THE A Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise did not delve deeper Freddy Krueger as deeply as some audiences might think. From the beginning, the films have been transparent about Freddy's past as a child killer and even how he was killed. Later films – namely Dream Warriors and Freddy is dead – added more depth to Freddy's twisted origin story by revealing his upbringing.
However, one forgotten Marvel comic – A Nightmare on Elm Street, by Freddy Krueger #1 by Steve Gerber, Rich Buckler, Tony DeZuniga, Alfredo Alcala and Janice Chiang – delves into the origin story of Frederick Charles Krueger. The brief two-issue comic series finds a way to reveal new details about Freddy Krueger that the films themselves never explored.
It's true that there are small tweaks in this comic book origin update that alter what audiences learn in the films. Still, the new details are significant additions to the franchise, especially those that detail when Freddy learned to control his dreams as a child.
The following plot summary includes mentions of sexual abuse and rape.
Marvel A Nightmare on Elm Street Comic offers new details on Freddy Krueger's origin
Expanding Details About His Birth
This 1989 chapter of A Nightmare on Elm Street revolves around Dr. Juliann Quinn, a New York resident who falls into Freddy Krueger's crosshairs. Upon returning to her hometown of Springwood, Ohio, where she accepts a new patient – a Dream-Stalker who opposes Freddy Krueger – the good doctor reads about the life of the Springwood Slasher via a letter on the plane ride home. The letter came from a nurse who knew Freddy's mother: Sister Mary Helena, also known as Amanda Krueger.
The letter commemorates the birth of Freddy Krueger in the same way it was first broadcast to the public in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, now with new graphic details about what happened. Amanda Krueger was a nun who was accidentally locked inside the asylum at the Nossa Senhora das Dores Institution for the Mentally Ill. The comic reveals that the attack happened when the sister was assigned to vacation at a time that is usually designated for older, more experienced workers. An emergency in the west wing sidelined the only security guard on duty, advising his sister not to enter the cage until he returned.
Amanda waited long enough to assume the guard had forgotten about her or was just taking longer than expected. At that moment, the screams of a distraught inmate worried Amanda enough to force her to enter the cell. The kindness of his heart proved to be his undoingsince once locked inside, she was attacked by numerous inmates for three days until she was discovered on December 26th. She was beaten, broken and pregnant. The improbability of determining the father considered Freddy the Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs.
Marvel reveals the secret details of Freddy Krueger's childhood
Freddy learned to control his dreams as a child
After finishing her letter Juliann reads the psychiatric evaluation of Freddy Krueger's education which offers the new deepest details about its origins. Readers learn that after Amanda gave birth to Freddy, he was sent to the São Domingos Orphans' Home. At nine weeks old, he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Strunk, a loving couple. However, that same night, the Strunk home was robbed. Although they probably didn't come looking for the child, the robbers kidnapped young Freddy after killing his parents and stealing their loot.
This secret origin story adds a lot of new context to what audiences already learn in the films.
The thieves chose to sell the baby to a pimp named Walter “Stork” Fingle and his sex worker. The dossier isn't sure why they wanted the child, only that Freddy would find out.”your trade“at the age of six. The dossier also mentions that his stepfather, Mr. Fingle, regularly beat the boyplaying the same role that Alice Cooper's character Mr. Underwood played as Freddy's abusive stepfather, revealed in Freddy's Dead: Last Friday. It is unclear whether Mr. Fingle is intended as a replacement for Mr. Underwood or an expansion of the tradition of Mr. Underwood's real name and origin.
Why This Forgotten Marvel Comic Is Important A Nightmare on Elm Street History
Expanding the Freddy Krueger lore
Despite the abuse leaving scars all over his body, Freddy remained with his pimp stepfather until his early teens, when he used Mr. Fingle's signature pocket knife to slit his throat in his sleep. On his own, his old man's gun became Freddy's, who used it to claim his first victims. Spending years homeless on the street, surviving on robberies, “It was during this period, he claims… that he learned to control his dreams”, read the dossier. The rest of Freddy's origin is as expected, becoming a child killer until his parents murdered him.
This secret origin story adds a lot of new context to what audiences already learn in the films, including that Freddy Krueger learned to control his dreams and when he decided to start preying on children. It also explores the gap between his birth and the time he was abused by his stepfather, doing more to explain where Freddy's killer instinct and sexual perversions come from. It's practically an origin story for Freddy Krueger origin story, adding something to the films for its replay value, thus deepening everything the audience thought they knew A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Nightmare on Elm Street by Freddy Krueger #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.