History Main / DentedIron

** ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreed3 III]]'': After all the battles he weathered during the American Revolution, when Connor suffers a fall and a wooden stake stabbed through his body during the chase for Charles Lee at the Revolution's end, he starts noticeably walking with a limp that remains even years later, indicating that while he might be a capable Assassin, he's still a mortal man.

** This also became an issue with the Golden State Warriors of the UsefulNotes/{{NBA}}. Both the NBA and NHL playoffs consist of 4 rounds, each of which is a best of 7 series, in other words to win a championship you need to win 16 games. The Warriors were in every NBA finals from 2015 to 2019 (for a grand total of ''105'' extra games) and won 3 titles, but all those extra games and shortened off-seasons eventually took their toll and when the fatigue hit, it hit '''hard'''. They finished the ([[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID shortened]]) 2019-2020 season dead last in the league and missed the playoffs again the following year, before getting it together and winning another title in 2022. The Warriors' ArchEnemy [=LeBron James=], who has played in ''ten'' NBA Finals, has also spoke of this, as while he's technically in his 20th NBA season he's played close to 23 seasons worth of NBA games.

* A theme present in all ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' films, ''Film/RockyBalboa'' even has Duke run down a laundry list of Rocky's injuries, and why he has to train for pure power. The first major plot point of ''Film/RockyV'' is that his body is so broken down he has to retire from boxing.
* ''Film/JamesBond'':
** In the aged version, the unofficial movie ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'' has a doctor declaring that most of Bond's skin is scar tissue.
** The effectiveness of the aging Bond, M, Mallory, [=MI6=], Skyfall Manor, and Britain itself are all questioned in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', only for all of them to prove to be considerably tougher than they look.
** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' also has a more direct example. James Bond is shot in the shoulder during an action sequence near the beginning of the movie. He endures it and keeps fighting, but the lingering effects of the injury go on to cause him trouble during the rest of the movie.
* One of the better moments of ''Film/Daredevil2003'' has the titular hero shambling into his apartment after a relatively tame night of crimefighting, taking off his costume, tending to a battery of scars and bruises, and popping an absurd amount of pain pills just so he can get some sleep.

* Tim in ''Film/JurassicPark'' repeatedly survives what grown adults would be lucky to survive, but because of this, he has a limp, his hair is singed, one of his ears is bleeding, his arm is bandaged up, and he generally looks dazed. In his brief appearance in the sequel, he still has a bit of a limp, the poor kid. Also, [[https://twitter.com/the_tim_murphy according to this]] CharacterBlog, [[ShellShockedVeteran he's also severely, hilariously, traumatised]].
* The titular machine from ''Film/TheTerminator'' initially appears to be invincible, shrugging off being floored by several solid-slug shotgun blasts, blown up, lit on fire, and being thrown from a speeding car with absolutely zero negative effects. As the film goes on though, the thing is slowly but steadily taking permanent damage: it loses an eye and damages its hand during a car chase and shoot-out (though it manages to repair its hand), it ends up dragging its foot after being run over by a semi-truck, and ends up losing all its skin and being nothing more than a singed, limping, skeletal robot. [[ImplacableMan And it still keeps coming for Sarah]].
* The "Guardian" Terminator in ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' shows signs of malfunction and disrepair after spending 30+ years looking after Sarah Connor. Even a Terminator can't last forever, especially in a time that doesn't have the technology to properly repair him. His joints actually stop working for a few seconds at a couple points in the movie, requiring some PercussiveMaintenance to unjam them. He's old...but not obsolete.
* By the time of ''Film/{{Logan}}'', Wolverine's HealingFactor is not working as well as it used to, and as result his body is ''covered in scars'', and, by Caliban's offhand mention of witnessing Logan wiping pus away from unhealed exit wounds between his knuckles, the wounds are also frequently getting infected. [[spoiler: It's not old age, it's Adamantium poisoning]]. This applies to Professor Xavier too, who's now an old man suffering from dementia who can't control his mental powers, with serious potential consequences for anyone in the vicinity.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsGigan'': It can be a bit difficult to make out with the exception of a few close-up shots, but Godzilla is still in the process of recovering from [[Film/GodzillaVsHedorah his fight against Hedorah from the previous year]] by the time the Nebulans begin their plan, as his hand that had its flesh burnt off by Hedorah is still skeletal, with the soft tissue in the process of regrowing over it.
* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has a few cases, two of whom are related to using the Infinity Gauntlet - both Thanos and Hulk get severely scarred in the arm used for the BadassFingersnap. Iron Man also starts the movie as an emaciated husk that can barely even stand after spending some time in a spaceship with dwindling resources, and even when he's seen recovered five years later, it still takes some time for Tony to find his fighting spirit.

* ''Film/HalloweenEnds'': Old age and the many injuries he took in the previous movies have caught up to Michael Myers. While still superhumanly strong and resilient, he is forced to spend most of the movie hiding, and when he attacks people, he is not as powerful as he used to be, allowing him to be defeated. He is finally killed at the end of the movie by bleeding out from a slit throat and wrist. Knowing that Michael is extremely difficult to kill, Laurie and Allyson [[MakeSureHesDead makes sure he's truly dead]] by dumping his corpse into an industrial shredder.

* The protagonist in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' is an immortal being who has lived for hundreds of years and been killed nearly innumerable times. As a result, he is covered head to toe in scar tissue. He can benefit from items normally intended to work on undead zombies because his body is just ''that'' ruined.
* In the 2013 ''VideoGame/{{Tomb Raider|2013}}'' reboot, Lara goes through a LOT of punishment. The first thing that happens to her is her getting impaled on a spike. While she can push on throughout most of the game, the injures do pile up. There are times when her mobility is hampered until she gets some help. By the end, she has quite a few scars, [[ShellShockedVeteran and not just physical ones either]].

* ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'', has Aloy go through this even more so than in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn''. And on a couple of occastion substains life threatening injuries, but is able to recover with help from allies and soldier on.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', this is the state that Commander Shepard is left in after being blasted by Harbinger. S/he's bleeding out, has severe burns, and is obviously in great pain with every step s/he takes. [[{{Determinator}} It's impressive that s/he's even able to move at all]].
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': Mandalore (Canderous Ordo from the first game ) is roughly sixty, and the de facto patriarch of his ProudWarriorRace, having fought battles since his early teens. He remarks that he has to rely more on his cunning and his equipment these days. It's implied that he's all-but bound to his armor as a life-support system, much the same way Darth Vader would be.
* The Iron Bull, a potential companion in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', is astoundingly big and tough, but he's been fighting for most of his life and has the [[CoveredInScars scars to prove it]]- he's also missing [[{{EyepatchOfPower}} one eye]], [[{{Fingore}} part of two fingers]], and wears a leg brace. Not that any of this slows him down.
* {{Implied|Trope}} in ''[[VideoGame/TheSims1 The Sims]]'' and [[VideoGame/TheSims2 its sequel]]: Upon reaching the Superstar level of the Pro Sports[=/=]Athletic career track, the job description mentions that it's taking longer for the Sim to recover from injuries. [[InformedAttribute Not that it has any effect on gameplay.]] %% That last pothole isn't going to "Gameplay and Story Segregation" because this game has no predetermined story.

* Ethan Winters in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' goes through ''a lot'' over the course of one night, so much that by the time [[spoiler: you fight the final boss, he can't even move his legs anymore as a result of all the punishment he endured.]]
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' Nakmor Drack is an old krogan, probably ''the'' oldest krogan seen in the series. His long life of violence has left him down several redundant organs, and an arm, and several comments by characters, including Drack himself, indicate this has taken a toll (not that you'd notice. A battered krogan is still a freaking krogan).
* Mihaly A. Shilage of ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' is noted in-universe to be unbelievably resilient and flexible for someone his age. However, no matter how strong he is, the continuous strain of flying in the outer layers of the atmosphere and his advancing age have ravaged his body and he needs a special G-suit to withstand the crazy maneuvers he pulls. During your first encounter with him in Yinshi Valley (which is Mihaly's second known sortie in the war), radio chatter indicates that the duel's strain on his body is so great that his aircraft's systems send out critical warnings, and Dr. Schroeder later confirms that he came back to base in a messy state.
* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'', much like the book series that spawned it. A notable instance is when Geralt meets Berengar and Berengar off-handedly mentions that the beatings Geralt has taken have taken their toll on his sword work. More specifically, Berengar knows that Geralt at one point tore a ligament in his knee and can tell it never healed properly from his footwork.
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''
** ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreed3 III]]'': After all the battles he weathered during the American Revolution, when Connor suffers a fall and a wooden stake stabbed through his body during the chase for Charles Lee at the Revolution's end, he starts noticeably walking with a limp that remains even years later, indicating that while he might be a capable Assassin, he's still a mortal man.
** ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedValhalla Valhalla]]:'' In the ''Siege of Paris'' DLC, Count Odo tells Eivor in their encounter after the titular siege that he's pretty dented. He got off easy though, given Eivor was trying ''not'' to kill him.

** HMS Warspite is the poster child in the modern era. First she took fifteen hits at Jutland, which resulted in wonky steering for the rest of her career. Then she ate a Fritz-X glide bomb off Sicily that blew clean through to her keel; given the lack of time and resources for a full repair, the British simply plugged the hole with concrete and accepted that she would be down a turret and a boiler. Then, after Normandy she hit a mine on the way to get her barrels replaced - her second barrel replacement, mind - and that wrecked one of her propeller shafts, leaving her with only three and a top speed of 15 knots.

* A plot point in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'': Ernie Devlin had been a stuntman for so long, with all the injuries that ensued (broken arms, legs, clavicle, ribs, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers country club]], and "fractured ass") that he needed pills just to function as he got older, leading to an addiction. Harvey tried to use that to claim he wasn't guilty by [[InsanityDefense reason of insanity]]. [[EpicFail He forgot he was defending Devlin in a lawsuit.]]

* ''Anime/{{Scryed}}'': Three of the strongest Alter Users show various signs of their powers taking a serious toll on their bodies, all apparently from [[spoiler:witnessing the Other Side]] to some extent.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** Terry later visits Bane (long retired) to investigate the case of Venom being distributed as a performance-enhancing drug, only to find out that Bane's use of Venom over his life has left him crippled, comatose, and on 24/7 life support.

* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'': In “[[Recap/Batwoman2019S1E9CrisisOnInfiniteEarthsHourTwo Hour Two]], the Earth-99 version of [[FallenHero Bruce Wayne]] now needs a robotic full-body brace to move around. He tells Kate that it's the culmination of his career as Batman. Shortly afterward, however, Kara learns the truth.

* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'': In “[[Recap/Batwoman2019S1E9CrisisOnInfiniteEarthsHourTwo Hour Two]], the Earth-99 version of [[FallenHeroBruce Wayne]] now needs a robotic full-body brace to move around. He tells Kate that it's the culmination of his career as Batman. Shortly afterward, however, Kara learns the truth.

* ''Series/{{Peacemaker|2022}}'': A downplayed example, but Peacemaker still isn't quite at 100%; injuries from [[Film/TheSuicideSquad Corto Maltese]] (namely a clavicle replacement) still flare up whenever he takes a rough spill or even just tries to put on his costume. [[RunningGag This happens repeatedly]].

* ''Series/{{Peacemaker|2022}}'' A downplayed example, but Peacemaker still isn't quite at 100%; injuries from [[Film/TheSuicideSquad Corto Maltese]] (namely a clavicle replacement) still flare up whenever he takes a rough spill or even just tries to put on his costume. [[RunningGag This happens repeatedly]].

** Indy in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny''. By this point, he's 70 years old and long past his physical prime. While he's still in very good shape for a man his age, he displays severe exertion pulling off physical feats that would have been nothing to him even twelve years prior, and most fights he gets into end with him being overpowered handily.
* ''[[Film/GodzillaVsGigan]]'': It can be a bit difficult to make out with the exception of a few close-up shots, but Godzilla is still in the process of recovering from [[Film/GodzillaVsHedorah his fight against Hedorah from the previous year]] by the time the Nebulans begin their plan, as his hand that had its flesh burnt off by Hedorah is still skeletal, with the soft tissue in the process of regrowing over it.