either), being buried in snow in below-zero temperatures, ''and'' being hit by a taxi. They finally managed to kill him by knocking him out and gassing him, but it's still unknown how he survived all the attempts on his life.
** Though to be fair, since the treatment for antifreeze poisoning is alcohol, spiking whiskey with antifreeze to kill someone wasn't likely to work in the first place.
* [[wikipedia:Alan Magee|Alan Magee]], who survived 28 shrapnel wounds, severe oxygen deprivation and a 22,000 foot freefall ''in one sitting''. He lived to the ripe old age of 84.
* [http://www.badassoftheweek.com/york.html Army] [http://acacia.pair.com/Acacia.Vignettes/The.Diary.of.Alvin.York.html#October%208th%201918 Corporal] [[wikipedia:Alvin York|Alvin]] [[Implacable Man|York]]. During WWI, his unit was sent to capture a German railroad, when they came under fire from dozens of hidden German machine gun nests. With half the squad dead and the other half cowering, York stood alone with his rifle and took concentrated fire from [[A-Team Firing|thirty-two machine gunners]] [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|and over 100 German riflemen]] and [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|didn't. Receive. A]] ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|scratch.]]'' He fired back, killing 28 Germans, and according to his account [[Improbable Aiming Skills|he didn't even]] ''[[Boom! Headshot!|miss.]]''
{{quote|'''York:''' I [[Funetik Aksent|jes]] couldn't miss a German's head or body at that distance. And I didn't. Besides, [[Badass Boast|it weren't no time to miss nohow.]]}}
: The Germans, slowly realizing that York was somehow not dying from the hurricane of lead they were firing at him, sent a six-man squad to rush him. Since he had few shots left in his rifle, York drew and shot them all down with his pistol, ''[[Holy Shit Quotient|back to front,]]'' [[Holy Shit Quotient|so the ones in front wouldn't notice the others dying until too late.]] Shortly after, he accepted an offer of surrender from the German major present and marched all 130 or so remaining soldiers back to his base as prisoners (surviving several [[I Surrender, Suckers|false surrender gambits]] including brushing off a [[Stuff Blowing Up|hand grenade]] attack from one such, as well as [[Death From Above|heavy artillery fire]] all the while he was escorting the captured soldiers), after having had tens or ''hundreds'' of ''thousands'' of [[More Dakka|bullets from scores of heavy machine guns and rifles]] fired at him without leaving a mark on his body. [[Preacher (Comic Book)|Not enough gun,]] it seems.
** Incidentally, York himself believed that [[Divine Intervention|God protected and guided him]] during the battle...if he was right, this may be more of a literal example than it appears.
* Grigori Rasputin was supposedly poisoned, shot, beaten, and stabbed in an assassination attemp before being bundled into a carpet and thrown into the river where, it was claimed he actually died of drowning. However, according to his Wikipedia entry, new evidence claims there might not have been any poison in his body and the bullet wound to his head should have killed him instantly.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fight Scene]]
[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Nigh Invulnerability]]