History Main / FindtheCure

* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'': During their SickEpisode, Neil hopes that Mike is able to find Music/{{the cure|Band}}. Vyvyan points out that they've got {{Music/Madness}} [[{{Pun}} this week]].

In the case the sickness or poison is not related to the villain at all, the cure to it may be rare or hard to get, especially if you're dealing with MysticalPlague or other kinds of supernatural sickness. And that's if they know if there's even a cure to it at all - occasionally, the struggle is in ''making'' a cure that works.

* Comicbook/DoctorStrange occasionally needs to find a magical cure for an ailment that is beyond modern medicine. ''The Oath'' and ''Spider-Man: Fever'' both involve his attempts to save the lives of Wong and Spider-Man, respectively.
* 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.
* Used on Franchise/SpiderMan by the Hobgoblin back in the late eighties or early nineties. The Hobgoblin [[ComplexityAddiction doesn't just shoot him]] [[JustifiedTrope because]] he wants Spidey to give him the Green Goblin's journals. Played with, in that the Hobgoblin doesn't have the antidote -- but Spidey gets it from the Kingpin in exchange for help dealing with Hobgoblin (who is a rogue element in Fisk's plans).
* The ComicBook/TeenTitans ask for ComicBook/{{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 ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'', the ultimate goal of Litchi Faye-Ling is to find a cure that will not just restore her friend Lotte Carmine from [[EldritchAbomination Arakune]] to normal, but also a cure for herself about her encroaching corruption. Unfortunately, the one she knew could help her, Kokonoe, flat out refused, and [[ObviouslyEvil Hazama]] claims that NOL has the cure. Litchi [[spoiler:was quick enough to realize that it's a {{Blackmail}} and Hazama is a very ominous, suspicious dude, but with her time to get completely corrupted drawing ever nearer, she ends up ForcedIntoEvil to preserve the cure.]] By ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCentralFiction'', she ''actually'' managed to procure one cure that's guaranteed to be safe to use. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, when she managed to confront Lotte about it, he just stated that he actually knew that cure already, and was deliberately not using that cure to stay the way he is, as he has chosen to stay that way. This pretty much rendered everything Litchi did AllForNothing.]]

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': An old woman in Kakariko Village gets sick from touching [[MadeOfEvil Gloom]]. You have to cook a particular dish that heals Gloom damage to cure her, which also teaches you how to cook such dishes for yourself.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': One side quest in the game has Link hunt down a Molduga and harvest its guts to cure a Gerudo's husband.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperheroes'' cartoon, Brainiac 5 goes hilariously off-the-wall bonkers and needs an ultra-rare ore from Timber Wolf's seriously-ultra-wild-and-dangerous home planet.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': The Hero of Ferelden is now on a quest to find a cure for the Blight (which is widely considered to be [[ThereIsNoCure incurable]]), although it has yet to be seen how successful they will be, and the mission is mostly treated as a pipe dream.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' has Jill getting infected with the T-Virus by Nemesis, which kicks off the quest for the cure by Carlos and he delivers the vaccine on time. [[spoiler: The vaccine would cause Jill's body to develop antibodies specifically against the T-Virus and would be an effective cure. Wesker in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' captures Jill and ues her antibodies against her by implanting a mind-controlling device on her chest.]]

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': During the Orange Islands arc, Ash and Tracey fell victim to a Vileplume's Stun Spore, and Misty had to go out to find a cure for the resulting paralysis. In the same episode, Jessie also fell victim to the same Vileplume's Stun Spore, leaving James and Meowth to find the same cure as Misty.
** At the end of the XY arc's Mega Evolution specials, a Chespin belonging to Mairin, the deuteragonist, falls into a coma. Alain, the protagonist, had previously told Mairin to stay away from him and blames himself for her Chespin's condition. He is told that the Mega Evolution energy he was gathering for Lysandre would undo the coma, so Alain resolves to finish the task, which leads up to his appearance in the main anime. [[spoiler:It's all a lie. Lysandre uses the Mega Evolution energy to enslave Zygarde in order to bring Team Flare's goal of creating a new world by destroying the old one into fruition.]]

* The first ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'' movie. In this case, everyone knows approximately where the diphtheria antitoxin ''is'' -but they have to get it to Nome in severe weather conditions that only allow sled dogs and their white and native Alaskan handlers to travel. Planes are out.

* One side quest in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has Link hunt down a Molduga and harvest its guts to cure a Gerudo's husband.

* Thoroughly subverted by the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "Confessions and Lamentations", in which Doctor Franklin spends the entire episode searching for a cure while Delenn tends the plague-stricken Markab people, and the rest of the cast deals with other consequences of the plague. In the end, Franklin races to the quarantine ward with the cure... only to discover a tearful Delenn, who informs him that he's too late: they've all died.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': After she learns of his greyscale, Daenerys orders Jorah to find the cure and return to her. He gets his wish after being treated by Samwell Tarly at the Citadel.

!Examples:

* ''Fanfic/FFSIBelieveInYou'': A large part of the sequel's story is the characters' attempt to find the recipe for a potion with which to heal Jabu Orkú, track down the ingredients, and deliver the finished cure to Zola Province and the ailing Jabu.

* ''Film/Blade1998'': After Karen discovers [[spoiler:she's been infected with vampirism]], she sets about using her medical knowledge to find a cure. She discovers a retrovirus which can turn vampires back into humans and she successfully uses it on [[spoiler:herself]], although she speculates it will only work for vampires who were once human and not for Purebloods due to the vampire virus being genetically fixed into them.

* ''Literature/TheDiamondThrone'' centres on a search for the only thing that can cure the poison that the Queen has been poisoned with. In the villain's defence, he had to make it look natural, so instantly lethal means was out of the question, and he could not have anticipated either the magic that kept her alive long enough for the cure to be found or that there actually ''was'' a cure that could be found.

* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "Target", Purdey and Steed are poisoned and Gambit has to race to find the antidote: which the villain has hidden in the centre of the agency's ShootingGallery.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E18MysteryOfAThousandMoons "Mystery of a Thousand Moons"]]: Anakin and Obi-Wan have to obtain a certain root only found on a moon of Iego that is the only known cure to the Blue Shadow Virus, and they only have a couple days to do it.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperNoobs'': Memnock and Zenblock in "License To Noob" fall ill to swink eye, a contagious space-oriented eye infection that causes blindness, swelling, itching, and discharge in its victims. They task the Noobs to get eye drops for them. This is a subverted case because The Noobs knew where to go to get the drops that are only produced and sold in the beta sector and Memnock and Zenblock couldn't get it themselves because of their blindness. The Noobs get distracted several times also through their irresponsibility with Memnock and Zenblock's space ship and then having to help a princess save her planet from a race of bee-like people who all happened to have the same eye infection Mem and Zen had. The antidote itself form the condition is actually purple dust capable of curing those with swink eye within seconds.

** ''Beast Wars'' also had a unique take on this in the episode "Gorilla Warfare". The Predacons infected Optimus Prime with a virus designed to make him a coward, planning to ambush the Maximals when they launch an attack to steal the cure. [[spoiler:However, incompetent virus creation turned Optimus into a beserker instead, making him tear through the Predacon base singlehandedly.]]

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

* Part of the SickEpisode slash ContaminationSituation episode “The Pathos in the Pathogen” on ''{{Series/Bones}}''. Arastoo is accidentally infected by a modified virus while processing the victim. The standard issue serum for the disease fails and Booth has to find the killer since the lab group reasons the killer would have an antidote in case he got sick. Turns into WithholdingTheCure briefly until Brennan forces the guy to give it up.

* A major plotline in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has Batman seeking to find a cure to the disease killing ComicBook/TheJoker because he gave Batman a blood transfusion as well as "donating" his blood to various hospitals in Gotham to ensure Batman's cooperation.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime IV'', Grandpa Longneck is stricken with an unspecified illness, requiring Littlefoot and his friends to track down a specific type of flower that contains a cure.

* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', Spain gets sick because of his economic problems and his ex-pupil Romano searches for a cure, even recurring to TheMafia for help. When he returns, though, Spain's economy is better so he's healthy.

* Subverted to tragic effect in ''Franchise/OnePiece''; Chopper risks his life to find a mushroom which he believed was a panacea that would cure his mentor's illness. However, he was mistaken and it was actually a highly poisonous mushroom... which his mentor proceeded to eat, grinning, knowing its nature.

* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', the Nazis shoot Indiana's father, 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.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Temeraire}} Empire of Ivory]]'', once [[spoiler: Temeraire]] proves immune to the IncurableCoughOfDeath that is killing [[spoiler: 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. [[spoiler: Too bad a cave full of the mushrooms in question happened to be under cultivation by a [[HiddenElfVillage Hidden Dragon Empire]].]]

** There was also a smaller-scale one in the book "Maze of Shadows", where the plant monster Karzahni forces the Toa Metru to get him a flask of energized protodermis in exchange for curing Nokama of poison -- and to prove he could do it, he gave her a temporary antidote. It turned out that Karzahni needed to Find The Cure for a condition of its own, but too bad protodermis has UnpredictableResults...

* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', Mario wins a game at an arcade and obtains a strange mushroom as the prize. He eats it and becomes inflicted with a disease called Bean Fever, which makes whoever has it slowly turn into a bean, and Luigi has to go to some ancient ruins to find Crabbie Grass, the only known cure.

** The remake of ''Bowser's Inside Story'' has a new side story called ''VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney'', where the Bowser's Goomba minions are revealed to also become victim of the Blorbs. Bowser Jr. gets a recipe for the cure (an alternative cure from the one the Mario Bros. gets) and goes out to get the ingredients. However, the villains of the mode sold the recipe to Bowser's minions so they could steal the completed cure, and mix it with another ingredient to make a powerful brainwashing drug.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', if you're playing as Jill, has you look for Serum to cure a wounded and poisoned Richard, but he dies whether you get the cure to him on time or not. Richard is already dead by the time Chris finds him. In the remake. If you get the cure to Richard quickly, he will be alive, but he pulls a HeroicSacrifice later on since he's DoomedByCanon.

* The deadly Ecto-Acne from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has main hero Danny looking for the cure after BigBad Vlad poisoned his friends with the same dose. The big problem: the villain has the illness, too! The forced poisoning was intended as blackmail (which works). Danny eventually finds the final formula (it's diet soda)... right after he traveled through time, subsequently ruined the present time period, leaving him to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Boy always takes the hard way, no?
* The plot of first season episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ewoks}}'' ''To Save Deej'' as well as ''Rainbow Bridge'', the very first in the series of comics revolve over a character's life being in danger and other characters finding ingredients for an antidote.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In Chicken Poofs, Poof is infected with Chicken Poofs and starts infecting everyone in Dimmsdale with the disease. It only gets worse when chicken-eating birds start hunting the chickens and they end up in the hands of a chicken restaurant owner. Fortunately, Dr. Studwell has the cure...which is stored in a large needle for injection. Poof is unsurprisingly frightened and ends up breaking the needle. As such, Wanda and Dr. Studwell have to travel to a temple to get a cure, which is a flower. However, it turns out that Dr. Studwell was simply getting the flower so that he could get a discount on the cure (which was actually sold at a fairy pharmacy). Also, Studwell was not planning on injecting Poof with a needle but was instead planning on giving him a drink to cure the disease.

* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' had a twist: Snake-bitten Mario needed to eat a special antivenom pizza to be cured. They had the ingredients, but no way to cook it; Luigi had to find a ''fire flower''.

Not ''quite'' a DeathTrap on the part of the villain, but related in being needlessly complicated. If they were able to inject someone with a poison that's curable with a MacGuffin, why didn't they just use an instantly lethal means or use it on the heroes before? A bullet instead of a dart, or a poison that would instantly kill someone? One answer suggests that in this one situation, they aren't {{Genre Blind|ness}}: a bullet would miss while a dart wouldn't. Another has the villain deliberately not killing the target; he or she wouldn't mind if the target dies, of course, but it's more important to have the heroes busy looking for or getting the cure while the Master Plan unfolds. Or, if the aim is blackmail, instant lethality will likely destroy the culprit's leverage over the heroes.

Not ''quite'' a DeathTrap on the part of the villain, but related in being needlessly complicated. If they were able to inject someone with a poison that's curable with a MacGuffin, why didn't they just use an instantly lethal means or use it on the heroes before? A bullet instead of a dart, or a poison that would instantly kill someone? One answer suggests that in this one situation, they aren't {{Genre Blind|ness}}: a bullet would miss while a dart wouldn't. Another has the villain deliberately not killing the target; he or she wouldn't mind if the target dies, of course, but it's more important to have the heroes busy looking for or getting the cure while the Master Plan unfolds.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': The team spends the episode "SWAK" looking for a cure for Tony, who's been dosed with a designer version of ''TheBlackDeath''. Subverted in that, although the virus has a limited life, there is no actual cure -- Tony has to survive on his own.

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

* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'': During their SickEpisode, Neil hopes that Mike is able to find [[Music/TheCure the cure]]. Vyvyan points out that they've got {{Music/Madness}} [[IncrediblyLamePun this week]].