Freddy Krueger: His 10 Strongest Enemies, Ranked

While Freddy Krueger (played originally by Robert Englund) was one of the later additions to the slasher genre with 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, he wasted no time in establishing his name and becoming a favorite among fans due to his terrifying ability to enter and manipulate the nightmares of his victims, along with his uniquely dark humor and incredibly quotable one-liners.

Even his reputation is known in his hometown of Springwood, where he was transformed after he was murdered by the vengeful parents of the town. Of course, he made quite a few more powerful enemies over the years in both the original franchise and the remake that have managed to temporarily take out Freddy Krueger, though fans are anxiously waiting for his inevitable return.

10 Jesse Walsh

1985’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge followed young Jesse Walsh (played by Mark Patton) a sexually confused teen who finds himself taken over by the spirit of Freddy Krueger after his family moves into the Thompson house from the first film.

Jesse is mostly able to fight Freddy’s influence, but his body is eventually taken over and it’s only with the help of his girlfriend Lisa (played by Kim Myers) that he is able to regain control and Freddy was reduced to ash (though he reappears in the final moments to drive Jesse’s school bus to doom.)

9 Nancy Holbrook

Almost every one of the classic horror film franchises received a modern-day reimagining, and Freddy Krueger (played by Jackie Earle Hailey) was given an overhaul in 2010’s A Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

While the premise of Freddy’s death and return were similarily explored, though his original crimes were further detailed. Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara) was revealed as a former victim of Krueger’s acts of child molestation that led to the townsfolks’ act of vengeance. Nancy and Kyle Gallner’s Quentin Smith were the final survivors who engaged in a “final battle” with Krueger.

8 Dr. Neil Gordon

The franchise introduced a number of new enemies for Freddy Krueger in 1987’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which was mostly set at the Westin Hills Pschyiatctric Hospital, a recurring location in the series.

Dr. Neil Gordon (played by Craig Wasson) was one of the only doctors at the hospital who believed his patients about Freddy Krueger. This belief was only furthered when he met a nun (later revealed as Amanda Krueger) who revealed Krueger’s tragic origins and gave Gordon the information he needed to help stop Freddy, temporarily at least.

7 Lori Campbell

2003’s long-awaited horror crossover Freddy Vs. Jason saw the two horror icons team up and return to victimize a new group of teens at Springwood, which included Monica Keena’s Lori Campbell, daughter of the doctor who cured the town of Freddy.

She became one of Freddy’s main targets, though he had to work his way through a number of her friends before he was strong enough. Lori was quickly able to figure out Freddy and Jason Voorhees’ weaknesses and used them to beat the horror icons at their own game, ultimately decapitating Freddy with Jason’s machete.

6 Kristen Parker

Kristen Parker (played by Patricia Arquette) first appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors as a powerful psychic who was able to bring others into her nightmares, allowing Freddy Krueger’s newest crop of victims to band together in their dreams.

Kristen would later return in 1988’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master played by Tuesday Knight as the last of Elm Street’s children. Freddy would force her to pass her unique ability along to a new victim so Freddy could continue killing, extending his reign of terror after he finally killed Parker.

5 Dream Warriors

While most of Freddy’s enemies prior to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors attempted to pull Freddy into the real world before fighting him, Kristen Parker’s unique abilities inspired the troubled youths at Westin Hills to draw on their own power as the Dream Warriors.

Joey (Rodney Eastman) and Kincaid (Ken Sagoes) survived their original appearance alongside Kristen, though they were killed in the following sequel.  New Dream Warriors would appear over the years like comic creator Mark Gray (Joe Seely), though Freddy was able to beat them despite their abilities.

4 Maggie Burroughs

1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare was far from the final installment in the franchise, though it did attempt to finally put an end to the character by further exploring his twisted origins as well as revealing the existence of Freddy Krueger’s child, whose identity was a mystery throughout the film.

Lisa Zane played Dr. Maggie Burroughs, a psychiatrist at a youth home who is drawn to Springwood by an amnesiac teenager. Maggie is eventually revealed as the daughter of Freddy, and along with Tracy (Lezlie Dean) and “Doc” (Alien‘s Yaphet Kotto!), use a confiscated arsenal of weapons to finally “kill” Freddy.

3 Nancy Thompson/Heather Langenkamp

Heather Langenkamp starred as Nancy Thompson in the original 1984 Nightmare as one of the original children of the Springwood parents that killed Freddy Krueger by burning him alive with their own dark vigilante justice.

Langenkamp would reprise the role of Nancy a final time in Dream Warriors which featured her death at Freddy’s hands. though Langenkamp would later return to play a fictionalized version of herself in 1994’s Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which wildly brought Freddy into the real world to attack the actors who starred in the Nightmare films.

2 Alice Johnson

When Kristen Parker was killed in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master, she unwittingly passed on her ability to bring others into her dreams to friend Alice Johnson (played by Lisa Wilcox), who also inherited her friends’ skills as they were killed off by Freddy.

This made Alice the titular Dream Master, and she became more than a match for Freddy with her friends’ added power. However, Alice and her unborn baby Jacob would be targeted in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child, as Freddy attempted to use Jacob’s dreams to kill and gain power.

1 Jason Voorhees

Freddy vs. Jason brought the iconic masked killer from the Friday the 13th horror franchise into Freddy Krueger’s world, as he attempted to manipulate Jason Voorhees into hunting down teenagers to help repower Freddy.

While they worked well together initially, they didn’t share well and soon were aimed towards each other by their own intended victims. An epic bloody fight broke out that traveled through Freddy’s nightmare realm and ended at Camp Crystal Lake where Jason and Freddy hacked each other to pieces.

About The Author

Scoot Allan
(193 Articles Published)

Entertainment reporter, writer, and all-around geek, Scoot Allan has written for print and online media sources like Geek Magazine, GeekExchange, GrizzlyBomb, WhatCulture, RoguePlanet.tv and the Urban 30 before joining CBR, ScreenRant, GameRant and The Gamer as a staff writer. He enjoys salad but prefers french fries.

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