History Main / AcquiredPoisonImmunity

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Aqualad reveals that he is "largely immune" to the jellyfish toxin that Cheshire uses to coat her darts. Largely doesn't mean completely, though: he was weakened by it, more with each dose. Of course, this may be a result of his Atlantean biology and not an acquired trait.

* One of ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''[='s=] protagonists, CuteWitch Marisa Kirisame, is revealed in supplementary materials to have exposed herself to so many poisons and toxic substances over the course of her magical research that she's developed a resistance to ''mercury poisoning''.

** Both these cases are likely actually due to a [[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/centuries-poison-laced-water-gave-these-people-tolerance-arsenic-180954491/ genetic mutation]] that results in higher resistance to aresenic poison.

*** Played for laughs in ''ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica'', where the Joker and the ComicBook/RedSkull discover that their signature poisons are so alike that each is immune to the effects of the other.

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'', delibarately ignoring the rules of the Navi Customizer results in [=MegaMan=] getting random bugs that impede his abilities in battle. However, in the [[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork3WhiteAndBlue third game]], presisting through enough battles with these bugs will unlock the [=BugStyle=] Change, which comes with [=BugStop=], allowing [=MegaMan=] to use the Customizer without worrying over bugs.

* This is how vaccines work (though notably not the mRNA ones for [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]]). Patients are given small doses of often inactivated pathogens, and the immune system learns to fight them. Toxoid vaccines use an inactivated toxin in a literal version of this trope.

* This is how vaccines work. Patients are given small doses of often inactivated pathogens, and the immune system learns to fight them. Toxoid vaccines use an inactivated toxin in a literal version of this trope.

* ''Manga/SaiunkokuMonogatari'':
** Ryuuki built up a resistance to various poisons mostly thanks to growing up as TheUnFavorite at the bottom of a pecking order of six princes and their mothers. He once realized that [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink Shuurei had been handed a poisoned drink]] and drank it himself before she gulped it down, counting on the trope to work; it did and he lived to tell, but it still made him rather sick.
** Sa Sakujun in the same series built up a similar resistance through bored experimentation, not that it does him a lot of good in the end.

* A famous urban myth is UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk - he supposedly had been taking minute doses of cyanide over a long period, and when his meal was poisoned, he ate it and walked away. Given that it ''should'' be impossible to build a resistance to cyanide, it's likely that it's not true. More likely is that the poison had either been broken down during cooking by mistake, counteracted by something else he ate during that meal, or even that he didn't eat it at all due to his bad stomach. In any case, later records revealed that Rasputin died of being shot, not poisoned.

* In ''Series/IronFist'', Colleen claims that Bakuto made her swallow tarantulas whole in order to develop an immunity to their venom, but Danny doesn't buy it and she admits she made it up.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the [[FishPeople Zora]] are portrayed as being especially vulnerable to [[ShockAndAwe electricity]], which is inconvenient because Shock Arrows are needed to incapacitate the [[HumongousMecha Divine Beast Vah Ruta]] that has been causing havoc for the Lanayru Province. King Dorephan and Prince Sidon decide to seek help from [[HumansAreAverage Hylians]], who lack said vulnerability, but one Zora named Seggin instead unsuccessfully tries to develop an immunity to electricity by repeatedly touching a Shock Arrow.

** In a similar vein to the ''Pokemon'' example below, the heroes face an enemy that uses colored magical confetti to produce various elemental effects. When said enemy attempts to use yellow [[ShockAndAwe lightning-producing]] confetti on Mirajane, the latter laughs, as (having had Laxus for a guildmate during his entire [[JerkAss jerkass]] phase) she's been zapped enough times that the yellow confetti can't produce enough voltage to faze her.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'': The heroine gets a rather high poison resistance from being forced to hunt for prey in a dungeon where every creature is poisonous to various degrees.

* ''Webcomic/{{Spacetrawler}}'': Dmitri believes that a person can become immune to stun guns, and has started shooting himself repeatedly in order to acquire it. Results: [[spoiler:he acquires a taste for stun-gun shots. And immunity. In that order.]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haast Bill Haast]] was one of these until his death at the age of 100. He became immune to most snake venom by injecting himself with diluted venom over a period of time, which was a good thing, because he had garnered 172 bites in his lifetime, and had even survived a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krait blue krait]] bite, which was something that he didn't think was possible. [[http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/bill-haast-dies-at-100-florida-snake-man-provided-venom-for-snakebite-serum/2011/06/18/AGgZjfaH_story.html His blood has been used to help more than 20 snake-bite victims.]]

* In ''Literature/TheFolkOfTheAir'', Jude Duarte has been intentionally ingesting small amounts of the various Fae poisons in order to gain an immunity to there deadly effects over time. This backfires though as she eventually becomes addicted to these poisons.

* There was an episode of an old show (can't recall the name), where a child was bitten by a rare breed of a snake. It turned out that there was just enough anti-venom available for a single dose. Unfortunately, a doctor ends up accidentally also getting bitten by the same snake. She chooses to let the child have the anti-venom. Luckily, there's a hermit snake wrangler, who has developed an immunity to the same venom, and he eventually allows his blood to be drawn and distilled into an impromptu anti-venom for the doctor.

* This is how vaccines work. Patients are given small doses of often inactivated pathogens, and the immune system learns to fight them.

** Ash has gotten fried by Pikachu enough that he's built up a near-total immunity to electric shocks, surviving jolts that were outright ''exploding'' whatever they hit in a later episode. And on a couple occasions Team Rocket have also shrugged off electric shocks after being zapped by Pikachu so many times, with Meowth even making use of his Pikachu-induced shockproofing once.