History Main / MagicAntidote

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Sakura creates an antidote to Sasori's poison that can be used both to cure someone after they've been poisoned and, if taken in advance, instantly neutralize as soon as it enters the body. However, it doesn't repair damage already done by the poison.

* Antitox from [[TabletopGame/D20Modern D20 Future]]. It is an hypodermic analyzing the bloodstream, detecting the poison used, and formulating a special treatment from stored chemicals, curing the poison and it's damage in 1D6 rounds.

* Averted in the Hunger Games trilogy. Snow had to drink poison to kill a potential rival. While he was quickly able to get the antidote, he still has permanent mouth sores that cause him to constantly smell like blood. He has to wear genetically-modified roses to cover it up.

* In the ''Literature/TimeScout'', lots of [[SnakeOilSalesman Snake Oil Salesmen]] sell these on Shangri La. Skeeter starts such a scam but gets interrupted. Ianira may just make the real thing. Skeeter's scheme was based on a SacredPool believed to have such properties near Marcus's childhood home.

* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' uses the scientifically laughable idea of an inoculation against radiation.
** These are commonly used in the trekverse, and are often handwaved as temporarily strengthening the cellular membranes limiting radiation's ability to penetrate and damage them (think internal radiation shielding). An acute overdose or prolonged exposure is still a bad thing, but then they'll just pull out one of their other hyposprays that will instantly reverse the damage the radiation has done.[[note]]Let us not forget it's 300 years in the future, and 1 Voyager episode implies medical technology is evolving as fast as computing power did in the '80s–'00s[[/note]]

* The experimental serum in ''Manga/SchoolLive'' acts as this, though there are enough implications that it has to be given within a very short time frame from the point the victim was infected, or else it won't make any difference. However, once it ''does'' get applied, the recovery time takes about as long as a good night's rest. However, [[spoiler: this is subverted in later chapters, because while Kurumi appears to be fine at first, she later starts showing more zombie-like symptons to the point that the actual zombies think she's one of them and ignore her. It's implied that she'll have to start taking the experimental serum weekly or else she'll still turn, but there's only a handful of serum samples left]].

* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': GC-161 antidote works pretty much immediately on contact -- so long as it's administered soon enough after exposure. Otherwise, it wears off in a few weeks. [[spoiler: After a year or two of GC-161 powers, the antidote won't work at all.]]

* ''Film/IronMan 2''. [[spoiler:Tony Stark is dying of palladium poisoning from the Arc Reactor that powers his heart.]] Yet when he [[spoiler:invents a new arc reactor that doesn't use palladium and plugs it into his chest]], the visible symptoms recede immediately.
** He also received an injection developed by [[FunWithAcronyms SHIELD]] specifically for his case, which temporarily reverses the toxic effects, his TaintedVeins receding within seconds.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' expands on the properties of bacta, which, while not an antidote, is a heal-all, cure-all – it's said that if there's any life in someone, bacta will help. Naturally, this makes it very valuable. There are still things it can't fix, usually for plot-related reasons, and it doesn't heal things instantly. It can't fix missing limbs or organs, for example, so prosthetics crop up a lot. [[Literature/XWingSeries Ton Phanan]] is ''allergic'' to bacta, and so he keeps needing [[EmergencyTransformation prosthetic replacements]] for more and more of his body.

* In ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', bezoars are special magical stones found in the stomachs of goats that can neutralize almost any poison if swallowed quickly enough. When Harry was asked by his Potions Instructor Horace Slughorn to identify an antidote for a certain poison, Harry was at a loss until he looked at his hand-me-down Potions textbook which was full of hand-written tips from its previous owner the Half-blood Prince [[spoiler:aka Severus Snape]]. The Prince wrote "Just shove a bezoar down its throat". Slughorn was amused when Harry showed him a bezoar instead of naming the specific antidote for the poison. [[spoiler:Harry later uses that same bezoar to save Ron's life after Ron drinks some poisoned nectar.]] However despite being literal MagicAntidote [[AvertedTrope it works realistically]]. When [[spoiler: Ron is poisoned and gets the antidote he's still very weak and has to spend some time in hospital wing.]]

* In the 2000s ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', receiving an infusion of blood from a half-Cylon fetus spontaneously caused President Roslin's cancer to go in remission, at a point where she was ''hours'' away from death. [[spoiler:Though the cancer does come back a year and a half later.]]
** Averted during the Kobol arc, one of Tyrol's men is wounded and his lungs are slowly filling with fluid. They used the last of the medication to treat this in one of their medkits, and they left the other medkit by the Raptor crash site in their haste to evacuate the area. Tyrol, Cally and a RedShirt [[FindTheCure have to go back for the medkit]] before the wounded man dies. [[spoiler:After losing the RedShirt they finally get back to the wounded man with the medkit – except now it's too late. Even though the man is still alive and conscious, there's nothing they can do with any of the material in either of their medkits now, except to grant the wounded man a peaceful death]]

* Subverted in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Curing poison or a disease will stop things getting worse, but damaged attributes need to be restored separately. Natural healing is fairly slow and can be accelerated with expert care and bed rest – and some particularly nasty kinds of damage (generally from supernatural sources) can never be naturally healed, requiring magical intervention to repair.
** Depends on the edition, however. In older ones, poison tended to [[OneHitKill outright kill]] fairly quickly – sometimes even downright instantly – rather than merely deal hit point or ability damage, and so antidotes, including literally magical ones like the ''Neutralize Poison'' spell, might have to actually be applied within a short period during which the victim was already technically ''dead'' (just of course [[OnlyMostlyDead not]] ''[[OnlyMostlyDead too]]'' [[OnlyMostlyDead dead yet]]) in order to revive them. After which they might or might not be any worse for the wear.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', when Palom and Porom [[spoiler:turn themselves to stone]], normal curative magic doesn't solve it, supposedly because [[spoiler:they chose to become stone themselves. The elder of their village somehow restores them anyway.]]

* Similarly averted in ''VideoGame/ZombiU''. The vaccine to the zombie virus that the player can help develop is specifically mentioned as being a vaccine, not a cure. As such, it's no help to anyone who's already infected with the virus [[spoiler: which includes the doctor who was helping you to develop the vaccine]].

* Good old [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin aspirin]]. It's one of mankind's oldest and simplest medicines, but the uses to which it can be put are quite startling, with new ones being found on an almost monthly basis. Notable examples include prevention against lots of clot-related diseases, including heart attack, deep venous thrombosis, and stroke.
** This month's new use: [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15475553 bowel cancer treatment]]

In Fiction land, antidotes, vaccines and {{Healing Herb}}s work almost instantly. The fever goes down, [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette color returns to their skin]] and [[TaintedVeins drains from their veins]], heartbeat and "life signs" stabilize, the characters open their eyes, etc. Furthermore, to build dramatic tension, the poisoned character is usually given a very precise [[ExactTimeToFailure deadline to take the antidote]], and only manages to get the antidote right before death.

* ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': Except for the (admittedly, diluted) potion that turns Kuzco into a llama at the beginning of the film, all of Yzma's transformation potions work immediately.

* Played straight in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' when Giorno infects himself with Fugo's virus. In the 30 seconds between infection and death, Giorno manages to defeat the bad guy, use his AnimateInanimateObject powers to create an antidote through a convoluted process, and administer the antidote to himself, allowing the symptoms to cease after a few seconds. Fugo is thoroughly impressed watching the whole thing happen. Possibly justified in that the virus is supernatural and doesn't necessarily operate by normal rules of physics.

** The cure-all nature of bacta is actually exploited by the villains in the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries''. Imperial forces create a SyntheticPlague, Krytos, which only infected non-human species and caused horrific deaths, but could be cured with bacta. This was an intentional property of the plague, as it meant that all of the New Republic's supplies of bacta were used to fight Krytos, causing massive shortages everywhere else and straining production.

* Downplayed in ''Film/JohnWick'' and its sequels. In the first film, John is given pills that are supposed to help him remain functional and not feel the pain and discomfort of a severe stab wound to his abdomen. In ''[[Film/JohnWickChapter3Parabellum Chapter 3]]'', John takes pills that are supposed to bumb the pain from, yet another, stab wound while simultaneously giving him an energy boost.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''

** The rest of the series IS famously liberal with its use of "vaccines."

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. Varsuvius gets hit by a poisoned arrow which penalizes his/her Strength. Elan [[ChekhovsSkill Neutralizes the Poison]]. That stops the Strength drain, but V doesn't get back what they'd already lost.
** Another subversion when Therkla is poisoned. The villain, when [[CarryingTheAntidote the antitoxin is demanded of him]], replies that he drank it half an hour ago and it will last the remainder of said hour. Furthermore, antitoxins don't actually work as instant cures in Dungeons and Dragons: they increase a character's ''resistance'' to the poison. Even if it was administered, Therkla wouldn't be guaranteed to be saved, and she would not have recovered the strength she lost even if she were.
* In a time-travel plotline in ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'', Chris-chan donates his 'straight blood' so that scientists can make a [[CureYourGays vaccine for homosexuality]].
** Extra hilarity for people who know [[FridgeLogic how vaccines actually work]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperNoobs'': The extractor guns that virus warriors use to extract a rampaging organism called the virus from its hosts qualifies. The virus is known to turn organisms into rampaging monsters and when the extractor is used on them, the virus its drawn out and destroyed, instantly reverting its hosts back to its normal selves. They need to be weakened first though.

* In ''VideoGame/ColdAndFluInvasion'', cough drops can cure colds and flu instantly, med kits can preemptively cure colds instantly, and a certain type of candy heals ''everyone in the vicinity'' if someone so much as ''touches'' it.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. Varsuvius gets hit by a poisoned arrow which penalizes his/her Strength. Elan [[ChekhovsSkill Neutralizes the Poison]]. That stops the Strength drain, but V is still weakened by the toxin.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', a "soft" (whatever that is) can instantly cure a character that has been [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]], except if you've been turned to stone by a forest, in which case you need to spend a quarter of a disc searching for a 'supersoft'. Likewise, the virus status effect is cured with a vaccine.
*** There's also a "vaccine" that can cure a viral infection after the fact.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has the disease status effect, which [[WoundThatWilLNotHeal prevents characters from recovering HP while also reducing their max HP as they get damaged]]. Nothing a vaccine can't fix! The ''Zodiac'' re-release version renames vaccine to serum, making it a bit more technically correct.

* In ''Manga/KimetsuNoYaiba'', [[spoiler:The demon doctor Tamayo is able to create a medicine that can instantly revert a demon back into human again. It was confirmed to work because a young man who got turned into a demon by the villain Muzan in the early chapters was given the medicine and returned back to his human form. By researching Nezuko's blood with the blood of the Lower and Upper Moons collected from Tanjiro, she was able to create the medicine to do so. Nezuko had taken the medicine to become human again and is currently in a comatose state. Meanwhile, Tamayo herself attempted to use the medicine on Muzan himself to turn him back into human to defeat him.]]

* For a while penicillin looked like it might be this. During WWII, a shot of penicillin would clear up an normally fatal infection and return the soldier back to fighting shape in a about a day. The rise of antibiotic resistance made sure it did not stay that way for long.

** ''Doctor Who'' has been using this trope all the way back since its ''first'' season with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E8TheSensorites "The Sensorites"]].

!!Examples

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* Possibly subverted (but then again, maybe not) in an episode of ''TheBurningZone'': an infected airplane pilot is given the cure to an Ebola-like virus, but dies anyway because the damage to his organs was already too severe. On the other hand, upon receiving the cure, he instantly regained enough strength and clarity to land the airplane, destroyed organs and all.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'', "The Christmas Invasion". One minute he's sick enough to only have [[BizarreAlienBiology one heartbeat]], and the next he's sword fighting the leader of an alien invasion force. The fact that the cure is apparently ''[[SpotOfTea tea]]'' is just the icing on the weirdness cake.
** Are you saying tea ''isn't'' supposed to be a MagicAntidote?! At any rate, maybe he'd just finally got enough rest. As for the antibiotic in "New Earth"... apparently the slightest exposure to antibiotic turns staggering sacks of disease into peaky but fairly healthy people in an instant. That's Who soft science for you.
*** Tea also provided the fix for Craig's encounter with the "rot" in ''The Lodger''. From what sense can be made of the Doctor's mutterings, the (very strong) tea enhanced some natural process that was fighting the infection, and if Craig had touched the mold more than the tiniest amount, he'd be done for.
*** It's a British show. Of ''course'' tea is the MagicAntidote. There's a large chunk of the British population who would argue that this is true in RealLife.
** ''Doctor Who'' has been using this trope all the way back since its ''first'' season with "The Sensorites".

* ''Series/MacGyver'': Though we're told he still needs to see a doctor, Mac seems fully restored within seconds of taking the cure for tetrodotoxin poisoning.

* Averted in ''Series/StargateSG1''. O'Neill's rapid aging takes weeks of off-screen time to reverse.
* In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Oliver has a herbal concoction he acquired on the island that seems able to cure any kind of poison, including curare.
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Glyphic", Cassie Boussard is able to revive her brother Louis from his 12 year coma after being infused with energy from the alien probe and giving him a special liquid.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', "The Christmas Invasion". One minute he's sick enough to only have [[BizarreAlienBiology one heartbeat]], and the next he's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome sword fighting]] the leader of an alien invasion force. The fact that the cure is apparently ''[[SpotOfTea tea]]'' is just the icing on the weirdness cake.

* The ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' expands on the properties of bacta, which, while not an antidote, is a heal-all, cure-all – it's said that if there's any life in someone, bacta will help. Naturally, this makes it very valuable. There are still things it can't fix, usually for plot-related reasons, and it doesn't heal things instantly. It can't fix missing limbs or organs, for example, so prosthetics crop up a lot. [[Literature/XWingSeries Ton Phanan]] is ''allergic'' to bacta, and so he keeps needing [[EmergencyTransformation prosthetic replacements]] for more and more of his body.