History Main / PowerDegeneration

* The Ultimate iteration of Venom had a symbiote than was more of a parasite than truly symbiotic. Eddie Brock had two choices: consume other people's life force, or have his own consumed by the symbiote. He went with option A.

* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' the powers of the Fantastic Four turn out to be examples of this. The same exposure to cosmic radiation that gave them their powers is slowly killing them. Subverter later when it turned out the degeneration was caused by a kind of overload from having the powers of their parallel universe counterparts covertly transferred into them. They were healed by having the excess powers restored to their rightful owners.

* Deathwing's skin in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is split open by his inability to contain his power, which threatens to destroy him entirely. He solves this by riveting plates of the strongest metal he can find directly onto his body to keep it in one piece, and as one might expect, is in constant agony. By the time of the FinalBattle with him in ''Cataclysm'', the combination of getting those plates ripped off by the heroes, getting shot with an ArtifactOfDoom, and his ensuing VillainousBreakown causes him to effectively ''melt'' into a raging monstrosity whose head and neck still ''looks'' draconic, but is now sporting CombatTentacles made of molten liquid from his misshapen body.

* Deathwing's skin in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is split open by his inability to contain his power, which threatens to destroy him entirely. He solves this by riveting plates of the strongest metal he can find directly onto his body to keep it in one piece, and as one might expect, is in constant agony.

* In ''Anime/VisionOfEscaflowne'', the {{Catgirl}}s Narya and Erya undergo an experimental procedure to enhance their luck in battle. Unfortunately, it turns out that there's some sort of [[EquivalentExchange conservation of luck]] mechanic in play, and their good luck is balanced out by catastrophic bad luck, causing them to become sick and die. A sort of equal and opposite reaction. Considering that the person who invented the procedure is [[spoiler: [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Sir Isaac Newton]]]], he really should have seen it coming.

* 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/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]-like figure.
* ''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.

* In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', using the Philosopher's Stone [[spoiler:for GrandTheftMe causes alchemical degeneration of the new body. This process is slow, but increases in speed [[BodySurf the more times you've done it]]. Hohenheim, who's been more sparing, was able to stay in his current body for at least twenty years without much visible decay, while Dante had her bodies starting to degenerate after mere months.]]

** Due to the abundance of seithr in the modern age, the use of ars magus and ars armagus has its own risks as well -- some of the worst including outright physical collapse (wherein the body disintegrates completely and the soul is absorbed into the Boundary through the nearest cauldron). Not only does Terumi use this to [[KillEmAll liquidate the Kagutsuchi NOL branch]] in ''Continuum Shift'', [[spoiler:but opening every cauldron in the world during the climax of ''Chronophantasma'' does this on a worldwide scale, with a very small fraction of the pre-Doomsday population surviving even after Kushinada's Lynchpin is activated]].

This last case might be survivable, provided the powers [[PowerAtAPrice only hurt the owner when used.]] But it often happens that merely possessing them accelerates the process of aging or the decay. By not using their SuperMode or magic powers they can live normal lives... but TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive, so this is rarely an outright option.

The former scenario is usually incurable; it's so hard to FindTheCure that an entire series can be based around it. The reason is that the clone, hybrid or [[DesignerBabies GM baby]] would have to fundamentally alter themselves to not be what they are, either by fixing the flaw or [[BecomeARealBoy becoming plain]] [[{{Muggle}} humans.]] This can involve finding a geneticist who can make a gene therapy capable of repairing their DNA, a magic ritual that rids them of their human/non-human half, or somehow completely excising what separates them from baseline humanity and being BroughtDownToNormal. These people have a very good reason for [[IJustWantToBeNormal wanting to be normal.]]

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

* Gentle in ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' can temporarily increase his muscle mass to gain [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]-level strength, but the strain on his body causes him seizures. His power is held in check somewhat by vibranium tattoos, but since his powers get stronger with every use, eventually the tattoos won't work and and his powers will kill him.

* 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.

* Grove in ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' is in the latest stages of this. His repeated use of his astral projection power has wasted his body away to almost nothing.

* Due to the poisonous nature of Adamantium, {{Wolverine}}'s skeleton and claws slowly kill him on those occasions when his mutant powers are disabled. And he can't use the claws, either, for obvious blood-loss-from-the-hands reasons.

* In ''TheRedPandaAdventures'', this is why none of the government super-soldier programs wanted [[spoiler:Mr. Amazing]].

* In a ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' storyline [[FanonDiscontinuity we'd otherwise rather forget]], Cap's SuperSerum was actually breaking down and taking his body with it. What might have been an interesting turn of story led directly to both the horrible "Iron Cap" storyline and the [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor defection]] of Diamondback (who secretly agreed to go back to work for the bad guys in exchange for Cap's cure).

* In ''Film/IronMan2'' continuing use of the Iron Man suit accelerates Tony's palladium poisoning. Tony's got one of the worst cases ever. ''Living'' is ''killing him''. Either take the Paladium arc reactor out of his chest and die of cardiac failure or leave it in and watch his body wither away as it poisons his bloodstream. JARVIS points this out without hesitation.

* In ''WesternAnimatian/AvatarTheLegendOfKorra'', Aang's Avatar State kept him sealed in an ice cocoon for 100 years. This drained his long-term vitality and he died when he was only 66.

* Happens to Shiki in ''{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}}'' where using his magic eyes that can see death stresses his brain from it attempting to understand what it's not supposed to. In addition to repeated use of his eyes, merely having them is hinted to have permanent effects that will lower his lifespan.

* In ''Anime/VisionOfEscaflowne'', the {{Catgirl}}s Narya and Erya undergo an experimental procedure to enhance their luck in battle. Unfortunately, it turns out that there's some sort of [[EquivalentExchange conservation of luck]] mechanic in play, and their good luck is balanced out by catastrophic bad luck, causing them to become sick and die. A sort of equal and opposite reaction. Considering that the person who invented the procedure is [[spoiler: [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Sir Isaac Newton]]]], [[WhatAnIdiot he really should have seen it coming.]]

* The page picture comes from ''WesternAnimation/AllStarSuperman.'' After getting a lethal level of solar exposure from flying too close to the sun, Superman gets a massive power up... and will eventually [[spoiler:turn into an EnergyBeing.]]

* In ''Film/IronMan2'' continuing use of the Iron Man suit [[spoiler:accelerates Tony's palladium poisoning.]]
** [[spoiler:Tony's got one of the worst cases ever. ''Living'' is ''killing him''. Either take the Paladium arc reactor out of his chest and die of cardiac failure or leave it in and watch his body wither away as it poisons his bloodstream. JARVIS points this out without hesitation.]]
* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', excessive use of the dark side of the force, particularly [[ShockAndAwe force lightning]] had this effect on Darth Sidious, turning him from a relatively healthy if somewhat elderly man into a decrepit monster with winkled grey sagging skin, rotten teeth, and burning yellow eyes.
** That particular instance was due at least in part to Windu blocking the lightning right next to Sidious' face, reflecting some lighting into his face and damaging it.

** It turns out that Midoriya is one of the lucky ones. [[spoiler:During a discussion with the shades of the former holders of One For All, they reveal to him that the Quirk weighs down heavily on the body of a holder if they already possess a Quirk of their own. Only one holder of One For All died of natural causes, at the age of ''40'', with literal cracks appearing on his body beforehand -- and he only held the Quirk for 18 years. All Might held it without issue for much longer because he was Quirkless, which may be why he chose the similarly Quirkless Midoriya to succeed him rather than anyone who already had a Quirk, like Togata.]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:"The transformation neutralizes the effects of the chemotherapy. [...] But not the cancer. Because cancer is just another part of me now."]]

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* As incomplete {{Dhampyr}}, the Schiff in ''Anime/BloodPlus'' need the blood of a vampire queen to stabilize, otherwise they [[BodyToJewel turn to crystal]]. Yes, ''crystal.'' The ailment is called the Thorn.

* Tsukune, in ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'', erodes a little bit of his ''soul'' every time he uses his superpowers.
* As a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-demon]] with an UnstoppableRage SuperMode, Manga/InuYasha will eventually get stuck in that form unless he keeps the sword Tessaiga by his side at all times. All things considered this works well in his favor since the sword also gives him many powerful attacks his UnstoppableRage couldn't match.
* Whenever ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' releases enough of the power of the Kyuubi, an aura surrounds him that actually eats away at his body. Due to the super-regeneration that the Kyuubi also grants him, his cells are forced to split ahead of their biological schedule to overcome the damage - basically super-aging to heal himself, shortening his lifespan in the process. Earlier on, Tsunade also demonstrated such regeneration.
** The Mangekyo Sharingan causes progressive vision loss and eventual blindness. The only way to avoid this is by replacing them with the eyes of a blood relative.
** Danzo's [[spoiler:Sharingan-covered arm]] experiences this when he utilizes its ability to escape death. Each usage causes one of the [[spoiler:Sharingan to go visibly blind]]. He checks them periodically in battle to see how many uses he has left.
* Black Star from ''Manga/SoulEater'' has his soul slowly eaten away at whenever he uses Tsubaki's Demon Blade mode. When Black Star's soul wavelength attack on Kid fails, Sid explains that it is because his current inferiority complex about his strength has weakened his soul. We see just how well Black Star gets over this, when following Arachne's Kishin transformation his soul wavelength becomes strong enough to hold back the witch's insanity, aiding Soul and Maka's musical intervention.
* Yoite of ''Manga/NabariNoOu'' pretty much defines this trope.
* Grove in ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' is in the latest stages of this. His repeated use of his astral projection power has wasted his body away to almost nothing.

* In ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'' it is an inevitability that all who are equipped with and use a Witchblade or Cloneblade will eventually but gradually crack and crumble into ash. To make things worse, it is impossible to remove a Witchblade without slicing off your hand and wrist with it.
** Note that nobody actually tries this in the show, and it's possible even taking the hand off wouldn't save you.
* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' has an interesting variation of this. When Chrono uses his powers, he doesn't suffer any sort of decay -- ''[[BeastAndBeauty Rosette]]'' does, as they're powered by her soul. [[YourDaysAreNumbered In the best circumstances, she's only expected to live until thirty]]. Since Chrono has a BodyguardCrush on her, he's not really happy about this.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[spoiler:the PsychoSerum steroids that Hody 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.]]
* In ''Anime/VisionOfEscaflowne'', the {{Catgirl}}s Narya and Erya undergo an experimental procedure to enhance their luck in battle. Unfortunately, it turns out that there's some sort of [[EquivalentExchange conservation of luck]] mechanic in play, and their good luck is balanced out by catastrophic bad luck, causing them to become sick and die. A sort of equal and opposite reaction. Considering that the person who invented the procedure is [[spoiler: [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Sir Isaac Newton]]]], [[WhatAnIdiot he really should have seen it coming.]]
* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', King Piccolo claimed that [[CastFromLifespan 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. He'd also eliminated that issue shortly before his death, as he had wished for eternal youth.
** 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.
* Suffering from this is a major issue for numerous characters in ''Manga/SnowWhiteAndSevenDwarfs''. For Ken, using his ability causes an accumulation of poison, bringing him closer to death each time, and for Souichi and Souji Ushio, they respectively [[RapidAging de-age and age rapidly]] thanks to usage of their powers.
* [[spoiler:Lucy]] gets a particularly horrific version of this late in the manga of ''Manga/ElfenLied''. Using her vectors results in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics entropic backlash]] that causes her body to melt.

** It turns out that Midoriya is one of the lucky ones. [[spoiler:During a discussion with the shades of the former holders of One For All, they reveal to him that the Quirk weighs down heavily on the body of a holder if they already possess a Quirk of their own. Only one holder of One For All died of natural causes, at the age of ''40'', with literal cracks appearing on his body beforehand - and he only held the Quirk for 18 years. All Might held it without issue for much longer because he was Quirkless, which may be why he chose the similarly Quirkless Midoriya to succeed him rather than anyone who already had a Quirk, like Togata.]]
* In ''Anime/{{K}}'', anyone chosen to be a King must constantly keep a sense of balance and mental stability in order to maintain control over their immense power. Failure to do so will result in a literal SwordOfDamocles falling on them and killing them and everyone else around them. This happened to [[spoiler: Mikoto]] after the murder of one of their friends. As a result of their loss of power, their hand started becoming charred black and their Sword decaying. Eventually, [[spoiler: after killing Tatara's murderer, another King, their Sword of Damocles almost falls on them (which would have triggered a SuperPowerMeltdown) if not for Reisi's MercyKill.]]
* ''Manga/GakuenAlice'' has Persona, whose "Mark of Death" Alice is able to rot and eventually kill anything he touches, including himself. He uses 10 or so {{power limiter}}s to keep his ability under control, and if he removes even one of them, his own Alice will infect him.

* 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]].
* This trope is the entire premise of ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri''. Human volunteers went through a dangerous process to earn superpowers so they could combat AlienInvaders. Catch is, the process was guaranteed to kill them sometime within the next year after gaining their powers -- in some cases, mere days after.

* [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]] suffered from an intentional version throughout the vast majority of his series, since he was created by the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' version of Mister Sinister as a weapon to kill Apocalypse, and he didn't want said weapon hanging around once it had done its job. Hence the genetic flaw which led to frequent cases of the PsychicNoseBleed, one or other of his powers switching off, and potentially a burn-out that would take out half the planet. In the end, he got a genetic brand that stabilised his powers.
* Due to the poisonous nature of Adamantium, {{Wolverine}}'s skeleton and claws slowly kill him on those occasions when his mutant powers are disabled. And he can't use the claws, either, for obvious blood-loss-from-the-hands reasons.

* Immortal Man-In-Darkness of ''The Great Ten'' is a pilot bonded to the Dragonwing, an extremely advanced [[LivingShip living fighter plane]]. Each flight of the Dragonwing takes a year off of the pilot's life. The government doesn't have a problem finding willing pilots -- piloting the Dragonwing is considered a great honor and there are plenty of pilots waiting in reserve ''eager'' for their chance even though they know the price.
* 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|DCComics}} 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.
** Speaking of the Flash, in the alternate universe presented in ''ComicBook/BatmanHolyTerror'', the Commonwealth tried to replicate Barry Allen's speed powers. Only two of the test subjects got useful speed powers, but one of them is prone to exploding and then reconstituting himself, while the other, just a kid, has ended up with accelerated aging and is likely to die within a few weeks.

* During the ComicBook/DarkReign period of Marvel comics, [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] was having this issue to the point where her energy powers caused her to just explode.
* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' the powers of the Fantastic Four turn out to be examples of this. The same exposure to cosmic radiation that gave them their powers is slowly killing them. Subverter later when it turned out the degeneration was caused by a kind of overload from having the powers of their parallel universe counterparts covertly transferred into them. They were healed by having the excess powers restored to their rightful owners.
* In Creator/ChrisClaremont's ''ComicBook/XMenForever'', it was revealed that mutantkind wasn't the much ballyhooed next step of human evolution, but something of a dead end - their mutant powers were slowly killing them in a process called "Mutant Burnout" that would kill them by age 50.
* Creator/WarrenEllis developed a pulp style detective character named Simon Specter who invented a drug that would enhance his intelligence and perception speed for approximately 12 hours, followed by a 24 hour crash and the loss of a week of his body's lifespan.

* In [[ComicBook/HouseOfM Son of M]] and [[ComicBook/SilentWar Silent War]] it was established that [[GreenRocks terrigen crystals]] can give superpowers to non-inhumans, but they're unstable. Depowered mutants get uncontrolled versions of their powers they might survive, but humans have an inevitable mortality.
* In ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' Strader Pharmaceuticals develops a drug that's meant to give the user super-strength but has the unfortunate side-effect of slowly breaking down their bodies killing them horrifically and painfully.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', excessive use of the dark side of the force, particularly [[ShockAndAwe force lightning]] had this effect on Darth Sidious, turning him from a relatively healthy if somewhat elderly man into a decrepit monster with winkled grey sagging skin, rotten teeth and burning yellow eyes.
** That particular instance was due at least in part to Windu blocking the lightning right next to Sidious' face, reflecting some lighting into his face and damaging it.

* In ''Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance'', Roark is the Devil's avatar, but as he is a mere human, his body is slowly breaking down. Use of his powers accelerates the breakdown, like when half of his face rots after turning Carrigan into [[WalkingWasteland Blackout]]. He compares himself to a flamethrower made of paper mache. The Devil's plan is to transfer his essence into Danny, a HalfHumanHybrid who would be able to better handle his power.

* Male channelers (read: magicians) in Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. The male half of One Power, ''saidin'', was tainted by the [[BigBad Dark One]], so that now all the male channelers unavoidably will go mad. The few that survive the madness and avoid being caught then start [[BodyHorror rotting while alive]]... [[spoiler:That is, until Rand manages to cleanse the ''saidin''.]]
* 18-year-old Janie in the books ''Wake'' and ''Fade'' by Lisa Mc Mann. Janie has the ability to see other people's dreams. Unfortunately, she can [[PowerIncontinence barely control it]]. In ''Fade'', one of the longest living "Dream Catchers", as people with that ability are called, leaves Janie a journal. Apparently, Janie will [[spoiler: lose her eyesight and the use of her hands by the age of 24. She will only be able to see in dreams.]]
* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' there's Sgt. Taura, the genetically engineered super-soldier. She has incredible strength and fast reflexes, but was not made to last. She was deliberately engineered to have a short lifespan and die quickly once she started showing serious signs of age. The Fleet doctor has slowed her metabolism and bought her a few more years.

* Bean from the ''Literature/EndersShadow'' series has a genetic enhancement that gives him super intelligence because his brain continues to learn and develop at a the fast pace of a young child's brain. The problem is that his body also keeps growing, putting him on a course to suffer from giantism and die of heart failure as a young adult.
* In the ''Literature/{{Croak}}'' series, the BigBad learns the hard way that overusing their ultimate power degrades the body.
* A Star Trek novel, "The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford, contains a Klingon assassin who was modified to be four times faster than normal. This caused him to age 64 times faster, so he had to be stored in cryo-suspension between missions. Making things worse, the excessive cryo tended to blank his memory, so he basically had no identity or past.
* In ''Dagger-Star'' by Elizabeth Vaughan, Ezren Silvertongue gets infused with a massive amount of WildMagic. Not only is the magic [[PowerIncontinence difficult to control]], but it is described by some mages as "eating away at him" and will eventually kill him. Even when he doesn't use it, his health slowly declines. In the next book ''White Star'', the heroes put AntiMagic chains around each arm, which relieve his symptoms, but the magic turns out to be too powerful and it builds up until the chains are destroyed. In the next book ''Destiny's Star'', [[spoiler:Ezren releases all of the wild magic to deal with the bad guy, and it turns out the wild magic was sentient and just wanted to be free]]. Ezren comes out of the experience restored to full health.

* In ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon'', [[spoiler:the operation that turned mentally-challenged Charlie into a super-genius is only temporary. In the second half of the story, his intelligence rapidly deteriorates until he is at least as impaired as he was when he started out. To make matters worse, there's a good chance that his mind will keep on deteriorating until he dies - after all, that's what happened to the mouse they tested it on.]]
* In ''Literature/JadeCity'', jade grants a suite of superpowers to people in physical contact with it, but requires years of training and exposure therapy to handle safely. If someone carries more than they can handle (which is any at all, for most people), they can become addicted to the sensation and go insane from "the itches" -- one proficient jade user bit off a bit more than she could chew and ended up flaying her own arms with a cheese grater.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has Mohinder's transformation in season 3.

* The Orphenochs in ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' have this as well; if they wear the Kaixa Belt, they go down even faster.
* A male nurse on ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'' had the ability to cure genetic defects in utero, but random mutations appeared in his own DNA.
* At the end of season 4 of the new ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[spoiler: Donna is given the consciousness of a Time Lord, but the strain is too much for a human brain and it starts killing her, so the Doctor has to wipe her memory of all the time they spent together and leave her on Earth]].
* The teen SuperSpeed[=sters=] in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Rush" have a decent number of RequiredSecondaryPowers, but their bodies are still gradually breaking down from the stress. An X-ray of one shows the sort of damage normally found in people who've played professional football for 15 years.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Blood Brothers" has a scientist accidentally develop a serum that appears to give people (and monkeys) a HealingFactor (a monkey took a dose of cyanide without a problem). His brother, the CorruptCorporateExecutive, refuses to reveal the miracle to the world but [[ProfessorGuineaPig uses it on himself]] to cure a hereditary disease. However, the scientist then realizes that [[spoiler:the serum doesn't give you healing powers after all but merely forces the cells to use up all their energy on healing, leaving behind a withered husk. His brother is destined to spend the rest of his days on life support.]]
* Happens to a human prize fighter in an episode of ''Series/LostGirl''-- it's said that the Fae-derived serum that allows him to HulkOut will cause his internal organs to explode if he hulks out one more time.
* In ''Series/MutantX'', Gabriel Ashlocke is the first of the so-called "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual New Mutants]]" (all mutants are called "New" in the show, for some reason). Unlike the others, he has ComboPlatterPowers from all four of the categories (elemental, feral, molecular, psionic) and is insane to boot. However, as revealed by Adam, his body is slowly breaking apart due to all these powers together. Ashlocke's final attempt to save himself involves awakening an ancient sorceress, but the interference of the titular team results in Ashlocke exploding and taking his base with him.

* In ''{{TabletopGame/Rifts}}'', one character class is "Juicers", which can be described as [[PsychoSerum somebody on steroids]] [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on steroids]]. You wear a drug-injection rig and your lifespan is about five years. Also, Crazies, people who have had their brains rewired to gain psychic powers eventually lose their sanity.

* Chaos magic, an alternate form of spellcasting in ''DungeonsAndDragons 3.5'' - that can coexist with the standard form of spellcasting - is incredibly flexible and can become ridiculously powerful when used well, is limited by [[CastFromHitPoints self-inflicted nonlethal damage that only full rest can remove with every spell cast]] and carries a huge price in the form of an inherent risk to fail every cast (even when MinMaxing to death, it's hard to reduce this chance under 1/20), and every failed spell has a chance to permanently apply a random harmful condition to the caster, eventually resulting in [[DeaderThanDead a form of death no one can be brought back from]]. A chaos caster tends to be a CrutchCharacter for this reason : ridiculously powerful and versatile at first but gets weaker and weaker with each stage of corruption, and with a high chance to die for good before the rest of the party.

* Happens to Shiki in ''{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}}'' where using his magic eyes that can see death stresses his brain from it attempting to understand what it's not supposed to. In addition to repeated use of his eyes, merely having them is hinted to have permanent effects that will lower his lifespan.

* "Charged" creations in the ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' series are infused with so much energy that they constantly lose health each round. In exchange, they're significantly more powerful than the normal versions and cost only a little more [[{{Mana}} essence]].

* It's revealed in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'' that Ragna's fake Azure Grimoire (which is really a piece of the [[EldritchAbomination Black Beast]]) will consume him if he unleashes its full power too often. This is probably why he was so reluctant to use it in ''Calamity Trigger''. [[spoiler:Given how liberally he uses his, one has to wonder if Terumi was already consumed by his own Azure Grimoire (confirmed equally counterfeit in ''Chronophantasma'').]]
** Due to the abundance of seithr in the modern age, the use of ars magus and ars armagus has its own risks as well - some of the worst including outright physical collapse (wherein the body disintegrates completely and the soul is absorbed into the Boundary through the nearest cauldron). Not only does Terumi use this to [[KillEmAll liquidate the Kagutsuchi NOL branch]] in ''Continuum Shift'', [[spoiler:but opening every cauldron in the world during the climax of ''Chronophantasma'' does this on a worldwide scale, with a very small fraction of the pre-Doomsday population surviving even after Kushinada's Lynchpin is activated]].

* The Grey Wardens of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' are required to drink the poisonous blood of darkspawn during their initiation rite; if they survive, this makes them better able to fight the darkspawn (and able to sense them at a distance). However, some recruits die during the initiation, most recruits suffer from nightmares and increased appetite, and all Grey Wardens have shortened lifespans: "thirty years to live, give or take" from the time of initiation. The Wardens don't tell new recruits about any of this, because [[IDidWhatIHadToDo they believe almost nobody would join if they knew, and that their mission of protecting the world from the darkspawn is more important than their lives]]. [[spoiler:The ''actual'' truth is worse. Thirty years, give or take, isn't how long it takes for the Taint to kill them -- it's how long it takes for the Taint to turn them into ghouls. Any Warden that lives too long is doomed to become just another mindless creature of the Blight.]]
* In Tira's ending in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur IV'', Nightmare's body can no longer withstand its own power. Tira clings to him, tearfully begging him not to leave her alone. [[spoiler:He doesn't.]]
* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter'', Ryu links with the Dragon Odjn. This grants Ryu the power to change into an nigh invincible draconic being but each use of his dragon powers brings Ryu closer to death (represented by the D-Counter). Even worse, the D-Counter still rises throughout the game even if Ryu never uses his powers.
* In ''VideoGame/ExaPico'', Third Generation Reyvateils suffer from this due to their human bodies not being capable of withstanding the Towers' energy coursing through them. Therefore, they can live up to 20 years without applying a trimestral dose of life extending medicine, and even then, if their partners aren't keeping tabs on administrating said medicine in a timely manner past a certain age, it's possible they won't get past their 40s.

* Every time ComicBook/JaneFoster transforms into ComicBook/{{Thor}}, all poisons are purged from her body, which unfortunately includes the chemotherapy drugs she needs to treat her cancer. Effectively, she dies a little more each time she picks up the hammer, but refuses to stop protecting the world as Thor even as it kills her.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/JaneFoster https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/janethor.png]]]]

* Every time ComicBook/JaneFoster transforms into ComicBook/{{Thor}}, all poisons are purged from her body, which unfortunately includes the chemotherapy drugs she needs to treat her cancer. Effectively, she dies a little more each time she picks up the hammer, but refuses to stop protecting world as Thor even as it kills her.
* During the Dark Reign period of Marvel comics, [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] was having this issue to the point where her energy powers caused her to just explode.

* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' [[spoiler:the powers of the Fantastic Four turn out to be examples of this. The same exposure to cosmic radiation that gave them their powers is slowly killing them.]]