History Main / AdaptiveAbility

* In ''WesternAnimation/DoctorStrangeTheSorcererSupreme'', Strange has the innate ability to absorb and adapt a defense for any magic thrown at him. Thus he goes from on-the-skids Muggle to Sorcerer Supreme in the course of one film and a grand total of one BossBattle.

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'' (Part 2 of the series overall), the last remaining Pillar Man, [[BigBad Kars]] uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] combined with a modified Stone Mask to evolve into what's described as the UltimateLifeForm. In this state, he has the power of the entire biosphere at his whim, able to transform his entire body or parts of it into that of every species of animal, past and present. He is effectively immune to every possible means of physical attack because he could simply change into a resistant form before it even hit him; the only feasible way to defeat him is to completely [[FromASingleCell destroy every cell of his body]]. Even when thrown into an active volcano, where he actually does take damage (since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive being hurled [[AMoltenDateWithDeath into magma]] for very long), Kars languishes only a little while before he surrounds his body with a shell of sponge-like armor constantly producing pockets of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. Furthermore, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun, e.g. when he struck Joseph's leg with a Hamon-infused blow, Stroheim described the effect as ''Joseph's flesh /being liquefied and vaporizing almost instantly''. [[spoiler:Ironically, his awesome power swiftly becomes his doom; when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone directly, it is magnified immensely, firing a concentrated beam that causes the volcano to undergo an eruption that shoots him into space, [[AndIMustScream causing his body to 'adapt' and turn into an inanimate husk of organic flesh and hard minerals to survive in a vacuum]], all while begging for death that will never to come to his immortal self [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent from the sheer boredom]].]]

** Goku Black from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' possess an enhanced version of the Saiyan's power-up ability in that ''any'' damage caused to him will instantly cause him to become stronger. His powers have gone from being as strong as Super Saiyan 3 Goku to being able to NoSell Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Ve pointsgeta in his base form before unlocking his [[spoiler: Super Saiyan Rose transformation]] that handily curb stomps him. And this is only the start of a series of power-ups that he obtains.

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'' (Part 2 of the series overall), the last remaining Pillar Man, [[BigBad Kars]] uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] combined with a modified Stone Mask to evolve into what's described as the UltimateLifeForm. In this state, he has the power of the entire biosphere at his whim with the ability to adaptively protect himself in any environment or situation. He is effectively immune to every possible means of physical attack because he could simply change into a form that resisted it before it even hit him; the only feasible way to defeat him is to completely [[FromASingleCell destroy every cell of his body]]. Even when thrown into an active volcano, where he actually does take damage (since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive being hurled [[AMoltenDateWithDeath into magma]] for very long), he just thinks outside the box and surrounds his body with a shell of sponge-like armor constantly producing pockets of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. Furthermore, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun, e.g. when he struck Joseph's leg with a Hamon-infused blow, Stroheim described the effect as ''Joseph's flesh being liquefied and vaporizing almost instantly''. [[spoiler:Ironically, his awesome power swiftly becomes his doom; when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone directly, it is magnified immensely, firing a concentrated beam that causes the volcano to undergo an eruption that shoots him into space, [[AndIMustScream causing his body to 'adapt' and turn into an inanimate husk of organic flesh and hard minerals to survive in a vacuum]], all while begging for death that will never to come to his immortal self [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent from the sheer boredom]].]]

** Goku Black from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' possess an enhanced version of the Saiyan's power-up ability in that ''any'' damage caused to him will instantly cause him to become stronger. His powers have gone from being as strong as Super Saiyan 3 Goku to being able to NoSell Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta in his base form before unlocking his [[spoiler: Super Saiyan Rose transformation]] that handily curb stomps him. And this is only the start of a series of power-ups that he obtains.

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'' (Part 2 of the series overall), the last remaining Pillar Man, [[BigBad Kars]] [[spoiler: uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] combined with a modified Stone Mask to evolve into what's described as the UltimateLifeForm. In this state, he has the power of the entire biosphere at his whim with the ability to adaptively protect himself in any environment or situation. He is effectively immune to every possible means of physical attack because he could simply change into a form that resisted it before it even hit him; the only feasible way to defeat him is to completely [[FromASingleCell destroy every cell of his body]]. Even when thrown into an active volcano, where he actually does take damage (since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive being hurled [[AMoltenDateWithDeath into magma]] for very long), he just thinks outside the box and surrounds his body with a shell of sponge-like armor constantly producing pockets of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. Furthermore, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun, e.g. when he struck Joseph's leg with a Hamon-infused blow, Stroheim described the effect as ''Joseph's flesh being liquefied and vaporizing almost instantly''. Ironically, his awesome power swiftly becomes his doom; when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone directly, it is magnified immensely, firing a concentrated beam that causes the volcano to undergo an eruption that shoots him into space, [[AndIMustScream causing his body to 'adapt' and turn into an inanimate husk of organic flesh and hard minerals to survive in a vacuum]], all while begging for death that will never to come to his immortal self [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent from the sheer boredom]].]]

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'' (Part 2 of the series overall), the last remaining Pillar Man, [[BigBad Kars]] [[spoiler: uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] combined with a modified Stone Mask to evolve into what's described as the UltimateLifeForm. In this state, he has the power of the entire biosphere at his whim with the ability to adaptively protect himself in any environment or situation. He is effectively immune to every possible means of physical attack because he could simply change into a form that resisted it before it even hit him; the only feasible way to defeat him is to completely [[FromASingleCell destroy every cell of his body]]. Even when thrown into an active volcano, where he actually does take damage (since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive being hurled [[AMoltenDateWithDeath into magma]] for very long), he just thinks outside the box and surrounds his body with a shell of sponge-like armor constantly producing pockets of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. Furthermore, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun, e.g. when he struck Joseph's leg with a Hamon-infused blow, Stroheim described the effect as ''Joseph's flesh being liquefied and vaporizing almost instantly''. Ironically, his awesome power swiftly becomes his doom; when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone directly, it is magnified immensely, firing a concentrated beam that causes the volcano to undergo an eruption that shoots him into space, [[AndIMustScream causing his body to 'adapt' and turn into an inanimate husk of organic flesh and hard minerals to survive in a vacuum]], all while begging for death never to come to his immortal self [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent from the sheer boredom]].]]

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', [[spoiler:[[BigBad Kars]] uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] to evolve into what's described as the UltimateLifeForm, having the power of the entire biosphere at his whim with the ability to adaptively protect himself in any environment or situation. He is effectively immune to every possible means of physical attack because he could simply change into a form that resisted it before it even hit him. Even when thrown into an active volcano, where he actually does take damage since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive being hurled [[AMoltenDateWithDeath into magma]], he just thinks outside the box and surrounds his body with a shell of armor constantly producing pockets of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. Furthermore, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun, as such when he struck Joseph's leg with a Hamon-infused blow, Stroheim described the effect as Joseph's flesh ''being liquefied and vaporizing almost instantly''. Ironically, his awesome power swiftly becomes his doom; when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone, it is magnified immensely, causing the previously-mentioned volcano to undergo an eruption that shoots him into space, [[AndIMustScream where he floats around forever as a twisted mineral/organic creature caused by his body adapting to survive in a vacuum]], begging for death which will never come [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent]].]]

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', [[spoiler:[[BigBad Kars]] uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] to instantly become the UltimateLifeForm, with the power of the entire living world in hand and the ability to adapt to any environment or situation. He is effectively immune to every possible attack because he could simply change into a form that resisted it before it even hit him. Even when thrown into a volcano, where he actually does take damage since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive [[AMoltenDateWithDeath being hurled into magma]], he just thinks outside the box and surrounds his body with bags of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. In this state, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun. Ironically, his power is his doom, when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone, it is magnified immensely, causing a volcanic reaction that shoots him into space, [[AndIMustScream where he floats around forever as a twisted mineral/organic creature]], begging for death which will never come [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent]].]]

* Comicbook/MrFreeze, in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', is a noteworthy boss for two reasons: the first is that you can't fight him head-on and need to ambush him. The second is that he adapts to the player's tactics, such that the same tricks will not work more than once. If you ambush him from the vents, he'll freeze all of the vents shut. If you attack through the windows, he'll ice them over to make them unbreakable. If you use the electromagnet to attack him, he'll sabotage it and make it inoperable. And so on.

** The android Amazo in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. [[PhysicalGod Eventually gets so many powers he doesn't know what to do with them and decides to become a philosopher]].

* The android Amazo in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. [[PhysicalGod Eventually gets so many powers he doesn't know what to do with them and decides to become a philosopher]]. Doomsday to a lesser extent as per his comic counterpart. Try to lobotomize him with heat vision? His skull thickens in time for the next fight. Thus, in Doomsday's second appearance, Superman's [[BatmanGrabsAGun desperate decision]] to copy the tactic of [[MirrorUniverse his Justice Lord counterpart]] [[NoSell amounts to absolutely nothing]].

* Kuro Momotaro from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. His body possesses the ability to memorize the damage of any attack that hits him, while his weapons, the Steaming Spheres heal him from that damage, and give him the power to overcome it. [[LoopholeAbuse Probably a useless ability if he's]] [[OneHitKill killed in one shot]] though.

* One of Hiei's opponents in the Dark Tournament Arc of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' has an artifact that grants him immunity to the last thing that hit him every time he uses it. This works two times. The third time Hiei finds a technique that kills his opponent before he can acquire further immunity.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' the villain Crawler has this power along with a massive HealingFactor. Whenever he suffers an injury, he regenerates in seconds and becomes slightly more resistant to that type of injury as well as more dangerous overall. He deliberately throws himself into harm's way by fighting powerful enemies in order to become stronger. At one point, he's exposed to a nanothorn attack that takes most of his body apart on a molecular scale... which causes the destroyed portion of his body to grow back with ''biological nanomachines that can disintegrate anything he touches.'' [[spoiler:The heroes only manage to kill him by carpet bombing the area he's in with [[TheSparkOfGenius super]][[MadBomber -villain]] [[HavingABlast made]] bombs which [[TakenforGranite turn him into glass.]]]]

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', Kars (the BigBad) uses the Red Stone of Aja to instantly become the ultimate creature, with the power of the entire living world in hand and the ability to adapt to any environment or situation. He is effectively immune to every possible attack because he could simply change into a form that resisted it before it even hit him. Even when thrown into a volcano, where he actually does take damage since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive [[AMoltenDateWithDeath being hurled into magma]], he just thinks outside the box and surrounds his body with bags of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. In this state, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun. Ironically, his power is his doom, when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone, it is magnified immensely, causing a volcanic reaction that shoots him into space, where he floats around forever as a twisted mineral/organic creature, begging for death which will never come until he eventually ceases thinking.

** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-682 SCP-682 ("Hard-to-Destroy Reptile")]] of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' is a reptilian [[HealingFactor regenerating]] OmnicidalManiac who also possesses this power. They try to shoot out its eyes, it grows several new sets covered in armor plating. They try to poison it, it starts spraying out jets of high-pressure blood to get the poison out. Thankfully, the adaptations wear off after a short while. This is the main reason they refuse to use [[NukeEm nuclear weapons]] on it: if it survives, it'll be immune to pretty much ''anything.'' The Foundation once tried to kill it by using an [=SCP=] with the [[RealityWarper power to change the universal constants of physics within its boundaries]]. 682 not only adapted to survive as it always does, it found the experience ''fun''.

-->-- '''Leon C. Megginson'''

* ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes member [[spoiler:and eventual traitor]] Nemesis Kid had the power to gain whatever abilities were needed to defeat any single opponent. [[spoiler:This backfired when he faced Projectra, after murdering her husband ComicBook/KarateKid. His powers gave him the ability to see through her illusions, but when he tried to gloat over her helplessness, she snapped his neck with her bare hands]].]]

* ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} member [[spoiler:and eventual traitor]] Nemesis Kid had the power to gain whatever abilities were needed to defeat any single opponent. [[spoiler:This backfired when he faced Projectra, after murdering her husband ComicBook/KarateKid. His powers gave him the ability to see through her illusions, but when he tried to gloat over her helplessness, she [[Awesome/{{LegionOfSuper-Heroes}} snapped his neck with her bare hands]].]]

** Franchise/{{Wolverine}} in this universe is implied to be the same; in addition to regenerating damaged tissue, his HealingFactor can modify his physiology to compensate for life-threatening injuries. [[spoiler: For example, decapitating him resulted in him developing the ability to directly oxygenate the blood for his brain through his skin. When his severed head was put in a total vacuum, he went into stasis until brought out.]] Ultimate Nick Fury theorizes that Wolverine's mutant power is less "HealingFactor" and more "survive anything". [[spoiler: Well, that worked until Magneto killed him by simultaneously destroying every cell in his body.]]

* Jr. Troopa in ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' is a minor version. He starts off pretty incompetent. As the game goes on, however, he will acquire new powers to counter abilities Mario uses against him, combining them together late into the game. That being said, he remains rather incompetent throughout the whole game, as while he can adapt to limit Mario's ability to fight him, Mario keeps gaining ''more'' techniques that render him a joke again.

** Later on, the "Enbu" martial art is introduced, with allows to synchronize every single cell in the user's body so that the few that are most capable of handling a given task are "copied" by all the others. For example: some cells handle the effects of high gravity better than others, so if all cells copy the behavior of those ones, you can ignore a gravity 10 or 100 times higher than normal.

* In ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'', Garou has the ability to heal and grow stronger every time he is defeated. By fighting [[OneHitKill Saitama]], he eventually becomes a nigh PhysicalGod. [[spoiler:Spoofed when Saitama continues to crush him, and his body decides he can't evolve any farther, so he starts ''devolving'' with each attack until he returns to ordinary human levels.]]

* The Vord in ''Literature/CodexAlera'' definitely qualify. When we first run into them, they're a bunch of creepy spiders who spin wax instead of webs. Then there are big warrior beetles, and little spiders that can [[PuppeteerParasite take over your brain,]]. And that was back before they got scary. They could quickly create entire new species and [[ExplosiveBreeder generate massive numbers]] of them. They see human knights in armor? Suddenly there are heavily armored humanoids with swords to fight them. Make a wall of shields? Now there are enormous mantises with [[SinisterScythe sickle-arms]] that can reach over the shields and disembowel you. Oh, you can fly with magic? How about warriors with [[WingedHumanoid dragonfly wings]]. Team up with huge wolf-men? That's okay, we've got a [[LightningBruiser vord]] for that too. Build a massive wall just to keep us out? How about a Vord the size of a ''[[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Gothic cathedral]]'' smashing into your wall! Wow, good thing you have that amazing magic that we can't quite seem to get hold of... [[OhCrap oh]]. [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Nevermind]].