History Main / ImmunityAttrition

Some characters can [[NoSell shrug off whatever their opponent throws at them]]. Except that doesn't stop their opponent from continuing to try. And wouldn't you know? The more the opponent keeps lashing out, the less effective the character's defense against it becomes, until eventually they go down as easily as anyone else. Looks like their immunity only lasted in the short run, but prolonged exposure still rendered them vulnerable.

Supertrope to DentedIron, where the damage a MadeOfIron character takes starts to take its toll over the years. Compare and contrast ScissorsCutsRock.

** ''ComicBook/BatmanVampire'': Vampires that [[AscendedDemon abstain from human blood]] become immune to crosses and holy water, which [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Joker]] finds out the hard way when he lures the vampirized Batman into a church filled with crosses as part of a DeathTrap. However, Batman soon succumbs to his bloodlust and sucks the Joker dry, losing the immunity within minutes.

-->'''Static:''' Let me tell you a little something about electricity. A big enough charge can overload any insulator. (''hits Rubberband Man with a huge blast that makes him scream in pain and go flying, but he comes back pissed off'') [[OhCrap And that one... wasn't big enough]].

* In ''Manga/SaintSeiya: Poseidon Saga'', the first Mariner Seiya has to fight is [[Characters/SaintSeiyaMariners Hippocampus Baian]], a BarrierWarrior that can deflect Seiya's attacks wwith wind barriers. Very confident in his powers, he can't believe that his barriers are finally broken by Seiya after many attempts, being soon defeated just as Seiya did in the past against Silver Saint Misty, who had a similar fighting style.

** Kryptonite is highly lethal to Kryptonians, but has no immediate effect on humans. Thus, they can easily handle it without consequences. However, prolonged exposure to Kryptonite will eventually cause agressive forms of cancer in humans. ComicBook/LexLuthor discovered this the hard way after years of wearing a kryptonite ring as a protection against Superman.

* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'': Borg drones will adapt to incoming energy weapons fire after a few hits, but this only reduces incoming damage from that energy type. Even if you don't refrequence your weapons with a cheaply replicateable item, you can still CherryTap the drone to death.

** [[AcademicAlphaBitch Madelyne Spaulding]] uses her telepathic abilities to [[NotUsingTheZWord zombi...err, brainwash]] the entire school after she loses the election [[DisproportionateRetribution to become student council president]]. Static happens to be immune because his electrical powers produces a kind of PsychicStatic (heh). Static gives her a ReasonYouSuckSpeech, and Madelyne tries to bite off more than she can chew by intensifying her psychic assault on him. Unfortunately for her, this only creates a psychic feedback where everyone is turned back to normal, and she herself becomes an [[EasyAmnesia amnesiac]]. She returns in the next season to plague Static though, with another [[MindOverMatter psychic power]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': Cad Bane is [[GeniusBruiser intelligent and strong-willed enough]] to be totally immune to a JediMindTrick during an interrogation. So a second Jedi is brought in; Bane resists, but realizes what they’re trying to do and obviously feels pain from doing so. Then a ''third'' Jedi joins and Bane starts really feeling it. He ''still'' manages to resist, but doing so nearly tears his mind apart, [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou forcing the Jedi to stop to avoid killing him]].

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': When the League of Villains storms the school, they unleash Noumu, a creature designed to counter All Might by being heavily attack-absorbent. However, All Might deduces that Noumu being absorbent doesn't mean completely nullifying, and hammers blow after blow into him faster and more than Noumu can contain.

* ''Film/{{Underworld}}: Awakening'': Quint Lane was modified to be an [[CanisMajor Uber-Lycan]] via Eve's blood, making him largely immune to silver. Key word being "largely": Selene takes him out by [[InsertGrenadeHere jamming a silver nitrate grenade into his body]] just as his wounds heal; when the bomb goes off, the sheer amount of silver released directly into his organs and bloodstream blasts him into LudicrousGibs.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': J'onn cannot read Thanagarians' minds--until the situation is critical enough for him to try harder. Though it proves [[PsychicBlockDefense unpleasant]] for J'onn himself, it turns out [[MindRape much worse]] for the other guy.

* ''Old Virginia'' by Laird Barron. Government scientists are studying the titular old crone who is a servant of an EldritchAbomination, including having her MindControl TestedOnHumans (with [[WeHaveReserves often fatal results]]) until the scientists develop technology that can protect them. Turns out the closer they get to the EldritchAbomination the more her powers increase, so their technology is useless.

* ''Old Virginia'' by Laird Barron. Government scientists are studying the titular old crone who is a servant of an EldritchAbomination, including having her MindControl TestedOnHumans (with [[WeHaveReserves often fatal results]]) until the scientists develop a means of defense. Turns out the closer they get to the EldritchAbomination, the more her powers increase.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': Thanagarians are immune to J'onn's power. Until the situation is critical enough for him to try harder.

* Played for laughs in ''Manga/OnePiece'' with regards to Magellan: His Devil Fruit makes him mostly immune to poison, and eating it is how he produces the poison [[ PoisonousPerson he himself releases]]. Unfortunately, he has to (or [[BizarreTasteInFood chooses to]]) eat so damn much that it gives him chronic diarrhea.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': When the League of Villains storms the school, they unleash Noumu, a creature designed to counter All Might by being heavily attack absorbent. However, All Might deduces that Noumu being absorbent doesn't mean completely nullifying, and hammers blow after blow into him faster and more than Noumu can contain.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': in ''Poseidon Saga'', the first Mariner Seiya has to fight is [[Characters/SaintSeiyaMariners Hippocampus Baian]], who's a BarrierWarrior that can deflects Seiya's attacks creating barriers with the air. Very confident of his powers, he can't believe that after many intents, his barriers are finally broken by Seiya, being soon defeated just as Seiya did in the past with Silver Saint Misty, who had a similar fighting style and was defeated by the same way Baian did.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'', if attacking a Pokemon with an attack of the same type, it will result in less damage given. However if the attacking Pokemon is strong enough and hits them with enough attacks, it can still wear the defending Pokemon down and may even KO them.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'', if attacking a Pokemon with an attack of the same type, it will result in less damage given. However if the attacking Pokemon is strong enough and hits them with enough attacks, it can still wear the defending Pokeon down and may even KO them.

Supertrope to DentedIron, where the damage a MadeOfIron character takes starts to take its toll over the years.