History Main / BioArmor

* The Fortified Armors from ''Apocalypse Zero'' are composed of a metal shell and a biological construct that is very much alive (and is created after former victims of the Empire of Japan).

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* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', the small and physically frail aliens wear large and tentacled bio-suits that almost qualify as MiniMecha, though even thenm they can be knocked out by a sucker punch.

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Leaving aside the fact that you're essentially wrapping a living being around yourself, it often forms some sort of symbiotic connection with the wearer, often drawing nutrients from the wearer's blood. Needless to say that might have adverse side effects.

Might be worn by a HeroicHost. Might sometimes be able to turn into an AnimatedArmor. Subtrope of OrganicTechnology. Compare LivingWeapon, a creature used as a weapon; and LivingClothes, clothing that has a mind of its own, though it may not necessarily be an actual organism in itself.

* ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'' is a classic anime and manga series about a high-school kid who gets his hand on a powerful set of technorganic armor that enhances the capabilities of its host and has to fight monsters called Zoanoids. The armor is virtually indestructible, and is able to regenerate from pretty much any wound, its only weak point being its Control Metal. As long as the Control Metal is intact, it can rebuild the host from the data stored within. But if it's critically damaged, the suit will eat the host alive.
* ''Anime/JushinLiger''. It was even retitled ''Bio Armor Ryger'' in the West, although it was more of a bio-HumongousMecha than a bio-armor.
* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'':

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Much like the aforementioned ''Jushin Liger,'' [[spoiler: the EVA units are bio-HumongousMecha with organic parts cloned from aliens.]]

* ''Creator/MarvelComics'': The symbiotes are amorphous entities -- sometimes alien, sometimes not, depending on the continuity -- that bond to a host, encasing them in their biomass and acting as a living costume. They provide enhanced strength, durability, and [[LovecraftianSuperpower various shapeshifting powers]], but often at the cost of becoming a monster. ComicBook/{{Venom}} and its offspring ComicBook/{{Carnage}} are the most famous examples, though dozens of others -- like Toxin and [[Characters/{{Venom}} Anti-Venom]] --have popped up over the years.
** Even more overt with the [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/f/fd/Eugene_Thompson_%28Earth-616%29_from_Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_654_page_31.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/640?cb=20110217023017 "Agent Venom"]] look for the symbiote, which downplays the "evil Lovecraftian spandex" look inherited from the symbiote's origins as a Spider-Man costume in favour of taking cues from military protective gear. [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/65/d8/28/65d828e29bf321231344abc9c84359f5.jpg His "Mk III" look]] -- used throughout ''Venom'' Vol. 2 -- was even more "bio", sporting a more chitinous appearance with spines on his pauldrons, vambraces, and boots; H. R. Giger even being mentioned on the concept art as an influence. Flash continues this, albiet color-inverted, when he becomes Agent ''Anti''-Venom.
** {{ComicBook/Venomverse}} introduces the Poisons, a species that possess and consume both symbiote and host on contact and take their powers. They end up with chitinous plate armor covering their bodies.
* ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: Iron Man'' gives Plant-Man a plant-based armor to better fight Iron Man's signature PoweredArmor with.
* ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'': The Hellspawn symbiotes -- being demonic riffs on the Venom symbiote and its ilk -- cover their hosts in a black, red, and white bodysuit, and can manifest fanged jaws and a prehensile tongue. Al Simmons is bonded to one of these symbiotes, by the name of K7-Leetha, though its backstory has been repeatedly {{retcon}}ned over the course of the series.
* Darth Krayt, the main antagonist of ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'' wears a suit of Yuuzhan Vong armor, which, like all their tech, is organic.

* In ''Roleplay/LordsAmongTheAshes'', the [[BadassArmy Normans]] find that this was a form of LostTechnology used by [[AdvancedAncientHumans the ancient civilization that existed before them]] on [[DeathWorld the Dark Continent]]. [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Jaune]] [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure has the armor extensively analyzed]] to find that it has [[SubvertedTrope no effect]] [[CyberneticsWillEatYourSoul on the user's soul]] and that it was enhanced by infusing metal armor with [[spoiler:the flesh of [[TheSoulless Grimm]]]].

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'' the small and physically frail aliens wear large and tentacled bio-suits that almost qualify as MiniMecha, though even then they can be knocked out by a sucker punch from Creator/WillSmith.
* A non-scientific example, in ''Film/TrueLegend2010'', the BigBad is a practitioner of the Venomous Fist, where upon reaching highest levels of his powers, gains a set of scorpion-like armour growing from his chest, shoulders and back, covering much of his body. In the penultimate confrontation with TheHero, [[spoiler: the tide of battle is turned when the hero manage to [[BodyHorror rip off entire chunks of his organic armour leaving his flesh and internal muscle exposed]] in a ridiculously graphic manner]].

* In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series the Yuuzhan Vong wear "Vonduun crabs" as armor, which can stop blaster bolts and even lightsabers, but turned out to be fatally allergic to a type of tree pollen, which was later developed into a SyntheticPlague that could kill all Yuuzhan Vong and their "technology".
* GodEmperor Leto Atreides II from the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series wears a full-body suit composed of living sand-trout, turning himself into an immortal human-sandworm hybrid. His only weakness is [[spoiler:being immersed in water, which is what happens at the end of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune'']].
* ''Literature/EightWorlds'' includes a fascinating variant: an artificial creature called a Symb, short for "Symbiote", which is essentially a living spacesuit for a single human. A Symb needs only sunlight plus occasional doses of trace elements to sustain both itself and its human partner. It's not intelligent on its own, but it has the ability to 'plug into' its human partner's brain and form a separate personality therein.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Aeon}}'' or ''TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse'', similar to the ''Cthulhutech'' example below, the future will have a growing number of armored biological suits called the [=BioVARG=] which enhance strength and allows the wearer to field weapons that would normally be [[{{BFG}}squad support or vehicle mounted]]. And yeah, there's something a bit off with the [=BioVARG=].
* Living armor is one of Transcendent Technologies Inc's products in ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones''. They allow their users to act like they have [[BioAugmentation Reclamation surgeries]], the TTI-Poltergeist even incorporates [[RealityWarping Transcendent tech]], but if injured they have a habit of freaking out and sucking their users' blood.
* Being a CaptainErsatz of the ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'', Tabletopgame/{{Cthulhutech}}'s [[TheSymbiote Tagers]] have shades of this. However, like everything in Cthulhutech, this trope gets [[LovecraftianSuperpower the eldritch treatment]].
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting of Eberron has Living Armor in its 5th edition. This is a grotesque chitin suit that burrows into its wearer when attuned. It offers a bit of general protection against to psychic and necrotic attacks as well as poison. Being symbiotic in nature, the armor drinks blood from the wearer and it can't be removed unless they're targeted by a curse removal.
* In TabletopGame/SLAIndustries, the alien Ebon and their related subspecies have black living armour called [=DeathSuits=] that give them various abilities. Interestingly the [=DeathSuits=] aren't organic in nature and are instead made of solidified [[PureEnergy Flux]]. The suits become living and semi-sentient only because of evolving from the presence of Flux in them and the symbiotic bond the suit has with its wearer.
* With technology devouring nanites circulating through the hair, humans are only able to fight robots with alien organic technology in TabletopGame/{{Splicers}}. Humans are outfitted with armour made with biological material and DNA from various life-forms. As such abilities such as mighty insect legs growing out an armour's chest is a very real possibility.
* In Steamlogic's ''TabletopGame/MechanicalDream'', there's a tribal race called the Yakis which has flesh-warpers take the placenta from a newly born Yakis and mold it into a symbiotic armour. Over time, various new powers develop such as flying wings and burrowing claws. Yakis, who had their armour destroyed or born in a place with no craftsmen capable of making armour, become pariahs among the tribes.
* In The Day After Ragnarok rpg setting one of the technologies developed from mining the corpse of the gigantic Midgard Serpent is the Ablative-Metabolic Suit. Made out of living snakeskin the wearer steps into and it immediately crawls over and seals itself. It can withstand every environmental temperature and pressure found on earth and is even an effective spacesuit.
* TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 has the various armor biomorphs for the Tyranid that can be placed and grown on top of the Tyranid's already tough leathery skin or carapace. Because wraithbone is a living, warp-sensitive bio-plastic, all the armor worn by the Eldar would be this, with perhaps the most notable being the suits of the Striking Scorpions which buffed up their muscles (earlier versions had them about as strong as Space Marines).

* Gorin from ''VideoGame/DUSK12'' is a SuperSoldier enhanced by the titular viral strain, who besides enhancing his strength and reflexes and granting him telekinetic abilities, also forms a layer of spiked, organic armor all over his body. It prompts one of the researchers to call him an "abomination".

** Kai’Sa was a normal human girl before being pulled into [[EldritchLocation the Void]], where she bonded with a symbiotic Voidling that formed a living bodysuit with biomechanical rocket pods on her shoulders.

* Within the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series, Samus' power suit appears metal at first glance, but is in fact at least partially organic. In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', the X-Parasites, a species that infects and mimics other organisms, is able to infest and then copy Samus' armor. ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' has a notably different look to the Fusion Suit from the previous game, described by the series lead as the Power Suit being in a state of "regrowth and repair" from being surgically torn apart in ''Fusion''. [[spoiler: The game ends with Samus becoming mostly Metroid, and her suit becomes noticeably more organic in appearance.]]
* ''Videogame/{{Prototype}}'': Alex Mercer's Armor power covers him in a black carapace that lets him plough through almost anything in his path. James Heller from ''VideoGame/Prototype2'' doesn't have this power, but has an armored form as an alternate skin.
* ''VideoGame/SigmaStarSaga'': The Krill wear living armor called a Parasite, which despite the name are completely harmless, and even beneficial since they enhance the wearer's physical capabilities. Humans can wear them just fine as well with no negative side effects.
* ''VideoGame/UFOAfterblank'': Pops up in ''Aftermath'''s late-game, where the Reticulans all wore weird meaty-looking armour that came in several variants, some providing a brightly-coloured DeflectorShields bubble to protect the wearer and conveniently indicate the armour's variant. You could engineer your own hybrid armour. Both hybrid and reticulan bio-armour is lightweight and offers the best protection against energy weapons, but it's not quite as good against ballistic weapons as man-made armour.

* ''Webcomic/AsteroidQuest'': Bio-armors are scored by a "mortality rate" value, since stronger bio-armors put more strain on the user. In practice the actual fatalities are much lower, because soldiers are tested first and simply don't put on bio-armor if they can't take it.

* In ''Chi-Chian: The Black Seed'' by Music/{{Voltaire}}, the 31st century setting has the Biologic Suit, a {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le armor only wearable by women that was given by the Japanese rulers of New York to Thailand in order repel a Chinese invasion. According to background story, the Thai soldiers wearing these suits easily defeat the Chinese by picking up their tanks and throwing them around. Unfortunately, the power got to the head of these suits, so the inventor Soma Mitsui activated a signal that told the suits to slither off the bodies of these soldiers leaving these women buck naked. The only remaining suit in existence belongs to Chi-Chian, Soma Mitsui's only child.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Jake can sometimes warp himself around Finn and act as a suit of armor. It's {{deconstructed|Trope}} in "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS5E27JakeSuit Jake Suit]]" as Finn sometimes forgets that while ''he'' doesn't feel any pain while wearing it, Jake certainly does.
* In ''Chi-Chian: The Black Seed'' by Music/{{Voltaire}}, the 31st century setting has the Biologic Suit, a NighInvulnerable armor only wearable by women, that was given by the Japanese rulers of New York to Thailand in order repel a Chinese invasion. According to background story, the Thai soldiers wearing these suits easily defeat the Chinese by picking up their tanks and throwing them around. Unfortunately, the power got to the head of these suits. So the inventor Soma Mitsui activated a signal that told the suits to slither off the bodies of these soldiers leaving these women buck naked. The only remaining suit in existence belongs to Chi-Chian, Soma Mitsui's only child.

* Within the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series, Samus' power suit appears metal at first glance, but it may actually be organic. In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', the X-Parasites, a species that infects and mimics other organisms, is able to infest and then copy Samus' armor. ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' [[spoiler:ends with Samus becoming mostly metroid, and her suit becomes noticeably more organic in appearance.]]