History Main / GoodThingyouCanHeal

It's generally a safe assumption that a character who uses this trope a lot has the RequiredSecondaryPowers of FeelNoPain or at least ''reduced'' pain. As even though they can regenerate that doesn't mean they can't ''feel'' the wound(s). And as anyone who has recovered from an injury can assert, healing doesn't exactly feel great all the time either.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', Splatterman was once dropped through a mulcher. He regenerated. Calling his power a "HealingFactor" just doesn't seem to get the message across...
** Mr. Easter's life is a series of one big catastrophe after another, all of which land him in the morgue. Of course, one of his powers is coming back from the dead after three days.
* The Shadow of LessThanThreeComics quasi-fame. Puts himself in obvious danger to save time, and to intimidate his enemies. Once leapt through the windshield of an oncoming car, to force the driver to crash, sending the two of them flying thirty-feet, breaking several bones, just to find out who the guy worked for.
* Tennyo in the WhateleyUniverse has such a phenomenal regeneration ability that literally nothing seems to stop her. She once had her leg blown off by cyborgs with vulcan cannons, and she regrew the leg by the time it took her to fly over and grab the cyborgs. If you think that's good, Carmilla had her head chopped off and just grew a new one, but she's an EldritchAbomination.
** Taken UpToEleven by Tennyo later on, as the above example is only her base-line healing factor. When she gets mad, she has regrown entire limbs and parts of her face in time to continue up an attack she was already doing, ''before she even realized the body parts were missing''.
* Veldron of SuperStories regenerates when fatally injured. Unfortunately others seem to take this as an invitation to hurt him or put him in danger, assuming he'll just heal and not realising that he has to be just about dead for the power to kick in.
* Khalid Shamoun of ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'': Evolution has the ability to regenerate himself from things that would normally kill him. It's even invoked by the scientists, when it's revealed that [[spoiler:he was the kid from the prologue who got shot for mouthing off, to demonstrate that rebelling would result in death]]. It becomes a DeconstructedTrope, however, in that it's shown that his ability to regenerate is failing more than usual in recent history.
* ''Bartleby Tales'' directly addresses the PowerPerversionPotential in this--as early as the first chapter, a character not only survives swallowing a live grenade, but actually gets off on being blown to pieces and [[PullingThemselvesTogether reassembling himself]].
* In Literature/{{Worm}}, this is Taylor's justification for [[EyeScream how she deals with Lung]], the regenerating gangleader who transforms to a stronger form the longer he fights.
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[[folder:Mythology]]
* Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle tore out his liver every day until he was rescued. Boy Prometheus, it's a GoodThingYouCanHeal now isn't it? Of course, the regeneration was part of his punishment for giving humans fire - so that his liver could be torn out every day for the rest of eternity and not just once.
* Ares would be injured a bit in GreekMythology...thank you Diomedes for stabbing him.
* NorseMythology has several instances of this. Odin hangs himself (for three days), stabs an eye out, and stabs himself with a spear to get knowledge. Loki gets chained down and has a snake drip poison/acid on him.
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* Teal'c of ''StargateSG1'' never has to regenerate any limbs, but his symbiote (and later Tretonin) let him get away with things most people would need body armor and a radiation suit to attempt, and months of physical therapy to recover from.

* This trope also applies to invulnerability. In the theatrically released version of the film ''Comicbook/SupermanII'', Clark Kent manages to convince Lois Lane that's he's not Superman, then immediately trips, stumbles and puts his hand into a gas fireplace, revealing his invulnerability and with it his secret identity. We're asked to believe that a man with superhuman speed and agility, who's guarded his true identity for his entire lifetime, suddenly has an attack of clumsiness that just happens to show off his powers.
** Well, the original version of the scene had Lois shoot some blanks at him, making him think she already knew for sure. So it all comes down to, would you rather have a sudden cluminess attack, or be asked to believe that Clark couldn't tell that no bullets were actually bouncing off him?
** Equally, if someone was to trip and recover with superhuman speed (and one assumes that since trying to stay upright is a reflex rather than a reaction, Superman would pull his usual "oh damn I instinctively caught that speeding bullet"-type accidental reveal), that'd give the game away just as much, with the proviso that it'd be an awful lot more difficult to clearly portray in a movie.

* {{Deadpool}}, the Merc with a Mouth. His regeneration ability is actually in part derived from Wolverine's own. A high tolerance of pain and insanity allow him to frankly not care about any damage he receives and keep fighting regardless. Only problem is, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity his brain is constantly in flux as a result, which is why he's... unstable.]]

* TheDCU's {{Lobo}}, who was originally created as a parody of Wolverine and character types like him. He is able to regenerate [[FromASingleCell from even one remaining drop of blood]]. In one issue of his book, he resorts to blowing himself up just to take out all the enemies surrounding him.

* Played hilariously straight in the ''Last Hero Standing'' story set in the MarvelComics possible-future M2 universe. [[TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]], under [[TheMightyThor Loki's]] influence, goes on a killing rampage against the Avengers Next and various other future heroes. Despite his massive strength, insane rage, and lack of holding back, he does no permanent damage to anyone. What he ''does'' do is pound Wolverine into the dirt (who, of course, can regenerate), tear off Spidey's prosthetic leg and Thing's robot arm, shatter the Big Brain (a robot) into pieces, and break the arms and head off Vision (an android). So every injury is repairable. He hits a bunch of regular heroes too, but they just get knocked flying.

* B.O.B. the gelatinous goo blob/jello thingy from ''MonstersVsAliens'' gets crushed all the time as a result of his ability to reform himself.
* ''WreckItRalph'': In order to save themselves from quicksand, Felix and Calhoun need to keep the taffy laughing so that it stretches down towards them and they can get out. Felix's solution is to get Calhoun to punch him in the face repeatedly. She's hesitant to continuously abuse him for no particular reason, but he reassures her by showing that, [[MrFixIt using his magic hammer]], he can even fix ''himself''.
* ''TheIncredibles'' was originally going to open with Elastigirl accidentally cutting off one of her fingers at a barbecue. The audio can be heard on a special feature on the DVD/Blu-ray, accompanied by the storyboards.

* Leonard Betts of the ''[[TheXFiles X-Files]]'' episode of the same name. The episode's plot kicks off when he breaks out of a hospital [[YouWakeUpInAMorgue morgue]] [[LosingYourHead with his head missing]] so that he can go home and regrow it. Later on, he escapes handcuffs by ripping his own thumb off, because he knows he can get a new one. Unfortunately his HealingFactor is neither easy nor pleasant.

* Leonard Betts of the ''[[TheXFiles X-Files]]'' episode of the same name. The episode's plot kicks off when he breaks out of a hospital [[WakeUpInAMorgue morgue]] [[LosingYourHead with his head missing]] so that he can go home and regrow it. Later on, he escapes handcuffs by ripping his own thumb off, because he knows he can get a new one. Unfortunately his HealingFactor is neither easy nor pleasant.

* Leonard Betts of the ''[[TheXFiles X-Files]]'' episode of the same name. The episode's plot kicks off when he breaks out of a hospital morgue while missing his head so that he can go home and regrow it. Later on, he breaks out of handcuffs by ripping his own thumb off, because he knows he can get a new one. Unfortunately his HealingFactor is neither easy nor pleasant.

*** it's fairly evident in the 2005 reboot that the Doctor *does* have PTSD, in a bad way. If this troper's ten-year-old daughter can identify it as such, based solely on comparing Who to Harry Potter, it's pretty obvious.

* In ''LoonaticsUnleashed'' Tech E. Coyote inherited his famous ancestor's regenerative ability (oddly none of the others have), and it gets tested often.

** The [[SuperSoldier Jäger]] themselves regularly endure enormous amounts of punishment, the one time one was shown to be in any real danger of death was from a venom that liquified flesh, and he simply tore off the stung arm.

** For christ's sake Majin Buu can regenerate even if he's broken up into his constituent atoms, and when Goku and Vegeta escape from Earth as he blows it up he flies from planet to planet, blowing it (and himself) up and simply regenerating each time.

* Most of the characters in Creator/RogerZelazny's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'' belong to a family of immortals who can regenerate from any injury that doesn't kill them. When the villainous brother takes his sister hostage and threatens to maim her if he doesn't get his way, for some reason he's surprised when one of the good brothers points out that "She can regenerate just as well as the rest of us" and calls his bluff. (To be fair, most of the family had only recently learned the full extent of their regenerative powers, so he may simply not have thought through all the implications yet.) A more dramatic example: one of the brothers claims at one point (though it's possible he was lying to save face) to have been [[XanatosRoulette relying on the possibility]] of the main character being able to regenerate from [[spoiler:having his eyes burned out]].

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!!Examples:

* The T-1000 from ''Film/{{Terminator}} 2'' showed off the movie's control of newfangled CGI technology, getting blown around and smashed apart, yet always flowing back together (Though he eventually got enough damage to make his disguise power less than effective).
** Same thing happens to the T-X as she gets holes shot into her constantly.

* Both played straight and occasionally lampshaded with Cameron in ''TheSarahConnorChronicles''.

* In Literature/{{Worm}}, this is Taylor's justification for how she deals with Lung, the regenerating gangleader who transforms to a stronger form the longer he fights.

* Lampshaded by Cyborg in ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans Titans]]'' #5, after his latest self-repair: "There. I am walking, with my new feet on the floor. Let's see if I can go the weekend without getting them blown off."

*** Let's take the opportunity to mention "Last of the Time Lords" here, where Jack has obviously spent an entire year being killed in whatever gruesome ways the Master could come up with, all for his [[CompleteMonster own personal amusement.]]