Stranger Things: Tales From '85 Episode 4 Brings Back An Iconic Weapon

Contains spoilers for "Stranger Things: Tales from '85" Season 1, Episode 4 — "Chapter 4: The Confession"

The new animated series "Stranger Things: Tales from '85" is set snugly between the second and third seasons of the mothership show, showing us what the gang got up to during the winter of 1985. All our favorite "Stranger Things" characters (and a couple of new ones) are back to solve a fresh paranormal mystery in Hawkins, Indiana. The show fills in some gaps for fans, and it also brings back a weapon that viewers fell in love with: Steve Harrington's spiked baseball bat.

Steve's (Joe Keery) bat originally belonged to the Wheeler family — Nancy (Natalia Dyer) took it from their garage when she and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) were setting a trap for the Demogorgon in Season 1, with the latter hammering some nails into it for good measure. Steve ends up using it after joining them and it becomes his signature weapon after that. He wields it to great effect once again during the second season when he and the kids fight some Demodogs in the junkyard, and it can be seen poking out of Steve's backpack when they head into the tunnels beneath Hawkins in the Season 2 finale.

Steve's bat vanished after "Stranger Things" Season 2, much to the puzzlement and annoyance of many viewers. "I NEED it to come back," said one fan on Reddit, and their wish finally came true thanks to "Stranger Things: Tales from '85." Dustin (voiced by Braxton Quinney) rescues Steve (Jeremy Jordan) after the latter is attacked by a monster while out on a failed date in "Chapter 4: The Confession." They're both lacking weapons, but Steve proudly declares that he's glad he never cleans out the trunk of his car. He unlocks it, and Dustin reacts with surprise and delight at the sight of not just Steve's bat, but also a second spiked bat for him to use.

While Steve's bat didn't show up again in the "Stranger Things" timeline after Season 2, it did pop up in live action one more time, and in a pretty odd place: during a Discover card commercial. In a "Stranger Things" Season 5 tie-in ad, Nancy calls Discover to see if she's able to claim cashback on a variety of weapons, including the iconic bat, which Jonathan can be seen holding in one shot. It's almost like they wanted to remind fans that they hadn't forgotten about Steve's beloved weapon ahead of "Tales from '85." While we would have liked to have seen it appear in the fifth and final season of "Stranger Things," having two spiked bats in "Tales from '85" almost makes up for its absence.