Remember what the doctor said to Eleven to convince her to go with him for her powers. Hawkins is in danger & the evil is back. It’s a parasite. It spreads and grows stronger and evolves. That’s when I understood his form.
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What I understood is that at the end of the fourth season they left him in shit (part of his body would be burned) and surely he can't regenerate but he does control that thing in the shape of slimy roots so he regenerated with that
I assumed he was alive without evidence to the contrary, but didn't know if there was something I overlooked. Like a throwaway line from a military guy saying they "eliminated all targets" in the Nina bunker.
I think old vecna is scarier. New vecna is just like a prompt for "menacing CGI monster". Old vecna is like if the creepiest dude in a small town grew tentacles all over his body. He felt more real.
New vecna doesn't look as much like some guy in a suit so there's that. Also, new vecna's head is completely real it's just his body that's cgi, believe it or not
Yeah, I think him looking more average but monstrous actually makes him scarier. This new form just looks like he’s Megatron. That’s cool in its own way, but for a horror series it doesn’t fit as much
I think S4 Vecna's face was much scarier since it looked like a human with all its skin flayed off. This one does look like Megatron and Ultron had a baby since his head looks like Ultron in the Avengers movie.
Agreed. I liked the way that the old design kind of made you wince and want to ask the big scary menace, "Jesus, man, did that hurt? It looks like that prob'ly hurt." Somehow that painfully human aspect of his design made him a lot scarier to me.
Yeah, something about the "dad gait" of old Vecna -- the same thing that reminds people of the Grinch -- made him scarier to me, because it emphasized that there was still a human person under there. New Vecna is cool looking, but doesn't have at all the same creep factor for me.
I don't like the new look. The all practical suit was so much more tangible. All i could think when he was on screen this season was how fake he looked.
I treat old Vecna as "incomplete", but his appearances were definitely scarier.
I hoped S5 will also dive deeper into horror but I was mistaken, at least in these 4 episodes.
you also have to take it to account that he was burnt to a crisp at the end of season 4. there's a clip of jamie campbell bower where he mentions that his change in appararance is partially due to that alongside simply existing in the upside down and spending so much time there. he's in this non human world and his resentment just keeps growing.
he sort of alludes to this idea that the upside down itself has an affect on vecna physically, sort of like the more time he spends there the more he loses his more "human" aspects. vecna's basically grown into more of a monster over the last year and a half.
If you look at his arms, his regular human arms are in there they're just super skinny and shriveled (probably from being burned). To me all the spines look almost like an exoskeleton of Upside Down tentacles/matter moving his badly-damaged body around and protecting what's left.
Idk, my theory is that this is like half of Vecna, the corrupted husk of him, Henry being more a human part of Vecna in S4 which accounts for the general meatyness of his previous appearance.
I have a feeling we're going to see Henry and 'Vecna' on screen at the same time. I think Henry controls this husk like a puppet essentially, no different to how Will sees through the eyes of Demogorgons.
Just a theory though, don't have much solid evidence to go on except how we saw Henry in a dream world and approaching kids in their minds, and that he was badly injured in the previous movie as well as the drastic change in image, this S5 Vecna looks almost hollow. I'm probably dead wrong.
My theory is that this version of vecna is more the mind flayer than Henry compared to season 4 vecna. Which explains his appearance looking more like a part of the mind flayers vines and also checks out with the play suggesting Henry only thinks he controls the mind flayer when it’s really the other way around. The mind flayer is the parasite and it’s consuming Henry more and more.
Yeah it's probably what afflicted/infected him and changed him when El sent him into the upside down in the first place. Like how many other people or things have been sent into the upside down and received the same treatment he did? He was sent hurtling through what looks like storm clouds on another planet basically, and he was being visibly corrupted, likely on a level of the mindset he had which was cruel.
Like yeah, he was hit by red lightning and stuff, but I think there's something more to Vecna than just Henry.
Well according to the play (spoiler if you haven’t heard about the play) he was already corrupted by the mind flayer as a kid after stumbling upon gvt equipment in a Nevada cave (the one Max is hiding in that he’s afraid of) that sent him to dimension X, and that’s how he got his powers to begin with.
But he doesn’t have any memory of it. Remember it’s stated in season 2 there needs to be a gate between dimensions for the MF to control something in another dimension, but the connection doesn’t sever entirely as we learned this season. Then El originally sent him to a space between our dimension and Dx, a place with a lot of lightning, the upside down, before he arrived back in dimension X. That’s why time is frozen in the upside down. It doesn’t exists within space time. It’s a pocket dimension between space times. That also explains the wall and why it’s a circle around where el sent Henry away from. Outside of the wall is dimension X, where the demogorgans are running back to.
So here’s what I think. Henry was already connected to the MF, but the connection was dormant because he was in a dimension the mf couldn’t access him in. El sent Henry into a space between dimensions where the MF was able to sense Henry again and open a gate to it to bring him back to dimension X. Which is how he ended up back there. Now that he’s back there the MF could take full control over his mind again but he doesn’t even realize it.
This also allowed the MF to set up shop in the upside down which now also has a gate into our dimension. The MF for some reason (I’m guessing the sun and heat?) can’t seem to directly invade our dimension. Which is also why there’s demogorgans in the upside down when they originated in dimension X. In season 2 when they’re reading the D&D description of the mind flayer it says its goal is to conquer dimensions. So i think the ultimate end game is for the MF to conquer our dimension, and vecna is just a hive mind pawn helping it achieve that.
Also worth noting that will never really directly interacted with vecna last season. So when vecna this season gave his whole speech to will about how easy it was to break him, that must have been the MF talking.
The previous version does looks more natural and scary because it really looks like part of his skin. This new one feels very CGI and a little artificial.
I think that's the point though. The new Vecna is basically the Mindflayer rebuilding his body with vines. It's very similar to how Nemesis in RE3 changes as he gets damaged. The human body isn't really him, it's just a vessel at this point.
Unironically Vecna looks too cool this season. It's a good design but not for Stranger Things. I guess the idea is they are making him look like he has armor to call back to his DnD namesake but idk.
Henry obviously relies on the power/creatures of the Upside Down/Mind Flayer to stay alive. You can see as he’s walking through the gate that he’s practically just a skeleton from the neck down, and that the Upside Down is like a life support.
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Vecna somehow got into his dark avatar era with those red eyes, he's the living definition of evil here now hahaha.
Fr 😂 he looks like he unlocked a whole new villain skin. Those eyes alone could solo Hawkins.
What I understood is that at the end of the fourth season they left him in shit (part of his body would be burned) and surely he can't regenerate but he does control that thing in the shape of slimy roots so he regenerated with that
He also has a new attack that looks like Groot 😅
By the way the doctor name is Sam Owens.
Is he alive? I don't know if they reveal his outcome from the bunker attack.
His actor teased his return and no body so...
I assumed he was alive without evidence to the contrary, but didn't know if there was something I overlooked. Like a throwaway line from a military guy saying they "eliminated all targets" in the Nina bunker.
Eyes look very terminatorish
Yea, i dont like it. Too many similarities to the robots from T2
The morphing of the limbs too is straight up terminator vibes like the liquid alloy model imo and how he impaled that one soldier
He paid for the battle pass
"This isn't even my final form."
Vecna wants nuggies.
Getting set on fire and shot with a shotgun multiple times while you’re chilling in your house tends to do that to you.
Right? Bro was chilling in the air and those evil teens attacked him, most justified villain backstory ever.
Noah was right
I still don’t understand how he looked blind in 1 eye during season 4 (like the DND character), but now both of his eyes are fine
You mean in the flashback when he found the MF?
While he isn't really human anymore, he was able to merge with the ecosystem of dimension x and bla bla bla magical way fixed his eye.
It looked the same all through season 4 though.
You call that “fine?”
More spikey = more evil
Guy has a point. Several, actually.
Yeah it seems like he’s lost Henry, and he’s just fully consumed by the mind flayer
Nah I don't believe it, Henry chosed his evil, I'm not even sure the MF is that in control of him like people saying and it not alliance between them.
We’ll see in volume 2.
Actually volume 3.
He looks so much better and more menancing/strong. Def way cooler. Old vecna had a really weird stomach area that always looked so goofy and lame lmao
I loved the old Vecna, him looking like a middle aged manager was awesome
I think old vecna is scarier. New vecna is just like a prompt for "menacing CGI monster". Old vecna is like if the creepiest dude in a small town grew tentacles all over his body. He felt more real.
Idk someone said old vecna looks like the live action grinch and I can’t unsee it
It's like if you shaved the Grinch.
Well I can't remove that from my brain
I feel like Vecna is moist? Maybe slug like?
That’s what I thought too!
New vecna doesn't look as much like some guy in a suit so there's that. Also, new vecna's head is completely real it's just his body that's cgi, believe it or not
I also think a more skeletal/viney appearance makes sense given flamey times
Yeah, I think him looking more average but monstrous actually makes him scarier. This new form just looks like he’s Megatron. That’s cool in its own way, but for a horror series it doesn’t fit as much
I think S4 Vecna's face was much scarier since it looked like a human with all its skin flayed off. This one does look like Megatron and Ultron had a baby since his head looks like Ultron in the Avengers movie.
Agreed. I liked the way that the old design kind of made you wince and want to ask the big scary menace, "Jesus, man, did that hurt? It looks like that prob'ly hurt." Somehow that painfully human aspect of his design made him a lot scarier to me.
Couldn’t agree more. New Vecna is just Megatron for Stranger Things.
I liked how human his old design was
I prefer the newer Vecna but wish they kept how eroded his skull was
Yeah, something about the "dad gait" of old Vecna -- the same thing that reminds people of the Grinch -- made him scarier to me, because it emphasized that there was still a human person under there. New Vecna is cool looking, but doesn't have at all the same creep factor for me.
Dad gait lol that’s very true 🤣
Yeah he’s not as creepy anymore, for as goofy as the silhouette was it was way more ominous personally
Vecna went from The Grinch to Ultron in 500 days
I always thought his stomach made him look like the Grinch.
Someone said "Rotisserie Grinch" and I can't unsee it.
I don't like the new look. The all practical suit was so much more tangible. All i could think when he was on screen this season was how fake he looked.
I treat old Vecna as "incomplete", but his appearances were definitely scarier. I hoped S5 will also dive deeper into horror but I was mistaken, at least in these 4 episodes.
Man turned into evil Groot
Yeah, to me it kinda looks like an organic evil dead version of ultron, i get evil groot too
My immediate thought was "Wet looking Ultron", but I guess evil groot also makes sense...
I need to stop watching the show with the subtitles on...
I've heard the subtitles for sound effects were weirdly sexual.
[tentacles undulating wetly]
Season 4 in particular was a lot of "squelching wetly" and other questionable "wet" noises.
My household had a couple of "that's what good pussy sounds like" jokes for sure. Mostly from my girlfriend actually.
I was going to turn it into a drinking game but I don't think my liver can take it.
Better than looking like a shaved grinch imo
Fit check for my napalm era.
Super shredder Vecna
Super Shredder was a great lesson to kids. He showed the dangers of pier pressure.
Dammit.
Vecna isn't Playing this season, his waist is 12inches and his nails are also done in almond shape💅🏻
yeah Brenner said to with each life he takes he gets stronger, he wasn't lying
you also have to take it to account that he was burnt to a crisp at the end of season 4. there's a clip of jamie campbell bower where he mentions that his change in appararance is partially due to that alongside simply existing in the upside down and spending so much time there. he's in this non human world and his resentment just keeps growing.
he sort of alludes to this idea that the upside down itself has an affect on vecna physically, sort of like the more time he spends there the more he loses his more "human" aspects. vecna's basically grown into more of a monster over the last year and a half.
If you look at his arms, his regular human arms are in there they're just super skinny and shriveled (probably from being burned). To me all the spines look almost like an exoskeleton of Upside Down tentacles/matter moving his badly-damaged body around and protecting what's left.
He looks so much like Ultron now
Shoulda got James Spader on this show like yesterday
james spader wouldve absolutely crushed it as vecna
On rewatch, I was taken aback by how Grinchy he looks in the shots of his full body. Really glad he leveled up a bit.
Vecna out here looking like Super Shredder from Secret of the Ooze.
Now he has spines. because he is sttronger. Spines = stronger, even kids know that
Vecna serving up crispy Shredder vibes.
Idk, my theory is that this is like half of Vecna, the corrupted husk of him, Henry being more a human part of Vecna in S4 which accounts for the general meatyness of his previous appearance.
I have a feeling we're going to see Henry and 'Vecna' on screen at the same time. I think Henry controls this husk like a puppet essentially, no different to how Will sees through the eyes of Demogorgons.
Just a theory though, don't have much solid evidence to go on except how we saw Henry in a dream world and approaching kids in their minds, and that he was badly injured in the previous movie as well as the drastic change in image, this S5 Vecna looks almost hollow. I'm probably dead wrong.
I'm expecting we'll see the real Henry in the memory maze with Max. Vecna is just Henry's body being puppeted by the Mindflayer.
Agree with this
My theory is that this version of vecna is more the mind flayer than Henry compared to season 4 vecna. Which explains his appearance looking more like a part of the mind flayers vines and also checks out with the play suggesting Henry only thinks he controls the mind flayer when it’s really the other way around. The mind flayer is the parasite and it’s consuming Henry more and more.
Yeah it's probably what afflicted/infected him and changed him when El sent him into the upside down in the first place. Like how many other people or things have been sent into the upside down and received the same treatment he did? He was sent hurtling through what looks like storm clouds on another planet basically, and he was being visibly corrupted, likely on a level of the mindset he had which was cruel.
Like yeah, he was hit by red lightning and stuff, but I think there's something more to Vecna than just Henry.
Well according to the play (spoiler if you haven’t heard about the play) he was already corrupted by the mind flayer as a kid after stumbling upon gvt equipment in a Nevada cave (the one Max is hiding in that he’s afraid of) that sent him to dimension X, and that’s how he got his powers to begin with.
But he doesn’t have any memory of it. Remember it’s stated in season 2 there needs to be a gate between dimensions for the MF to control something in another dimension, but the connection doesn’t sever entirely as we learned this season. Then El originally sent him to a space between our dimension and Dx, a place with a lot of lightning, the upside down, before he arrived back in dimension X. That’s why time is frozen in the upside down. It doesn’t exists within space time. It’s a pocket dimension between space times. That also explains the wall and why it’s a circle around where el sent Henry away from. Outside of the wall is dimension X, where the demogorgans are running back to.
So here’s what I think. Henry was already connected to the MF, but the connection was dormant because he was in a dimension the mf couldn’t access him in. El sent Henry into a space between dimensions where the MF was able to sense Henry again and open a gate to it to bring him back to dimension X. Which is how he ended up back there. Now that he’s back there the MF could take full control over his mind again but he doesn’t even realize it.
This also allowed the MF to set up shop in the upside down which now also has a gate into our dimension. The MF for some reason (I’m guessing the sun and heat?) can’t seem to directly invade our dimension. Which is also why there’s demogorgans in the upside down when they originated in dimension X. In season 2 when they’re reading the D&D description of the mind flayer it says its goal is to conquer dimensions. So i think the ultimate end game is for the MF to conquer our dimension, and vecna is just a hive mind pawn helping it achieve that.
Also worth noting that will never really directly interacted with vecna last season. So when vecna this season gave his whole speech to will about how easy it was to break him, that must have been the MF talking.
Reminds me of when shredder turned into super shredder at the end of one of the old ninja turtles movies
The biggest glow up definitely. Finally some cool-looking and motivated villain in media culture
Unpopular opinion but I hate the new Vecna. I think he looks silly now whereas before he was actually scary.
The previous version does looks more natural and scary because it really looks like part of his skin. This new one feels very CGI and a little artificial.
I think that's the point though. The new Vecna is basically the Mindflayer rebuilding his body with vines. It's very similar to how Nemesis in RE3 changes as he gets damaged. The human body isn't really him, it's just a vessel at this point.
Totally agree!
Get a snatched waist and people still body shame ya
I was looking for this! I liked the previous Vecna because that was very creepy! The new design for me feels like it's an evil groot
Couldn’t disagree more. He looked like a sloth in any shot that displayed his full body.
Unironically Vecna looks too cool this season. It's a good design but not for Stranger Things. I guess the idea is they are making him look like he has armor to call back to his DnD namesake but idk.
I think he's a much cooler final boss than the Mindflayer
Vecna came out like Ultron after his upgrade!
The eyeholes of the mask in the earlier version are so obvious. Makeup really mailed it in there
What a glow up!
night king lookin ass
I preferred old look tbh
Hi fi 🤭
Best glow up everrr😭
Agree 😂🤭
Vecna snatched af
He looks like Ultron now
Henry obviously relies on the power/creatures of the Upside Down/Mind Flayer to stay alive. You can see as he’s walking through the gate that he’s practically just a skeleton from the neck down, and that the Upside Down is like a life support.
I liked 2022 Vecna better
he now looks like a Mascot for IRON MAIDEN 🥳🥳🥳
2022 clears low-diff
The first thought I had on the new Vecna was that he looked like a transformer
2022 Vecna = Freddy Fazbear
2025 Vecna = NIGHTMARE FREDDY
When I saw his new and improved form I thought it was Ultron 😭😭😭
Granted, he did get shot
And set on fire.
Looks like ultron from the upside-down lmao
Looks like the aliens from David Tennant's first episode in Dr Who
He also said she would need to be able to fly to defeat him (which she is now able to do).
I wonder how you would look after being burnt to a crisp.
Bro looking like a Devil May Cry boss