While Stranger Things season 5 seems set to kill off the fan-favorite supporting star Steve Harrington, there is a reason to believe that season 4 already proved he won’t die. Stranger Things may have broken a lot of hearts by killing off Joseph Quinn’s beloved season 4 newcomer Eddie Munson, but the Netflix hit is not quick to sacrifice characters who have proven themselves to be favorites among the fan base. Stranger Things has barely killed off any of the show’s original stars, and the few who have died were unambiguous villains like Dr. Brenner.
Nonetheless, fans are stressed about the final season killing off their favorite comic relief characters. Admittedly, Stranger Things supporting stars like Argyle are likely to be dead meat in the final season, as the show needs to establish life-or-death stakes while also trimming down its massive number of characters. However, it is Joe Keery’s reformed jock Steve Harrington that Stranger Things fans are most worried about since the show’s creators have repeatedly hinted that he is doomed. What this fails to account for, however, is the fact that earlier seasons of Stranger Things already proved Steve will survive by depicting the character repeatedly bouncing back from brutal beatings by both humans and the Upside-Down’s inhabitants.
Why Steve Keeps Getting Beat Up In Stranger Things
Not a single season of Stranger Things goes by without Steve getting beaten up. While Eddie died heroically in Stranger Things season 4 the first time he ever encountered Vecna’s minions, Steve managed to recover from being attacked by a flock of Demo-bats only a few episodes earlier. Not only that, but in Stranger Things season 3, he was beaten senseless by a group of Russian soldiers. Before that, Steve was floored in a fight with Jonathan Byers back in Stranger Things season 1, and he lost consciousness when the unhinged bully Billy gave him the most graphic beatdown that Stranger Things has ever depicted in season 2.
Steve Fares Better With Demogorgons Than People
Steve has survived all of his encounters with both supernatural and human foes in every season of Stranger Things and seemingly made a full recovery from each of these attacks. However, that is not the most impressive thing about his hot streak. While the creator of Hawkins Lab, Stranger Things villain Dr. Brenner, did survive one Demogorgon attack with only a nasty scar to show for it, Steve is currently the character who survived the most encounters with the denizens of the Upside-Down after Eleven. Steve beat a Demogorgon with a baseball bat in season 1, took on multiple Demo-dogs in season 2, and faced the killer bats of Stranger Things season 4.
In every instance, Steve did risk his life, but still sustained less damage against these monsters than he did in fights with fellow humans. As such, viewers could reasonably infer that Steve simply has a knack for fighting Vecna’s creations, which will be good news in Stranger Things season 5. The horror movie-inspired villain Vecna is the primary antagonist of the final season, not a human foe, meaning Steve should be able to take on the Upside-Down again and still come out victorious. Unlike Dr. Brenner, who only survived one Demogorgon attack (and sustained a serious injury in the process), Steve has reliably beaten the odds every time, making his survival surprisingly likely.
Steve’s Beaten The Upside-Down Before
In the early seasons of Stranger Things, the purpose of Steve’s regular beatdowns appeared to be an attempt to humanize him. In Stranger Things season 1, he was an unlikable bully who was redeemed after getting soundly battered by Jonathan in a fight that Steve started while, by season 2, he was a sweeter, semi-redeemed hero who was beaten up for nothing other than helping out some kids. Steve’s Stranger Things redemption arc continued in season 3 and, by the time the Soviet scientists were beating him up, he was an outright heroic character.
Thus, Steve’s more recent beatings might not be an attempt to humanize him anymore, since that mission is long since accomplished. Instead, these pointedly bloody and repetitive scenes might be foreshadowing for Stranger Things season 5. The regular ass-kickings that Steve endures would make his ability to survive the Upside-Down in season 5 much more believable, much like Eddie’s complete unfamiliarity with Demogorgons, Vecna, and the dark secret history of Hawkins made his demise tragically inevitable. Steve is not guaranteed to make it out of the final season alive, but his Stranger Things season 5 odds are improved by a look back on earlier seasons.