Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger, known for his appearances in the cult-classic horror series A Nightmare on Elm Street, is a playable guest character in Mortal Kombat (2011).
Freddy made his debut being available through DLC as part of the Season Pass.
Quick Answers
What is Freddy Krueger's origin?
What does Freddy Krueger look like?
Who portrays Freddy Krueger?
What is Freddy Krueger's role in Mortal Kombat?
What is Freddy Krueger's weapon?
About Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger is the main antagonist of A Nightmare on Elm Street and its sequels and the main antagonist of the crossover film Freddy vs. Jason, opposite to Jason Voorhees. A vengeful, malevolent Dream Demon, Freddy stalks and kills the children of Springwood, Ohio on Elm Street, killing them one by one in their dreams.
Freddy's origins are depicted differently between the original and rebooted series. The original series depicts Krueger as a child murderer who got off on a technicality. He was then murdered by the children's parents out of revenge and was resurrected in Hell as a Dream Demon. His origins in the rebooted film resemble what his creator Wes Craven wanted Freddy to be, that of a child molester. While his death is still the same in this depiction, he fled town to avoid authorities but is still murdered out of revenge for molesting and harming the protagonists as children. He also targets the children, now as teenagers, blaming them for his death.
Freddy's attire has remained the same in almost all depictions except in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, where he takes on an appearance that Craven originally planned Krueger to have in the original film. His fedora and black and red sweater are easily recognizable with the character, but what sticks out most is his Bladed Glove, a leather glove lines with razor-sharp claws. A big difference between him and most slasher villains is his manipulations of his victims dreams as a Dream Demon, blurring the line between what is real and not and whether the protagonists in the films are awake or in Freddy's domain. When killing his victims, Freddy will usually dispatch his victims with his glove but in the Dream Realm he is known to use his powers to kill his victims through shapeshifting or altering reality to his will.
Freddy has been consistently portrayed by Robert Englund since his first appearance. In the 2010 remake, Krueger is portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley. In the original series, Freddy always had a rather humorous, yet profane demeanor when it came to killing his victims, usually messing around and fooling them before killing them. In the 2010 remake, the character is portrayed as a more sinister killer, using little to no humor when killing his victims unlike in the original films.
Appearance
Freddy's appearance takes visual inspiration from the 2010 remake, however, he is given two gloves instead of a single glove for gameplay purposes. Despite his visual appearance being similar to the 2010 version, he is not voiced by Jackie Earl Haley, but rather his original actor, Robert Englund.
For his appearance in the mobile version of Mortal Kombat, his appearance is slightly altered but still retains a similar appearance to his Mortal Kombat (2011) appearance, however now he only sports one glove like in his origin franchise. An additional change in Mortal Kombat Mobile is that his player card picture resembles that of Robert Englund.
Biography
- Mortal Kombat (2011): "A malevolent spirit of the Dream Realm, Freddy Krueger preys on the souls of the living as they sleep. When Shao Kahn began to steal Earthrealm's souls - souls Freddy considered his own - Freddy battled the emperor in the Dream Realm. But Shao Kahn's will was too strong. He pulled Freddy into the real world, where he was mortal, and defeated him. A badly injured yet determined Freddy fitted both his hands with demonically enhanced razor gloves. Once he has killed Shao Kahn, he will find a way back to the Dream Realm, where he will torment Earthrealm's souls for eternity."
Combat Characteristics
Powers and Abilities
Freddy Krueger possesses the power to manipulate and control his victims dreams, giving him absolute control over the Dream World. However due to being pulled from the Dream World and into Earthrealm, he doesn't have access to his full power. Freddy instead relies on his agility, surprising stamina and durability, while maintaining a small portion of his powers that allow him to teleport and use his gloves in various ways in kombat.
Signature Moves
- Hell Spike: Freddy sticks his claws in the ground, causing enlarged spikes to reappear from under ground. This has Close, Medium, and Far commands. (MK 2011)
- The enhanced version is called Hell Blast. Freddy's ascending claws are bigger and deal more damage. They also automatically appear under the opponent, whether Close, Medium or Far.
- Sweet Dreams: Freddy summons a green orb that falls on the opponent and causes them to fall asleep for a short amount of time. (MK 2011)
- The enhanced version is called Deep Sleep. Freddy summons a bigger orb that deals more damage to the opponent.
- Glove Toss: Freddy throws one of his gloves off his hand and into the opponent. (MK 2011)
- The enhanced version is called Power Glove Toss. Freddy throws both of his gloves off his hands, causing more damage.
- Freddy Fingers: Freddy sends one of his gloves to crawl across the ground and hit the opponent's feet. These crawls make a distinct clicking sound. (MK 2011)
- The enhanced version is called Freddy's Edge. Freddy sends both of his gloves to crawl, dealing more damage in the process.
- Dream Shift: Freddy disappears and reappears in fire. This has Away and Towards commands. (MK 2011)
- The enhanced version is called Hell Shift. Freddy can teleport farther than usual, away or towards.
X-Rays
- What a Rush: Freddy uppercuts the opponent, then impales the opponent with his claws through the chest, breaking the ribs and puncturing the lungs. Then he swipes the opponent across the face, damaging the skull. (MK 2011)
- What a Rush: Freddy slashes his opponent with an uppercut then stabs them in the chest with his glove. He then follows up with a sucker punch that breaks the opponent's jaw before slashing their face with his glove, shattering their skull. (MK Mobile - Nightmare Card)
Other moves
- Throw: Freddy grabs his opponent, lifts a finger to his mouth and whispers, "Shhhh..." before turning them around and impaling them from behind with his claws.
Mobile Game Moves
- One, Two, Freddy's Coming For You...: One of Freddy's opponent is trapped in a Nightmare where Freddy has a 50% of Lethal Damage of +300% Damage towards that opponent. If Freddy has two other Nightmare teammates on his team, he can trap an additional opponent in a Nightmare. Nightmare teammates have 10% increased Critical Chance on Basic Attacks. (MK Mobile - Nightmare Card - Passive)
- If Freddy is equipped with Freddy's Glove, he can trap a third opponent in a Nightmare.
- Nightmare Slash: Freddy cocks back, readying his bladed glove, then slashes his opponent. The opponent is affected by Snare, disabling their ability to tag-out for some time. (MK Mobile - Nightmare Card)
- Dream Glove: Freddy stabs his glove into the ground, causing a larger glove with large blades to appear under the opponent, dealing damage. Freddy gains a Shield, reducing his damage taken for some time. (MK Mobile - Nightmare Card)
- Depending on the minigame result, the move will alter;
- 40% and under - Freddy spawns only one glove slash.
- 50% to 70% - Freddy delivers two slashes.
- 80% to 100% - Freddy delivers three slashes. At 90% and up, the attack becomes unblockable.
- Depending on the minigame result, the move will alter;
Fatalities
- Tell 'Em Freddy Sent Ya: Freddy disappears from view, then reappears behind the opponent. He impales the opponent and summons a hole. He then drags them into the hole. Afterwards, the hole spews a huge amount of blood. (MK 2011)
- Welcome to My Nightmare: Freddy summons a large furnace. He then stabs the opponent in the neck and stomach, and chucks them straight into the furnace. As they burn in agony, Freddy waves goodbye and shuts the door, cutting their arm off, and burning them to death. (MK 2011)
Other Finishers
- Babality: A baby carriage is seen and the camera zooms in to reveal a teddy bear with four cuts in its stomach. Freddy then jumps up from behind the carriage and attempts to take a slash at the camera, but he cannot as his hat is covering his eyes. (MK 2011)
Ending
- Mortal Kombat (2011): "Freddy Krueger's bladed hands tore through Shao Kahn. The demonically-enhanced weapons had been more than a match for the emperor's dark magic. Though Freddy had saved Earthrealm, Nightwolf recognized him as an evil spirit, and in a Shamanistic ritual, sent him back to the Dream Realm. But that decision proved ruinous. Freddy did not resist. He welcomed a return to immortality. From the Dream Realm, he will again create a Nightmare in Earthrealm."
Trivia
General
- Freddy is the first guest character from a film franchise to appear in the Mortal Kombat series.
- Freddy's appearance as a playable guest character would mark the beginning of several guest characters from cinema that would appear as guest character later in the series. These would include Jason Voorhees, Predator, Leatherface, and the Alien, in Mortal Kombat X, and the Terminator, RoboCop and Rambo in Mortal Kombat 11, respectively.
- Aside from a "Shhh." while performing his throw and a "No!" after being thrown in front of a car during The Street stage Fatality, Freddy does not speak during the game. He is only heard laughing in his intro and some of his Fatalities, and he also grunts or yells in pain when attacked.
- All of these effects are voiced by Robert Englund, which was not confirmed until 2017 by Ed Boon on Twitter, making him one of four characters alongside Kratos, Spawn, RoboCop and Rambo where an original actor reprises the role of the character they played.
- The woman Freddy kills in the end of his ladder ending bears a strong resemblance to Nancy Thompson from the first A Nightmare on Elm Street. This scene itself is a reference to the main promotional artwork of the film, which features Nancy in bed, awake with terror in her eyes while a transparent Freddy and his clawed glove can be seen above her.
- Freddy's agile and nimble fighting style possibly takes inspiration from Freddy vs. Jason when he fought fellow horror icon Jason Voorhees.
Mortal Kombat (2011)
- Freddy only had claws on his right hand in every appearance of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. In Mortal Kombat however, he has claws on both hands for gameplay mechanics.
- Additionally, his bio has stated that he needs two claws in order to defeat Shao Kahn.
- With his reappearance in the mobile version of Mortal Kombat, Freddy now sports only one glove.
- Additionally, his bio has stated that he needs two claws in order to defeat Shao Kahn.
- The majority of the moves in Freddy's move list are named after lines he has said, and a handful are inspired by methods he used to kill his victims in the A Nightmare on Elm Street films.
- Tell 'Em Freddy Sent Ya, his first Fatality, is based on the way he killed Glen Lantz in the original Nightmare on Elm Street. The move's name is actually Freddy's response to another victim, Roland Kincaid: the teenager told Freddy, "I'll see you in hell", before he was killed. The blood that spews out of the ground is likely a reference to Glenn's death in the same film, as the same thing happened when he was absorbed into his bed.
- What a Rush, his X-Ray Move, is named after a line he said to Taryn White before he killed her in the 3rd Nightmare on Elm Street. The move itself is based on how he killed her.
- Krueger's Freddy Fingers, Hell Spike and Glove Toss moves are the same techniques used to kill Terry Feinstein, John Doe and Rick Johnson respectively in the A Nightmare on Elm Street films.
- Welcome to My Nightmare, his second Fatality, is based on the way he killed Kristen Parker in the 4th Nightmare on Elm Street. The move's name comes from a line he said to Jason Voorhees, in the film Freddy vs. Jason when he battles Jason in the Dream World for the first time.
- Power Glove Toss, the enhanced version of Glove Toss, is likely a reference in name to the Nintendo Power Glove, a gaming peripheral that Freddy used during the killing of Spencer Lewis.
- Ungrateful Piggy, one of his combo moves, is based on the triple kick attack he used againat Jason Voorhees.
- His Tell 'Em Freddy Sent Ya Fatality is the only Fatality that can be performed anywhere in the stage.
- Freddy is the only character who can actually dodge Shao Kahn's Hammer Throw move without teleporting or simply jumping, with the help of the Nightmare Stance.
Mortal Kombat X
- While Freddy doesn't appear in the game, he is possibly referenced with the second Faction Kill for the Brotherhood of Shadow, where the opponent falls into a portal with blood splattering out like a geyser, similar to Glen's death in the original 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- Kenshi's My Puppet Fatality is possibly another reference to Freddy and a possible reference to a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors where Freddy kills Phillip Anderson by forcing him to jump from the roof of Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital by controlling Phillip using his tendons in his arms and legs.
Mortal Kombat Mobile
- Freddy is a playable character in the mobile version of Mortal Kombat, with a slightly altered appearance from his appearance in Mortal Kombat (2011).
- Freddy was originally one of three characters to inflict Lethal Damage. The other two were Circle of Shadow Liu Kang and Kobu Jutsu Tanya.
- As of Update 2.0, many of the revamped character cards now gain passives that grant Lethal Damage, most notably MK11 Scorpion's Passive.
- Freddy is one of six characters with a revamped X-Ray move. The others are Shao Kahn, Takeda, Kung Jin, Jade and Kintaro.
- Shao Kahn and Freddy are two of four exclusive characters from MK 2011 with very different X-Rays than their originals. The third is Jade and the fourth being Kintaro who uses Goro's X-Ray from MKX.
- Freddy gains a jaw-breaking punch in the middle.
- Shao Kahn gains a new startup with a spine and rib shatter at the beginning.
- Jade gains a new start-up in addition to destroying any and all male testicles upon slamming the opponent in the groin with her staff.
- Kintaro borrows Goro's entire X-Ray.
- Kung Jin has an additional slam at the end.
- Takeda does not jump to his opponent and also teleports to his original position after finishing his X-Ray.
- Shao Kahn and Freddy are two of four exclusive characters from MK 2011 with very different X-Rays than their originals. The third is Jade and the fourth being Kintaro who uses Goro's X-Ray from MKX.
- With Update 2.0, Freddy is one of four Diamond guest characters for the mobile version of Mortal Kombat. The others being Jason Voorhees, Leatherface and the Terminator.
- Freddy's Freddy's Glove Equipment Card is one of three character exclusive Equipment Cards that grants a damage bonus in Faction Wars at Tier X. The others are Kano's Combat Knife and Kenshi's Sento Blade.
- Freddy's Glove grants the highest damage bonus in Faction Wars at 20%.