History Main / HowMuchMoreCanHeTake

* Franchise/{{Batman}} has also suffered phenomenal physical trauma and kept going.

* Unless ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' is being screwed over by [[KryptoniteFactor kryptonite, red sunlight, or magic]], there's a good chance Superman will [[SuperToughness will shrug off]] practically any hit takes. At best, his opponent will usually do little more than get him to admit [[DamnedByFaintPraise he actually felt it]]. And even when he's facing [[PlanetDestroyer planet busters]] and other foes with a similar SuperWeight that can actually do legit harm to him, he'll often keep going and going unless [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe the plot suddenly needs him to take an L.]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', in the final duel; except that rather than showing no signs of weakening, Riddick kept seeming to leap back from YouCanBarelyStand to [[HeroicSecondWind full strength]]. This may be justified, as it happens right after [[spoiler:he sees his daughter-figure murdered, and it was established in ''Pitch Black'' that things like this make him a little psychotic (like the death of Carolyn.)]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Anime/HeroicAge'' is essentially about super-huge reptilian monster things called Nodos that can (and do) destroy small moons with a single attack. This overwhelming power really makes itself apparent when two Nodos are engaged in battle for ''over 300 hours.'' That's nearly two weeks of pummeling each other over and over again with enough force to rend a small celestial body in half. And near the climax of the fight, neither one seems any worse for the wear.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' normally does a decent job of avoiding this since most characters focus more on avoiding hits than taking them and even the strongest enemy can't just sit there and take things like knives without flinching, but several fights stand out, particularly the conflict between Naruto and Sasuke right before the {{filler}}. It's pretty much a fight to see who can get up more times from a rock-shattering blow.
** Later [[spoiler:6-Tails Naruto vs. Pain's last animated corpse]] has the only real indication of who was winning being who had to rely on their SuperPoweredEvilSide first, with the whole fight escalating until they were both using all that they could. ''Then'' it ended after [[BeamOWar one attack]].
** [[spoiler:Sasuke and Naruto's second climactic fight at the end of the manga]] one-ups their first, especially on [[spoiler:[[{{Determinator}} Naruto]]'s]] side. [[spoiler: Sasuke]] literally starts screaming at him to [[WhyWontYouDie fall already]].
* It's a good thing people read/watch ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'' for the humor, because the bizarre fighting styles make it almost impossible to tell what moves are supposed to be powerful enough to finish off an opponent. (In early episodes, it was usually by following up a particularly confusing sequence with a direct nose hair attack.)
* Sort of used with LampshadeHanging in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''. Both combatants think that they're losing and wonder if they will be forced to use their ultimate weapon.
* Basically the default form of combat in ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren''. It demonstrates how well video-game-style fights translate to a non-video-game medium: Not well.
** This is averted in ''Advent Children Complete''. Many scenes were revised and fights now show battle damage.

* ''Anime/UltimateMuscle''. Sure, that "Ultimate Muscle" power can account for a sudden comeback, and the protagonist's sheer HeroicResolve probably counts for something... but somewhere around the third time he gets thrashed until he can barely stand up, only to start fighting back a few minutes later with renewed energy, it just gets ridiculous.
** Hell, that's nothing. In the original ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'' 's tag-team arc, Terryman gets impaled by floor tiles decorated with swords twice. The first time is painful, but the second time is bad enough to kill him. [[spoiler: He gets better.]]
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', the battle between Sanosuke and Monk Anji has the two trading Futai no Kiwami blows, each supposed to be able to pulverize rocks into dust. The final blow? Sano develops the succession move to the Futai no Kiwami on the spot. Kenshin [[LampshadeHanging acknowledges]] that neither fighter should be on their feet and that it is their will and not their bodies keeping them up, and after Sano wins the fight, he is the one in need of medical attention and is out of commission for some time because the repeated blows almost killed him.
** This happens a little later in Kenshin's final battle with Shishioh, after taking multiple hits from Kenshin's ultimate technique and being struck directly in the face by a Futai no Kiwami. Eventually, it ends with [[spoiler: Shishio helpless on the ground, being protected by Yumi whom he takes advantage of by stabbing her to seriously wound Kenshin. With both of them on the ground, various members of the team states that the first one to get up will win easily, as the other will be helpless. Kenshin totally collapses, bleeding out, and Shishio manages to stand, maniacally cackling as he thinks he's won before ''bursting into flames'' (his body heat became so intense that it caused the fats and oils in his blood to ignite, as he has no sweat glands). Holy shit.]]
* Pretty much the only way to tell if a blow is a 'finishing' one in the ''Manga/OnePiece'' manga if it is a two-page spread that shows the person actively getting pummeled. People may still get up after this, but you know those moves meant something. The most severe example of this would have to be the fight between Luffy and Rob Lucci; by the end, Luffy was unable to even move and Lucci was in a coma.
** ''One Piece'' has also fallen into this thanks to its "Whitebeard pirates VS marines" battle: when a large number of characters have been shot, stabbed and still getup, and each of these characters have unique superpowers you need to pay attention to it's really difficult to decide which side is winning. As a whole, the 'theme' of the Marineford arc seems to have been [[spoiler:'everyone loses except Blackbeard']]
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Yusuke and Chu have one. This is after spending all their spirit energy on various attacks and utterly pulverizing each other with energy attacks and such, and they can't even use their spirit attacks anymore. There's also a catch: Not only can they not move at all or they agree to forfeit, but their back heel is resting against a knife, and if one of the fighters ''did'' step back, the other would take the knife that was now between them and stab him with it. Every hit that they each take knocks their foot into the knife, causing immense pain. Eventually [[spoiler: Yusuke wins after Chu tries to finish him with a mammoth headbutt. Yusuke intentionally just takes the attack and Chu is knocked out]].
* In ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'', Kabaji and Kawamura's match in the Hyoutei arc is literally like this. [[spoiler: And it WAS a part of Kawamura's BatmanGambit, who since the beginning wanted to [[TakingYouWithMe force Kabaji into a draw]].]] To some degree, also Kawamura's match against Gin Ishida. [[spoiler: And it worked too... but pretty much by fluke.]]
* A beatdown of this sort happens between the two Rival Protagonists in [[spoiler:the last few minutes of the final episode of]] the anime ''Anime/{{S cry ed}}. '' It winds up being far more brutal than anything the villains ever put them through, -- almost offputtingly so.
* The Dio Brando-versus-Joutarou Kujou Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' part 3 is perhaps one of the most overlooked examples (WRYYYYYYYY and the steamroller eclipse it, but are aspects of it). The sequence danced gleefully into this territory (STEAMROLLER) and never left until the battle was over. Not only do you get Jojo and Dio trying to out-beatdown one another, but you also get them trying to outsmart, and eventually [[spoiler:out-TIMESTOP one another, culminating in a simultaneous-punches-connect-simultaneously that holds off the conclusion JUST LONG ENOUGH]]...

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' normally made sure to emphasize the character's mortality during combat (such as things like sharpened stone spears being fatal like they should be). Then the match between Negi & Kotaro against Kagetaro & Rakan came about and threw all that out the window.
** The match started with [[spoiler:Rakan being pummeled by [[FullContactMagic magically-enforced]] punches moving at [[SuperSpeed over lightning speed]], being driven into the ground with a concentrated blast of [[BlowYouAway tropical squall-level winds]], then culminating in being at the center of an explosion of [[ShockAndAwe lightning]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill with enough heat to vapourize small mountains]]. [[TheJuggernaut He got back up.]] Then proceeded to beat the person who did it to him with punches of enough strength to kill high-level dragons and shatter large sections of earth. (Supposedly, by this point, his organs should've been turned to mush; HighPressureBlood [[BloodFromTheMouth from the Mouth]] was in order). On Kotaro's end, he was stabbed through his arms, legs, and torso, then later got slashed at several key points on his body by a lot of {{BFS}}s, ultimately being impaled through his back-to-chest with a sword larger than his head. His answer? Really good HealingFactor. The person who stabbed him? Got pinned to a wall with AntiMagic {{BFS}}s]].
** At the end, [[spoiler:both Negi and Rakan ended up running out of magic before they took down the other guy, so they ended up engaging in GoodOldFisticuffs. At that point, they both fainted from exhaustion]]. Of course, Rakan is essentially [[BeyondTheImpossible physics, magic, and logic-defying power]] distilled into human form, so this kind of thing is really to be expected from him. From Negi, however...
* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', [[spoiler:Revy and Roberta]] end up settling their differences in a fistfight that ends up being a very good example of this trope. The end result is a draw by CrossCounter (although [[spoiler:Roberta]] isn't knocked out, which technically makes her the winner).

* ''[[VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} Clannad After Story]]'' has a fight that lasts from dawn until after dark in episode 8.
* ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'': Ippo is notable for three things, strength (he punches way above his weight class), stamina, and an iron will. In a long bout, this trope is very much in evidence, as Ippo just never gives up, and can take a lot of punishment. The scariest thing for his opponents, after the intensity in his eyes, is that his punches just don't die.
* In chapter 87 of ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', we see a claymore who is seemingly {{curb|StompBattle}}stomping [[spoiler: Isley]] : she cuts [[spoiler: him]] with a {{BFS}}, nearly destroy half of [[spoiler: his body]] without being injured... then we see her thought and realise that the situation is exactly the opposite, it's [[spoiler:Isley]] who is winning this battle.
-->No matter how much I sink my {{b|igFancySword}}lades in [[spoiler:his]] body, no matter much I sliced [[spoiler: the bastard]] up, I don't get the slightest sense that I can defeat [[spoiler:him]]. In fact, the more I drive my blades through [[spoiler:his]] flesh, the surer I felt that [[spoiler:his]] blade will come slicing straight back at my body with still greater force.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'', after three physically exhausting duels against Aigami and Kaiba in a row, one of which is a Shadow Game, Yugi finally reaches his limit and is about to lose until Atem saves him.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} has also suffered phenomenal physical trauma and kept going.
* Unless ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' is being screwed over by [[KryptoniteFactor kryptonite, red sunlight, or magic]], there's a good chance Superman will [[SuperToughness will shrug off]] practically any hit takes. At best, his opponent will usually do little more than get him to admit [[DamnedByFaintPraise he actually felt it]]. And even when he's facing [[PlanetDestroyer planet busters]] and other foes with a similar SuperWeight that can actually do legit harm to him, he'll often keep going and going unless [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe the plot suddenly needs him to take an L.]]
** When Superman fights Mongul in ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'', the narration states that they are both getting hurt from the other's attacks, but the reader has no clear way of telling who's getting the worst of it. The fight ultimately ends with Batman managing to get Mongul ensnared by the Black Mercy.

* The original incarnation of the [[ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga Phoenix Saga]] had the X-Men fighting a team of Shi'ar champions as a means of TrialByCombat for Jean Grey. As [[FlyingBrick Gladiator]], the leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, faces off against the also invulnerable and super-strong Colossus, the narration lampshades this trope poetically; the two are described as titans, each one all but invulnerable, with blows so powerful that the match isn't decided by their combat prowess, but instead by the abandoned city collapsing around them due to the incidental structural damage they are causing. After several massive buildings fall on them both, Gladiator is just ''a little'' more invincible (probably because his powers are [[{{Determinator}} psionically fueled by willpower and devotion to his cause]]) but he [[WorthyOpponent pulls the defeated Colossus out of the rubble rather than leaving him to die]].

* In ''[[TroperWorks/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'', the battles between Sleepwalker and Psyko tend to be vicious bloodbaths from which the participants emerge more dead than alive. It's made worse by their [[RealityWarper ability to warp physical objects]], which lead to them flaying each other with sharpened steel spikes, smashing each other through concrete walls, electrocuting each other with high-voltage wires, and catching each other in the middle of exploding sewer pipes and tanker trucks, oftentimes all in the same battle.

* Superman versus the agents of Zod in ''Film/SupermanII''. Exactly how much does being punched through a skyscraper hurt Superman? Incidentally, this is why the tense moment at the end of that fight when Superman is believed to be dead completely fails to fool the audience since by that point we've seen him go through worse and barely acknowledge it.
* ''Film/ManOfSteel'' also has this in spades, with the superpowered Kryptonians brawling all throughout the climax without any real injury.

* ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' tends to fall into this trap, getting worse as time goes on; ''Film/RockyV'' is probably the worst offender.
** ''Film/RockyIV'' is bad, too. Ivan Drago managed to ''kill'' Apollo Creed with one of his punches, and Rocky is still able to hold him off for ten minutes screen time before his "come-from-behind" win.
* ''Film/FaceOff'': You would think that getting stabbed by a butterfly knife (and twist to make sure the wound won't close) would be enough to stop Castor Troy. No? How about a Harpoon to the gut? Still going? These guys didn't even slow down despite receiving wounds that at the very least should have made them limp.
* The (anti-)climactic fight scene in ''Film/TheyLive'' where Nada and Frank spend a good five minutes pummelling each other in a parking lot. Given they're fighting on a concrete surface you'd probably expect broken bones by the minute mark, never mind when they start with the suplexes.
* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', in the final duel; except that rather than showing no signs of weakening, Riddick kept seeming to leap back from YouCanBarelyStand to [[HeroicSecondWind full strength]]. This may be justified, as it happens right after [[spoiler:he sees his daughter-figure murdered, and it was established in ''Pitch Black'' that things like this make him a little psychotic (like the death of Carolyn.)]]

* The Creator/JackieChan movie ''Film/WheelsOnMeals'' includes this in the climactic fight scene. Widely considered one of the best fight sequences ever recorded.

* The climax of Max Barry's ''Literature/MachineMan''. [[spoiler:ManInTheMachine Dr. Charles Neumann vs. the crazed {{cyborg}} Carl the ex-security guard.]] Both take quite a beating (that does no small amount of property damage) with no sign of who's winning [[spoiler:before Neumann blasts Carl to smithereens with his {{BFG}} ArmCannon]].
* Generally averted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' for humans. Harry can put out a ''hell'' of a lot of damage but is human underneath it. Played straight with most of the big, supernatural enemies that Harry faces, as well as Cowl, who's currently one of the [[BigBad biggest bads]] in the series.

* Wrestling/TheRockNRollExpress, being the TropeNamers for RickyMorton, were naturals for this trope. Announcer Bob Caudle more or less asked this during the [=RNRs=]-Andersons cage match at ''Wrestling/{{N|ational Wrestling Alliance}}WA Starrcade 86.''
* Most hardcore matches tend to go like this, but Wrestling/MickFoley has made a career out of it. The majority of a Foley match will consist of the opponent hitting him with everything he has (finishers, chairs, tables, ladders, announce tables, thumbtacks, 2x4's, barbed wire, slams through Wrestling/HellInACell cages), after which Foley inexplicably takes control of the match, until his opponent hits something completely off-the-charts (like spears through flaming tables) to get the win.
* Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, Wrestling/AntonioInoki defeated Masa Saito in an hour and twenty-five minute Island Death Match, that indeed had people asking the question.

* Lexxus had some doubters when she qualified for a shot at Wrestling/{{WSU}} champion Wrestling/MercedesMartinez in a particularly cowardly way but gained a lot of respect when the two preceded to go seventy-three minutes, resulting in the longest women's bout ever recorded...to that point. Martinez would beat her record while beating Wrestling/TessaBlanchard for The Phoenix Of Rise in seventy five minutes.
* Taken to new extremes with Shockwave Impact Wrestling in Sidney Ohio USA. If you think having six wrestlers involved cheapens the length of the [[GimmickMatches Ultimate Iron Man Match]], then consider American Kickboxer II, Dark Angel ([[Wrestling/SarahStock not that one]]), DJ Tom Sharp, Logan Cross, Sid Fabulous, and "Lightning" Tim Lutz went for ''twelve hours straight''.

* This is the principle behind the Last Man Standing match. It's no count-out, no disqualification, and no pinfall or submission. The only way to win is to batter your opponent so badly that he can't answer the ref's ten count.
** Similarly, the 'I Quit' match. Absolutely anything goes - from low blows, to dangerous stunts, to wrestlers leaving the ring and brutalising each other with any foreign object that they can find, up to an including fork-lift trucks and moving vehicles. The only way to win is to make your opponent surrender, therein having the competitors asking themselves, 'How much more can I take?'.

** ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' does the same thing in that wounds and bruises affected your ability to take further damage. An optional rule (usually invoked for Iron Age games) stipulates that all rolls suffer a penalty. Taking a significant enough blow can leave you stunned, staggered, unconscious, disabled, or dying (specific states that hamper your actions).

** ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' uses a two stat wound tracking system - lethal and nonlethal damage. Characters accumulate ever greater penalties to all actions as those tracks fill up.
*** The old TabletopGame/{{Alternity}} system had ''four'' stats for wound tracking. Damage in some of them came with associated penalties to all actions; damage in others didn't.
** ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' games track "health levels", with descriptions of what each means (Bruised is the first level of damage, for example). The more damage you take, the greater the penalties to your rolls; once you're down to one level left, you can barely walk.

** Interestingly, in the TabletopGame/{{P|roseDescriptiveQualities}}DQ system this is the only way damage is tracked at all - damage is taken directly off of your skills and you lose the fight when you have none left.

** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has a rarely-used optional rule: The Clobbered rule. Taking half your hit points in physical (non-magical) damage, total, in a single round, reduces your ability to act in the next round. However, since no-one uses that rule, most of the time D&D uses the traditional CriticalExistenceFailure rule.
*** The D&D Miniatures game follows the RPG's lead. Most creatures have to make a morale roll after losing half their Hit Points or run off the battlefield. Otherwise, there's no difference between being at full HP or nearly dead. By contrast, games like ''TabletopGame/HeroClix'' or ''TabletopGame/MageKnight'' have characters get progressively weaker (and lose special abilities) as they take damage.

* The almost unknown RPG "TabletopGame/{{Ammo}}" (only published in Italy) uses 16 different stats for a character. Half of these are used both as normal stats (like Strength for damage, or Agility for dodges) and as life points: damages are randomly distributed amongst stats, reducing them. A very wounded character is highly inefficient, except for magic users that have little use for physical stats anyway.
* ''TabletopGame/BurningWheel'' has a wound meter, but rather than filling up with damage, you just mark each hit under how much incapacitation it inflicts. It's actually very difficult to land a killing blow; most combat ends when one fighter's will breaks and he flees or surrenders, but between strong-willed fighters, they can keep going until one is so penalized by wounds that he can't move.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', the final fight between Ocelot and Snake is this. Both beat each other down time after time after time and yet both of them keep getting back on their feet.
** This is also sort of a callback to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' (the first with the word "Solid" in the title), where [[spoiler:Liquid Snake, who Liquid Ocelot is a doppelganger of, simply ''won't '''die'''.'' You actually fight him a total of ''four'' times - ''five'' if you're counting both halves of the REX battle]].

* The ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series has been notorious for this, however ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' takes it up a notch. Since the character models have been designed with painstaking detail to show the damage inflicted on their bodies, both external ''and'' internal, expect to see a lot of fighters look like they've packed up for a trip to the morgue ''before the end of the first round''. Particularly nasty are the characters who break their backs, crack open their skulls or lose an eyelid when busted up. Yes, their eye is just barely hanging there completely exposed.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series runs on this, with the fighters only being defeated when the accumulated damage from sustaining attacks eventually launches them out of the arena's boundaries, or causes them to plummet down a pit/the ocean/lava/whatever substance that's shallow enough. From sharp weapons and guns to more everyday objects like fans and umbrellas, just about anything is enough to potentially result in a strong blow.

** Guts manages to survive a lot of painful punishment from Nightmare -- a kick, followed by a lightning sword uppercut, then a SphereOfDestruction that causes him to fly and slam against a tree. [[spoiler:After Nightmare transforms into Night Terror, Guts tanks three Eye Beams (enough to finish off any normal Soul Calibur fighter), one of which slams him against a tree, an impalement by Soul edge followed by an explosion that flings him against a rock, and a wall of flames. ''[[MadeOfIron He survives all that]]''. Guts only resorts to using the Berserker Armor when confronted by Inferno's literal inferno]].
* The [[{{Spinoff}} spinoff]] series, ''WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee'' is an arguably worse offender. The series is largely aimed at those who [[JustHereForGodzilla watch Death Battle only for the fights]], and thus features '''[[MemeticMutation NO RESEARCH]]''' with the outcomes boiling down to AuthorAppeal. Because of this, most fights end being an exchange of intense {{No Holds Barred Beatdown}}s with both sides exchanging the AdvantageBall until the winner lands the finishing blow at the minute mark.

* Mike in ''WebVideo/HalfInTheBag'' criticizes ''Film/SuckerPunch'' for using this trope. In the dream world, the protagonists never show signs of being hurt, taking any suspense out of the fight scenes.

* Superman versus Captain Marvel in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''. Superman eventually won by forcing Captain Marvel to [[ByThePowerOfGreyskull revert to his eight-year-old form]].
** Taken to the extreme in the GrandFinale, where the fight between Superman and Darkseid goes on for far too long and is mostly Darkseid smacking the crap out of Superman, with several blows that look like they ''should'' be devastating - one looks like it'd break Superman's back! - but don't noticeably affect his ability to fight in any way. What makes this even crazier is that it seems like ''Batman'' - yes, ''Batman'' - tries to mix it up with Darkseid, and because of this trope, it seems like his jump-kick is about as effective as Superman. And after enduring this horrific, brutal abuse from a stronger-than-ever Darkseid for the ''entire episode'', Superman gets up, shrugs it off, comes up with the NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech and a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome...but the comeback doesn't even last as long as it took him to ''get through'' the speech, when he's interrupted by a device that ''puts him in as much pain as is physically possible'', and ''that'' ends the fight.
** On the other hand, decently averted in the episode "Flash Point", in a brawl between ComicBook/CaptainAtom and Superman - the two of them (particularly the Captain) visibly take damage and slow down as the fight goes on.
** On a similar note: WesternAnimation/SupermanDoomsday. The titular characters go at it in Metropolis, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown relentlessly beating on each other]], though Superman seems to get the worst of it until the end.
* How ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s Peter vs. Giant Chicken fights tend to go, although they accumulate at least cosmetic injuries over the course of the fight. It helps that they're all [[RuleOfFunny played for laughs]] and pretty much happening for no reason anyway.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'''s fights, while indeed fitting the "spectacular" label, tend to fall into this - Spidey will get thrashed around for most of the battle, and only finally start to visibly slow down when it's time for the climax.
* A TV-Y example: During the battle between Twilight and Tirek in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 Twilight's Kingdom Part 2]]'', the two are evenly matched. Being TV-Y, its considerably downplayed as the two show no signs of injury or wear afterward.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Fudge}}'' is one of the few tabletop [=RPGs=] that actually weakens people as they get beat up, using a wound track (boxes under wound categories that get filled in), with hurt and very-hurt wound boxes. A hurt is a significant penalty, and it will be obvious; a very-hurt is a huge penalty and will be just as absurdly obvious.

* According to Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrilla_in_Manila Thrilla In Manila]] fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier turned into one of these. Frazier's trainer decided to throw in the towel to keep Smokin' Joe from getting hurt even more badly than he already was, while Ali later said that this fight was the closest he'd ever come to dying. In fact, Frazier was ready to go back in completely blind and was not going to quit and got back up every single time. Ali said of him "If God ever called me to a holy war, I would want Joe Frazier by my side".

* The ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series has been notorious for this, however ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' takes it UpToEleven. Since the character models have been designed with painstaking detail to show the damage inflicted on their bodies, both external ''and'' internal, expect to see a lot of fighters look like they've packed up for a trip to the morgue ''before the end of the first round''. Particularly nasty are the characters who break their backs, crack open their skulls or lose an eyelid when busted up. Yes, their eye is just barely hanging there completely exposed.

** The fight at the end of the Saiyan saga actually showed what Goku and Vegeta's limits were; getting stepped or landed on by a 50 tall ape is apparently too much.

* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' averts this to the point that quite a few of the injuries the 4 heroes receive last ''the entire game''. It's quite obvious when the player is failing too many QTEs.

* [[ComicBook/ScottPilgrim Scott]] [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld Pilgrim's]] world [[LikeRealityUnlessNoted runs on video game physics and is also fuelled by anime logic]]. Scott himself has been kicked in the chest through wallpaper, levitated through 3 brick walls, and thrown towards a castle and just sort of brushed them all off. Both the comic and movie shows Scott getting knocked out by Lucas Lee after a good hit and still ends up ok. The Free Comic Book Day story gives the general explanation that he's much tougher than the regular human because he [[PowerUpFood obsessively picks foods because they too, run on video game logic]]. The movie also shows that each character has their own health bars, with Scott's being a vertical LifeMeter at [[MultipleLifeBars 64 points]] (which is also stylized after ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom'' LifeMeter's) shown together with a few other stats to the left, and an ambiguous stat bar surrounding him in a circle. Meanwhile Gideon's is a more straightforward LifeMeter that only goes down when [[spoiler: Scott and Knives take him both on.]] The general consensus seems to be that [=K.O.'s=] only happen when one runs out of health points and are actually knocked out and [[RealityEnsues mortal wounds that would kill a normal body are insta-kills]], despite their NighInvulnerability... [[RuleOfFunny Emotional damage is also an insta-kill as well]], as Scott blew up a guy by saying his hair looked stupid and he caused [[spoiler: Roxy to have an orgasm, which blew her up.]]

In fighting {manga}}/{{anime}}, {{superhero}} comics, and kung fu movies, characters are often [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower stronger]] and [[MadeOfIron tougher]] than any normal person has the right to be. This makes for more interesting concepts because it automatically limits the field of people who can deal with a particular problem, forcing our heroes into the fray. But when this concept is taken to its logical extreme, you end up with a new problem:

* A beatdown of this sort happens between the two Rival Protagonists in [[spoiler:the last few minutes of the final episode of]] the anime ''Anime/{{Scryed}}. '' It winds up being far more brutal than anything the villains ever put them through, -- almost offputtingly so.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' normally made sure to emphasize the character's mortality during combat (such as things like sharpened stone spears being fatal like they should be). Then the match between Negi & Kotaro against Kagetaro & Rakan came about and threw all that out the window.

* [[Manga/HajimeNoIppo Ippo]] is notable for three things, strength (he punches way above his weight class), stamina, and an iron will. In a long bout, this trope is very much in evidence, as Ippo just never gives up, and can take a lot of punishment. The scariest thing for his opponents, after the intensity in his eyes, is that his punches just don't die.

* Comicbook/ThePunisher regularly suffers injuries that would render a normal man utterly comatose, if not dead. This is because he is MadeOfIron. Once in [[Comicbook/ThePunisherMAX the MAX series]], a shotgun blast blew one of his ribs clean out (!) and he kept on fighting.

* ''Comicbook/SinCity'' characters are generally hard to put down. Marv is probably the main offender. In his original story, he gets run over with a car multiple times in a row, gets beaten by a SerialKiller, and is still perfectly healthy enough to fight an entire SWAT team of federal agents... all in the span of one night. Cardinal Roark even mentioned how hard he was to stop.

* Features quite often in ''Comicbook/{{Zero}}'' with the titular character participating in some really brutal fights over the course of the series. One notable instance involves Zero fighting a retired agent on a rooftop, before giving chase and involving some CarFu, going back to a fistfight after their cars crash, Zero getting [[EyeScream stabbed in the eye]], and ending with Zero slamming a car door repeatedly at his target's head.
* [[ComicBook/ScottPilgrim Scott]] [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld Pilgrim's]] world [[LikeRealityUnlessNoted runs on video game physics and is also fuelled by anime logic]]. Scott himself has been kicked in the chest through wallpaper, levitated through 3 brick walls, and thrown towards a castle and just sort of brushed them all off. Both the comic and movie shows Scott getting knocked out by Lucas Lee after a good hit and still ends up ok. The Free Comic Book Day story gives the general explanation that he's much more tougher than the regular human because he [[PowerUpFood obsessively picks foods because they too, run on video game logic]]. The movie also shows that each character has their own health bars, with Scott's being a vertical LifeMeter at [[MultipleLifeBars 64 points]] (which is also stylized after VideoGame/RiverCityRansom LifeMeter's) shown together with a few other stats to the left, and an ambiguous stat bar surrounding him in a circle. Meanwhile Gideon's is a more straightforward LifeMeter that only goes down when [[spoiler: Scott and Knives take him both on.]] The general consensus seems to be that [=K.O.'s=] only happen when one runs out of health points and are actually knocked out and [[RealityEnsues mortal wounds that would kill a normal body are insta-kills]], despite their NighInvulnerability... [[RuleOfFunny Emotional damage is also an insta-kill as well]], as Scott blew up a guy by saying his hair looked stupid and he caused [[spoiler: Roxy to have an orgasm, which blew her up.]]

* In the first story of the ''FanFic/FacingTheFutureSeries'', Dark Danny and [[spoiler:Future Danny]] are at a standstill until Dark Danny uses the intervention of Tucker and Valerie to his advantage. Even when Danny manages to unlock a powerful SuperMode that enables him to overpower Dark Danny, it's still not enough to stop him. He eventually got a boost of power when Vlad tried to use TrickedOutGloves to steal his energy. He eventually lost when [[spoiler:Future Danny and Sam activated their {{Super Mode}}s]] and Danny and Sam delivered a double punch to him, finally knocking him out.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Averted in the fight between Xanatos and Oberon in ''{{WesternAnimation/Gargoyles}}''. Oberon begins the battle by growing to enormous size, and every attack that lands on him drains his energy, making him shrink slightly. Meanwhile, Oberon manages to disable one after another of Xanatos' weapons and allies as the fight goes on, making it visibly a battle of attrition.

* It's a good thing people watch ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'' for the humor, because the bizarre fighting styles make it almost impossible to tell what moves are supposed to be powerful enough to finish off an opponent. (In early episodes, it was usually by following up a particularly confusing sequence with a direct nose hair attack.)

In fighting {{anime}}, {{superhero}} comics, and kung fu movies, characters are often [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower stronger]] and [[MadeOfIron tougher]] than any normal person has the right to be. This makes for more interesting concepts because it automatically limits the field of people who can deal with a particular problem, forcing our heroes into the fray. But when this concept is taken to its logical extreme, you end up with a new problem:

* Both of ''Film/TheRaid'' films' end with this for both sides. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2piDs9HMn4 The first final fight]] contains ''25'' instances of someone getting slammed to the ground. And about half as many instances of someone getting kicked square in the face.

* Both of Film/TheRaid films' end with this for both sides. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2piDs9HMn4 The first final fight]] contains ''25'' instances of someone getting slammed to the ground. And about half as many instances of someone getting kicked square in the face.

* Both of Film/TheRaid films' end with this for both sides. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2piDs9HMn4 The first film's climax]] lasts a solid five minutes, with the heroes being slammed into the ground or elbowed in the face every ten seconds.

** Taken to the extreme in the GrandFinale, where the fight between Superman and Darkseid goes on for far too long and is mostly Darkseid smacking the crap out of Superman, with several blows that look like they ''should'' be devastating - one looks like it'd break Superman's back! - but don't noticeably affect his ability to fight in any way. What makes this even crazier is that it seems like ''Batman'' - yes, ''Batman'' - tries to mix it up with Darkseid, and because of this trope, it seems like his jump-kick is about as effective as Superman. And after enduring this horrific, brutal abuse from a stronger-than-ever Darkseid for the ''entire episode'', Superman gets up, shrugs it off, comes up with the WorldOfCardboardSpeech and a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome...but the comeback doesn't even last as long as it took him to ''get through'' the speech, when he's interrupted by a device that ''puts him in as much pain as is physically possible'', and ''that'' ends the fight.

See also MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours, JustAFleshWound, and RasputinianDeath.

** No matter what anyone throws at Vegeta, he just won't stay down. He and Frieza are the only canon characters that have ever stood up after being hit by the Spirit Bomb. The first time he died, it took [[spoiler: a blast straight through the heart]] to finally get the job done, and even then, it took a few minutes for him to actually die.

See also MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours and RasputinianDeath.

** Hell, that's nothing. In the original ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'''s tag-team arc, Terryman gets impaled by floor tiles decorated with swords twice. The first time is painful, but the second time is bad enough to kill him. [[spoiler: He gets better.]]

** Hell, that's nothing. In the original Kinnikuma's tag-team arc, Terryman gets impaled by floor tiles decorated with swords twice. The first time is painful, but the second time is bad enough to kill him. [[spoiler: He gets better.]]

* A non-combat version which applied to ''both'' contestants was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isner–Mahut_match_at_the_2010_Wimbledon_Championships the Wimbledon 2010 first-round match between Nicholas Mahut and John Isner]], famously recorded in [[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/jun/23/wimbledon-2010-tennis-live Xan Brook's live blog]] which read like an ApocalypticLog. The game had started on the 22nd late in the day and had to be put on hold because of fading light before the start of the final fifth set. Resuming at 2:05 the next day, the two men battled for '''seven hours''' in the deciding set (longer itself than any other tennis match in history), ending up ''tied'' at 59 games each when the umpire was forced to stop play again at 9:10 PM, declaring they would resume where they left off the ''next'' day. Both men were reduced to shambling zombies, staggering around the court in obviously exhausted agony, but refusing to concede defeat even when they were literally falling flat on their faces. ''[[{{Determinator}} Isner wanted to play on!]]'' When they resumed the next day the match fortunately didn't take ''nearly'' as long to resolve, as Isner finally won the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, '''''70-68!'''''