Freddy Krueger (original)

"♪1, 2, Freddy's coming for you.♪ ♪3, 4, better lock your door.♪ ♪5, 6, grab your crucifix.♪ ♪7, 8, better stay up late.♪ ♪9, 10, never sleep again.♪♪"

- Freddy Krueger's haunting nursery rhyme, as sung by his countless dead child victims. "My children. From the very beginning, it was the children who gave me my power. The Springwood Slasher, that's what they called me. My reign of terror was legendary. Dozens of children would fall by my blades. Then the parents of Springwood came for me. Taking justice into their own hands. When I was alive, I might have been a little naughty, but after they killed me, I became something much, much worse. The stuff nightmares are made of. The children still feared me and their fear gave me the power to invade their dreams. And that's when the fun REALLY began."

- The story of Freddy Krueger being told by Freddy himself, in Freddy vs Jason.

Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger, more publicly known as Freddy Krueger, is a legendary serial killer and the main villain of the 1984 classic horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and its many sequels; as well as the true main antagonist in the crossover film Freddy vs Jason. He was a child killer in life, and in death, a malevolent ghost who killed his victims in their dreams.

He was portrayed by legendary actor Robert Englund.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare
See: The Entity (Wes Craven's New Nightmare)

Robot Chicken
Freddy has appeared in some Robot Chicken episodes, one of which he is in the Big Brother show alongside Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Ghostface, Pinhead, and Leatherface. Freddy wanted Ghostface voted out because he shrunk his sweater, but apparently decided to evict Michael when Michael stabbed him multiple times (which merely annoyed him).

In another sketch, Freddy is seen as a typical male character with a loving wife and daughter. The daughter buys items like his signature hat and sweater. After constructing his bladed hand to help him scratch due to the itchy sweater, the daughter buys another gift, causing Freddy to go mad towards the School Bazzar. When he barges into the school wearing his glove and the school made gifts, the parents assume that Freddy is out to harm the children. When trying to calmly explain the situation, Freddy starts a fire, unable to escape. The three souls from hell approach him and offer him immortality, which he accepts to get him out of the mess he made. After asking for a second to take off the sweater and fedora, the souls state that it is done, locking Freddy in his current appearance. After complaining for a bit, the skit ends with him stating "At least I have my Complexion..."

The Nightmare Ends on Halloween
Freddy also appeared in Chris .R. Notarile's fan video "The Nightmare Ends on Halloween", where Freddy, after his death in Freddy vs. Jason, is stuck in limbo, where he meets Michael Myers (whose mind is in limbo for most of the year, except on Halloween). He tries to get him to spread fear (much like he did with Jason), but Michael refused. When his mind became active, he began dreaming, causing Freddy to return, but Michael fought him. In the end, Freddy was cornered by Michael, Jason, and Leatherface, all of whom were sent by Pinhead to return Freddy to Hell. Freddy is torn apart by the three silent slashers, and is presumably taken to the Labyrinth in Hell.

The Simpsons ~ Treehouse of Horror IX
Freddy appeared in the opening sequence in the Simpsons Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror IX". He is seen watching TV on the couch with Jason, commenting on why the Simpsons are not at the couch yet.

Stan Helsing
A parody of Freddy also appeared as an antagonist in the spoof movie Stan Helsing. He is named "Fweddy". He still attacks people in their dreams on Elm Street. He has a toothbrush on his glove. He was defeated when Stan took off his clawed glove, and ran out the door.

South Park
Freddy also made an appearance in the Imaginationland Trilogy of South Park amongst the other evil imaginary characters.

He then appeared out of Imaginationland in "Insheeption", he made another appearance, with a different design. Apparently having retired and living in the mountains with his family, he refuses to help the government, not wishing to kill again. After they explain that innocent lives are at stake, he agrees to help, killing Woodsy Owl and rescuing Stan Marsh and Mr. Mackey. This version of him is arguably entirely different to the Imaginationland version who was truer to the film version.

Mortal Kombat (2011)
Freddy Krueger becomes both a guest downloadable character for, and is a protagonist of the 2011 Mortal Kombat game in August 9, 2011.

Freddy's Story
When Freddy Krueger encountered Shao Kahn when he was attempting to steal souls. Freddy and Shao Kahn fought each other, but Shao Kahn was too strong for him. Freddy ended up getting pulled out of the Dream Realm, turning him mortal, and thus defeated by Shao Kahn. Not wanting to surrender to his injuries, Freddy is determined to kill Shao Kahn by any means necessary, and return to the Dream Realm with his immortality, thus continuing his sadistic reign of terror.

Freddy's Ending
Freddy Krueger's bladed hands tore through Shao Kahn. The demonically-enhanced weapons had been more than a match for the emperor's dark magic. Though Freddy had saved Earthrealm, Nightwolf recognized him as an evil spirit and in a shamanistic ritual, sent him back to the Dream Realm. But that decision proved ruinous. Freddy did not resist. He welcomed the return to immortality. From the Dream Realm, he will again create a Nightmare in Earthrealm.

Fatalities, Babality, X-ray move
Like all of the Mortal Kombat characters in Mortal Kombat (2011), Freddy Krueger has 2 fatalities, a Babality, and an X-ray Move.

Fatalities

 * Tell 'Em Freddy Sent Ya: Krueger teleports at the back of the opponent. He impales the back of the opponent and then summons a hole underneath them. He then drags them into that hole, making them scream. Afterwards, the hole spews a HUGE amount of blood, presumably killing the victim.
 * I'll See You in Hell: Freddy summons a large furnace behind the opponent. He stabs the opponent in the neck and stomach, and then throws them into the furnace. As the opponent is being burned alive trying to escape the furnace, Freddy waves goodbye and then slams the door shut. At the same time the opponent's arm is hanging out of the furnace, and as Freddy slams the door the arm gets cut off, as the opponent burns to death.

Babality
A baby carriage appears out of nowhere and the camera zooms in to reveal a teddy bear with some cuts on it's stomach. A baby version of Freddy then jumps up from behind the carriage and attempts to take a slash at the camera.

X-Ray Move

 * What A Rush: First Freddy impales the opponent through the chest with his knives, causing the ribs to break and the lungs to be punctured. After that he swipes the opponent across the face with his knives, causing damage to the opponent's skull.

Angry Video Game Nerd
Freddy Krueger also makes an appearance in an Angry Video Game Nerd episode while The Angry Nintendo Nerd was reviewing A Nightmare on Elm Street for the NES. The Nerd spawned several clones of himself just to say how bad the game is. After one of the Nerd's clone took a dump on the game, Freddy came in and killed each of the clones one by one. When he was about to kill the actual Nerd, the Nerd used the Power Glove to kill off Freddy Krueger.

Dead By Daylight
Freddy appears in the game Dead by Daylight as a playable killer with Quentin Smith as a survivor from 2010 remake. They both brought by The Entity for them to play it's game. The story for them is set after the 2010 remake with Freddy getting revenge on Quentin for him saving Nancy.

Family Guy
In the episode "Love, Blactually", he is referred to when Brian Griffin is at the family's costume party and meets a girl dressed as an aborted fetus. He asks if she is one of Freddy Krueger's victims.

In "The Splendid Source", Glen Quagmire goes into the dream world and pays Krueger to tell Peter Griffin a dirty joke in his dreams so he can poop in his bed. Peter wakes up and realizes when one defecates in their dreams, they defecate in reality.

In "And Then There Were Fewer", it was revealed that Tom Tucker once auditioned for the role of Krueger until James Woods convinced him to back out. The extended version of the episode expands upon this, showing Tucker act out a scene in-character during filming.

The Grim Tales From Down Below
Mandy's Vault is a secret chamber found within Castle Evergrim. It appeared in "Grim Tales From Down Below". Mimi went inside of here to find the Horror's Hand for Him to retrieve Jeff again.

After returning from her worst memory, Mimi screamed so hard that she broke all the glasses in the vault thus also the artifacts that were inside the vault were freed, much to Mandy's anger. Freddy Krueger's Claw is an object that was seen in the background in Mandy's Vault.

Freddy himself is never seen in the webcomic but this implies he and Mandy met sometime before the events.

In the How It Should Have Ended (HISHE) episodes
Freddy Krueger also appeared in two of the HISHE episodes "How Scream Should Have Ended" and "How Interception Should Have Ended". In "How Scream Should Have Ended", a guy is telling his friends 6 rules about how to outsmart and gain the upper hand against the killer, Ghostface. After he tells the 6th rule, Freddy appears and says: "I have a question; What do you do if the killer attacks you inside you're dreams?" And then reveals himself and attacks them and they start running.

How Inception Should Have Ended: Freddy Krueger also made a short appearance in Interception when everyone falls asleep and starts dreaming and are in the dream world, they see Freddy blowing a trumpet. Freddy replies by saying "Well, excuse me, I'm new at this!" and that was the part that the viewers saw him in.

Universal's Halloween Horror Nights
During 2007's Halloween Horror Nights: Carnival of Carnage at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, Freddy was one of the sub-icons along with Jason Voorhees and Leatherface, while Jack the Clown takes the role as the main icon of the event. Freddy, along with the other two aforementioned horror movie villains appeared in the live show titled The Carnival of Carnage with Jack the Clown as the host.

Three Russian Bogaturs
Freddy Krueger is one-time villain in Russian mini-series "Three Russian Bogaturs".

Every time when the night begins, one of the Bogaturs Dobrinya goes asleep. But in one day, when Bogaturs played "Rock, Paper, Scissors", very soon the night began, and Dobrinya fell asleep. Then, two other Bogaturs Alesha and Ilya saw that Dobrinya has nightmare dreams, and someone is trying to kill him (as it was seen by scratched T-shirt. Ilya and Alesha were horrified and tried to wake Dobrinya up, but nothing was working. Then they called for the help Baba Yaga. She understands what to do and makes the magic soporific. Alesha and Ilya drank it and fell asleep. They appeared in the dream of Dobrinya and they both saw that he was trying to fight Freddy Krueger. Magic soporific had the limit of time, so Bogaturs drank the liquid several times, so they could defeat Freddy. Last time when they drank the soporific, it made somehow Freddy to appear in real world. When Bogaturs woke up, they were going to beat Freddy, but he decided to do it by himself. Then he pours out the petrol on himself asks for a match. In the end, he got himself burned, and only eyes and dust have left.

GARO: Makai no Hana
Ilgishin, a villain from GARO: Makai no Hana, is depicted to be "part Freddy Krueger" due to its host, Harima, has passion on horror films. The proof of this was in his true form, Ilgishin has Freddy's signature clawed gloves as his right hand and his face also resembled the latter. One of Ilgishin's illusory world appeared to be based on dreamworld where Freddy Krueger would appeared as well.

Before the films

 * 1: One of his class' 2 hamsters
 * 2: Mr. Underwood
 * 3-22: 20 children in Springwood
 * 23: Loretta Krueger

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

 * 24: Tina Gray
 * 25: Rod Lane
 * 26: Glen Lantz
 * 27: Marge Thompson

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

 * 28: Coach Schneider
 * 29: Ron Grady
 * 30-35: At least 6 Swim Party guests
 * 36: Kerry Hellman
 * 37: Lisa Webber (Unknown)
 * 38: Jesse Walsh (Unknown)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

 * 39: Unnamed Elm Street child
 * 40: Phillips Anderson
 * 41: Jennifer Caulfield
 * 42: Taryn White
 * 43: Will Stanton
 * 44: Donald Thompson
 * 45:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
 * 46: Roland Kincaid
 * 47: Joey Crusel
 * 48: Kristen Parker
 * 49: Sheila Kopecky
 * 50: Rick Johnson
 * 51: Debbie Stevens
 * 52: Dan Jordan
 * 53: Greta Gibson
 * 54: Mark Grey

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

 * 58: Every child in Springwood and their population
 * 59: Carlos Rodriguez
 * 60: Spencer Lewis
 * 61: John Doe

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

 * 62: Mrs. Campbell
 * 63: Bobby Davis
 * 64: Mark Davis

Powers and Abilities
Freddy Krueger can invade people's dreams and kill them within their nightmares, which will also kill them in reality. He usually uses his clawed glove, but can also manipulate the dream world in any way he wants, such as sucking them into a bed, a comic book or a videogame, making them fall, extending himself, or turning them into a insects. On some occasions, he can possess people, though unlike when Jason does this in Jason Goes to Hell, the victim can survive.

Freddy is impossible to kill in the dream world. However, he is mortal while outside the dream world. He loses all his powers (though he can still disguise himself as his human form) in the real world. Even if he is killed, he can return from Hell if there is enough fear in the area he wishes to appear.

If a person touches fire (unless it is caused by Freddy to kill them) or anything burning hot, it can take them out of the dream world. Freddy also cannot leave Springwood unless inside the dreams of someone who is, in which case he still cannot invade other people's dreams unless the one whose mind he is inside is related to him. Freddy also seems to hate fire as it is what the parents used to burn him alive.

Reception
Freddy Krueger is widely considered an icon in horror. Wizard Magazine rated him the 14th greatest villain of all time, and he was ranked 8th on British channel Sky2's Greatest Villains of All Time and ranked 40th on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains.

Trivia

 * Although the backstory of Freddy being a pedophile was removed before the film's release, it is implied in Freddy vs. Jason that he very well still could have been pedophilic in nature, given he licked the photos of the children he killed.
 * Freddy Krueger is featured in the 2018 sci-fi movie called Ready Player One.
 * Freddy appeared in the gripping YouTube fan film "Don't Fall Asleep", a direct sequel to "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and a prequel to "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". He was portrayed by William Adams.