History Main / ImmortalLifeIsCheap

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has Claire Benett, the immortal regenerating cheerleader. Guess who from the cast is suffering deadly injuries on a fairly regular basis?

* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'': As long as a video game character is in their own game, they will regenerate if killed. That's how villains (or heroes!) can be defeated day after day. However, if they're in ''another'' game, the character is KilledOffForReal.

-->"And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. ''I get to kill him again!''"

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Captain Jack Harkness has ResurrectiveImmortality. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]], the Master points this out in the most unpleasant way possible after killing him with his laser screwdriver.[[note]]Let's just say that the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords Year That Never Was]] wasn't too pleasant for Jack.[[/note]]

* Obligatory ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' example: Immediately upon learning about the God Tier, John hatches a bunch of plots that rely on abusing his new immortality... then learns (thankfully before enacting any) that they all fulfill the terms to [[SubvertedTrope nullify his immortality]].

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', the {{Lesbian Vampire}}s have fun throwing each other off the balcony. Since this is done to [[CreatorsPet Lana]], the scene might be favored [[TakeThatScrappy more]] [[KarmaHoudini than]] [[TheWoobie it was intended]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': [[CompleteImmortality Fujiwara no Mokou]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever passes the time]] killing, [[CycleOfRevenge and being killed by]], [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Kaguya]]. And in Imperishable Night, [[{{Miko}} Reimu]] begins [[BonusBoss her fight with Mokou]] by pointing out that [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Translation/Boundary_Team%27s_Extra ''if she's the sort that can't die, I can go all-out on her, right?'']] And sure enough, it's the only time Reimu uses lethal force. Mokou instantly regenerates whenever she "dies", but it's counted as beating her when she gets tired of it and gives up.
** Mokou actually endorses this on herself as a way to toughen up her body against attacks, in ''Manga/InabaOfTheMoonAndInabaOfTheEarth''. Amusingly, this is with Reisen, probably the [[OnlySaneMan only person in the series]] who wouldn't be looking for an excuse to needlessly harm someone.
** This trope is why fairies in Touhou are treated as CannonFodder; they just regenerate offscreen after being blown away. In the games where she's playable, it's implied that Cirno only gets a Game Over because she gets bored and/or gives up.
*** In the case of the fairies, however, this is actually an aversion in a roundabout way: spellcard rules specifically forbid using lethal force, even in their case where death would be a minor inconvenience: not because of the fairies themselves, but because characters which are stronger than them yet unable to regenerate when killed will occasionally fight along their side.
*** In ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', Shiki Eiki warns Cirno that if she continues to become stronger and more intelligent, she will surpass the limits of a fairy and become a youkai... a ''mortal'' youkai.

* A minor RunningGag in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' involves the abuse of fabber and shipyard robots, whose memories and personalities are regularly backed up and downloaded into new bodies if they are damaged or destroyed. ''Precisely'' because these robots tend to be on the receiving end when stranded ship crews need to vent their frustration when their ships are in drydock.

* ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'' feels free to beat Sakura to death with her spiked baseball bat any time she suspects him of ecchi thoughts, or indeed, any time she's bored, because she'll just resurrect him for another round immediately anyway.

* Hakamada from ''Manga/{{Aphorism}}'' has the power of revivability. He is frequently used as scapegoat by his friend to dodge an attack.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Levi will occasionally take advantage of Eren's HealingFactor. He brutally beat him for speaking out in court, and his plan to avoid killing him if he rampages in titan form involves cutting him out, severing all four of his limbs in the process. [[spoiler:Annie, Reiner and Bertholt couldn't afford to be gentle in their kidnapping attempts, either.]]

* Monsters with effects to return from the graveyard can often be used with this mindset in Yu-Gi-Oh. An example of this is the anime version of the Aesir cards in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': their real life revival effects have the cost removed so they always come back at the end of the turn with damaging or hand advantage effects. Their users, Team Ragnarok (in particular Brave) use this to their advantage.

** Several attempts to stop the villain Juggernaut. On one occasion he took a pair of katanas [[EyeScream through the eyes]]. In another battle, all of Juggernaut's flesh and organs were ''magically incinerated'' by a powerful demon. Said demon [[OhCrap was horrified]] when [[{{Determinator}} Juggernaut's skeleton kept marching toward him]]. For the most part it takes high-level magic (the above-mentioned swords were magical) to even scratch him, since his power source is a high-level god.
** Franchise/{{Wolverine}} has fallen prey to this many times. He is often burned to a crisp, has all of the metal pulled out through his pores by ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, and at one point ComicBook/ThePunisher shoots him in the crotch with a shotgun, where he then gets his legs sawed on by midgets, and then flattened by a steamroller. There is also an episode in the animated series where Proteus uses his reality altering powers to rip Wolverine in half and then melt him into a puddle (he comes out crying). The other X-Men are also attacked by Proteus, but no one else gets the horrific treatment, even though in this case they may have survived afterward since Proteus's effects go away when he leaves the area.

* In ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/227933/314-pm 3:14 PM]]'', Pinkie is trapped in a time loop that starts at the titular time on the day before the Summer Sun Celebration... and ends whenever she dies. While some loops end with a reasonable death (such as freezing to death from the neverending night, or getting eaten by the manticore), a few have her die in rather implausible ways, such as slipping on a frog or Twilight's chariot landing on her. Most notably, when Rainbow Dash crashes into her, the injuries are lethal. When in the next loop she dodges, Twilight gets hit instead but - as in canon - only gets knocked into a mud puddle. Pinkie finds this somewhat unfair.

** While not a beneficiary of ResurrectiveImmortality like Helms, Gahmah Raan (and the Krishari species as a whole) is capable of near instantaneous regeneration. As such, he tends to under-react to injuries that would be harmful to any other species, such as getting his arms getting cut or torn off, getting cut in half, getting his face torn off, being eaten and digested alive, and having a thermal detonator explode next to him. While it hurts, he also has no problem undoing cauterizations or tearing off diseased/damaged tissue as an instant medical treatment. As a result, even when people aren't trying to kill him, they frequently inflict severe injuries on him.

* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'': As long as a video game character is in their own game, they will regenerate if killed. That's how villains (or heroes!) can be defeated day after day. However, if they're are in ''another'' game, the character is KilledOffForReal.

* Used and subverted in ''Literature/KilnPeople'' by Creator/DavidBrin, in which people download their personalities into short-lived clay golems which they use for work and pleasure. While these golems are regarded as expendable, no-one risks their real self any more, and for someone to suffer even minor injury is quite a scandal.

* Cylons in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' would occasionally shoot each other without batting an eye if it were expedient, since they could download into new bodies. The horrifying aspect is played up on occasion, such as when a Cavil mentions being too impatient to bleed to death after an ambush, and so has to cut his carotid open with an empty shell casing. Later episodes also feature the prospect of 'death as a learning experience' and the major trauma caused after someone is killed in an especially gruesome way and essentially suffers the worst PTSD ever.

* The immortal heroine in ''Series/PainkillerJane'' was repeatedly shot by her friends for very little reason. Examples include being in the way, to convince someone else they were bad-ass or just for a cheap trick. Incidentally she was called "Painkiller Jane" because she had to eat a lot of them. Because she was repeatedly shot. By her friends.

** The Swarmlord in the incarnation of the Tyranid's HiveMind, containing the sum of its combat experience and memories and deployed when the swarm faces a truly fearsome enemy, and can be recreated if its dies. When the time comes for it to go elsewhere, it suffers the same fate as the lowliest organism: it gets reabsorbed into biomass and its consciousness is injected into the body of another Swarmlord on a different battleground.
** The Dark Eldar Haemonculi have mastered the art of resurrection on both themselves and their victims (even death is no escape from them). The most ancient of all, Urien Rakarth, has undergone the process so many times he now suffers CameBackWrong every time- and in true scientific manner, actually looks forward to dying so he can see what new and bizarre mutations his body will gain.

*** In the case of the fairies however, this is actually an aversion in a roundabout way: spellcard rules specifically forbid using lethal force, even in their case where death would be a minor inconvenience: not because of the fairies themselves, but because characters which are stronger then them yet unable to regenerate when killed will occasionally fight along their side.

* There is also Raziel from the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series. Managed to get yourself killed? No worries, you just get sent to the spectral realm where sucking on souls floating there gets you back to the land of the living. Managed to somehow get yourself killed in the spectral realm? No problem, you just get sent to an earlier check point in the spectral realm where there are lots of free floating souls to eat. There is no way to get a game over because you died.
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', Batman follows his usual [[ThouShaltNotKill no-killing rule,]] right up until the boss-fight with the giant immortal zombie. [[GodzillaThreshold Mostly because less-than-lethal force would get him killed.]] (Seriously, the thing's ''maggots'' are the size of Batman's thigh.) Similarly he uses whatever force is necessary to take down [[spoiler:Clayface]], including electrocution in a giant vat of liquid.

** Crucible, the PlayerVersusPlayer mode, involves Guardians using live rounds to shoot at each other with intent to kill. It's just considered sport and good training, since it doesn't do any permanent harm.

* Ran from ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', who can be killed by a sneeze, but will have a new copy teleport in with memories intact. He is a good guy. The good guys kill him for practical reasons, such as needing multiple copies of his Cossack Buster, or just needing bodies. Or because they think it's funny. He's more annoyed by this than anything else. Apparently it's far more practical to go through with this than simply giving him a body that is durable.

* In ''Webcomic/TheFarSideOfUtopia'' there is someone that claims to be immortal; in his appearances he's been blown up, then thrown off a tall building. He seemed mildly perturbed by the blown up one.

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'' when Oasis's opponents want to contain her; killing her is what they ''don't'' want to do, because she'd just mysteriously respawn in perfect health. Of course, it makes it kind of difficult to hold her that she's an unstoppable OneWomanArmy. At one point, she gets finally taken into custody after [[spoiler: both her legs are blown off]].

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' in general tend to get this treatment. Being eons old war machines, they are ''very'' hard to kill. [[TheChewToy Waspinator]], being nigh unkillable even by Transformer standards, gets it even worse. Starscream from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' is killed at the end of season one, then revived and made immortal in season two. The same episode he comes back, Megatron kills him ''five'' different times.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d, {{inverted|Trope}}, and played both for [[PlayedForLaughs laughs]] and [[PlayedForDrama drama]] in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' with the super power of Mysterion. Being [[spoiler:Kenny]], he has died countless times, but wakes up back in his own bed every morning with nobody remembering that he died. At one point he gets so pissed off that nobody believes him that he can not die while he has to suffer through the pains of all kinds of horrible deaths on a regular basis and shoots himself in the head to prove it, but two minutes later everyone has forgotten. He later uses his ability to escape from [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos R'yleh]] by throwing himself into a chasm to awaken back in his own bed and find a way to save his friends, who are still trapped there. After everything is said and done, Mysterion mentions that he's tired and just wants to go to bed, and shoots himself in the head again as a shortcut.

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", with the immortality field resort Rick and Jerry are at. A brother and sister giving chase while constantly being shot dead and revived demonstrates the purpose of said field. It's all fun and games, [[FailsafeFailure until the titular Whirly Dirly breaks off and destroys the field]], resulting in the sister staying dead after getting shot again. Cue brother [[OhCrap freaking out]].

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", with the immortality field resort Rick and Jerry are at. A brother and sister giving chase while constantly being shot dead and revived demonstrates the purpose of said field. It's all fun and games, until the titular Whirly Dirly breaks off and destroys the field, resulting in the sister staying dead after getting shot again. Cue brother [[OhCrap freaking out]].

!Examples:

* In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', Captain Jack Harkness becomes an absolute damage-magnet for the first series-and-a-half, after which [[AnyoneCanDie other characters start eating bullets]]. The Master points this trope out right after he zaps Jack with a laser screwdriver. "And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. ''I get to kill him again!''" Then Jack gets buried alive for 2000 years, constantly suffocating and reviving, somehow without going insane.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''ComicBook/XMen''

** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} has fallen prey to this many times. He is often burned to a crisp, has all of the metal pulled out through his pores by Magneto, and at one point The Punisher shoots him in the crotch with a shotgun, where he then gets his legs sawed on by midgets, and then flattened by a steamroller. There is also an episode in the animated series where Proteus uses his reality altering powers to rip Wolverine in half and then melt him into a puddle (he comes out crying). The other X-Men are also attacked by Proteus, but no one else gets the horrific treatment, even though in this case they may have survived afterward since Proteus's effects go away when he leaves the area.
** Likewise, the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk is not only {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le, what damage he DOES take regenerates near-instantly. There's a few strategies that ''might'' be instant death, usually involving [[BoomHeadshot severe cranial damage]], but they're still not sure he'd stay down. He was once caught in a horrid explosion and reduced to a charred skeleton with a few bits of flesh left over. His response? "Give me a minute." Four panels later it was like nothing happened. For the record, it DID hurt, a lot, but it also [[HulkingOut got him even MORE angry]] than usual.

* Neil Gaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' series features the immortal Cain and Abel, the former frequently murdering the latter over a minor dispute or simply to pass the time.
** Note that in this case, it has less to do with Abel being immortal and more with the brothers being the symbol of fratricide - Cain occasionally regrets killing his brother, but is still compelled by NarrativeCausality.

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}''

* Creator/DCComics character ComicBook/ResurrectionMan gets this a lot, naturally. One issue has a confused Batman trying to figure out why the same guy keeps getting murdered by Gotham City criminals. A crossover with Comicbook/{{Hitman}} sees Hitman repeatedly shooting him over and over until he gets a useful power. In the 853rd century, even Resurrection Man himself gets in on the act, wearing a gauntlet that lets him commit instant suicide.
* Multiman gets this in [[ComicBook/JokersLastLaugh Last Laugh]], where ComicBook/TheJoker repeatedly murders him until [[DiscardAndDraw he gets a power]] useful in escaping prison. Afterwards, the entire prison gets sucked into a black hole, stranding a number of people. They eventually escape... by repeatedly murdering Multiman until he gets a power that helps them escape.

--> '''Spike:''' Heat of battle. Wasn't time.
--> '''Angel:''' You just like stabbing me.
--> '''Spike:''' I'm shocked that you'd say that! I much prefer hitting you with blunt instruments.

* Baldur, the [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse]] god of beauty, had a prophetic dream of his own death. His mother, the goddess Frigg, responded by making everything on Earth vow never to harm Baldur--effectively making him [[NighInvulnerability Nigh Invulnerable]]. The other gods react to this, in jolly Norse God fashion, by making a game of hurling things at him, all of which harmlessly bounce off. (Unfortunately for Baldur, his mother neglected to bother with getting the lowly mistletoe to take the promise, so Loki, the {{Jerkass}} [[TheTrickster Trickster]], made an arrow out of mistletoe and tricked Baldur's blind twin brother Hod into shooting Baldur with it, killing him dead.)

** A few of them called thanatonauts spend their days in a room with a loaded gun and a notebook, repeatedly offing themselves and writing about the experience. Certain [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Exo Guardians]] do the same, hoping to find [[LossOfIdentity something of their past lives amid the memories when they are resurrected]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'', the Quels' policy for Cyte attacks to to let the Cyte kill as many as they want until they leave.

* {{Inverted}} in ''WebComics/SluggyFreelance'' when Oasis's opponents want to contain her; killing her is what they ''don't'' want to do, because she'd just mysteriously respawn in perfect health. Of course, it makes it kind of difficult to hold her that she's an unstoppable OneWomanArmy. At one point, she gets finally taken into custody after [[spoiler: both her legs are blown off]].

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d, {{inverted|Trope}}, and played both for [[PlayedForLaughs laughs]] and [[PlayedForDrama drama]] in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' with the super power of Mysterion. Being [[spoiler:Kenny]], he has died countless times, but wakes up back in his own bed every morning with nobody remembering that he died. At one point he gets so pissed off that nobody believes him that he can not die while he has to suffer through the pains of all kinds of horrible deaths on a regular basis and shoots himself in the head to prove it, but two minutes later everyone has forgotten. He later uses his ability to escape from [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos R'yleh]] by throwing himself into a chasm to awaken back in his own bed and searching a way to save his friends, who are still trapped there. After everything is said and done, Mysterion mentions that he's tired and just wants to go to bed, and shoots himself in the head again as a shortcut.

* Agent K of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' has no compunctions about blowing the head off of the immortal alien informant Jeebs as part of his regular interrogation technique. Jeebs, [[FromASingleCell after regenerating his head]], usually complains about how much it stings before relenting the requested information. There're also other ButtMonkey treatments for Jeebs; he also gets stomped into a puddle by a giant alien and ripped in half by a couple of teleporter guns. Jeebs's brother habitually greets him by blowing off his head, much to Jeebs's annoyance. This nearly results in J's death, when he impersonates Jeebs. Luckily, Alpha shoots Jeebs's brother in the head for wasting time playing games.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', [[VillainProtagonist Mr. Cat]] constantly uses lethal weapons against [[NighInvulnerable Quack Quack]] for no apparent reason and then attempts to justify it by saying he's immortal anyway. In several episodes, he announces his arrival to the others by blowing off Quack Quack's head with a bazooka.

* Leo from ''Series/{{Charmed}}'', who can reassemble himself if his body is destroyed. The sisters have occasionally used him for target practice (with and without his consent), and a throwaway gag indicates that Piper tends to make him explode when she's mad.

* Baldur, the [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse]] god of beauty, had a prophetic dream of his own death. His mother, the goddess Frigg, responded by making everything on Earth vow never to harm Baldur--effectively making him [[NighInvulnerability Nigh Invulnerable]]. The other gods react to this, in jolly Norse God fashion, by making a game of hurling things at him, all of which harmlessly bounce off. (Unfortunately for Baldur, his mother neglected to bother with getting the lowly mistletoe to take the promise, so Loki, the {{Jerkass}} [[TheTrickster Trickster]], made an arrow out of mistletoe and tricked Baldur's blind twin brother Hod into shooting Baldur with it, killing him dead.)\\
\\
Another (completely different, by the way) version of the myth simply has Baldr as the rival of Hod (who is mortal) and already resistant to anything but a certain sword, whose name is Mistletoe.

** Later really show how damn ''painful'' this trope can be. [[spoiler: Envy]] was burned alive several times, and at one point [[spoiler: Mustang]] let his [[EyeScream eyes explode]]. And [[spoiler: Sloth]] was impaled again and again, twice right through his face.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': C.C. sometimes gets this sort of abuse, such as when [[{{Yandere}} Mao]] decided he was going to "[[ChainsawGood make her compact]]." At one point, she takes out an opponent by having her mech drag theirs to the bottom of the ocean, and holding them there until they were both crushed completely by the pressure, having her enact this trope on ''herself'' — though given that she's a DeathSeeker, this makes some sense.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} and [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 its sequel]] [[ImpliedTrope are an ambiguous case]], in that it's not 100% clear that "splatting" is killing, but with the body being destroyed and a little ghost seen flying away from the scene, only to respawn at the spawn point seconds later[[note]]the term "respawn" is actually widely used by characters in-universe to describe this process, and the term "spawn point" is likewise given in-universe as the name of a machine that appears to used for regenerating an Inkling's body after it is splatted[[/note]], this trope appears to be in full effect, allowing the Inklings to have a sport that appears to involve lethal combat without any of the usual implications that would normally surround a BloodSport.

* ''Manga/UQHolder'': ''all'' the main characters in are subject to this. All of them have been blasted with what would normally be lethal damage on multiple occasions. Kirie is the most extreme example; her form of immortality is essentially SaveScumming (whenever she dies, she simply pops back to the last "save point" she set up and tries again). As a result, most of her strategy consists of trial and error, dying and resetting over and over until she finds something that works.

** Note that in this case, it has less to do with Abel being immortal and more with the brothers being the symbol of fratricide - Kain occasionally regrets killing his brother, but is still compelled by NarrativeCausality

* Lots of it in ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'': every BigBad who knows about Rin's immortality prefers to snap her neck first, ask questions later. Goes especially for Sayara.
* Also, the [[spoiler:ES Members]] in ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' are commonly sent on suicide missions because GOTT can always resurrect them.
* In ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', the Great Will of the Macrocosm will commonly resurrect any important character who happens to die. This leaves Lord Il Palazzo free to kill Excel for the slightest irritation. This happens several times in the very first episode and a few more times throughout the series.

* ''Manga/LoveHina'': Keitaro isn't any more durable than is usual for a main character in [[UnwantedHarem his genre]], but unusually for the genre, other people notice and take advantage of this. Kitsune outright states that lethal force is acceptable against an "immortal" like him.

* Parodied with Creator/MarvelComics character Mr. Immortal, who has no other superpowers aside from his immortality. He ends up dying horribly at least several times in every issue he appears in. However, when he does die, he comes back in the throes of a [[UnstoppableRage beserker-style rampage]] due to the [[BerserkButton incredible pain he experiences when he dies.]]

->''"To clear mines: step on mine. Wait for Ghost revival. Step on mine 2. Wait for Ghost. Step on-"''
-->--'''Lead Scout's Cloak''', ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}''