Stranger Things: How Did Henry Creel Get His Powers?

The last episode of the first volume of Stranger Things season 4, revealed that Raphael Luce’s Henry Creel boasts of psychokinetic powers and is later renamed “One.”

He was the first experiment conducted by Dr. Martin Brenner at the Hawkins National Laboratory. The episode also reveals that One is Vecna, the serial killer who is hunting the teens of Hawkins. While we know about the origins of Vecna now, and about El’s powers, there is very less information about where Henry Creel got his psychokinetic powers in the first place.

How Did Henry Creel Get His Powers?

As the story reveals, Henry Creel had framed his father, Victor Creel, for the murder of his sister and mother. At the time his family moved to Hawkins, Henry started developing supernatural abilities. He was usually a quiet child, who liked black widow spiders more than humans, and slowly he began hating humanity. He started pushing his powers by killing small animals and infecting the minds of his family with traumatic memories and horrific visions. After killing his family and framing his father, Henry was taken for study at the Hawkins Lab.

How Did Eleven Get Her Powers?

Stranger Things had already established that Eleven’s powers and her powered “siblings” were all results of Project MKUltra by the CIA, which experimented on expectant mothers by injecting them with doses of LSD.

Season 4 retcons this by establishing that the powers that the children had were the results of Dr. Brenner attempting to recreate the abilities of Henry Creel. While Stranger Things never explains where Henry got his powers from; however, there is absolutely no evidence that Virginia Creel, his mother, had been subjected to LSD. Therefore, there is a possibility that Henry’s powers come from a different source. In fact, it is also possible that Henry Creel’s powers are natural.

How Did Eleven Defeat One/Henry?

While it could be a side effect of Project MKUltra, El’s mother, Terry Ives also showcased some limited psychokinetic abilities. In the second season, Eleven meets Terry, where Terry is seen switching the TV channels using her mind. It is also possible that Terry was born with powers but she never discovered them. This could explain how Eleven could take the fight against Henry and send him to the Upside Down; her powers came from Terry and also as a result of Dr. Brenner’s experiments.

Stranger Things season 4 is already bursting with plotlines, but hopefully, the Duffer Brothers will explain the origins of Henry Creel’s powers in the upcoming Vol. 2.