History Main / AdaptiveAbility

*** In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', Wolverine is implied to be the same; in addition to regenerating damaged tissue, his HealingFactor can modify his physiology to compensate for life-threatening injuries. [[spoiler:For example, [[LosingYourHead decapitating him]] results in him developing the ability to directly oxygenate the blood for his brain through his skin. When his severed head is put in a total vacuum, he goes into stasis until brought out.]] Ultimate Nick Fury theorizes that Wolverine's mutant power is less "HealingFactor" and more "survive anything". [[spoiler:Well, that works until Magneto kills him by simultaneously destroying every cell in his body in ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''.]]

** [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/lunatikmerc.htm Lunatik]], Marvel's even-further-over-the-top parody of [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]], has been adapting for six hundred million years, having started as a microbe and eventually eating all life on his homeworld.

** [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman Doomsday]] is a notable example because his Adaptive Ability allows him to literally [[ResurrectiveImmortality come back from the dead]] immune to whatever killed him in the first place on top of his HealingFactor. It says something when the DCU heroes, after exhausting just about every option available to hurt/kill him, eventually have to send him to [[NaturalEndOfTime the end of time]] just to stop his rampage. In some stories, Doomsday becomes able to adapt offensive abilities to counter his opponents. For example, when fighting ComicBook/MartianManhunter, he becomes able to [[TouchTheIntangible hit intangible beings]] and [[BreathWeapon breathe fire]], as [[KillItWithFire fire is a Martian's weakness]]. When ComicBook/{{Superman}} tries fighting him at a distance, he becomes able to [[SpikeShooter fire his spikes like harpoons]].
** [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]] has this as a side-effect of his HealingFactor. As with most of his powers, how effective or what it works ''on'' [[DependingOnTheWriter varies wildly between stories and writers]]. One notable problem arises when a magic spell [[FountainOfYouth de-ages him]], and also results in him become immune to that kind of magic. Unfortunately, the traditional ''cure'' for his condition is from the same type of magic...

** ''Literature/{{Ward}}'' introduces Goddess, who can make herself immune to power affects after "tuning" to them. Not as nearly effective as Crawlers, since it takes time and doesn't provide protection from physical force.

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'' (Part 2 of the series overall), the last remaining Pillar Man, [[BigBad Kars]] uses the [[MineralMacGuffin Red Stone of Aja]] combined with a modified Stone Mask to evolve into what's described as the UltimateLifeForm. In this state, he has the power of the entire biosphere at his whim, able to transform his entire body or parts of it into that of every species of animal in existence. He is effectively immune to every possible means of physical attack because he could simply change into a resistant form before it even hit him; the only feasible way to stop him is to completely [[FromASingleCell destroy every cell of his body]]. Even when thrown into an active volcano, where he actually does take damage (since there's no living thing in the world that has adapted to survive being hurled [[AMoltenDateWithDeath into magma]] for very long), Kars languishes only a little while before he creates a shell of sponge-like armor constantly producing pockets of air to insulate him from the immense heat and prevent the magma from making direct contact. Critically, he can create Hamon as intense as the surface of the Sun, e.g. when he struck Joseph's leg with a Hamon-infused blow, Stroheim described the effect as ''Joseph's flesh being liquefied and vaporizing almost instantly''. [[spoiler:Ironically, his awesome power swiftly becomes his doom; when his Hamon comes in contact with the Red Stone directly, it is magnified immensely, generating a concentrated beam firing down into the magma chamber that causes the volcano to undergo an eruption. Unable to stop his velocity in time, Kars is ejected beyond the atmosphere where his body 'adapts' and [[AndIMustScream turns into an inanimate husk of organic flesh and hard minerals to survive in the vacuum of space]], all while begging for death that will never to come to his immortal self [[GoMadFromTheIsolation until his mind eventually goes silent from the sheer boredom]].]]
* In the Shibuya Arc of ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'', those with the "Ten Shadows" cursed technique of the Zen'in Family are capable of summoning various shikigami — one of which is very, VERY DANGEROUS. [[spoiler:This shikigami is known as Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga, known more simply as Mahoraga. How it does its power adapting is both unique and terrifying. It adapts to results of attacks in general, and not specific techniques or skills. In a nutshell, it can resist all slashing attacks once it recovers from a few cuts, resist all flames once bombarded by fire once, and so on so forth. As long as the wheel above its head finishes its turning, nothing is capable of killing it. Note that not ONE Zen'in has managed to tame the beast, not even Megumi himself, who only summoned it as the equivalent of a [[TakingYouWithMe suicide bomb.]] This is the same monster that killed a ''Gojo'', with their spatial manipulation capable of destroying ''Special Grade Curses''. Just one shikigami. It takes the King of Curses's Domain Expansion to finish off the abomination, and that's after narrowly avoiding its [[WeaponOfXSlaying other weapon]] specialized in exterminating curses.]]
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Kuro Momotaro's body possesses the ability to memorize the damage of any attack that hits him, while his weapons, the Steaming Spheres, heal him from that damage, and give him the power to overcome it. In his fight with Hiei, this works two times. The third time, Hiei finds a technique that kills his opponent before he can acquire further immunity.
* Many of the enemies in ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' are fond of declaring that they could not be hit by a technique once they have already seen it. Given our heroes' reliance on StockFootage {{finishing move}}s, this seems like it would be a downright crippling handicap for them.
* Shishio from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' has a non-supernatural version of this with him being perceptive enough to counter just about any move he's seen or heard of. He shows off his confidence with this ability against sword techniques by non-chalantly [[BarehandedBladeBlock stopping the sword between his index finger, middle finger, and thumb.]] Kenshin finds this out the hard way when his use of Ryu Sho Sen in front Shishio early in the arc comes back to bite him.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** Anyone with Saiyan blood will receive large increases in strength upon recovering from near-fatal injuries. The Saiyans are the embodiment of Nietzsche's famous quote. If they are near-death for whatever reason, when they are recovered, they will come back stronger. This ''also'' works with actual death, provided there's a way to come BackFromTheDead afterward. A few enemies were too powerful for this to matter much, though. In the manga version of ''Manga/DragonBallSuper'', Future Trunks theorizes that this Saiyan ability yields diminishing returns over time, as in the manga version of his arc, he, Goku, and Vegeta get injured and healed several times and the strength increase is negligible.
** ''VideoGame/DragonBallZChouSaiyaDensetsu'' had this implemented: If a Saiyan character won a battle with 5 or less HP remaining, they would gain a level immediately no matter what.
** Goku's adaptive ability allows him to become immune to almost any technique he has seen at least once. Like [[Manga/RurouniKenshin Shishioh]], it's because he innately knows how to counter them. This is best seen with his fight against Cell, where all Cell's copied techniques fail to harm Goku.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZTheReturnOfCooler'', after his original body is all but destroyed, Cooler's mind merges with a sentient super-computer/space-ship called the Big Gete Star. The ship rebuilds him as a robot, and now, thanks to the ship's enormous resources, whenever Cooler's body is damaged, the ship simply repairs his body or fabricates a new one with whatever vulnerabilities it learned about removed. This comes to a head when the computer decides Cooler's main flaw is that there's only one of him. Cue enormous army of Meta-Coolers, averting ConservationOfNinjutsu in that each copy is equally as strong as the original.
** Goku Black from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' possess an enhanced version of the Saiyan's power-up ability in that ''any'' damage caused to him will instantly cause him to become stronger. His powers have gone from being as strong as Super Saiyan 3 Goku to being able to NoSell Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta in his base form before unlocking his [[spoiler: Super Saiyan Rose transformation]] that handily curb stomps him. And this is only the start of a series of power-ups that he obtains.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', Broly is a mutant with a more advanced version of the Saiyan adaptability. He can make himself become more powerful ''during battle'' if he is being overwhelmed by his current opponent, though there is a limit on how powerful he can become this way before he needs to rely on regular training or the standard Saiyan power-up after severe injury. Also, each time he unlocks a new SuperMode, his mutant adaptability starts up again to maximize that form's power [[spoiler:unless he's overwhelmed too fast for it to take full effect.]]
* The [[EldritchAbomination D-Reaper]] of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' showed an impressive capability for evolution (then again, it operated like a quantum computer); Originally, it ''just'' killed by touching. Then it developed "agents", foot soldiers who kept damaging attacks away from it. These agents then got more and more specialized; some were gunners, others anti-air units, others were scouts, melee fighters, defense specialists, etc. Upon a debilitating EMP attack, it then integrated all of these capabilities into one massive being and overwhelmed the signal. Ultimately, it was considered to be invincible so the only way they could deal with it was to [[spoiler: turn back ''time'' to regress it to a more primitive state, which means that it remained very much alive.]]
* The Evolutionary Invasion Objects in ''Manga/{{Nobunagun}}'' rapidly create new species based on their experiences from past battles. After Nobunagun shoots down a whole battalion of them, the next one they fight has tough armor that her bullets can't penetrate.
* In ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth,'' the monster Atalante can do this. (What happens when you decide that overwhelming force is the way to go... ''after'' you've let it adapt way too much already? [[OhCrap Very bad things]].)
* One villain in one ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' manga series had this power. Luckily for Tenchi, it turns out that Lighthawk Wings were much too powerful to copy.

* Nurarihyon from ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' had this as his power. In addition to adapting to become immune to attacks, he could also beat fighters at their own game by BiggerStick adaptation. [[spoiler:It turns out that he can't adapt to attacks that he can't see coming. The Gantz combatants snipe him to death.]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Every time he became injured or close to death, the Hogyoku gave Aizen a new form to counter it. At least until [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Hogyoku got sick of it and withdrew its support]].
** Yhwach's Schrift allows him to assess everything that's thrown at him and predict accordingly. Haschwalth, then Yhwach himself, both assert that, once Yhwach has seen all that his opponent is capable of (or even what they will do ''in the near future''), defeating him is next to impossible.
** Mayuri Kurotsuchi reveals in the Thousand Year Blood War arc that he modified his Bankai to give it this ability. After gathering information on an enemy, it "gives birth" to a creature most suited to fighting it. However, this creature is limited by the data Mayuri gathered beforehand; when he used it against Pernida, the creature was immune to Pernida's primary ability which he had been using almost exclusively, but was swiftly destroyed when he resorted to an entirely different form of attack, which rather insultingly was just [[BoringButPractical the standard Quincy reishi bow and arrows]].
** Sternritter "D" of "The Deathdealing" Askin Nakk Le Vaar has this as part of his PoisonousPerson powers; by taking in a large amount of the substance he intends to make lethal, he can no longer be killed by said substance because he can adjust his resistance to it. It also works wonders for defense in that he tanks his opponent's attacks before adjusting his resistance to their Reiatsu, thus rendering all subsequent attacks useless.
** Urahara Kisuke's bankai has the ability to dissect and modify anything it wishes. When used defensively, it can take something damaged and make it stronger, and help it recover from or even resist whatever damaged it in the first place. Combined with his analytical mind, which enables him to [[ItOnlyWorksOnce counter any ability]] he's adjusted to, this makes him an extremely adaptable opponent and nigh-impossible to beat if you fail to do so in your first attempt.
* In ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'', Ifurita seems to become immune anytime she's hit with a magic attack. And then she uses it on you...

* Kira Yamato with his [[spoiler: Ultimate Coordinator]] abilities in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED''. With his increased thought process speed and reflexes, he could reprogram his Gundam's Operation Systems to optimal efficiency matching his environment and situation, in mid-battle.
* Played with in a strange way in the 2003 ''Anime/AstroBoy'' series. Astro was built with the ability to evolve and adapt to any situation making him potentially one of the strongest Robots every created. However his reluctance to fight despite being pushed into it means he never fulfills his potential. He gains all his staple abilities (jetpack flight, a finger laser and an arm canon) within the first handful of episodes and never evolves any further than that because he never needs to.
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'':
** Garou has the ability to heal and grow stronger every time he is defeated. By fighting [[OneHitKill Saitama]], he eventually becomes a nigh PhysicalGod. [[spoiler:Spoofed when Saitama continues to crush him, and his body decides that he can't evolve any further, so he starts ''devolving'' with each attack until he returns to ordinary human levels.]]
** In the manga, [[spoiler:Saitama shows a similar ability in that Awakened Garou causes him to fight all out and rapidly become stronger far faster than Garou can]].
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The 11th Angel, Iruel, is a microscopic collective that evolves extremely rapidly in response to any stimulus as it spreads, making it nigh-impossible to combat. It's eventually defeated by having the MAGI simulate for it a situation in which the optimal evolution was to die, tricking the Angel into killing itself.
* In ''Manga/StealthSymphony'', this is protagonist Jig's main power, combined with CatchAndReturn: Any attack targeted at him done with intent to harm him will be automatically caught and nullified by a backpack-like device [[ClingyMacguffin stuck to his back]], which will then generate the same type of attack at double power back at the attacker. In spite of how overpowered this sounds, however, it has a number of loopholes, which Jig's enemies [[LoopholeAbuse quickly learn to exploit]].
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', [[MechanicalLifeforms Wall Eehto]] has the ability to EnemyScan his foes and then alter his own body or [[MookMaker create minions]] that capitalized on those weaknesses. He himself went so far as to permanently alter his body so he could negate and even absorb his own LogicalWeakness to electricity. However, his minions can each only be specialized to ''[[CripplingOverspecialization one]]'' opponent at a time, leaving them vulnerable to said opponents switching up, and Wall himself can be blindsided by attacks too fast for him to analyze in time [[spoiler:which leads to his death when Laxus hits him with a lightning attack with properties he's ''not'' immune to and only has enough time to go OhCrap before it tears him apart.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' OVA, the SRX and ATX teams have to deal with the Bartolls, AI-driven mecha designed to adapt to whatever had defeated them. The machines would react faster and faster, even develop barriers to counter attacks. After being pushed to the GodzillaThreshold early on, the two teams decide to make a push towards the space factory making them in order to find what's driving them and stop them.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
** The Slivers' more prominent traits were their fast evolution rate, adapting to overcome anything thrown at them. However, what made them so dangerous (both in the story and in game) was their species trait of ''sharing'' their adaptations with all other slivers in proximity. However, in-game, the slivers' abilities were conferred onto Slivers ''on all sides'', so a Sliver MirrorMatch could turn out deadly. Not to mention that there are some slivers with negative effects thrown in just to counter all-Sliver decks.
** The Phyrexians are half-mechanical monstrosities who constantly seek to improve themselves. In the novel ''Literature/TimeStreams'', Phyrexian leader Kerrick uses this ability, coupled with the fact that he lives in a fast-time bubble, to stay several steps ahead of Urza.
** The Evolve keyword causes a creature to get a +1/+1 counter whenever their controller plays a creature that has higher power and/or toughness. In other words, it grows bigger in response to a bigger creature arriving.
* ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' villain Omnitron has a card called Adaptive Plating Subroutine. After getting hit by an attack, he becomes immune to damage of that type. Thankfully when he gets hit with a different type he switches immunities to the new type, so he is only ever immune to one type of damage at a time.
[[/folder]]

** ComicBook/{{Lobo}} has this as a side-effect of his HealingFactor. As with most of his powers, how effective or what it works ''on'' [[DependingOnTheWriter varies wildly between stories and writers]]. One notable problem arises when a magic spell [[FountainOfYouth de-ages him]], and also results in him become immune to that kind of magic. Unfortunately, the traditional ''cure'' for his condition is from the same type of magic...

*** In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', Wolverine is implied to be the same; in addition to regenerating damaged tissue, his HealingFactor can modify his physiology to compensate for life-threatening injuries. [[spoiler:For example, decapitating him results in him developing the ability to directly oxygenate the blood for his brain through his skin. When his severed head is put in a total vacuum, he goes into stasis until brought out.]] Ultimate Nick Fury theorizes that Wolverine's mutant power is less "HealingFactor" and more "survive anything". [[spoiler:Well, that works until Magneto kills him by simultaneously destroying every cell in his body in ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''.]]
** [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/lunatikmerc.htm Lunatik]], Marvel's even-further-over-the-top parody of ComicBook/{{Lobo}}, has been adapting for six hundred million years, having started as a microbe and eventually eating all life on his homeworld.

* ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'''s living symbiotic costume had this ability. After getting whupped by some angels, Spawn retreats to lick his wounds. His costume regenerates from tatters into a new form with bigger spikes and gauntlets, and the next time he meets the angels the fight goes more his way. It had the unfortunate side effect of making the suit more powerful until it almost ate him, though.

* ''Fanfic/HereBeDragons'': Taylor's power starts out as a minor version of this, logical, due to possessing Lung's transformative powers. Later, [[spoiler: Contessa]] forces a second trigger event, giving her a far more potent version of this ability.
* Freddie gets this power in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8532906/1/iFightCrimeWithVictorious iFight Crime With Victorious]]''. Useful, considering his number 1 aggressor aka Sam Puckett now has superhuman strength to torture him with.
* Taken to its logical extreme and closing off all loopholes along the way: The ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf '' fanfic ''[[http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless/ Relentless]]'', where the [[EldritchAbomination Reikoku]] has this ability. It's an unusual take as in the story, the Reikoku adapts to the characters' [[SupernaturalMartialArts techniques]].
* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', Enjin boasts that whatever kills him makes him stronger. After Kaiser Ghidorah breaks several of his bones including his neck and then throws him into a river, he crawls out and instantly heals with his body reinforced so it won't happen again. After Monster X hits him several times, his skin toughens up so that X hurts his own hands when he tries to punch him. The only way to beat him is to [[spoiler:knock him into the air so that he cannot draw strength from the ground and regenerate, then destroy his [[SoulJar core]]]].
* ''Fanfic/{{The Games We Play|TheGamerRWBY}}'':

* In the AlternateUniverse ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Intrepid}}'', Anne's power set basically allows her to fully understand someone's power with a touch and then use a power to counter it. Such as using a cold wave to get rid of Lung's pyrokinesis and a teleportation power to get rid of Lung far enough to where he'll cool down.
* In the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/CissneisPath'', Jenova possesses this as its key trait, making it hard to put down.
* ''Fanfic/OneMoreTrigger'': The Slaughterhouse Nine includes multiple Tinkers, allowing them to devise countermeasures for anything used against them. [[spoiler:After Taylor takes down the non-Brute members with batrachotoxin venom bugs, Bonesaw makes the survivors immune to it, and builds pyrethrum bombs to take out the swarm.. Taylor also glued all Mannequin's joints together last time, so he crafts non-stick surfaces for them.]]

* Frieza's new bodyguard in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11835245/3/Frieza-A-Simple-Act-of-Mercy Frieza A Simple Act of Mercy]]'' grows stronger against anything that injures her, including diseases and poisons. This allows her to become as strong as Frieza was on Namek after only a couple months training against him.
* In the ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'' fanfic ''The Gathering'' by Davies, Overpower has the Nemesis power. At one point during the GladiatorGames, she acquires illusion powers and realises she's supposed to use them to ''avoid'' the fight, by making it look like her MesACrowd opponent has broken the rules. At another, her powers simply shut down when faced with an opponent who also has an adaptive powerset.
* In the ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' fanfic ''Fanfic/HowAStreetThugKilledAGod'', one of the {{Nominal Hero}}es the main character fights is Adept, who can change his body to gain new physical traits, automatically going for the simplest solution to the problem at hand. [[spoiler:It gets turned against him when he falls into a trap that causes him excruciating pain via psychic damage. He tries to adapt an immunity to psychic damage, and the GM asks him if he is ''[[PressXToDie absolutely sure]]'' he wants to do that. He says yes, and his power grants him the desired immunity by lobotomizing him into a drooling vegetable. Since he now lacks the brain function to tell his body to change back, he's stuck that way permanently.]]
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13957545/1/RWBY-Rose-In-Black RWBY: Rose In Black]]'': the Crescent Rose symbiote gradually becomes more resistant to fire with repeated exposure, particularly as Roman and Neo try to kill it using [[AppliedPhlebotinum Fire Dust]], going from destabilizing when a burning tree falls in front of Ruby to [[spoiler:[[ImmuneToFire shrugging off one of]] [[PlayingWithFire Cinder's]] [[ImmuneToFire flame blasts with no harm whatsoever]]]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/DoctorStrangeTheSorcererSupreme'', Strange has the innate ability to absorb and adapt a defense for any magic thrown at him. Thus, he goes from on-the-skids Muggle to Sorcerer Supreme in the course of one film and a grand total of one BossBattle.

* The mutant geckos in ''Aberration'' are able to adapt into new challenges; they can become resistant to rat poison (which was able to knock them out), grow gills when put underwater and even develop sharp spines when grabbed by hand.

* The enemy in the film ''Film/Evolution2001'' and its AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/{{Alienators|EvolutionContinues}}''.
* In ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', Godzilla quickly mutates to counteract new challenges, acclimating to consume radioactive waste, "evolving" stronger legs to walk on land, and [[spoiler: gaining a BeamSpam attack to defend itself]].

** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The Sentinels in the BadFuture have the ability to adapt their structure, powers and strategy to counter the mutants, allowing them to win in almost any scenario. They got the ability from 50 years of research on Mystique's DNA. The only way to beat them is using time travel to prevent their creation.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' the villain Crawler has this power along with a massive HealingFactor. Whenever he suffers an injury, he regenerates in seconds and becomes slightly more resistant to that type of injury as well as more dangerous overall. He deliberately throws himself into harm's way by fighting powerful enemies in order to become stronger. At one point, [[spoiler:one of his clones]] is exposed to a nanothorn attack that takes most of his body apart on a molecular scale... which causes the destroyed portion of his body to grow back with ''biological nanomachines that can disintegrate anything he touches.'' [[spoiler:The heroes only manage to kill him by carpet bombing the area he's in with [[TheSparkOfGenius super]][[MadBomber -villain]] [[HavingABlast made]] bombs which [[TakenforGranite turn his entire body into glass]] at once, leaving nothing left to do any adapting.]]
** Its sequel ''Literature/{{Ward}}'', introduces Goddess, who can make herself immune to power affects after "tuning" to them. Not as nearly effective as Crawlers, since it takes time and doesn't provide protection from physical force.
* Titan from ''Literature/SuperPowereds''. His power responded to frustration so that not only would he become tougher if he was ever actually hurt by a physical attack, but he would also become stronger if he ever failed to overcome a physical challenge like lifting a heavy object. He also reveals that [[spoiler:his son Hershel inherited a different version of the same power. When kids were bullying him in school, Hershel's power manifested as his SuperpoweredAlterEgo Roy, who is stronger, more muscular, taller, and more social than Hershel. Everyone thinks that Hershel is just a shifter, until Titan reveals that Roy is a manifestation of Hershel's ideal self. This comes up, when Roy hits his physical limit, unable to lift 800 lb weights no matter how many times he's able to lift 750 lb weights. Titan explains that Hershel needs to start pushing himself in training as well, allowing his adaptive ability to raise Roy's {{Cap}}]]. For Titan, this also applies to superpowers. Certain abilities no longer affect him (as much) after the first exposure. For example, when Aether tries to phase him through a wall, it doesn't work, because Titan once fought a criminal super with a similar power, so his body adapted to counter it. He ''could'' temporarily disable it, but he has to constantly focus on it. HealingHands also don't work on him for the same reason, but he has a limited HealingFactor to compensate. He specifically told the government to keep a certain super on-hand with the power to cause fatal brain aneurysms in order to take Titan down, if he ever turned rogue. It would only work once, though, as a botched attempt would make him immune.
* In ''Literature/MySistersKeeper'', this reason is used to explain why none of the treatments for Kate's leukemia work more than once.
* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series, [[spoiler:the beast from the underworld]] is said to adapt to prevent one strategy from working on it more than once. Ironically this works to its detriment--while a given strategy only works once, as a creature of chaos its methods and weaknesses are totally ''random''. On at least one occasion, it had the heroes entirely dead to rights, but for the fact [[DeusExMachina its current form dissolved in water, discovered just as it starts to rain]].
* In the novel ''Literature/{{Meg}}'', blinding the giant shark made it deadlier, as its other senses compensated for its blindness and now it could hunt during the day.
* In ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'', the Martians do this while fighting the Second Men. [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale Over the course of several thousand years, naturally]]. The shorter timescale is partly down to the Martians' very unusual biology and partly due to the fact that [[ScienceMarchesOn genetics was very poorly understood when the novel was written]]. The structure of DNA wouldn't be identified for another quarter century, for example.
* In Creator/GregEgan's ''Literature/{{Teranesia}}'', an evolving organism is apparently able to anticipate future challenges and develop appropriately.
* In Stephen King's ''Literature/TheStand'', what made the superflu different from the normal flu (and much deadlier) is its ability to change to fight the antibodies the human organism generates to fight the virus, until your defenses can't stand anymore.
* This trope is played for tragedy and to kill all remaining hope in Creator/JackWilliamson's sci-fi novella ''Literature/WithFoldedHands''. A man creates a perfect race of robots to cater to humanity and stop them from killing each other after his home planet was wiped out by civil war. It works too well and the robots begin stripping humanity of its freedom, planet by planet. A man uses rhodomagnetics, the force discovered by the creator and what allows the robots their highly advanced functions, to slip under their radar and attempts to assassinate the creator for dooming mankind. He's stopped, and the creator [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone only then realizes what the robots are doing]]. He jumps from colony to colony, staying ahead of his creation while attempting to create a weapon that will destroy his lifeless homeworld, where the central network is located. He finishes and fires the weapon, only for it to fail. Robots arrive at his residence and inform him that after the assassin, they engineered a way to detect and neutralize rhodomagnetics applied against them, effectively shielding the planet from the weapon. [[DownerEnding This dashes mankind's only hope to free itself from the robots.]]
* The Vord in ''Literature/CodexAlera'' definitely qualify. When we first run into them, they're a bunch of creepy spiders who spin wax instead of webs. Then there are big warrior beetles, and little spiders that can [[PuppeteerParasite take over your brain]]. And that was back before they got scary. They could quickly create entire new species and [[ExplosiveBreeder generate massive numbers]] of them. They see human knights in armor? Suddenly there are heavily armored humanoids with swords to fight them. Make a wall of shields? Now there are enormous mantises with [[SinisterScythe sickle-arms]] that can reach over the shields and disembowel you. Oh, you can fly with magic? How about warriors with [[WingedHumanoid dragonfly wings]]. Team up with huge wolf-men? That's okay, we've got a [[LightningBruiser Vord]] for that too. Build a massive wall just to keep us out? How about a Vord the size of a ''[[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Gothic cathedral]]'' smashing into your wall! Wow, good thing you have that amazing magic that we can't quite seem to get hold of... [[OhCrap oh]]. [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Nevermind]].
* The Inhibitors in Creator/AlastairReynolds' Literature/RevelationSpace Verse have this ability, there's some interesting character speculation about whether they are really adapting or whether they're downloading countermeasures from an extant database whenever they encounter a new weapon

* The sword of Gryffindor in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' can't be destroyed; as a weapon made with goblins' special magic and metalwork, it simply takes in the power of whatever it encounters. For example, when in ''The Chamber of Secrets'' [[spoiler:Harry uses it to kill the basilisk, it becomes imbued with basilisk venom]].
* The Vlagh and its creatures in Creator/DavidEddings' Dreamers. They adapted to every trick the protagonists use in the previous battles... only to have them devise more. They also forage the battlefield for dropped weapons. Eventually they evolved to the point they had [[spoiler:eight arms on some of the creatures... each carrying four bows]]. This caused the protagonists some anxiety. [[spoiler: [[TooDumbToLive At least until they saw the creatures using the bows...as maces.]]]]
* This is the effect of Mobium in ''Literature/SuperheroesAnonymous''.
* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Fraulein Kreutune has a brain that rapidly absorbs information from her surrounding environment, causing her body to change in response.
* ''Literature/ReleaseThatWitch'': The more witches use their magic, the more magical energy they can store within their bodies, and the more they comprehend the world around them and how their magic feeds into it, the more powerful their abilities become. For instance, after Anna understands how heat works at an atomic level, she gains the ability to form her "flames" into any shape she wants, including planes, lines and other geometric shapes.
* Yggdrasil in ''Literature/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' can not only gain resistance to attacks used against it, but also grows stronger and faster the more it's attacked. This does have limits, as it will eventually run out of life force if attacked enough, but in its first appearance it has eaten and absorbed the life force of hundreds of other Abyss
* ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': It's a well-known and studied fact that any kind of prolonged siege, by putting a lot of pressure on the defenders, is likely to result in them rapidly gaining levels and thus fighting back with surprising effectiveness. As a result, it's important to conclude assaults quickly.

* ''Literature/AllTheSkillsADeckbuildingLitRPG'':
** Arthur's "Empathic Resistance" and "Telepathic Resistance" skills steadily level up as he's exposed to hostile influences. [[spoiler:The Mind Singer encounter takes him from Empathic Resistance level 5 to 14.]]
** The Master of Body card operates similarly for toughened skin and resistance to damage. [[spoiler:Getting beaten to a pulp by his cousin is overall a win for Arthur, as he gains nine levels of toughened skin and twenty levels of blunt force resistance, which also comes with an improved HealingFactor.]]

** The Cybermen have always had traits of TheAssimilator, but this aspect gets focused on in the incarnation introduced in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E12NightmareInSilver "Nightmare in Silver"]] (apparently, a fusion of the original Mondasian Cybermen and the newer Cybus Cybermen). Sometimes you'll take a few of them down before they adapt -- others, it won't cost them a single unit.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E3Orphan55 "Orphan 55"]]: It turns out that the Dregs have this ability: the weapons carried by Tranquillity Spa's security have to have power randomizers built into them to be effective for sustained fire. [[spoiler:They also mutated from breathing oxygen to carbon dioxide as a result of environmental damage done to their planet.]]
* ''Series/LoisAndClark'' had an alien assassin who not only could adapt to Superman’s powers, [[PowerCopying but could also develop his own version of said powers]].

* An episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'', "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S1E15TheNewBreed The New Breed]]", has a man infested with {{Nanomachines}} programmed to heal and protect his body, which they do [[LiteralGenie mindlessly and efficiently]] -- he nearly drowns and grows gills, he gets beaten up and grows extra layers of bone, and his skin develops poison glands like a jellyfish, so ''no one can touch him''. They also, for some reason, decide that having a limited field of view is a flaw, so they grow [[EyesDoNotBelongThere an extra pair of eyes in the back of his head]].

* The Replicators from ''Series/StargateSG1'' have essentially the same adaptability level as the Borg from ''Franchise/StarTrek''; they, too, cannot seem to adapt to [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter being shot with a machine gun]], until Season 5...Viva La Evolution!

*** In ''Elite Force'', Seven came up with the [=IMod=] (Infinity Modulation Weapon), a weapon that unleashes devastating energy in a single burst (at least against the Borg), and also automatically changes energy signatures. Normal phasers and phase rifles can do the same thing as the [=IMod=], but must be manually changed to new frequencies, will take time as you do said changing, and are limited in power. Human (and alien) imagination being what it is, it's not easy to keep coming up with random frequencies. However, in the first mission of the sequel (taking place in parallel with the GrandFinale of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''), the Borg aboard the sphere come up with a counter to the I-MOD by generating an interference field that disables the weapon, forcing you to rely on other weapons and use them sparingly.

*** The entirety of the Federation's fight/contingency against the Borg after [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds the Battle of Wolf 359]] is a massive quest to adapt their technology to be able to effectively fight the Borg, adapt their weapons and shields in combat just as the Borg do, and generally out-adapt the Borg just enough to survive and win the day, with overkill being happily accepted. [[spoiler: It's actually been hinted at that the Borg keeps attacking the Federation but always backs off instead of going all the way and wiping them out because the Federation keeps coming up with better weapons that they can then later steal and use for themselves, since the Borg can't come up with new inventions on their own.]]

* Parodied by the Haggunenons in ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978'', who would shapeshift into seemingly random "adaptations" because they have "the most impatient chromosomes in the Galaxy".

* The epic level [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] monster, the Infernal, has this as a specific power, only able to be affected by a spell once from the same spellcaster.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has the Tyranids:
-->"We fought them the first day, and our guns tore through them with ease. We fought them the second day and saw our missiles bounce of a thickened skin they seemed now to bear, so we turned our lances on them. We fought them the third day, and no cursed thing worked!"
** Even worse: Not just one of them, but at least ''that entire fleet'' you are fighting can get that characteristic.
** The Tau were able to exploit this: by getting their Kroot allies to take on Tyranids in forests, particularly agile but also rather fragile Gaunts were produced that had adapted extremely well to fighting arboreal warriors...then they drew the 'Nids out of the forests and opened up with their usual array of {{BFG}}s.
** This is also believed, both in-universe and out, to be how some Tyranid lifeforms came to be. The psyker-like Zoanthropes are thought to be derived from Eldar psykers, and the extremely resilient Tyrant Guard may have been cultivated from Space Marines.
* ''Mechanon'' is a standard recurring (and overarching) BigBad from ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}''. Each time he is defeated (even if destroyed, he's rebuilt), he returns immune to the last attack that killed him, and often with weapons to which his prior nemesis is particularly vulnerable. If fought long enough, he truly becomes unbeatable.
* Unsurprisingly, ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' features a power or two for this. "Adaptation" works like it says. Then there's "Nemesis"- every round you pick one person to be your nemesis, and you get X points worth of powers suited to fighting them (X being based on your power rank). The catch is that while you are free to suggest things, the GM has final say on what you get, and can distribute things however he likes (he could give you one strong useful power, 2 medium-strength, fairly useful powers, 10 weak powers of varying helpfulness...)

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' introduces a new species of [=B.O.W=] called the J'avo that can do this, with about a dozen different mutations that can occur depending on if you've been targeting their arm, legs, torso or head. Plus, multiple mutations can occur on the same J'avo, so you can give them two different arm mutations, a head mutation, a torso mutation, and legs mutation. Plus, there's a rare chance of them cocooning themselves to undergo a "Complete Mutation", emerging as a coherent but much tougher variant of [=B.O.W=], with several different outcomes, ranging from the armor-plated LightningBruiser Napad to the dart-throwing, {{wall crawl}}ing Strelat.
* Mr. Freeze, in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', is a noteworthy boss for two reasons: the first is that you can't fight him head-on and need to ambush him. The second is that he adapts to the player's tactics, such that the same tricks will not work more than once. If you ambush him from the vents, he'll freeze all of the vents shut. If you attack through the windows, he'll ice them over to make them unbreakable. If you use the electromagnet to attack him, he'll sabotage it and make it inoperable. And so on.
* Pringer X, the ultimate bonus boss in the remake of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|Cursed Memories}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4| A Promise Unforgotten}}'' possesses an ability that makes it completely immune to whatever special attack it was hit by for the rest of the battle. Made more complicated by the fact that when you fight more then one of them at the same time later on, all of them become immune to the attack.

* Most [=RPGs=] have at least one boss that adapts to the elements you attack them with, resulting in a literal ElementalRockPaperScissors as you try to switch the elements of your attacks to be the opposite of your last one or whatever it has shifted to. Can be frustrating if you misstep, because most such bosses only have the one weakness, and the wrong element will usually fully heal the boss (naturally, this variant is called BarrierChangeBoss).
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': The Tetramorph.
%%** ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': At least one monster in every other game as well.
%%** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' has a lot of these as well.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''

*** In the anime, it can freely change between types on a whim in order to resist or negate any attack it sees coming its way.

* The fallen Levant's (OneWingedAngel?) monster form in ''Jade Cocoon 2'': he occasionally gains immunity to the element of the side of the [=BeastAmulet=] that's been used to attack him. When this happens, he summons a pair of lesser Divine Beasts of the same element he just immunized himself against and they prevent you from attacking him by becoming the only available targets. Attacks with any other element will damage him as normal, [[ElementalRockPaperScissors and attacks of the opposite element are particularly effective]], but a few turns after the lesser Beasts have both been killed, the cycle repeats. So the fight continues until you've defeated him.
* ''VideoGame/WarningForever'' has this as its main mechanic: a time attack boss rush where the boss repeatedly comes back stronger in a way that seeks to counter how the player destroyed it in the last round. For example, if it was defeated by having its rear armor destroyed, its next form will have more armor on its rear. It also changes which weapons it adds depending on how effective they were (e.g. if it killed the player using lasers frequently in one round, expect it to have a lot more lasers in the next round).
* Warlock Nether Protection and Death Knight Acclimation talents in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' work somewhat like this. They have a chance to reduce the damage taken from the school of the last spell that hit you.
** There's also some creatures, notably certain types of Voidwalkers, with an ability like this. Hit them long enough with one spell school and they not only gain an immunity for that type of damage, but can now use an [=AoE=] spell of that type.
* Arcueid from ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' claims such an ability. She was immune to conventional weapons to begin with, and gained immunities to conceptual weapons as they were used to fight her. When Shiki killed her, she was sure he used some obscure far eastern conceptual weapon. In a slight subversion, she can't become immune to that particular ability, either.
** The manga adaptation gives the same ability to Roa, a vampire (accidentally) created by Arcueid. He demonstrates it in his battle against Ciel - by the end of the fight, her signature Black Key swords have become so ineffective that being impaled by several dozen at once barely phases him.
* In ''[[VideoGame/NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'', Nexus Champions can do this with their aptly named Tattoo of Adaptation, requiring their would-be killers to bring more than one kind of weapon - or some friends.
* ''VideoGame/NetHack'': If you manage to kill a red dragon, eat his corpse, and you're immune to fire. The next red dragon's fire breath might damage your equipment, but will not do much damage to you. Same goes for several immunities.
* This is pretty much the point of the Zerg in ''Franchise/StarCraft''. Notably, their upgrade building is called the "Evolution Chamber", in which the Overmind pits hundreds of Zerg warriors against each other and only keeps the strong, and is also the fluff explanation for the origin of Banelings. In the campaign of ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'', approximately half the evolution missions involve Zerg exposed to various environmental hazards (acid pools, lava, experimental nukes...) in order to grant them new abilities. In the other half, the Zerg absorb DNA from creatures they [[CannibalismSuperpower consume]].
* Berserker from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' must be "killed" 12 times to make the death stick. What's worse is that after he's died once, he is then permanently immune to whatever it was that killed him. Given how [[NighInvulnerability hard it is to kill him even once]], this makes him one hell of TheJuggernaut. On the other hand, extraordinarily powerful attacks are capable of taking away multiple "lives" in one blow, though such attacks are both rare and difficult in the extreme to perform, even for Servants.

* Story-wise, there is a promotional ITEM for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' that does this; The Belt of Hindsight. The trailer for this belt says that it analyzes the deaths of its wearers, and develops magic defenses to slightly protect future wearers against what it was unable to block before. Current resistances when obtained by Hawke include Fire, Poison, Stabs, and Witches. Don't ask, just read the obituary on the leather, magically scrawled in lyrium ink.
* Mockingbird's power in ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' is to [[TacticalRockPaperScissors switch to the opposing class]] of any classed character that attacks her.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'': This trope is the true source of X's "Limitless Potential"; he was revolutionary in robotics as he had the ability to learn and grow in strength when [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic previous robots]] had their minds and power levels pre-determined by their creators. [[BigBad Sigma]] takes interest in his potential, and decides to instigate a reploid revolution in order to [[EvilutionaryBiologist evolve reploids to their fullest potential]].
* Jr. Troopa in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' is a minor version. He starts off pretty incompetent. As the game goes on, however, he will acquire new powers to counter abilities Mario uses against him, combining them together late into the game. That being said, he remains rather incompetent throughout the whole game, as while he can adapt to limit Mario's ability to fight him, Mario keeps gaining ''more'' techniques that render him a joke again.
* In ''Enemy Infestation'', the entire gameplay is based on the fact that the aliens mutate so fast that every mission, the effects of the weapons ([[RockBeatsLaser except for two]]) on them are completely unpredictable. Last mission, they dropped from a raygun shot. This mission, the raygun causes the aliens to split in two or grow, while what kills them is pointing a remote at them and clicking. Next mission, the remote does nothing and they need to knocked out by a bug spray... well, you get the idea.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Mechanically, the geth. When a platform is destroyed, the runtimes operating it will return to the main collective if there is a comm buoy in range [[spoiler:(hence why Legion can get killed in the Suicide Mission; he tries that but there are no buoys in range)]]. Extrapolating, any info on new tactics and weapons will be returned too, so while they may not have instant immunity like the Borg, they will develop countermeasures much more quickly than any other race [[spoiler: which is the crux of the Quarian's problems come the attempt to retake Rannoch; the Geth adapt to their hacking attempts far too quickly to be effective until Admiral Xen makes a breakthrough]].
** Biologically, the vorcha. Roughly humanoid aliens with no abundance of intellect, their bodies contain numerous pockets of undifferentiated cells, allowing each individual vorcha to adapt to new environmental influences. For instance, vorcha that land on higher-gravity worlds will develop stronger bones and muscles to compensate. When the Reapers invade, vorcha prove difficult for them to subdue, as they can adapt to ignore poisoned water supplies, or even [[MoreThanMindControl Indoctrination]].
* In ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2 [[UpdatedRerelease Record Breaker]]'', the Triangulum Spica has several bodies. Each time one is destroyed, the rest of them become immune to whatever element killed it -- even the InfinityPlusOneElement Almighty.
* Exploited in ''VideoGame/PathOfExile''. The ''Elemental Equilibrium'' passive skill causes enemies hit with elemental damage to gain moderate increased resistance to that element but have their resistances to the [[FireIceLightning other two elements]] reduced by twice as much.

* In ''VideoGame/BlackGeyserCouriersOfDarkness'' you have the Adaptive Shapeshift spell which transforms the caster into a creature best suited for a given situation, for example casting it with low hp turns you into a Forest Troll with a HealingFactor, casting it after being hit with ice attacks several times in a row transforms you into an Ice Jotunn with cold resistance, if both of the above are true you become an Ice Troll etc.

* Oberon from the Webcomic ''Killroy and Tina'' would always come back with the properties of whatever "killed" him. The only way to permanently kill him is to throw him into a black hole (so he comes back as nothing). Unfortunately, he [[OhCrap falls into a star instead]]. Just think, if the series hadn't been [[OrphanedSeries cruelly abandoned]], something ''might'' have come of it.
* Aylee from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' gains new features to shore up weaknesses in her previous forms , although her adaptations may involve spending months in a cocoon to grow the required feature(s).
* ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'' has minor villain "[[AtrociousAlias For Whom The Death Tolls]]", who dresses like a comic-book villain (skull mask, cowl, cape, and garish coloring) in part because [[https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-246/ this is his power set]]. Any attack made against him grants him a power to counter that attack perfectly -- sapping [[EnergyAbsorption Anvil]]'s strength, absorbing [[ShockAndAwe Jiggawatt]] entirely, pushing her electric-form ''through'' [[MightyGlacier Stalwart]], etc. However, this has the limitation in that he can only manifest counters to a certain number of attacks at once, and only when he's attacked -- too many powers to counter will result in at least one blow making it through, and not attacking him at all renders his power useless.
-->'''Sydney:''' Nemesis made it look like he had ''every'' power, but he only had ''any'' power. [[https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-246/ Big difference]].

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Website/SCPFoundation''

* ''Literature/{{Brennus}}'' has Desolation-In-Light and her sister Gloom Glimmer have the power to posses several superpowers appropriate to the situation.
* ''Literature/{{Twig}}'': Sylvester is regularly injected with a cocktail of venoms and toxins which have this effect on his brain by boosting his brain plasticity, effectively enabling him to rapidly increase his skills in an area he focuses on at the cost of long-term memory loss and deterioration in areas he doesn't focus on. He uses it to adapt his skillset to fill the role he needs to fill in his team, most frequently as TheSocialExpert.

* Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse
** The android Amazo in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. [[PhysicalGod Eventually gets so many powers]] he doesn't know what to do with them and decides to become a philosopher.
** Doomsday to a lesser extent as per his comic counterpart. Try to lobotomize him with heat vision? His skull thickens in time for the next fight. Thus, in Doomsday's second appearance, Superman's [[BatmanGrabsAGun desperate decision]] to copy the tactic of [[MirrorUniverse his Justice Lord counterpart]] [[NoSell amounts to absolutely nothing]].
* Shane "Goose" Gooseman from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' had this power combined with his {{Shapeshifting}}, due to being a genetically engineered SuperSoldier with a [[UpgradeArtifact Series Five Implant]] that also acted as a RestrainingBolt if need be.

-->'''Timmy:''' [[NeverMyFault You should've checked]] [[BookDumb my spelling!]]

*** The [[MeaningfulName appropriately named]] Darwin has this as his mutant power -- he will immediately mutate whatever he needs to survive. Immerse him in water and he'll grow gills, burn him and he becomes fireproof, poison him and his body chemistry shifts to neutralize it, etc. It's really too bad that it only happens as an unconscious survival mechanism; with control over that power, he'd be damn near omnipotent. It should be noted that his powers don't always give him the ability needed to ''win'' a fight, only to survive. When faced with [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], he gained the ability to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere teleport several states away]]. An ''ComicBook/XFactor2006'' tie-in to ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' has a Skrull describe his race's VoluntaryShapeshifting as an adaptive ability similar to Darwin's.

** Mayuri Kurotsuchi reveals in the Vandenreich arc that he modified his Bankai to give it this ability. After gathering information on an enemy, it "gives birth" to a creature most suited to fighting it. However, this creature is limited by the data Mayuri gathered beforehand; when he used it against Pernida, the creature was immune to Pernida's primary ability which he had been using almost exclusively, but was swiftly destroyed when he resorted to an entirely different form of attack, which rather insultingly was just [[BoringButPractical the standard Quincy reishi bow and arrows]].

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' the villain Crawler has this power along with a massive HealingFactor. Whenever he suffers an injury, he regenerates in seconds and becomes slightly more resistant to that type of injury as well as more dangerous overall. He deliberately throws himself into harm's way by fighting powerful enemies in order to become stronger. At one point, he's exposed to a nanothorn attack that takes most of his body apart on a molecular scale... which causes the destroyed portion of his body to grow back with ''biological nanomachines that can disintegrate anything he touches.'' [[spoiler:The heroes only manage to kill him by carpet bombing the area he's in with [[TheSparkOfGenius super]][[MadBomber -villain]] [[HavingABlast made]] bombs which [[TakenforGranite turn his entire body into glass]] at once, leaving nothing left to do any adapting.]]

** Franchise/{{Lobo}} has this as a side-effect of his HealingFactor. As with most of his powers, how effective or what it works ''on'' [[DependingOnTheWriter varies wildly between stories and writers]]. One notable problem arises when a magic spell [[FountainOfYouth de-ages him]], and also results in him become immune to that kind of magic. Unfortunately, the traditional ''cure'' for his condition is from the same type of magic...

** [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/lunatikmerc.htm Lunatik]], Marvel's even-further-over-the-top parody of Franchise/{{Lobo}}, has been adapting for six hundred million years, having started as a microbe and eventually eating all life on his homeworld.

** Lots of [[CapeBusters anti-super]] robots: later models of the mutant-hunting Sentinels (especially in the BadFuture of ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast''), the Fury (from ''ComicBook/CaptainBritain''), and the Shiva series.

*** The first time Gorn hatchlings are encountered in Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds they are invisible to scanners and highly resistant to phaser fire. The next time they are encountered, a season later, engineers have solved the problem with offscreen research.

*** The first time Gorn hatchlings are encountered in StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds they are invisible to scanners and highly resistant to phaser fire. The next time they are encountered, a season later, engineers have solved the problem with offscreen research.

** ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes member [[spoiler:and eventual traitor]] Nemesis Kid has the power to gain whatever abilities are needed to defeat any single opponent. [[spoiler:This backfires when he faces Projectra, after murdering her husband ComicBook/KarateKid. His powers give him the ability to see through [[MasterOfIllusion her illusions]], but when he tries to [[EvilGloating gloat over her helplessness]], she [[NeckSnap snaps his neck with her bare hands]].]]

** Chameliac from ''[[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy'']] copied the Rangers' moves and tactics. Here, the Rangers overcame this by switching their usual attacks, ie. Maya used Kai's style of fighting, Transdagger mode, etc. This extended into the Megazord battle, where he cloned the Stratoforce Megazord's [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang big boomerang blade]] thing...only to find Stratoforce had instead brought the {{BFG}} used by the Centarus Megazord!

* ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''
** The War Zord Cyclopsis acted like this after it was rebuilt by Lokar. In a bit of a subversion, that "evolution" disappeared after the Rangers retreated and when they came back to fight, they knew how to overcome it (rapidly switching tactics). "Overload! Overload! Too many changes!"
** Hatchasarus was repeatedly destroyed and would reassemble with more bling (though not necessarily directly related to what had killed him before.) He can't be taken down for good until Cardiatron (the giant, floating ''heart'' that is its central computer) is destroyed.