How Stranger Things Fans Would Feel About Additional Characters Getting Powers
Within the "Stranger Things" universe, the powers possessed by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) present some of the most awe-inspiring visuals. Like the Upside Down and its myriad monsters, Eleven's powers bring an air of fantasy (albeit, horrifying fantasy) to the otherwise dull town of Hawkins, Indiana. With that in mind, you might think it would be a good idea for more people to get powers.
Thus far, psychic abilities have proven extremely rare, and we've only met a few characters who can go beyond a human's normal limits. These include Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), and Kal Prasad (aka Eight) (Linnea Berthelsen). Of course, this doesn't even begin to include the dozens of others likely experimented on by Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) prior to the start of the series. Interestingly, some fans are speculating that the number of super-powered characters could soon increase.
In the first official trailer for Season 4, we see a brief shot of Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) levitating above the headstone of her late brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery). It's unclear precisely what is happening at this moment, but one possibility is that Max is awakening some sort of latent psychic ability. This new development has sparked debate among some fans of the series, who feel somewhat conflicted over the idea that additional characters could acquire powers.
Fans think less is more when it comes to powers
In general, it seems fans are pretty opposed to letting more characters get powers, at least on a long-term basis. In Season 2, Will gets an array of powers after being possessed by the Mind Flayer. His temporary powers include "true sight" (the ability to see into the Upside Down), super strength, and electrical manipulation. Soon thereafter, however, he loses his powers. That said, fans on Reddit have opinions on this becoming a new trend.
"I don't think any characters should get powers similar to Eleven, but I do like that Will gets true sight and can tell when the Mind Flayer is near," wrote u/bmiclock521. "If Max got any powers, I'd want it to be more like Will and nothing like Eleven."
"Overall, I think the group dynamic will be stronger this season if no one has any powers whatsoever," wrote u/MilkSteak25.
Based on this, it seems that fans are most accepting of a situation where every character's skills feel grounded and unique to them. As these fans reason, if someone obtains powers, their abilities shouldn't be the same (or even as powerful) as Eleven's, otherwise the entire dynamic between Eleven and the others changes. Evidently, very few fans want to see powers become the norm on "Stranger Things." Of course, in many ways, powers are more of a curse than they are a blessing in the "Stranger Things" universe.
Giving other kids powers means subjecting them to torment
The thing about people with special powers in "Stranger Things," is that they never really get to live normal, happy lives. Most of the test subjects from the Hawkins lab are either dead, still in the lab, or struggling to get by. Having powers is akin to painting a target on your back, where people either want you dead or want to capture and experiment on you. They're also just downright dangerous to have and use.
"The Eleven character, the kind of powers she has and to have a young protagonist that's violent — it's not E.T. It's not a happy situation," said series co-creator Ross Duffer in an interview with Vulture. "She's killing people, and brutally murdering them."
When we see Max levitating in front of an astonished Steve (Joe Keery), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) in the Season 4 trailer, the three are all terrified. They clearly don't know what is going to happen next, and they have almost no control over the situation. Sadly, it seems that characters like Eleven feel that way all the time. Giving powers to the rest of the party is basically signing them up for a lifetime of danger and uncertainty. That's definitely not something that fans want for the cast.