Freddy_Krueger

Freddy is introduced in A Nightmare on Elm Street as a child killer who is eventually discovered and captured by the law, but escapes legal prosecution due to a technicality. He is hunted down by a mob of angry parents, and cornered in a boiler room where he used to take his victims. The mob douses the building with gasoline and sets it on fire, burning Krueger alive. While his physical form dies, his spirit lives on in the dreams of a group of teenagers living in his old neighborhood, whom he preys on by entering their dreams and killing them. He is apparently destroyed at the end of the film by protagonist Nancy Thompson, but the last scene reveals that he had survived. He went on to antagonize the teenage protagonists of the next five films in the series. After a hiatus, Krueger was brought back in Wes Craven's New Nightmare by Wes Craven, who had not worked on the film series since the third film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

In 2003, Freddy battled fellow horror icon Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th film series in the theatrical release Freddy vs. Jason, a film which officially resurrected both characters from their respective deaths and subsequently sent them to Hell. The ending of the film is left ambiguous as to whether or not Freddy is actually dead; despite being decapitated, he winks at the viewers. A sequel featuring Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise was planned, but never materialized on-screen. It was later turned into Dynamite Entertainment's comic book series Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.

In the 2010 remake of the original film, it is suggested that Freddy is a child molester who had sexually abused the teenage protagonists of the film when they were children. When their parents found out, they trapped him in a building and set it on fire, killing him.