These 'Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2' Deaths Will Shape Season 5
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An indefatigable evil has placed some of our favorite Stranger Things characters to love (and hate) in eternal sleep. But, unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Before the Stranger Things saga concludes with Season 5, Season 4 Vol. 2’s fatalities will reverberate in the final episodes of the Stranger Things series.
In Stranger Things 4, the Hawkins heroes faced off against Vecna, demon bats, sentient tentacles, and a lethally misguided United States military for nine episodes. And all of that was only to be rewarded with the ominous dark cloud that’s plagued them for years still hovering over them. To get to this point, some people perished heroically by buying time for the team to enact revenge on Vecna. Others died trying to keep Hawkins’ sole source of salvation safe. Ultimately, we say goodbye to a few characters who will likely still be felt in Season 5.
The Season 4 finale left us with more questions than answers about what will happen in the final Stranger Things season. We find out who's been behind all the terror that's befallen Hawkins over the last few years, but we don't know how they'll enact their endgame. We find out how many of the core Hawkins heroes survive Season 4, but we don't know how many of them will be able to fight one last time for Hawkins. We know Eleven has her powers back, but we don't know if she'll be able to tap into their full potential to take down the final foe. We know a lot, don't know even more, and have a few deaths that give us clues about what to expect in Season 5.
Eddie Munson
Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) crash-landed into the Stranger Things universe and our hearts with the brash confidence of an outcast leader and the hair of an '80s rock star. The Hellfire Club head honcho is the center of a Hawkins-wide satanic panic that forced him into hiding after the city became convinced he killed troubled cheerleader Chrissy Cunningham in a ritualistic murder. He had a rockstar entrance to Stranger Things, and unfortunately, he had a rockstar exit. After successfully luring Vecna’s hell bats away from their master’s lair with the most metal rendition of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” Munson eschews an exit out of the Upside Down in favor of finally standing up for himself and those he cares about by facing off against a swarm of carnivorous bats.
He puts up a valiant fight with his garbage can lid shield and post-performance adrenaline mixed in with his body’s natural fight or flight endorphins. But, the bats overpower him and treat his intestines like a buffet, a gory display the Duffer Brothers spare us from seeing too vividly. He dies touchingly in Dustin’s arms as Moby’s “When It's Cold I'd Like To Die” soundtracking his passing and an exchange of I love you’s, ending his time with the living. Before he passes, Eddie instructs Dustin to “take care of those little sheep,” presumably referring to the Hellfire Club, to which Dustin agrees. With Eddie gone, Dustin taking over for him, Hawkins still reeling from an earthquake local news tangentially connected to Hellfire, and an evil threat still looming over the city, Dustin could be public enemy #1 once hell starts raining on the town.
Max Mayfield
Max (Sadie Sink) was on death’s doorstep and only crossed that threshold for a moment before Eleven helped bring her back…somewhat. While Max was using her mind as bait to distract Vecna in the Upside Down, the delusional maniac Jason Carver crushes her cassette tape player while fighting with Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) to bring her out of the trance. Max was as good as gone when Vecna began breaking her bones in mid-air until the power of love propelled Eleven to overpower the demonic dictator, relinquishing Max from his spell. While she’s lucky to be the only person to escape Vecna’s mind control twice, she loses her sense of touch and sight while in Lucas’s arms before her life force is presumably drained.
Max’s heart stopped for over a minute, and she was clinically dead. But, unbeknownst to everyone but Eleven, she somehow used her powers to bring Max back from the dead, albeit in a coma doctors aren’t sure she’ll ever awaken from. Max’s momentary death raises questions that will need to be answered in Season 5. Do Eleven’s powers extend to reviving the dead? Will Lucas continue reading stories to her by her bedside? Will they have to explain to doctors why they have to keep Kate Bush on loop while Max is in a coma to protect her from the return of Vecna? One thing is for sure, Max’s "death" set the stage for a climactic battle in Season 5.
Henry Creel/Vecna/001
How do you kill someone who survived in the Upside Down for years? Eleven and the crew find out it takes more than Molotov cocktails, shotgun blasts, and telekinesis strong enough to lift 10,000 pounds. After breaking free of Vecna’s tentacle clutches to save Max from his deadly mind-warping, Eleven presumably kills Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). You would think watching Vecna dissolve into dust in one realm and fall out of a building on fire in another would mean he’s dead. But, even Eleven looks shocked when his body turns into dust as if this was happening due to his physical body being destroyed and not by her psychic abilities. For a creature who enacts most of his damage in the mind, purely physical extermination isn’t likely to take him out. This theory is confirmed two days later when Will’s evil Spidey Sense confirms Vecna is alive and angry.
Although Max only died for a little over a minute, that was enough time for the fourth gate to open, splintering the barrier between the Upside Down and the real world. As the season ends with a billowing black cloud emitting Vecna’s signature crimson red slowly engulfing the Hawkins sky and killing plants, his physical death in the Upside Down means the Hawkins crew will have to find a way to kill this evildoer in ways they never have before.
Dr. Martin Brenner
When we all thought Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) was dead after a Demogorgon leaped on him in Season One, we broke a cardinal rule of TV deaths: No one is dead unless you see a body. The eccentric (and slightly maniacal) surrogate father of telekinesis test subjects like 001 and Eleven made an ignominious return to the Stranger Things universe this season in a successful attempt to revive Eleven’s lost powers. Unfortunately for him, helping Eleven meant acting as a human shield from a military attack meant to kill her. This time, the camera spends ample time over Dr. Brenner’s bloody body to leave no confusion around the fate of the man responsible for unlocking Eleven’s powers.
With the death of Dr. Brenner, Eleven presumably loses any knowledge he has of Henry that could prove helpful in taking Vecna down in Season 5. As polarizing as Dr. Brenner was, he represented Eleven’s understanding of her powers. Without him, Eleven will have to figure out how to use her powers to take down Vecna by herself or with the help of Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser), who is more than likely going to be in a government-grade prison for his treasonous actions in aiding and abetting a fugitive of the U.S. government. Maybe once the U.S. government becomes aware of the deadly dark cloud over Hawkins, they’ll be forced to work with Dr. Owens to understand Eleven, now that Dr. Brenner is dead.
Jason Carver
Jason (Mason Dye) kept sticking his nose in supernatural places where it didn’t belong and paid the price. Blinded by grief over Chrissy’s death and confused into mania after watching his friend become possessed before being murdered, Jason was willing to shoot Lucas dead after catching him with Max while she was in Vecna’s trance. His fight with Lucas led to Max’s cassette tape being destroyed, which led to her staying in Vecna’s control long enough to die, which led to the inter-dimensional barrier between the Upside Down and real-life being broken, which ironically led to Jason’s death. As Hawkins’ land began splintering apart, Jason found himself in the middle of one of the fissures, resulting in his body splitting in two and being burned to his skeleton. Good riddance to a jackass whose death will undoubtedly play a part in creating more obstacles for the Hawkins heroes in Season 5.
Before Jason died, he galvanized the town to hunt for Eddie and cast out the evil that haunts their neighborhood. Anyone who can unite people around an idea while living will become a martyr in death, especially when the town searches for answers once the evil threat becomes apparent to them in Season 5. Jason’s death could mean the Hellfire Club members who risked their lives in the Upside Down to save Hawkins will have to battle with both Vecna and the people of Hawkins in the final season of Stranger Things.
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