When the worst ghouls, ghosts, and demons of the spirit world terrorize New York and the world, Who You Gonna Call? These are the vilest, most evil beings the Ghostbusters have faced throughout their long careers.
Don't let the Grundel get you!
Films[]
- Original 1984 film and Afterlife: Gozer the Gozerian is an "extradimensional demonic entity" who's sought the destruction of the world for centuries and proclaimed itself "Gozer the Destructor". As a means of being summoned, Gozer has its servants Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster each find a person to possess and then combine their powers to open a portal so it can come through. Gozer attempts to use its powers to kill the Ghostbusters for not being gods and then unleashed itself as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man into New York to target them again before being defeated. Thirty years later, Gozer causes the death of Dr. Egon Spengler for impeding its next attempt to unleash itself onto the world and once again has people possessed—including a teenage girl—in order to guarantee it's not only freed but properly powered too. Gozer also has ghosts freed to target Summerville however they so desire and, when welcomed by Ivo Shandor —who built the monuments to make Gozer's arrival possible — responds to the human wanting to rule beside it by effortlessly ripping him in half.
- 2016 Film (Answer the Call): Rowan North starts off the film's plot by planting ghost-summoning technology across the city, from subway tracks to highly-populated concerts, leading to numerous ghosts terrorizing and nearly killing numerous innocents. When the newly formed Ghostbusters confront Rowan, he reveals his plan to tear a hole in the fabric of reality to bring about an event he dubs "The Fourth Cataclysm", an apocalyptic event where countless ghosts will come into our world and pester the living with unimaginable pain and torment before killing them, with him claiming that humanity "deserves it" for being filthy garbage that has looked down on and bullied him his whole life. He commits suicide, but it was all apart of his plan as to become a ghost that will lead his newly-unleashed ghost army in terrorizing the world and wiping out humanity. The ghosts begin terrorizing New York, attacking civilians and crashing cars while Rowan freezes dozens of police officers and SWAT Team members who come after him in place. Transforming into a monstrous version of the Ghostbusters' insignia, Rowan begins rampaging through the city, nearly crushing dozens of people and wantonly smashing through buildings while cackling like a lunatic.
- Frozen Empire: Garraka is an ancient ghost who once helped a king conquer other kingdoms before his actions scared the king so much that he was betrayed and stripped of his horns. Swearing vengeance on all of humanity, Garraka came up with a way to freeze all of humanity using fear before being imprisoned by the Firemasters in an orb. Trying to escape in the present day, Garraka releases the Possessor to cause havoc all over New York. Caring nothing for his fellow ghosts, Garraka has no problem using his power to force them to do what he wants, and lies to Melody so that she will trick Phoebe into temporally becoming a ghost so that Garraka can use her body to finish the chant needed to free him. Planning on releasing all of the ghosts that the Ghostbusters have captured, Garraka tries to freeze the whole of New York and brutally murders a random man due to mistaking him for the last Firemaster. Completely freezing all of the comedy whenever he shows up, Garraka is one of the worst enemies that the Ghostbusters have ever faced.
Comics[]
- The Real Ghostbusters NOW Comics:
- The evil Nurtog is a powerful Tyrannosaurus-like being from the Earth's core who formed an uprising with his own forces. Killing countless beings until he took over, Nurtog pursued rebel leader Spike to New York and had Spike's city destroyed in payment for his defiance. Trying to kill Spike and the Ghostbusters in New York, Nurtog later returns to wipe the city out in his quest to dominate and destroy all he can.
- Master Cosmos is a circus ringmaster and secretly an evil wizard who arrived in a small town called Green Town in 1942. Cosmos was able to play on the town's fears about the war, showing that it would end with an atomic explosion. The town's people begged him to protect them from the war, so Cosmos used his powers to make the town's people immortal and remove any knowledge of the town from the outside world. Though the town's people could not die, their bodies kept aging until they became rotting zombies, in a state of constant torment. When Cosmos's daughter Denetia decides to free the trapped souls and summons the Ghostbusters to help defeat her father, Cosmos tries to kill her, wanting to keep the town's people imprisoned so he can maintain his power over the valley.
- IDW Comics:
- Gozer the Gozerian is just as dangerous in this series. Originally worshipped as a god in ancient Sumeria, he was banished from the Earth by his sister Tiamat. After his defeat in 1984, Gozer's body is destroyed but his physical presence remained on Earth. Gozer's servant Idulnas kidnaps Ray Stanz and takes him back to Gozer's temple so that he can choose a new Destructor form for Gozer. Ray once again chooses the Stay Puff Marshmallow form, so that Gozer is forced to remain in that form. Gozer is angered, but not fully formed and lacking much of his power, allowing the Ghostbusters to capture him, but a lot of Gozer's presence remains at large. Later, Gozer's sister Tiamat comes to Earth to play a game with her brother. Tiamat's presence awakens what is left of Gozer and having already established a connection to Ray, manages to possess him. Gozer, humiliated by his sister, plans to kill her and then destroy the world.
- Happy Horror Days arc: Rodefhiri was the first recorded and most powerful Bogeyman. Originally a medieval monk who was angered by misbehaving children, he sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for a cloak that made him invisible and gave him the power to make people see their worst fears. Rodefhiri would kidnap and even devour children who really offended him. In the present day, Rodefhiri tries to gain access to the living world, by tricking a young girl named Jasmine into building an unholy altar, lying to her and saying it will bring back her dead grandmother's spirit. This altar trapped ghosts like a Death spirit named Santa Muerte on Earth, where the latter begins to attack a crowd of civilians. The Ghostbusters find the altar that trapped Santa Muerte, freeing Jasmine and her mom. After Jasmine tries to explain what happened, Rodefhiri tries to drag Jasmine to a hellish dimension. Later, Rodefhiri creates a magic lighting storm that makes kids violent, so he can punish them for their naughty deeds later. On New Year's Eve, Rodefhiri plans t feed on the mental energy of every child in Times Square, exposing them to their worst fears and stealing their life force. Rodefhiri then plans to use the power he gained from draining those children to feast on every child in the city.
- Answer The Call: Dr. Kruger (aka "Schreckgespenst", a German word for bogeyman) was a Mad Scientist active in the 1900s who was obsessed with fear. He would kidnap innocent people and experiment on them, torturing them with their fears, often resulting in their deaths. After Kruger died, the city sealed the building he was living in, trapping his spirit there. Decades later, when the city decided to develop Kruger's building, Kruger used the ghost of a young boy he killed to lure the Ghostbusters to his building. The Ghostbusters deal with the problem, but Kruger possesses Dr. Yates and manages to escape his building. Kruger escapes from the Ghostbusters and takes over the Empire State Building. The Ghostbusters confront Kruger, but he uses his powers to expose them to their worst nightmares. Kruger exposes more citizens of New York to their nightmares to gain more power. Ultimately, Dr. Kruger plans to merge the world with his personal nightmare realm, wanting to torment humanity with its fears and rule this new world as a god.
Animation[]
- The Real Ghostbusters:
- The Grundel is a loathsome, vile and creepy creature who goes around ruining the lives of children by encouraging them to commit bad acts and become corrupted into Grundels themselves for no reason besides the amusement. Considering the Grundel was supposed to be An Aesop subtly warning children about pedophiles, its not a surprise that the Grundel is so loathsome - mash together Satan and a pedophile and you'd get the Grundel, with his behavior towards children being somewhere between Hannibal Lecter and a sex offender. First appearing in the The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Grundel", he convinced a child named Alec to tamper with the Ghostbusters' proton packs during a school assembly, endangering all the other children present. The Grundel also manages to convince Alec to bring his brother Lee to him so he can corrupt Lee as well, despite Alec's initial protests. When Peter Venkman tries to save Alec and Lee, the Grundel tries to prevent this, stating "If I can't have them, neither can you!" He returns in the Extreme Ghostbusters episode "Grundelesque," taking place 10 years later. It is revealed that he has a connection to one of the new Ghostbusters, Kylie. The Grundel tried to corrupt Kylie as a child, but when she successfully resisted, he corrupted her friend Jack instead. The Grundel places Jack in a cocoon for 10 years, so that he will become another Grundel. When Kylie confronts the original Grundel about this new Grundel, the Grundel taunts Kylie about their past history and the fate of her former childhood friend. The Grundel later escapes from the containment unit and tries to corrupt Roland's brother Casey. While the Grundel knows his powers only work on children, he thinks it would be fun to murder Kylie anyway.
- Apshai in "20,000 Leagues Under The Street" is the Egyptian god of insects. 3,000 years ago, Apshai ruled Egypt, but was driven out due to his cruelty, taking a crystal that was his source of power with him. In the present, the crystal is buried under New York City, and Apshai reemerges when he is accidentally awakened. Apshai uses his powers to control insects and mutate them into giant monsters, and causes an earthquake that devastates part of New York. Apshai uses his giant insects to build him a new temple, where he will place his crystal atop of to gain new god-like powers. Apshai also captures Peter Venkman and plans to sacrifice him at the temple. Apshai's ultimate goal to destroy humanity with his insect army and powers, believing they are unfit to rule the Earth and that insects are superior to them.
- Extreme Ghostbusters:
- "Deadliners": Craniac, Corpuscle, and Gristle are Vathek, spirits who enter the living world through the act of writing. They contact writer J.N. Klein and promise him wealth and fame if he writes about them. Klein does so, allowing the 3 Vathek spirits to take physical forms. Crainiac, Corpuscle, and Gristle then enslave Klein, chaining him to a typewriter and controlling his mind, forcing Klein to write a story where the Vathek are invincible. Crainiac, Corpuscle, and Gristle then begin their work; they see themselves as artists and human flesh is their best canvass. They kidnap a local waiter named Jimmy and use surgical tools to transform him into a horrible, mindless monster who is just a tool of their will. Jimmy and the Vathek trio go to a local hotel and kidnap all the guests and staff, planning to transform them into monsters as well. Ultimately, Crainiac, Corpuscle, and Gristle plan to transform all of humanity into their twisted masterpieces.
- "The Pied Piper of Manhattan": The ectoplasmic being known only as "Piper" initially seems a savior to New York City when introduced, as his pipe has the ability to repel ghosts even the Ghostbusters are powerless against. Piper soon reveals his true colors, however: he is responsible for the plague of ghosts. When the Mayor attempts to pay him according to contract, Piper reveals he wants more. After his requests for a statue of himself down 5th Avenue and an office in city hall are denied, Piper uses his flute to hypnotize the children of the city and tries to force them to drown themselves, gloating the mayor will "rue the day he refused to pay the Piper." What seals the deal is that when the Ghostbusters intervene, Piper has no compunction using the kids as human shields in their fight.
- "Slimer's Sacrifice": Surt is a godlike ghost who seeks to bring about the apocalypse. His minion Fenris prepares his coming by turning three humans into his vanguards. When Slimer ends up in the containment unit, Surt demands to know how Slimer got in there and hints that he is going to torture the information out of him. When Surt senses Eduardo's presence, he allows him to rescue Slimer and waits for him to open the exit to the containment unit so he can follow them. When Eduardo realizes Surt's plan and destroys the remote that will open the exit, Surt activates a spell he placed on Slimer to make him cut Eduardo's oxygen tank, before releasing Slimer from his control so he can realize that he just doomed his friend and be left to watch him suffocate and die, with Surt promising to return and torture Slimer after Eduardo dies.
2009 Video Game[]
- Ivo Shandor is a renowned architect and doctor who is responsible for all of the bad things that happened in the game. During his lifetime, he was notorious for performing unnecessary surgery. He is also the leader of the Cult of Gozer, which is trying bring their god, Gozer, to wipe out humanity. To this end, he manipulates several American famous power brokers—including the Chairman of International Steel—to do his bidding, and renovates several famous landmarks. He also builds the infamous 55 Central Park West building to summon Gozer. After his death, and due to his master's failure to destroy the humanity for the second time, Shandor then possessed the mayor of the New York City and then tries to pin his crimes into Walter Peck to distract the Ghostbusters so that he could kidnap one of his descendants, Ilyssa Selwyn, in order to become a god and remake the world in his own image.
- The Spider Witch — better known as Evelyn Lewis — is one of Ivo Shandor's mighty followers who in life lured innocent men into her suite while murdering them brutally by hanging them in the ceiling while their blood is drained and their bodies were dragged around. After making a pact with Shandor, she then becomes the spider-like humanoid creature after death, and it was revealed that she makes the souls of the men that she murdered as her eternal slaves. She did all this both for fun, and to become more powerful in the afterlife.