History Main / DentedIron

Often the fate for a hero who pushes himself into HeroicRROD mode on a regular basis.

** Alanna complains of this in the ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' books. Even her ability to heal herself with magic hasn't stopped numerous aches and pains from getting battered in armor for fifteen years.
** Although Mattes Tunstall is one of the most famous Dogs in the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' books, he's been in far too many fights and brawls over the years. He gets both legs broken in ''Bloodhound'' and spends the rest of the book laid up because his body is resistant to healing magic now.

* Shows up from time to time in ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', typically after a BadassNormal superhero has had a particularly tough fight. It's particularly tragic in the case of Supersonic, who used to be a GeniusBruiser par excellence but has found that, between his age and his many blows to the head, he's no longer able to think of a tactic more complicated than crushing his opponent with pure brute strength.
** This trope is used as one of the signs that Crackerjack is getting too old for super-heroics; in a routine encounter with [[CListFodder Demonhead,]] he slips up at a critical moment, allowing the villain to leave some nasty gashes across his chest before escaping.

* Spoofed in one ''ComicBook/DrBlinkSuperheroShrink'' strip. Nocturne (a ComicBook/{{Batman}} {{Expy}} returns to his cave after a busy evening, and his butler Aethelbert frets over his various wounds -- several broken ribs, two knives in the back, multiple gunshot wounds, a poison dart, and a slashed torso that leaves him doubled over backwards. Nocturne insists [[OnlyAFleshWound it's no big deal]] and that he only needs some Ibuprofen and bandages.

* By the time of ''Film/{{Logan}}'', Wolverine's HealingFactor is not working as well as it used to, and as result his body is ''covered in scars'', and, by Caliban's offhand mention of witnessing Logan wiping pus away from unhealed exit wounds between his knuckles, the wounds are also frequently getting infected. [[spoiler: It's not old age, it's Adamantium poising]]. This applies to Professor Xavier too, who's now an old man suffering from dementia who can't control his mental powers, with serious potential consequences for anyone in the vicinity.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} whenever they show him in old age (''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', etc). Many times he starts relying on PoweredArmor to compensate, which has its ups and downs (it's just as likely to injure him from use as a bad guy). ''ComicBook/KnightFall'' has him overstrained by a breakout at Arkham and eventually crippled by Bane, which took him a year to recover from. Even in his older characterization (multiple Robins, involved with the Justice League), it's mentioned that the next injury he has will likely put him out of commission.

* Indy in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''. The poor guy got the crap beat out of him by a GiantMook, shot in the shoulder, beat up again by a different mook including being punched in said shoulder repeatedly, and dragged behind a truck - nothing of that was able to stop him. But when he finally got to a safe place, he was so sore all over, covered in cuts, bruises, and abrasions, that he barely could take his shirt off for a bit of AfterActionPatchup. And then, Marion inadvertently hits him in the chin with a mirror, prompting [[ScreamDiscretionShot a far less stoic reaction]].

* ''Film/MajorLeague'' features a sports version with Jake Taylor. Taylor is former star baseball player whose chronic knee problems have left his career hanging by a thread. (Indeed, he starts the movie playing in a baseball league in Mexico, drunk out of his mind with the implication that he's engaging in a bit of DrowningMySorrows.) Worse yet, Taylor is a catcher, a position that puts tremendous stress on the knees, so every time he plays he does more damage to them. While he's an invaluable part of the team as a mentor to younger players and someone who can keep arrogant and selfish veterans honest, Jake doesn't have the physical talent to perform as he used to and must make up for it through a combination of experience and guile. In the sequel the team makes the decision to [[KickedUpstairs move Jake from being an active player to a coach]], because while his knowledge of the game and ability to mentor young players is still very useful, physically he just can't compete at a professional level anymore.

* ''ComicBook/AngelAfterTheFall'': [[spoiler: Angel's body endures a great deal of punishment from spending months fighting demons in hell after being turned human again. Because he lacks the endurance and healing factor he had as a vampire, he relies on magic to heal himself. However, it doesn't stop his body from aching from battles from months ago.]]

* ''Anime/HajimeNoIppo'':

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed''

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla:'' In the "Siege of Paris" DLC, Count Odo tells Eivor in their encounter after the titular siege that he's pretty dented. He got off easy though, given Eivor was trying ''not'' to kill him.

* B.J. Blazkowicz of ''{{VideoGame/Wolfenstein}}'' fame gets this treatment starting in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', delivering this line as Fergus is giving him CPR [[EstablishingCharacterMoment during the opening sequence]]. This culminates in [[VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus the sequel]], as his injuries from the previous game [[spoiler: left him paralyzed from the waist down, only able to walk when wearing PowerArmor]]. His maximum health is also lowered to 50, from 100, so be careful.

* Reinhardt from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' is still in his PowerArmour kicking ass at 61 years old, but his age and his scars do occasionally catch up with him. It's implied he ''wants'' to retire, but he feels he can't. The superhero organisation he was a part of fell apart after he was [[ReluctantRetiree forced out of action]] and someone has to pick up the pieces. His suit is in a similar condition -- it's still fully capable of kicking ass, but time is catching up with it. It's made very obvious just how worn down both he and his armor are when we see what they were like at their prime in his animated short "Honor and Glory", where he plows through entire streets of [[RobotWar battle-Omnics]] like they're nothing, [[BoisterousBruiser laughing all the while]].

* B.J. Blazkowicz of ''{{VideoGame/Wolfenstein}}'' fame gets this treatment starting in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', delivering this line as Fergus is giving him CPR [[EstablishingCharacterMoment during the opening sequence]].
-->'''B.J.''': Death at the gates again. Howling my name. Can't greet you today. I have a war to win.
** This culminates in [[VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus the sequel]], as his injuries from the previous game [[spoiler: left him paralyzed from the waist down, only able to walk when wearing PowerArmor]]. His maximum health is also lowered to 50, from 100, so be careful.

[-[[caption-width-right:350:All of those little scrapes and bruises have a way of really adding up.]]-]

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DentedIron_8142.PNG]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:250:All of those little scrapes and bruises have a way of really adding up.]]-]

* By the time of ''Film/{{Logan}}'', Wolverine's HealingFactor is not working as well as it used to, and as result his body is ''covered in scars'', and, by Caliban's offhand mention of witnessing Logan wiping pus away from unhealed exit wounds between his knuckles, the wounds are also frequently getting infected. This applies to Professor Xavier too, who's now an old man suffering from dementia who can't control his mental powers, with serious potential consequences for anyone in the vicinity.

* ''Film/HalloweenEnds'': Old age and the many injuries he took in the previous movies have caught up to Michael Myers. While still superhumanly strong and resilient, he is forced to spend most of the movie hiding, and when he attacks people, he is not as powerful as he used to be, allowing him to be defeated.

* UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson was ''definitely'' an ActionPolitician, and legendary for his temper and his toughness. Despite being a war hero and having partcipated in a wholly unreasonable number of duels (and getting shot in more than a few of them), Jackson got the nickname "Old Hickory" as much for his stern and unflinching nature as from plain old durability. Contemporaries recount him digging out lead shot from his arm with a knife during a dull political meeting and mailing the years-old bullet back to a man he had dueled with a polite note to the effect of "Sir, I believe this is yours." He was president during his late 60s and walked with a cane, suffering chronic pain from all the bullets in him as well as the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him. As proof that dented iron is ''not'' weak iron: this aged, ill, pained condition was how Richard Lawrence found Jackson when Lawrence intended to assassinate the president. Lawrence did not suceed in shooting the president; Jackson responded by beating the ever-loving shit out of Lawrence and nearly killed ''him'' in return. [[UpToEleven Jackson's own bodyguards had to drag him away so that the attempted assassin would survive to see trial.]]