History Main / PowerDegeneration

* Wally West aka [[ComicBook/TheFlash Kid Flash]], was slowing down with each use of his powers. However, during the tail-end of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} was able to save him in the nick of time from the Anti-Monitor's energy blast, but the blast ended up saving him from his degeneration, though sticking him at "speed of sound" running levels. Suited him just fine as he took up the mantle of the Flash.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'' , humans can acquire the ability to see people's names and lifespans [[CastFromLifespan at the cost of half their own life.]]

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', when Midoriya first acquires [[SuperStrength "One for All"]] he can't regulate it [[spoiler:because he kept thinking of it like a trump card, which led to his body not being able to get used to it]]. Every time he uses it at full power (which is every time [[spoiler:at first]]) he tears muscle and breaks bone. At one point he injures his hand so severely that even Recovery Girl can't help him fully recover, leaving the hand permanently warped and scarred.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'', the main characters get super powers. However, it would eventually kill them if they overused them. Unfortunately they were using them obtusely, and the TeenGenius who discovered the side effects and could reverse it became a [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]-like figure.
* All the clones in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' easily dissolve from too much excessive power use. That's because they were [[ReplacementGoldfish stepping stones]] to the Perfect Clone. Danielle, the one before the Perfect Clone gets lucky as Danny eventually stabilizes her.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot:'' After fusing with a broken Glitch, Bob's overuse of his new powers would eventually result in total fragmentation (aka death). This is shown as Bob becoming transparent and staticy. Bob is able to delay the process by consuming extra energy shakes to hold himself together. This problem gets fixed when Bob separates from Glitch.

The causes can vary. It may be that the process used to make the [[CloningBlues Clone]], HalfHumanHybrid or genetically enhanced character with SuperSoldier powers had an [[CloneDegeneration inadvertent]] (or intentional) [[FlawedPrototype design flaw]] (or "birth defect") that slowly [[CastFromLifespan reduces their lifespan]], limiting their lives to years or ''months.'' Other times it's related to having somehow gained StockSuperPowers. Maybe it was thanks to PsychoSerum, or the machine/amulet that gave them their powers was broken. Lastly, the powers may just inherently damage the body when used, either as a mystical [[EquivalentExchange price]] or because they are not designed for human use (or rather, the body wasn't given the RequiredSecondaryPowers to handle using the primary ones). Whatever the case, the result is the same: acute [[HeroicRROD "hardware failure"]] as the body tears itself up from the inside. If they're lucky, they won't cause a SuperpowerMeltdown that takes out the city.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' this happens to Fusion [[spoiler: Zamasu]]. One of his components had CompleteImmortality thanks to the Super Dragon Balls, but one was mortal ([[spoiler: thanks to using his wish to switch bodies with Goku]]). When fused, his immortality was downgraded from 'completely invincible' to 'you just have to hit him really really hard'. And as the heroes start landing hits hard enough to affect him, his healing factor goes out of control and starts replacing damaged body parts with monstrous gelatinous purple versions.

->''"I spent all morning in the hospital, injecting poison into my body, on purpose. Toxic chemicals designed to kill the cancer cells growing inside me. But as soon as I picked up the hammer, that was all for nothing. The transformation neutralizes the effects of the chemotherapy. It purges the poison from my body. But not the cancer. Because cancer is just another part of me now. A part that keeps getting bigger and is killing me a little bit more each time I change back."''
-->-- '''ComicBook/JaneFoster''', ''ComicBook/Thor2014''

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* ''Manga/GakuenAlice'', the Limited Alice form allows the user to use their powers as much and as frequently as they will, but at the cost of their own lifespan. Alice users with a Limited Alice form are liable to die young if they overuse their powers.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/AllStarSuperman https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SuperManPowerDegeneration_6498.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Humans get tan-lines from overexposure; Kryptonians get [[VolcanicVeins sun-lines]].]]

Imagine [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed cancer]], that slow insidious death that kills you from the inside, but which is also intrinsically ''you;'' it is a body eating itself, and unable to heal. Now imagine that cancer can grow faster whenever you do what you're best at: dancing, painting, coding software, kayaking. This is what happens to characters with Power Degeneration.

* Doping: you gets better in sport, break records, win the love of the crowds... and overexert your body while developing drug addiction and shortening your lifespan: enjoy your glory.

* Anabolic steroids.

** In late Season 6 and early Season 7, Castiel has taken on a multitude of souls from Purgatory and powered himself up enough to kill Raphael and stop him from re-starting the Apocalypse. However, Castiel gets DrunkOnTheDark side and declares himself the new God. As he goes on a smithing rampage, his vessel begins to decompose, and Death remakes that he is not God but a mutated angel. Eventually, Castiel reaches out to Sam and Dean for help to return the souls inside him to Purgatory. They succeed, but they don't count on the Leviathans staying inside Castiel.

* Tsukune, in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'', erodes a little bit of his ''soul'' every time he uses his superpowers.

* Chamber, one of the ''ComicBook/GenerationX'' mutants had an explosive power that blew off his jaw and upper chest prior to joining the team. Using his power slowly widened the explosive area, he near literally had part of his face and chest "on fire".
** Averted in that his body is technically a dead husk already and his mutation actually turned him into an EnergyBeing that's animating it [[HowDoIShotWeb but has no idea how to reconstruct it]].

* ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}}'s powers start failing him along with his body due to Agenda's experiments with his use of them rapidly increases up the rate at which his body is falling apart. He still uses them after realizing what's going on to rescue those stranded in a storm until he can't move any further. He spends the next several issues of his own book and ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'' non-active on a table, and then in a HealingVat while his body falls apart and scientists scramble for a way to save him.

* The premise of ''[[http://goldmage.elcenia.com/index.shtml Goldmage]]': is that each colour of mage pays a price for using their power. For example, red mages gain complete knowledge of people they touch, but the more people they do that to, the more they forget everything else, even their own names in the end. Gold mages are the only ones who don't visibly deteriorate, but will eventually just drop dead early from using their powers.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', King Piccolo claimed that his lifespan shortens when he uses his full power or produces an egg. We never really see this since Goku takes him out shortly after he does the former and the latter is his last act before dying.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'' , humans can acquire the ability to see people's names and lifespans [[DeadlyUpgrade at the cost of half their own life.]]

* This happens to almost every character in ''Manga/AyashiNoCeres'' whose ten'nyo powers are awakened, aside from the heroine and a few who get killed in other ways before their powers can kill them. It seems like they live longer the stronger their powers are, but actually ''using'' said powers seems to shorten their lifespan considerably.

* Cordelia in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' was being slowly and painfully killed by her prophetic visions. Humans are incapable of hosting the visions for long without dying. For her, the solution was to turn her part demon. The upgrade came with other perks; [[spoiler: being DemonicallyPossessed by one of [[PowersThatBe TPTB]] was not one of them.]]

* In ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'', John Druitt's ability to {{teleport|ation}} across time and space causes his cells to break down, and is also responsible for the brain damage that [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity turned him into a homicidal maniac.]] It was later revealed that he had actually been possessed by an EnergyBeing, and that's what drove him insane. Though, the more often he uses his power, the more control it has over him, so this might be a double subversion.

* In ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'', John Druitt's ability to {{teleport|ersAndTransporters}} across time and space causes his cells to break down, and is also responsible for the brain damage that [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity turned him into a homicidal maniac.]] It was later revealed that he had actually been possessed by an EnergyBeing, and that's what drove him insane. Though, the more often he uses his power, the more control it has over him, so this might be a double subversion.

->''"[[IllGirl I]] spent all morning in the hospital, injecting poison into my body, on purpose. Toxic chemicals designed to kill the cancer cells growing inside me. But as soon as I picked up the hammer, that was all for nothing. The transformation neutralizes the effects of the chemotherapy. It purges the poison from my body. But not the cancer. Because cancer is just another part of me now. A part that keeps getting bigger and is killing me a little bit more each time I change back."''

** Bruce Wayne spent most of his life training to become a BadassNormal vigilante. All of the wear and tear that comes from that has caught up with him in his old age: any physical exertion exhausts him, he requires medication for a heart condition, and he needs a cane to walk around thanks to an old leg wound.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[spoiler:the PsychoSerum steroids that Hodi Jones and his gang took to power themselves up had the downside of cutting their lifespan down by a large amount. In this case it caused accelerated aging to the point that a short while after their defeat they're seen as ancient and decrepit old fishmen too powerless to do anything.]]