History Main / YouCanBarelyStand

* Vimes in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' fights off a small army of dwarfs while badly beaten from a fall, cold and wet, and highly disorientated. However, this is (probably) because of [[spoiler: the Summoning Dark trying to control him]]. Where he ''really'' shows his HeroicResolve is that, once he's run out of armed opponents, he ''stops''. [[spoiler: The effort involved to STOP...nearly tore his body apart, literally.]]

* In the opening chapter of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', Raiden finds himself quickly outclassed by Jetstream Sam, he cuts off his left arm and his left eye, leaving Raiden badly bleeding, barely able to stand, and unable to fight Sam. Later in the game, Sam tries to [[BreakThemByTalking break Raiden by forcing him to experience the fearful thoughts of the cyborgs he fought]], the experience leaving Raiden dazed and similarly handicapped until he awakens his SuperpoweredDarkSide.

* In ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' Boromir gets up and keeps fighting after taking an arrow in the chest - ''twice''!

* In the fourth book of Literature/TheSwordOfTruth, Richard defeats his evil brother, despite being barely able to stand due to disease, and the brother wielding the titular sword. A couple of minutes later, that brother tries to kill Richard, despite having his spine ripped out.

* In the finale of ''WebComic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'', the Doctor fights a VillainTeamUp led by King Radical, and his StarterVillain manages to run him through in the very first encounter, leaving him wounded for the rest of the episode. (He has to suture himself using a pine needle.) It doesn't slow him down ''that'' much, but when King Radical turns out to be a perfectly badass fighter himself, it doesn't make things any easier.

* {{Superman}} gets to do this a lot, including fighting weakened by a red sun and having just come out of a coma, or just having been stabbed with Kryptonite.
** Done with somewhat different implications in the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] finale "Legacy," where a depowered Superman lets out his anger on Lex Luthor, shattering the latter's jaw in one punch.
*** Reminding us all that even without superpowers, Clark Kent is still a big man who gets ''very'' intense workouts on a regular basis.
*** Really more of an inversion. He can [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech cut loose]] because he doesn't have to worry about accidentally killing Lex. This happened in Smallville too.

* ComicBook/SpiderMan fought The Black Widow in one issue. ''He'' had a case of pneumonia that would have put an ordinary man into the hospital, but it just slowed and weakened him down enough that the Black Widow thought he been toying with her when he broke free of her swing line at the end of the fight.

-->'''Roark Jr.''': Look at you, you can't even lift that cannon you carry!
-->'''Hartigan''': ...Sure I can.

-->'''Carn''': Roran, just ''look at yourself!'''
-->'''Roran''': *looks himself over, grimaces* Fine, make it quick.

-->'''Lt. Boomer''': Colonel, Blue Squadron reporting for duty, sir.
-->'''Col. Tigh''': Lieutenant, obviously you can't even stand.
-->'''Lt. Boomer''': A Viper is flown from the ''seated'' position, sir.

-->'''[[MonsterOfTheWeek Sunday]]:''' What about breaking your arm, (''grabs at Buffy's left arm'') how'd that feel.
-->''[[TheHero Buffy]]:'' Let me answer that with a head butt. (''she does and sends Sunday staggering'') And for the record, the arm is ''hurt,'' (''punches Sunday, sending her flying'') not broken.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Chevalier, [[spoiler:leader of the [[SuperTeam Protectorate]]]], is hospitalized after an assassination attempt that involved carving out his guts with a high-intensity cutting laser. Having just undergone major surgery to stabilize him, Chevalier awakens to find that in his absence the defense against [[Kaiju Behemoth]] has gone poorly, with the city of New Delhi almost destroyed and most of the defending superheroes injured or dead. After getting some information on Behemoth's weaknesses from [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Tattletale]], Chevalier grabs his sword, limps out of the hospital, charges Behemoth-a forty-five foot tall horned abomination that can instantly kill anything within thirty meters-and then ''hurts him badly enough to make him run.''

* In ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', when Shaw has taken over the Buy More and has chained Sarah to a thick bar at the base of the Nerd Herd desk, Sarah tells Shaw that Chuck won't show up to save her because [[YouCanBarelyStand he can barely stand.]] Yet, lo, and behold, Chuck shows up while injured, gets a [[HeroicSecondWind reboot]], and [[TechnicalPacifist takes the Paragon Path]] when he won't kill Shaw. [[ActionGirlfriend, Of course, that doesn't stop Sarah from whacking him across the skull with the object of her restraint.]]

* A staple in every single climactic battle in ''Franchise/DragonBall''. The stakes started to get especially high starting from King Piccolo's arc. In that fight [[spoiler:Goku gets his left arm and both of his legs broken. Still, Goku manages to win with focusing all of his strength in his right arm. ItMakesSenseInContext]]. And it goes [[SerialEscalation upwards from there in the following arcs]]. The most iconic examples would be:

** Goku Vs. Vegeta: [[spoiler:Goku gets [[UpToEleven his whole body incapacitated]], but still manages to form a small Spirit Bomb and passes it to Krillin]].
** Gohan Vs. Cell: [[spoiler: Gohan gets his right arm maimed [[TakingTheBullet while trying to save Vegeta from Cell]]. Still, thanks to Goku's encouragement, Gohan forms a Kamehameha with a single arm that destroys Cell]].

* A staple in every single climatic battle in ''Franchise/DragonBall''. The stakes started to get specially high starting from King Piccolo's arc. In that fight [[spoiler:Goku gets his left arm and both of his legs broken. Still, Goku manages to win with focusing all of his strength in his right arm. ItMakesSenseInContext]]. And it goes [[SerialEscalation upwards from there in the following arcs]]. The most iconic examples would be:

* In ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'', after the fight with Rosine, Guts is a complete mess. That also happens to be when he runs into the Holy Iron Chain Knights. He still puts up a hell of a fight, but gets captured at the end of it. In any other condition he would have killed them all.

** At the end of the fight he appears to remain unflinching as an enemy attack comes flying towards his face only to stop mere inches away. His PostVictoryCollapse reveals he ''probably couldn't have dodged even if he wanted to.''

** Seiya is poisoned by by Royal Demon Roses on his way to the Pope's chamber, until all he could manage was crawl his way to the chamber. Once there, the Pope made him [[spoiler:blind, deaf, dumb, and robbed him of his sense of smell and touch as well, then banished him to another dimension.]] [[HeroicSecondWind He won anyway.]]
* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', Simon [[spoiler: is lifted out of his Lagann mini mecha by Lordgenome, looking bruised and almost totally defeated. However, just as Lordgenome is about to finish him off for good he summons his remaining strengh and slams the his drill pendant into his enemy's chest before twisting it and blowing him apart with the spiral energy it contains.]]

** Also Zoro -- the post-Oz Kuma encounter [[spoiler: when he is so injured he can't stand, and yet uses Kuma's magic paw-bubble to take all of Luffy's damage too]], and the post-Kuma multi-Kuma fight [[spoiler: where his injuries from the Kuma encounter make him collapse, whereupon he gets up again to use his most powerful technique, whereupon he is struck with a light beam/laser thing, whereupon he gets up again to face down Kuma (who is surprised that he survived that first encounter) whereupon he is vanished away to Nightmare Before Christmas-land. Where, upon waking, he tries to get up ''again'' but luckily has been semi-mummified by Perona]].

*** Every ''Bleach'' reader already knows that everything in ''Bleach'' depends entirely on RuleOfCool. Usually this means Ichigo takes a ton of injuries and then [[NextTierPowerUp pulls something super crazy awesome]] out of nowhere and defeats his opponent. Then again, that's just about every shonen ever.

* The cast of ''Manga/InuYasha'' get this a ''lot''. One example is when Inyasha is human and must fight the Peach Man. During that time, he is shrunk, eaten, thrown back up, bled, tossed around, and fell from a cliff. Not even Sesshomaru is [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll immune]]. He finally comes up against an enemy that [[TheStrategist knows how to fight]] a [[HandicappedBadass one-armed man]] [[spoiler: - by [[BadassInDistress tearing that arm to shreds]], then entwining him in tentacles to [[ShootTheHostage prevent Inuyasha from using his sword]], before finally stabbing him through the chest]].

** During his fight with Todoroki during the [[TournamentArc Sports Festival Tournament]], Midoriya pushed his body past their limits with One For All, using the power repeatedly on his injured arms and risking grave injury. While he would recover, his right hand would remained scarred as a result.
** Later, when the League of Villains attack at the summer training camp, Midoriya puts himself in harms way again when he fights Muscular to protect a boy named Kota. Midoriya ends up with two broken arms (one from Muscular, the other from using One For All at full power) and nearly getting killed, but pushing on and keeping Muscular at bay, even as he bled profusely and mangled his arms.
* The various Egrigori experiments in ''Manga/ProjectARMS'' get this bad. Ryo has especially bad luck. His ARMS - the Jabberwock - will only come out if he is in serious danger. The result of this is that almost every enemy sent to kill the Jaberwock will try to make it come out by beating the stuffing out of Ryo. And since he hates the Jabberwock, he always puts in a great deal of effort to just let himself get pummeled and not release the ARMS.
* ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger'' invokes this during its famed final fight sequence. Nanashi, after already being completely spent fighting the other soldiers and sustaining a few fairly series injuries, not only stands up to Luo-Lang, but refuses his offer of performance-enhancing drugs that would dull his pain and [[spoiler: still ends up the victor in the end.]]

** And appropriately enough in the scene happening parallel to that one, we have Shirou. During the course of his fight he's broken his fingers, gotten covered in cuts, has various other broken appendages, and is all but dead due to being outmatched. Quite literally the only thing keeping him swinging is a full on {{Determinator}} mode.

* A non-combat version from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'': an unnamed country punishes criminals by hanging. The big cities always have enough people willing to become professional hangmen, but in smaller towns, people aren't willing to face the social stigma. So what the small towns do is choose a condemned prisoner who's unlikely to be too much trouble and offer to suspend his sentence if he'll act as hangman. That "suspend" is key; if the prisoner isn't hanged sooner or later, the town loses their right to have a hangman. One character accepts the offer, but as natural death approaches, he decides that he'd really prefer to die in his own bed. When the enforcers arrive, he's standing to meet them, although he was too ill to move, let alone stand, a mere panel or two before. Once the enforcers leave, we find that the character was supported by one of his own hangman's ropes, strung to a roof beam.

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fic ''Fanfic/WhyandWere'', Assassin Johanna Smith-Rhodes has to conclude an inhumation of a werecreature despite the fact it has broken her shooting arm and that her assistant has seemingly defected to the enemy camp.
** In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11536013/17/Hyperemesis-gravidarum Hyperemesis Gravidarum]]'', she has to fight off an assailant whilst heavily pregnant. [[UpToEleven Sure enough]], she gets strong labour pains. During the fight. Things might have gone badly if it wasn't for a last-minute intervention by PapaWolf, a man determined to become a grandfather.

* In ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', Commodus stabs Maximus in the lung just before their climactic battle in the colosseum. Maximus, a seasoned general mind you, proves to be able to defeat the reasonably skilled but nonetheless inferior Commodus, [[spoiler:but dies from the wound afterwards.]]

* At the end of ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'', Ethan Hunt faces off against John Lark. While both are highly trained combatants, both have also suffered significant injuries prior to the fight. As a result the ensuing brawl is much cruder and less elaborate than the much earlier bathroom fight with John Lark's body double.

* In the fourth book of Literature/TheSwordOfTruth, Richard defeats his evil brother, despite being barely able to stand due to a disease, and the brother wielding the titular sword. A couple minutes later, that brother tries to kill Richard, despite having his spine ripped out.

* Vimes in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' fights off a small army of dwarfs while badly beaten from a fall, cold and wet, and highly disorientated. However this is (probably) because of [[spoiler: the Summoning Dark trying to control him]]. Where he ''really'' shows his HeroicResolve is that, once he's run out of armed opponents, he ''stops''. [[spoiler: The effort involved to STOP...nearly tore his body apart, litterally.]]

* Old literary example: In ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}},'' the title character Wilfred of Ivanhoe meets Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert as challenger in a trial by combat despite barely being able to maintain his seat in the saddle due to severe wounds from a tournament earlier. [[spoiler: Then Bois-Guilbert has a stroke and falls dead despite not even being touched by Ivanhoe's lance. This is of course taken as a sign from God.]]

* Literature/HonorHarrington does this in ''Flag in Exile'' where after the best part of three days of awake activity, being shot out of the sky, having a bomb go off next to her, and being in a life-or death duel, she still has to fight her ship. Good thing she sits in her command chair.

* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' series, Raistlin Majere is a rare case of [[InvertedTrope the villain]] suffering from this. Suffering from the most severe IncurableCoughOfDeath in all of fiction because of his Test, Raistlin is almost constantly on the verge of keeling over or being blown away by a stiff breeze. Even Crysania, when she opposed him at first, sees him as a pitiable figure. And when Caramon confronts him in the Abyss, Raistlin had been burnt, stabbed, frozen, sheared and skewered to within an inch of his life, and yet Caramon still holds back. Not only because of lingering brotherly concern, but because ''even then'' Raistlin is still dangerous. 98% of his magic had been expended, but that last 2% was still enough to be worried about, not to mention his dagger of last resort that he had no compunctions to using.

* Many of his Creator/DavidGemmell's prominent heroes continue to kick ass literally until the moment of death, and certainly some time after the moment of mere fatal wounding. A special mention must go to Ananis from ''Literature/TheKingBeyondTheGate'', who after taking a boar spear in the back grabs another (ten-foot tall monster) opponent and skewers him to death with the spear head that is sticking out of his chest.

* When ''Series/{{Angel}}'' loses his soul for the umpteenth time, his sidekick calls in [[TheAtoner fallen Slayer]] Faith to hunt him down. This might have been a short fight, since Angel has a long record of getting soundly beaten every time he fights a Slayer (Faith herself managed to bounce him ''off the ceiling'' while attempting SuicideByCop) so before the big fight she gets beaten to a bloody pulp by TheJuggernaut. Oh, and [[spoiler: gives herself a massive dose of magical opiates]]. She still nearly beats him, because Slayers are just that badass.

* In ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', when Shaw has taken over the Buy More and has chained Sarah to a thick bar at the base of the Nerd Herd desk, Sarah tells Shaw that Chuck won't show up to save her because [[YouCanBarelyStand he can barely stand.]] Yet, lo, and behold, Chuck shows up while injured, gets a [[HeroicSecondWind reboot]], and [[TechnicalPacifist takes the Paragon Path]] when he won't kill Shaw. [[ActionGirlfriend Of course that doesn't stop Sarah from whacking him across the skull with the object of her restraint.]]
* Booth on ''Series/{{Bones}},'' in "Two Bodies In The Lab", after he's injured by the fridge bomb. He leaves the hospital against medical advice and makes Hodgins take him to where he realizes Brennan is being held. He can barely stay on his feet, but manages to stop the corrupt FBI agent and save Brennan. After which, he has to go back to the hospital.

* Very common in ProfessionalWrestling: the {{heel}} weakens the {{face}} before the big title match by getting his friends to beat him up, or forcing the face to have another match just before the title match, usually a handicap match, hardcore match or another grueling type. (This is referred to as the "Spirit of '76" spot, when the bandaged and battered face comes staggering out for the match anyway.)

** The final retrievable memory of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' shows [[spoiler:a very battered and exhausted Link defending Zelda from a huge wave of Guardians with a rusted and decayed Master Sword. Zelda is fortunately able to awaken her RoyaltySuperPower at this moment of desperation to deactivate all the Guardians, but Link ultimately falls after that, requiring Zelda to have him placed in the [[HealingVat Shrine of Resurrection]] for the next century to heal.]]

** ''Modern Warfare 2'''s climax has you falling off a few hundred foot high waterfall after shooting down the BigBad's helicopter. You recover, limping and badly injured, just in time for a hand-to-hand CQC fight with the Big Bad who is in much better condition following the crash.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'': [[spoiler: after dealing with a bad heart/rebellious nanomachines, crawling through a hallway full of microwave radiation, and barely surviving a final assault by a bunch of mini-bots, Snake is captured by Liquid Ocelot, who challenges him to one last fight to the death. To ensure that it will be a fair match, Liquid injects Snake with some awesome drug, then, as they CutscenePowerToTheMax, they continue to inject themselves with more and more of the drug, until despite their advanced ages, they are able to fight as if they were in their prime. This ''quickly'' devolves, however, to a YouCanBarelyStand battle, as, at the end, the drug wears out, and it goes from two accomplished hand-to-hand combatants duking it out to two old men savagely slugging each other with whatever power they can muster. Note that Ocelot has a good 4 life bars, one for each game in the solid series, in different styles!]]

* This happens in the fight with Incarose in ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'', when other characters tell Shing to step down because of his recent state of being stabbed through the stomach. The weird thing is, you can't even put him in your party that fight. The lines are only known about because of the Sound Museum, although hacking him in does trigger the lines and even the victory animation.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' the player is seriously injured in a massive explosion just before confronting the BigBad. As a result, in the final fight you're too injured to attack, and can only fight by countering.

* In ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', the PhysicalGoddess Mother Om [[http://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wielder-of-names-6-118/ taunts her rival, recently-empowered sorority girl Allison]], with a variation: not only can't she stand, our heroine is so frightened she can hardly ''speak''. And yet... (Lampshaded by at least one reader, who notes in the comments that this is the surest way to make one's foe get up again.)

* In the very-first episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}'', the Mutants invade the Thundarian flagship, seeking to steal the Sword of Omens, and particularly the Eye Of Thundara set in its hilt. When they find it, it lies in the hands of a young Lion-O, and when he tries to threaten them, they laughingly reply that "You can barely hold that sword, much less lift it." Which is, of course, the sword's cue to [[PowerGlows start glowing]]. Moments later, Lion-O is swinging the full-sized sword around despite his young age, and the Mutants are running scared.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' in the Scotsman's debut episode. After Jack and the Scotsman meet each other on an extremely long bridge, their argument culminates in a duel that is show to last literally a full 24 hours. When the camera cuts back to them, Jack is on his knees, supporting himself on the bridge's rope, declaring he will hold his ground. "Hold yer ground? Ye can barely hold yer sword!" the Scotsman declares. He himself is unable to then lift his own sword.

** Kirk Gibson was a lot closer to being crippled when he hit the game winning homerun off Dennis Eckersley in the '88 World Series. Steve Yzerman helped the Red Wings win the early series in the 2002 NHL playoffs despite having virtually no knee cartilage left. And Willis Reed famously started Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals despite a torn muscle in his thigh, which is often credited with helping rally the Knicks to victory.

*** Michael Jordan played Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals with what was either the flu or food poisoning. Whatever the exact ailment, he could barely move the morning of the game, dragged himself out of bed at 5:30 PM that evening, an hour and a half before tip off, played 44 minutes, scored 38 points in a very close game, before needing his teammate, Scottie Pippen, to basically carry him off of the court after the final buzzer.

* In the 2012 Australian Open [[UsefulNotes/{{Tennis}} tennis]] final, [[UsefulNotes/{{Tennis}} Novak Djokovic]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Tennis}} Rafael Nadal]] played such a grueling and merciless match that completely obliterated the former record for longest Grand Slam final with a length of ''six hours'' that Djokovic's dramatic collapse to the floor after a 31-ball rally in the fifth set looked like more than just his usual theatrics. To top it off, the match left both Djokovic and Nadal so physically drained afterwards that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhCzXwdUs_U they visibly struggled to stay upright during the lengthy closing speech]] with Nadal having to lean on the net for support and Djokovic all but on his knees before chairs were brought out for them.
* At the 1996 Olympics, U.S. gymnast Kerri Strug performed her second vault attempt with a third-degree lateral sprain and tendon damage in one ankle. She landed on both feet, but stood on one foot while saluting the judges. After receiving a score of 9.712 (clinching the gold medal for her team), she collapsed to the mat and had to be carried to the medals podium.

* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', Rika has one of these during her CrowningMomentOfAwesome when she [[spoiler:stands up against Shion and kills herself rather than die by torture]].

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight Unlimited Bladeworks''. Lancer's CrowningMomentOfAwesome is basically him taking out a major villain and a minor one, both non-heroic spirits, while suffering one such wound. That wound is being stabbed through the heart with his own magic spear. His response? [[BadassBoast "As if I would die from a wound like this."]] We must emphasize this wound is through the heart. With a spear that causes wounds that cannot be healed.

* In ''Fanfic/DreamingOfSunshine'', Shikako faces off against [[spoiler:the Sound genin]] by herself while concussed, sleep deprived, low on chakra, and nursing several broken ribs and a broken arm from the encounter with [[spoiler:Orochimaru - and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome she kills all three of them]].]]

** Played with in ''Turn Coat'': While it's really obvious that he can barely stand (numerous bandages, about to fall over from lack of sleep, and what have you) and he's hopelessly outnumbered, none of the [[spoiler:other Wardens]] want to attack him because [[ShroudedInMyth they've all heard about]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the crazy crap he's pulled]] when he's running on nothing but sheer bloodymindedness.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. Specifically Dinobot's CrowningMomentOfAwesome where Megatron speaks these lines verbatim when Dinobot, after a long battle with several other Predacons is reduced to using a large stick against an upgraded Megatron. Of course, Dinobot "improvises" and [[RockBeatsLaser smashes Megatron with a makeshift hammer]].

** The sequel ''Lost Age'' also has two incidents of this trope After the fight with replacement baddies Agatio and Karst atop the Jupiter Lighthouse. Regardless of how the fight goes, they're forced to make a hasty retreat because the fight with Felix and Co. took to much out of them, and the heroes from the last game are on their way up. Once the villains leave, Issac and co. arrive a tense standoff ensues between the two teams (long story). Ivan defuses the situation by suggesting they return to the local village to resolve things, as both teams are too tired to fight.

* In the final sequence of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', [[spoiler:Connor is severely injured and unable to fight; his opponent, however, is equally injured and so the two enemies are reduced to staring at each other across a tavern table]].

* During the second Siege of Osaka at the end of the UsefulNotes/SengokuJidai, UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura fought a desperate battle against Tokugawa Ieyasu's army. Outnumbered, Yukimura took so many injuries that by the time he had an opening to attack Tokugawa head-on, he was too exhausted to even stand. Realizing he could no longer fight, Yukimura welcomed Tokugawa's army to take his head, thus ending the siege on Osaka Castle and ending the Warring States era of Japanese history.

* In the opening chapter of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', Raiden finds himself quickly outclassed by Jetstream Sam, he cuts off his left arm and his left eye, leaving Raiden badly bleeding, barely able to stand, and unable to fight Sam. Later in the game, Sam tries to [[BreakThemByTalking break Raiden by forcing him to experience the fearful thoughts of the cyborgs he fought]], the experience leaving Raiden dazed and similarly handicapped until he awakens his SuperPoweredDarkSide.

* Real life sports example:
** There's a lot of examples from sports. Kirk Gibson was a lot closer to being crippled when he hit the game winning homerun off Dennis Eckersley in the '88 World Series. Steve Yzerman helped the Red Wings win the early series in the 2002 NHL playoffs despite having virtually no knee cartilage left. And Willis Reed famously started Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals despite a torn muscle in his thigh, which is often credited with helping rally the Knicks to victory.

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* Real life sports example: Curt Schilling in the 2004 World Series.
** There's a lot of examples from sports beyond that. Kirk Gibson was a lot closer to being crippled when he hit the game winning homerun off Dennis Eckersley in the '88 World Series. Steve Yzerman helped the Red Wings win the early series in the 2002 NHL playoffs despite having virtually no knee cartilage left. And Willis Reed famously started Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals despite a torn muscle in his thigh, which is often credited with helping rally the Knicks to victory.

* Link gets a moment like this near the end of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. After Link [[spoiler: meets up with Ganondorf for his last battle, the Gerudo rushes over and beats the stuffing out of Link. Thankfully, Zelda awakes, and the fight soon commences.]] Then, at the end of his [[spoiler:sword-to-swordfight with Ganondorf and some assistance from Zelda]], Link [[spoiler:sends the Master Sword through Ganondorf's head, jumps back, and proceeds to bend over and collapse into the approaching Zelda's arms.]] But after a fight like that, who wouldn't be tired?

* In the 2012 Australian Open [[UsefulNotes/{{Tennis}} tennis]] final, [[{{Tennis}} Novak Djokovic]] and [[{{Tennis}} Rafael Nadal]] played such a grueling and merciless match that completely obliterated the former record for longest Grand Slam final with a length of ''six hours'' that Djokovic's dramatic collapse to the floor after a 31-ball rally in the fifth set looked like more than just his usual theatrics. To top it off, the match left both Djokovic and Nadal so physically drained afterwards that [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhCzXwdUs_U they visibly struggled to stay upright during the lengthy closing speech]] with Nadal having to lean on the net for support and Djokovic all but on his knees before chairs were brought out for them.

* The cast of ''Manga/InuYasha'' get this a ''lot''. One example is when Inyasha is human and must fight the Peach Man. During that time, he is shrunk, eaten, thrown back up, bled, tossed around, and fell from a cliff. Not even Sesshoumaru is [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll immune]]. He finally comes up against an enemy that [[TheStrategist knows how to fight]] a [[HandicappedBadass one-armed man]] [[spoiler: - by [[BadassInDistress tearing that arm to shreds]], then entwining him in tentacles to [[ShootTheHostage prevent Inuyasha from using his sword]], before finally stabbing him through the chest]].
--> '''Inuyasha:''' ''[to Sesshoumaru]'' You just stay back! This isn't the place for an injured person!

* In the DaleBrown novel ''Flight of the Old Dog'', the titular AirstrikeImpossible ''starts'' with the titular CoolPlane already damaged from a takeoff under enemy fire, with its operators not at 100% due to needs must, and gets into steadily worse straits along the way, including damaged/malfunctioning engines, compromised fuel tanks and failing sensors.