Stranger Things Changes Eleven’s Powers & Sets Up the Show’s Most Shocking Twist Ever

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Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, has been the central figure in Stranger Things since she first appeared at Benny’s Burgers wearing a hospital gown. Initially, her powers were explained as the result of secret experiments conducted by Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine). Over four seasons, viewers have seen her grow from a scared test subject into a powerful fighter, becoming Hawkins’ main defense against the terrifying Upside Down. But Eleven isn’t the only one with special abilities. The fifth season of Stranger Things brings back her sister, Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), and this reunion reveals new information about their powers that could mean trouble for Eleven and everyone else.

Warning: Spoilers below for Stranger Things 5, Volume 2

Following her rescue by Eleven and Hopper, Kali explains what she’s been through since the last time we saw her in Stranger Things. She was tracked down by Dr. Kay, the military’s new director, and taken to a secret facility built within the Upside Down. There, she was subjected to torture: soldiers used machines to weaken her ability to create illusions, and scientists repeatedly drew her blood. Kali eventually managed to escape by pretending to be unconscious, luring her captors close enough to attack with a scalpel, and running through the base. During her escape, she made a frightening discovery.

How Eleven’s Powers Relate to Henry’s?

Kali stumbled upon a secret section of the Upside Down base where she found rows of critically ill pregnant women. The military had been injecting them with her blood, desperately trying to artificially create psychic powers like those seen in the original Hawkins Lab experiments. This revealed that Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) is the origin of all the powers in the series. Kali explained that all the children in Dr. Brenner’s program – including Eleven and herself – developed their abilities because their mothers had been given Henry’s blood.

The deaths of the pregnant women reveal a dangerous biological difference between Eleven and her ‘siblings.’ Kali’s blood is poisonous to normal people. The women are dying because their bodies see the blood transfusion as a deadly toxin and reject it. Like the other test subjects, Kali isn’t a perfect copy of Henry and can’t fully use his powers. Eleven is unique – the only experiment that successfully absorbed Henry’s blood and abilities. This makes her the only one who can be used to create the military’s psychic weapon program, and Dr. Kay is trying to capture Eleven to replicate her and build an army of soldiers with psychic abilities.

Will Stranger Things Kill Eleven?

Finding out Eleven is the only one who can be used for the military’s program creates a grim situation. While the group prepares for their final fight with Vecna at the radio station, Kali points out there’s no chance of a peaceful resolution. She explains the military’s interest isn’t about Dr. Kay specifically, but about the program itself – she’s just one person in a much larger system. Even if Dr. Kay and her base are taken down, the government will simply find someone else to pursue Eleven. As long as Eleven is alive, she represents a huge military advantage, and those in power will never stop trying to recreate what happened with her.

Realizing they had no other choice, Kali persuades Eleven that they must use the team’s emergency plan to save the world. This plan involves setting off a bomb near the strange material in the Upside Down, which would close the portal forever. Kali and Eleven make a heartbreaking agreement: they won’t escape with the others before the bomb goes off. They plan to stay in the collapsing dimension as the device that keeps the portal open is destroyed. By sacrificing themselves along with the monsters, they hope to eliminate the last trace of Henry Creel’s genetic material, ensuring no one can ever create living weapons again.

The second part of Stranger Things Season 5 is now available on Netflix, with the last episode dropping on January 31st.

Will Eleven survive the finale, or will the show’s writers come up with a way to save her? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion in the ComicBook Forum!

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2025-12-26 04:11