History Main / FindtheCure

* The ComicBook/TeenTitans ask for [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'s help when ComicBook/{{Superboy}} is dying from his first run-in with a deranged Superboy Prime and Robin quickly surmises that ComicBook/LexLuthor will have a cure for what's killing Kon. Tim leads them to break into and search one of Luthor's secret hidden labs, where they do indeed find the cure as well as some... less pleasant things.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieMariposa'', Mariposa, Rayna, and Rayla journey to find an antidote for the poisoned Queen, Marabella.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieThePearlPrincess'', after Scylla is poisoned, they must find the antidote.

* One chapter of ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' involves Laios, Senshi, and Chilchuck trying to find a cure for Marcille after she is [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] by a cockatrice.
* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':

Can be a form of AfterActionHealingDrama. Supertrope to PoisonAndCureGambit. Compare HealthcareMotivation. Contrast AfterActionPatchUp. Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/FindTheCure the video game]].

** In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 episode "Enter the Fly", April was poisoned by inhaling the pollen from the Doku ("poison") plant, which had been sent to her by an "anonymous admirer" (actually The Shredder). The turtles must then search for the Gazai plant, which is the only source of the antidote.
** In WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 episodes "Good Genes" part 1 and 2, it occurs when Donatello is infected with the mutagenic virus making its way across New York, which allows Agent Bishop to extort a favor out of them in exchange for a cure -- one that he doesn't actually have. Fortunately, the turtles' ally Leatherhead managed to invent one on his own by the time they got back from stealing the relevant MacGuffin.
* As the page quote reveals, this happened to ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' once. At least in his case, it was explainable by the fact that the villain ''spilled'' his AppliedPhlebotinum at him as a last-ditch attempt to dislodge him... Why the villain in question ''had'' an antidote to counteract it, less so.
* Subverted in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' episode "The Low Road". An... ''unfortunate'' side effect of the virus and its interaction with some wild bean vines is what wins the day for our heroes. Needless to say, it's sort of a self-parody episode of a usually much-more-serious show.

* Both ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoons featured variations of this trope. In the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 cartoon]] episode "Enter the Fly", April was poisoned by inhaling the pollen from the Doku ("poison") plant, which had been sent to her by an "anonymous admirer" (actually The Shredder). The turtles must then search for the Gazai plant, which is the only source of the antidote. In the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]], it occurs when Donatello is infected with the mutagenic virus making its way across New York, which allows Agent Bishop to extort a favor out of them in exchange for a cure -- one that he doesn't actually have. Fortunately, the turtles' ally Leatherhead managed to invent one on his own by the time they got back from stealing the relevant MacGuffin.

* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters''}}: ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' and ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' conducted variations on this.
** In the RGB episode "Doctor, Doctor," the guys come down with [[BodyHorror a terrible, unspecified illness]] after an incident at a chemical plant. [[spoiler: ''Slimer'' turns out to be the cure: the negatively-charged ''whatever'' that's covering the Ghostbusters is attracted to the little spud, and literally flies off their bodies when he comes around.]]
** In the EGB episode "Darkness at Noon," the evil Achira spreads a disfiguring plague across New York City. Capturing her ends the sickness.

** "The Golden Horseshoes". Said horseshoes are the {{MacGuffin}}s needed to save a Pony from being erased from existence, so... Just the ponies' luck the horseshoes were scattered to the four winds.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': When Zecora is infected with swamp fever, a disease with no known cure that slowly causes victims to permanently turn into trees, Fluttershy goes on a quest to find the journals of a legendary healer who may have known how to cure it. The cure turns out to be the honey of flash bees, who are able to harvest from the trees that spread the disease without being affected by it. Flash bees are extremely aggressive however so the only way to collect their honey is to wear a special flash bee mask.

** The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Red Man's Greed", the Native Americans gave SARS to the town using infected blankets to try to get rid of the townspeople to build a highway to their casino. Stan, who wasn't sick, went to search for a cure, which turned out to be Campbell's chicken noodle soup, DayQuil, and Sprite.

* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'': "The Golden Horseshoes". Said horseshoes are the {{MacGuffin}}s needed to save a Pony from being erased from existence, so...

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' and ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' conducted variations on this. In the RGB episode "Doctor, Doctor," the guys come down with [[BodyHorror a terrible, unspecified illness]] after an incident at a chemical plant. [[spoiler: ''Slimer'' turns out to be the cure: the negatively-charged ''whatever'' that's covering the Ghostbusters is attracted to the little spud, and literally flies off their bodies when he comes around.]] In the EGB episode "Darkness at Noon," the evil Achira spreads a disfiguring plague across New York City. Capturing her ends the sickness.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Red Man's Greed", the Native Americans gave SARS to the town using infected blankets to try to get rid of the townspeople to build a highway to their casino. Stan, who wasn't sick, went to search for a cure, which turned out to be Campbell's chicken noodle soup, DayQuil, and Sprite.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' has a Season 2 episode ("The Scorpion's Sting) where Simba gets stung on the tail by a scorpion, on direct orders from Scar. Kion and the Lion Guard ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Makini]]) have to find a certain volcanic ash that can cure the dying king, though the volcano where the ash is at is home to Scar' malevolent spirit, as well as Janja's hyenas and Kiburi's crocodiles and Reirei's jackals.
** Season 3 starts with Kion getting poisoned by snake venom that will corrupt him into becoming an evil lion like Scar (who also went through the same process) and the rest of the season is about the group traveling to the Tree of Life to get a cure for Kion as well as healing Ono's sight.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': "Long Way to Morning" has a {{flashback}} of this directly, where the Gargoyles had to recover the antidote to a poison made by an evil wizard who poisoned a prince. In a modern-day subversion, Demona ''thought'' she poisoned Elisa (but [[PocketProtector Elisa's hidden badge deflects the dart]]) and Goliath plays along; if he didn't chase Demona, then she would have realized her attack on Elisa had failed.

** Subverted in "The Quickening." Bashir comes to the aid of a planet that was infected with a plague two centuries ago by the Jem'Hadar, expecting to swoop in with his genius and his gadgets and save the day with another miracle of 24th-century Starfleet medicine. It doesn't work out that way. It turns out the disease was designed to accelerate when exposed to electromagnetic fields such as produced by modern medical equipment, which a wave of patients in mortal agony pleading for euthanasia. However, Bashir was able to accidentally create an in-vitro vaccine to enable babies to be born free of the plague. Although the planet's population and Commander Sisko tell Dr. Bashir that this was a great accomplishment, he is hardly satisfied.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Section 31 creates a disease designed to annihilate the Founders in order to bring down the Dominion and end the war. In order to transmit the disease to the Founders, they use Odo as a carrier. This leads to three episodes of this for Dr. Bashir, with "Extreme Measures" being the embodiment of this trope.

* ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' did this at least ''twice''.

* Basically every episode of ''Series/TheBurningZone''.

* In the Adventure Game included with ''Literature/WarriorCats'' ''The Fourth Apprentice]]'', the Clans are coming down with a sickness, so they send out the Adventure Game cats to find some herbs for them.

* The whole point of ''Literature/TheTwoPrincessesOfBamarre'', with the added twist that Addie's not sure if the cure's even real, [[spoiler: and when they do find it, it's too late for Meryl, who has to have an EmergencyTransformation]].

* A large portion of the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' novel ''Long Shadows'' deals with Jayfeather trying to find catnip to cure a recent epidemic in his clan after his stock was destroyed. Also, in the Adventure Game included with ''The Fourth Apprentice'', the Clans are coming down with a sickness, so they send out the Adventure Game cats to find some herbs for them.

* Happens at least once in ''Literature/{{Redwall}}''.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Temeraire}} Empire of Ivory]]'', [[spoiler: once Temeraire proves immune to the IncurableCoughOfDeath that is killing the rest of Britain's dragons, there is a scramble to Cape Colony in the hops of finding what cured him of the cold that it was initially dismissed as. Too bad a cave full of the mushrooms in question happened to be under cultivation by a [[HiddenElfVillage Hidden Dragon Empire]].]]

* ''Literature/DeepwaterBlack'' was based on this premise.

* ''Film/TwiceToldTales'': In "Rappaccini's Daughter", Giovanni goes to his chemistry professor in the hopes of finding a cure after Rappaccini tirns him into a PoisonousPerson.

* ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'' uses this in spades.

* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', the Nazis shoot Indiana's father and mortally wounding him. If Indiana can't get past three deadly traps, find the Grail and return with it in time, his father will die.
* The plot of the BasedOnATrueStory ''Film/LorenzosOil''.
* ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'' uses this in spades.

* Pretty much the whole plot of ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest''. A little badger named Michelle becomes comatose after inhaling toxic gas so her three older friends must travel beyond the forest to find the herbs she needs to be cured.

* The first ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'' movie. 'Nuff said.

* Used in ''Comicbook/{{ElfQuest}}'' when Skywise has to find some Whistling Leaves (a diuretic) to help cure Cutter's fever. He only finds the leaves in the end due to a small breeze, which causes the leaves to give out the whistling sound they were named for thus guiding him to the plant.