History Main / AttackBackfire

* Invoked in ''Manga/SevenDeadlySins'': the Demon King's magic allows him turn harmful attacks into healing effects which would make him invulnerable if it weren't for the fact that, to compensate, turns healing effects into damage.

See also ShootingSuperman, where rather than backfire it does what the audience expects: nothing. Not to be confused with SelfDamagingAttackBackfire, which is when an attack hurts the attacker.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Dragon/God/Devil Slayer Magic also let the user replenish his health and magic by eating the same element as their own. This is first seen in Natsu's battle against StarterVillain Bora, with the latter engulfing Natsu in purple flames, only for the former to literally devour the fire, commenting on its terrible taste.

** A few spells work by retaliating against attacks upon the caster:

[-[[caption-width-right:346:Note: Some enemies may be immune to fire damage.]]-]

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Ranma kicks Tarō into a rock. Rock shatters revealing a water spring. OhCrap moment. Pissed flying minotaur.
* Exploited by [[spoiler:Kujiragi]] in ''Literature/{{Durarara}}''. She goes into Celty and Shinra's room while the couple are in there and purposely kisses Shinra in front Celty directly before [[spoiler:stabbing him with Saika]]. This monumentally pisses off Celty, who [[spoiler:is so horrified she transforms into a ball of shadows to attack Kujiragi, which was exactly what she had planned for and uses it to capture Celty]].
** When [[spoiler:Mikado]] finally goes off the deep end and gets a gun, Masaomi attacks him in order to [[spoiler:literally knock some sense into him]]. While he does get the gun away and lands a few hits, [[spoiler:it turns out Mikado had a second gun on him that only goes off on contact- and promptly shoots Masaomi in the leg]].
** Haruna slices [[spoiler:Anri]] with her knife after [[spoiler:Anri explained her backstory to her]], believing she had an opening to attack. However, [[spoiler:Anri was only letting her do that to make it even between them when she uses her own Saika on Haruna, who probably would have avoided it if she had just backed down]].
** Karma finally comes for [[spoiler:Izaya]] when they try to [[spoiler:kill off Shizuo]]. His plan was to [[spoiler:suffocate Shizuo on a building undergoing construction and then blow him up]]. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:Celty intervened]], leaving [[spoiler:Shizuo in an area filled with large, metal poles and an even stronger need to murder the informant]].
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Dragon/God/Devil Slayer Magic also let the user replenish his health and magic by eating the same element as their own. This is first seen in Natsu's battle against StarterVillain Bora, with the latter engulfing Natsu in purple flames, only for the former to literally devour the fire, commenting on its terrible taste.
* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'', DarkActionGirl and [[TheSmurfettePrinciple sole female member of the Gourmet Corps]] Limon has a special technique tied to her role as "Sommelier" of the group: when a group of Gourmet Yakuza mooks riddle her with a volley of bullets (even headshots) she seemingly absorbs them inside her body, make them "mature" and then shoots them back at her attackers, healing her wounds and taking them all out. Since the author [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse seemingly forgot about her]], this technique remains unexplained.

* Invoked in ''Manga/SevenDeadlySins'': the Demon King's magic allows him turn harmful attacks into healing effects which would make him invulnerable if it weren't for the fact that, to compensate, turns healing effects into damage.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SurfsUp,'' the main protagonist, Cody, tries to beat up a bully named Tank, but his punches are so weak that he takes it as a massage.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTwelveTasksOfAsterix'', one of the tasks is beating Cilindric the German, a tiny man with a blackbelt. He easily throws Obelix around while explaining to a curious Asterix that he uses the weight and speed of Obelix against him. The more Obelix tries to hurt Cilindric, the more easily does the guy defeat him and the duo only beat him by Asterix provoking a lesson in the fighting technique to use it against the man himself.

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', the big dark planet of evil is attacked by a fleet with several salvos of multimegaton yield missiles, which only cause it to grow larger.
* ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' gives us Mr. Stamper, whose insides are rewired so that any intended painful action he receives (such as stabbing with a knife) gives him pleasure. Conversely, any intended pleasuring action he receives (such as tickling) gives him pain.

%%* A literal version occurs in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra''.

* Once Edward's secret engagement is revealed in ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', his older brother Robert is sent to convince Lucy Steele (who is not the elegant heiress Ed's mother had in mind) to break it off, since Edward won't. A few chapters later, we are informed that Lucy is now Mrs. Ferrars... Mrs. ''Robert'' Ferrars.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' at one point Harry Dresden is being chased and drops a bag of marbles on the ground to trip up his assailant. This has zero effect on the monster pursuing him which simply crushes them underfoot and instead results in his ally Murphy twisting her ankle and calling him an idiot who watches too many cartoons.

* In ''Videogame/ChronoTrigger'', as with the ''Videogame/FinalFantasyII'' example below, using the wrong elemental spell on certain monsters or ones with changing elemental barriers can heal them. Conversely, if party members are wearing one of the four elemental mails/plates (depending on the version) and is hit with the corresponding magic, they will be healed by the attack.

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyII,'' attacking enemies with the wrong spell (e.g. Ice monsters with Ice magic, Undead with Drain and Osmose or BlobMonster with Poison) will actually heal the monster. In case of Drain or the Blood Swords, results will be ugly. In fact, all ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games after the first one have a system of elemental absorb. At some point, they extended this to TheUndead such that hitting one with a OneHitKill no only always hits it, but it actually causes it to ''regenerate''. And then there is a [[AttackReflector Reflect]] spell which bounces most of spells right at their user.
* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXII'' has an aptly named [[StatusEffects Reverse status]] that causes healing to hurt and attacks to heal afflicted target. Abusing it is one of more common strategies of dealing with resident {{Optional Boss}}es.
* In the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games, Ness' and Lucas' PSI Magnets absorb energy projectiles (i.e. Mario's fireballs, Samus' charge shot) and heal by the amount of damage the attack would have caused.
* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', Zangief gets a victory quote against Blanka informing him that his electric blasts helped relieve his back pain.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', throwing a Splash Potion of Instant Damage at a zombie or skeleton will heal them. [[ReviveKillsZombie Likewise, throwing a Splash Potion of Instant Health will hurt them]].
** Also, many mod makers supply weapons that use lightning to hurt enemies which many new players spam frequently at any mob that comes near. Not a problem usually until the first creeper is hit, gets powered up and decides to return the favor by blowing up with twice as much power as before.
* In ''VideoGame/GrimDawn'', the Occultist's deadly spell "Bloody Pox" (essentially a body-horror plague which makes enemies bleed to death and is actually contagious) can obtain an optional power up which deals even more damage in a short time, but with the tradeoff of boosting the speed and strength of monsters as well. While they do die faster, if you're not careful you may end up being attacked by a much deadlier foe who may even kill you in some cases, turning a deadly spell into a gamble.

* The page image from ''Webcomic/VGCats'' involves using fire in cold weather; pleasant for obvious reasons. (Unless you were to set the clothes on fire... [[DoubleSubversion in which case you'd be setting yourself up to get arrested]].)

* ''WebComic/SerpamiaFlare'' starts out with a newbie cleric trying to invoke ReviveKillsZombie... [[http://serpamiaflare.com/comics/4 on a batmole]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', one episode was a series of stories from Literature/TheBible. When Moses (Milhouse) sends a plague of frogs to vex the Pharaoh (Principal Skinner), the Egyptians enjoy a banquet of frog legs, which the Pharaoh comments must be a reward from Ra for punishing the slaves.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Mermaid Man mistakes [=SpongeBob=] for evil and attacks with his trademark Water Balls. [=SpongeBob=] isn't affected by it, because as a sponge, he absorbs it. Then he and Barnacle Boy use their Raging Whirlpool, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick only enjoy the ride because it is just plain weak.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Secret of My Excess", Spike turns into a monstrous version of himself out of greed and confronts Pinkie Pie when he tries to steal her cakes. She defends herself by [[TooDumbToLive throwing cakes at Spike]], but this only causes him to [[HulkingOut grow even bigger]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', when Tai Lung realizes that [[DisabilityImmunity Po's chubby physiology immunizes him from his nerve attack]], he just tries to straight-up punch him, only for Po to absorb the attack and the inertia causes Po to punch him straight through a wall.

* This trope is pretty much what makes ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games earn their reputation as [[NintendoHard fiendishly hard]]. There are too many monsters that have the ability to absorb one or more elements that yours character can use, and there are too few attacks that are guaranteed deal meaningful damage all the time. On top of it, some games have a system that gleefully punishes you for using the elements the monsters absorb. And note, sometimes, the element list includes "none at all": as in some enemmies can make ''physical'' attacks backfire.

* Exploited by [[spoiler:Kujiragi]] in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. She goes into Celty and Shinra's room while the couple are in there and purposely kisses Shinra in front Celty directly before [[spoiler:stabbing him with Saika]]. This monumentally pisses off Celty, who [[spoiler:is so horrified she transforms into a ball of shadows to attack Kujiragi, which was exactly what she had planned for and uses it to capture Celty]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles,'' Mr. Incredible is at the mercy of a killer robot after throwing out his back celebrating an apparent victory. The robot elects to try to pull him in two, inadvertently fixing his back in the process which gives him a HeroicSecondWind.

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXII'' has an aptly named [[StatusEffects Reverse status]] that causes healing to hurt and attacks to heal afflicted target. Abusing it is one of more common strategies of dealing with resident [[BonusBoss bonus bosses]].

* In a gamebook from the ''Literature/GrailQuest'' saga, there's a sort of humanoid insect that you can fight. However, despite having only 25 life points, each of your attacks will give him more health. However, he'll let you go if you give him enough life points.

* In ''Literature/LaSagaDuPretreJean'', you can encounter two Magma Men. If you try to attack them and use the Eye of Horus (a magical amulet that shoots a OneHitKill surge of red energy) the blast won't harm them, but will turn them into Diamond Men, making them even more dangerous than before.
* Zigzagged in ''Literature/RevengeOfTheVampire'': when faced by the BigBad's last line of defense, a.k.a. a huge, armor-plated, acid-drooling Mega Ghoul, you're given the option to use a flask of, essentially, incendiary stuff to burn him: while it does greatly damage him, it also makes him mad and makes his few attacks against you hit much harder since he's now an IncendiaryExponent with [[HeatBlade overheated metal claws]].
* In ''Literature/HowlOfTheWerewolf'', inside [[BigBad Varcolac's]] castle you can obtain a "transformation spell" from a magic book inside a hag's room. [[spoiler: Using the spell on Varcolac doesn't result in ForcedTransformation but makes his Archlycanthrope form even more formidable.]]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': From ''Tome of Battle – Book of Nine Swords'', the Desert Wind discipline includes two such maneuvers:
** "Fire Riposte" activates when the martial adept is hit in combat, causing fire damage to the attacker.
** "Leaping Flame" is a teleportation effect sending the martial adept adjacent to whoever attacked him, even if the attack was dodged or blocked. Of relative value in melee (unless the opponent has reach, meaning this can avoid attacks of opportunity), but this also works against ranged attacks up to 100 ft away, even if the maneuver's user has no idea where the attack is coming from, ruining the day of any well-hidden snipper.

** Karma finally comes for [[spoiler:Izaya]] when they try to [[spoiler:kill off Shizuo]]. His plan was to [[spoiler:suffocate Shizuo on a building undergoing construction and then blow him up]]. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:Celty intervened]], leaving [[spoiler:Shizuo in an area filled with [[WeaponOfChoice large, metal poles]] and an even stronger need to murder the informant]].

* In the seventh issue of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', Doctor Destiny (John Dee) tries to kill Dream by destroying Dream's ruby. But instead of destroying Dream, this attack restored Dream's health by freeing Dream's power from the ruby.

* In ''Literature/HowlOfTheWerewolf'', inside [[BigBad Varcolac's]] castle you can obtain a "transformation spell" from a magic book inside a hag's room. [[spoiler: Using the spell on Varcolac doesn't result in BalefulPolymorph but makes his Archlycanthrope form even more formidable.]]

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXII'' has an aptly named [[StandardStatusEffects Reverse status]] that causes healing to hurt and attacks to heal afflicted target. Abusing it is one of more common strategies of dealing with resident [[BonusBoss bonus bosses]].

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyII,'' attacking enemies with the wrong spell (e.g. Ice monsters with Ice magic, Undead with Drain and Osmose or BlobMonster with Poison) will actually heal the monster. In case of Drain or the Blood Swords, results will be ugly. In fact, all ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games after the first one have a system of elemental absorb. At some point, they extended this to the {{Undead}} such that hitting one with a OneHitKill no only always hits it, but it actually causes it to ''regenerate''. And then there is a [[AttackReflector Reflect]] spell which bounces most of spells right at their user.