Not really a specific media suggestion, but I think TV Tropes might be a good place to look. Specifically, their "The Virus" trope.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheVirus
I'm seeing a lot of references to media that could be defined as "defeat or become". Just perusing through it, one looks kind of interesting: the movie Howl, which almost seems like a zombie movie with werewolves switched out for the zombies (also pertinent to this forum, there does appear to be a female TF).