Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger
A Nightmare on Elm Street character
Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
First appearance	A Nightmare on Elm Street
Created by	Wes Craven
Portrayed by	Robert Englund (1984–2003, 2018) Michael Bailey Smith (1989) Tobe Sexton (1991) Jackie Earle Haley (2010)
Information
Alias	The Springwood Slasher
Species	Dream Demon (formerly human)
Classification	Mass murderer[1]
Primary location	Springwood, Ohio
Signature weapon	Bladed work glove

Freddy Krueger (/ˈkruːɡər/) is a character from the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He first appeared in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as the spirit of a serial killer who uses a gloved hand with razors to kill his victims in their dreams, causing their deaths in the real world as well. In the dream world, he is a powerful force and almost completely invulnerable. However, whenever Freddy is pulled into the real world, he has normal human vulnerabilities such as physical or psychological traumas, and whatever that associated with his mental disorder.

The character was created by Wes Craven and was consistently portrayed by Robert Englund in the original film series as well as in the television spin-off. In the 2010 franchise reboot, Freddy Krueger was portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley. In 2011, Freddy appeared as a playable character in the video game Mortal Kombat^[2] and in 2017 as a playable character in Dead by Daylight. Over the course of the series, Freddy has battled numerous survivors including Nancy Thompson and Alice Johnson.^[3]

The sequel Freddy's Revenge introduced his alias of infamy as a still human serial killer, "The Springwood Slasher", from an old newspaper on his old case read by Jesse Walsh and Lisa Webber.^[4] This would be used in other films and media throughout the franchise, such as Freddy vs. Jason and the Nightmares on Elm Street comics.^[5]

Freddy attacks his victims from within their dreams. He is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, dirty red-and-green striped sweater and brown fedora, and trademark metal-clawed brown leather glove only on his right hand. This glove was the product of Krueger's own imagination, the blades having been welded by himself. Robert Englund has said many times that he feels the character represents neglect, particularly that suffered by children. The character also more broadly represents subconscious fears.

Wizard magazine rated Freddy the 14th greatest villain,^[6] the British television channel Sky2 listed him 8th,^[7] and the American Film Institute ranked him 40th on its "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains" list.^[8] In 2010, Freddy won an award for Best Villain (formerly Most Vile Villain) at the Scream Awards.