History OnlyAFleshWound / ComicBooks

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] fell into this trope in his review of ''ComicBook/{{Athena}}'' #1, where he claimed that Athena being shot in the arm isn't worth serious medical attention. While this is, well, ''[[Myth/GreekMythology Athena]]'', at the time none of the cast actually knew this. Granted the bullet seemed to just graze her, explaining his objection, but women ''do'' typically have less muscle mass than men, so take it how you will. Later on, when he reviewed more issues of Athena, he corrected himself and admitted that he was wrong about that.
* There's a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/{{Batman}} story that averts this trope. Batman takes a round in the shoulder; it missed his [[BulletProofVest vest]] and he drops like a rock and is thought dead. He survives, obviously, but needs to break off from the fight to get immediate medical attention. Oh and for those wondering, [[BewareTheNiceOnes Robin]] did not take Batman's "death" [[UnstoppableRage well.]]
** Averted in one of the last ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' comics. ComicBook/TheJoker [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke once paralysed Barbara Gordon]] (turning her into the Oracle), and has just shot and killed Commissioner Gordon's wife, and is facing down a furious Gordon with a gun. Commissioner Gordon shoots him in the knee. Unlike Barbara, the Joker was walking around without ''any'' problems in later appearances. Comics being still frames, he might have a limp we aren't seeing. Judging by his reaction, he did at least consider it a possibility.

** In an issue of ''Franchise/{{J|usticeLeagueOfAmerica}}LA'', Prometheus shoots both Flash and Green Lantern in the torso as he makes his escape. Later, Batman finds that Flash's speed suit stopped the bullet just fine, but Green Lantern's state is in doubt. After a cursory inspection, Batman declares, "Flesh wound. It'll leave a scar, but you'll live." Despite the pain, Kyle grins at the thought of his first battle scar.

* In an issue of ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'', Crossbones takes three bullets to the chest and the Comicbook/BlackWidow diagnoses the wounds as nonfatal less than ''two minutes'' later. Crossbones is merely BadassNormal, so three gunshot wounds to the center body mass is a coin-toss on whether he'll live long enough to get medical treatment, but for some reason, everyone is confident that he'll be fine. Particularly egregious in that three bullets to the chest is what killed the original Cap just a few issues prior.
* Spoofed in one ''ComicBook/DrBlinkSuperheroShrink'' strip. Nocturne (a ComicBook/{{Batman}} {{Expy}}) returns to his cave after a busy evening, and his butler Aethelbert frets over his various wounds -- several broken ribs, two knives in the back, multiple gunshot wounds, a poison dart, and a slashed torso that leaves him ''doubled over backwards''. Nocturne insists it's no big deal and that he only needs some Ibuprofen and bandages.
* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsKanan'' Depa Billaba says she's fine despite getting part of her skin torn off by General Grievous. Later subverted that she was barely able to walk and had to go into a bacta tank right after the battle.
* Averted in an issue of ''The Mysterious ComicBook/{{Darkhawk}}''; the hero Chris Powell is shot in the leg and passes out from loss of blood and has to go to the hospital. He's later told that it was in fact just a flesh wound.
* In the otherwise classic ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' Wild West continuity "Skullyville", a gang of more than ''two dozen'' bandits are each shot in the shoulder and together dumped in a basement, the stated intent being to put them out of action without really hurting them.
* The climax of ''ComicBook/RawhideKid: The Sensational Seven'' comes when the Kid confronts BigBad Cresto Pike. Pike is holding two hostages in front of him: Wyatt Earp himself, and the Kid's own father. The Kid [[ShootTheHostage shoots them both]], hitting them ''just so'' they would drop, eliminating Cresto's advantage before killing him. The unlikelihood is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, as the rest of the Kid's posse state in awe that no one else in the world could have pulled that off.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': The Red Lantern Bleez takes a pretty hefty energy attack -- Saint Walker offers to heal her, but being healed is apparently for bitches. "Pain is power to a Red Lantern!"
* ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} was once shot god knows [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRKuF4XogyZ3bu9XCE4fRJaCzNX1EVeadGAppdZ51DRPyvTD516 how many times]] and survived. He’s also been stabbed in the ears and kept his hearing (thanks to a little help from Tony Stark).
* Viltrimites in ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' can withstand truly horrific wounds and just use their HealingFactor to get better, Mark the protagonist in a bad case of NauseaFuel is impaled through the stomach and has intestines flop out. Mark's dad just wraps him and waits a months and Mark is back to full health. Thragg and Battle Beast similarly had their guts cut open but unlike Mark that didn't stop them fighting.
* ComicBook/SavageDragon suffers almost lethal injuries in nearly any fight he's in. ''[[GoodThingYouCanHeal Good thing he can heal]]''. Seen on [[http://client-cdn.crystalcommerce.com/photo/nerdearth/file/b8fd5531c39175c85a68e53dc00a0c2f/large/SavageDragonEndgameVol10.jpg this]] cover.

* In ''ComicBook/SinCity'', Marv is clipped by a barrage of gunfire while escaping from a hotel. He only needs a few band-aids and he's fine. In a later story, [[spoiler: Dwight [=McCarthy=]]] is shot in the face and chest. While he has to be rushed to Old Town to receive emergency aid, including reconstructive surgery, he remains conscious and doesn't receive any long-lasting injuries. Likewise, John Hartigan, an old man suffering from heart problems, is shot many times in the beginning of ''That Yellow Bastard'' but it takes a while for him to go down. A brief stay in the hospital and he's fine.

* Franchise/{{Tintin}} has a habit of surviving mere flesh wounds. In ''Destination Moon'' he's ''shot in the head'', but the bullet only grazed his skull, so he's fine and back to the base in a couple of days.
* ComicBook/ThePunisher of course invokes this trope frequently.
** One time an old man shoots him in the chest with a shotgun and Punisher’s thought bubble states his rib ''is gone''. Yet that doesn't stop Mr. Castle from wrestling with and killing the man who put a hole in him.
** Discussed and subverted in Creator/GarthEnnis' ''The Punisher: War Zone'' mini-series. The villain, Tim, is injured during a gunfight with the Punisher, and has to retreat. He mentions that Creator/BruceWillis movies make non-fatal gunshot wounds look like minor inconveniences, when in reality, the pain from getting shot anywhere is often debilitating.
* Sometimes subverted in ''Comicbook/UltimateSpiderMan''. When Peter was shot in the shoulder, while he does possess super strength and resilience so it's not as bad as it should be, it's still treated as a very serious injury that may have been slowly killing him. But in a later story, Ox, who does not have any super powers, is shot in what seems to be his Achilles tendon and is still able to ''walk''. Holy smokes.
** Arguably Ultimate Spidey is more fragile than ol’ 616 Peter Parker who was once [[https://i.imgur.com/kWgwq4p_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium shot]] mutiple times by ComicBook/{{Bullseye|MarvelComics}}’s mooks and was up and [[https://i.imgur.com/bgL9CCM_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium swinging]] later albeit covered in web bandages. It helps Spidey has a understated HealingFactor.
* While Franchise/WonderWoman brushing off serious injuries can usually be explained via her HealingFactor, in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'' Achilles gets stabbed through the heart and drops with all those present thinking he'd died. He then gets up behind the traitor who tried to kill him and takes her out; this was foreshadowed as his new body has a god's stolen heart which takes more than being stabbed to stop. Even so he lost a large amount of blood and gets right back up to continue the fight, then moved to DC and got himself a boyfriend.
* Aside from ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} who has his HealingFactor, a lot of the ComicBook/XMen shrug off or heal from brutal injuries:
** ComicBook/{{Beast|MarvelComics}} has [[https://i.imgur.com/k2ZwzVD_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium survived]] [[https://i.imgur.com/Tc3UQul_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium bullet wounds]] as well getting [[https://i.imgur.com/iZmuIz4_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium slashed by Wolverine]] and [[https://i.imgur.com/hzmVtst_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium stabbed by Silver Samurai]].
** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} has endured close quarters [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcTw4-a8QLeXOz5MMEWptIQRH0zED0MjRb6yKG54-9QfmFZrGSoJ stabbing]] from Wolverine and kept fighting.
** ComicBook/{{Rogue}} has survived [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQ7s5npuR4ybZJ02rRsYEjYH4KIvyohSSthq7OI-ll2YSCn288V getting shot]] and [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/148344/4666947-943417-250252_159816_rogue.jpg stabbed]] by her [[ComicBook/{{Mystique}} adoptive mother]].
** ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} has gotten back on his feet after [[https://i.imgur.com/L7FnU3A_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium getting shot in the chest]].
** ComicBook/{{Colossus}} has been [[https://i.imgur.com/dAsv8WW_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium slashed]] by Wendigo plus hit with armour piercing bullets and was completely fine.
** ComicBook/{{Gambit}} was once [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/2532/843749-xmo_gambit_1_oroboros_dcp_030.jpg stabbed]] by ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} and stayed conscious long enough to help [[https://i.imgur.com/3EX73DB_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=mediumprotect a mutant child (Marrow)]].
** ComicBook/{{X 23}} despite her HealingFactor not being as nearly overt as her originator has shrugged off [[https://i.imgur.com/A8jkQqH_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium many]], [[https://i.imgur.com/6V8kTsJ_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium many]], [[https://i.imgur.com/V3vFYhP_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium many bullets wounds]] and doesn’t even [[https://i.imgur.com/OdQ9FB1_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium react to stab wounds]].

** In an issue of the ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'' Tim gets hit by an ill defined electrical weapon that leaves him gasping, bleeding from his nose, ears, mouth and nail beds and gets up to continues fighting the much larger Lock-Up after a little wobbly pep talk to himself. He then makes his way to the graveyard to speak to his parents' headstone without a mention or thought to treating any injuries.

** Arguably Ultimate Spidey is more fragile than ol’ 616 Peter Parker who was once [[https://i.imgur.com/kWgwq4p_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium shot]] mutiple times by ComicBook/{{Bullseye}}’s mooks and was up and [[https://i.imgur.com/bgL9CCM_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium swinging]] later albeit covered in web bandages. It helps Spidey has a understated HealingFactor.

* Aside from Franchise/{{Wolverine}} who has his HealingFactor, a lot of the ComicBook/XMen shrug off or heal from brutal injuries:

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] fell into this trope in his review of ''ComicBook/{{Athena}}'' #1, where he claimed that Athena being shot in the arm isn't worth serious medical attention. While this is, well, ''[[Myth/GreekMythology Athena]]'', at the time none of the cast actually knew this. Granted the bullet seemed to just graze her, explaining his objection, but women ''do'' typically have less muscle mass than men, so take it how you will.

*** Pretty much all the Sin City protagonists invoke this trope to point of being ImmuneToBullets, subverted in “The Big Fat Kill” as Dwight gets shot in the heart by a sniper [[spoiler: and only survives thanks to a [[PocketProtector police badge]] in his chest pocket]].

** Arguably Ultimate Spidey is more fragile than ol’ 616 Peter Parker who was once [[https://i.imgur.com/kWgwq4p_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium shot]] mutiple times by ComicBook/{{Bullseye}}’s mooks and was up and [[https://i.imgur.com/bgL9CCM_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium swinging]] later albeit covered in web bandages. It helps Spidey has understated HealingFactor.

* The climax of ''Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven'' comes when the Kid confronts BigBad Cresto Pike. Pike is holding two hostages in front of him: Wyatt Earp himself, and the Kid's own father. The Kid [[ShootTheHostage shoots them both]], hitting them ''just so'' they would drop, eliminating Cresto's advantage before killing him. The unlikelihood is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, as the rest of the Kid's posse state in awe that no one else in the world could have pulled that off.

** Averted in one of the last ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' comics. ComicBook/TheJoker [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke once paralysed Barbara Gordon]] (turning her into the Oracle), and has just shot and killed Commissioner Gordon's wife, and is facing down a furious Gordon with a gun. Commissioner Gordon shoots him in the knee. Unlike Barbara, the Joker was walking around without ''any'' problems in later appearances. Comics being still frames, he might have a limp we aren't seeing.
--->'''Joker''': My knee! I may never walk again! I- Oh, I get it! Just like your daughter! ''(bursts into laughter)''

** Played straight in the FinalBattle against the Joker in Creator/ScottSnyder’s ''ComicBook/BatmanEndgame'' where Batman is stabbed though [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerlisting/images/4/4e/Batman_tanks_knives%2C_acid_and_beatdowns.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20181015010537 both shoulder blades and badly slashed in the back]], then [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/mVwBh_ODrkrhkwvX_QWe12wKPWDfGCYiUSjvpzZZm8OobLz-bbKZ9aAzCN3aqGzYxj1vjHrVwT8C=s0 had his face burned with acid]] and [[https://i.imgur.com/THHmS3Z.jpg his eye taken out with a with a playing card]]... ''but [[{{Determinator}} keeps on fighting]]''. [[spoiler: The Joker also survives grievous injuries though this is due to [[HealingSpring Dionesium]] which Batman also uses to heal his aforementioned injuries as well “rebirthing” himself.]]
*** Alfred gets his hand chopped off by the Joker in the same run and doesn’t even pass out. At the end Alfred also refuses to get his hand reattached, what a badass.
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'', Crossbones takes three bullets to the chest and the Comicbook/BlackWidow diagnoses the wounds as nonfatal less than ''two minutes'' later. Crossbones is merely BadassNormal, so three gunshot wounds to the center body mass is a coin-toss on whether he'll live long enough to get medical treatment, but for some reason everyone is confident that he'll be fine. Particularly egregious in that three bullets to the chest is what killed the original Cap just a few issues prior.
* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsKanan'' Depa Billaba says she's fine despite getting part of her skin torned off by General Grievous. Later subverted that she was barely able to walk and had to go into a bacta tank right after the battle.

** ComicBook/{{Gambit}} was once [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/2532/843749-xmo_gambit_1_oroboros_dcp_030.jpg stabbed]] by ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} and stayed conscious long enough to help a [[https://i.imgur.com/3EX73DB_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=mediumprotect a mutant child]].

* Viltrimites in ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' can withstand truly horrific wounds and just use their HealingFactor to get better, Mark the protagonist in a bad case of NauseaFuel is impaled though the stomach and has intestines flop out. Mark's dad just wraps him and waits a months and Mark is back to full health. Thragg and Battle Beast similarly had their guts cut open but unlike Mark that didn't stop them fighting.