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List of Ghostbusters characters
List of Ghostbusters characters
from Wikipedia

The Ghostbusters franchise spans multiple films, animated series, novelizations, comic books, and video games. Beginning with the 1984 live-action film Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, the premise and storyline have inspired sequels, spinoffs, and reboots. These entries into the franchise include an ever-expanding list of both recurring and original characters.

Overview

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List indicators

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in multiple installments in the franchise.

  • An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
  •  A indicates an appearance through archival footage or audio.
  •  C indicates a cameo role.
  •  U indicates an uncredited appearance.
  •  V indicates a voice-only role.
  •  M indicates a model with the actor or actress's likeness served as a body double.
  •  L indicates the actor or actress lent only their likeness for the film.
Character Original film series Animated series Video games Reboot
Ghostbusters Ghostbusters II Ghostbusters: Afterlife Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire[1] The Real Ghostbusters Extreme Ghostbusters Ghostbusters:
The Video Game
Ghostbusters:
Spirits Unleashed
Ghostbusters:
Rise of the Ghost Lord
Ghostbusters:
Answer the Call
1984 1989 2021 2024 1986–1991 1997 2009 2022 2023 2016

Primary cast

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Dr. Peter Venkman Bill Murray Lorenzo MusicV
Dave CoulierV
Dave CoulierV Bill MurrayV
Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz Dan Aykroyd Frank WelkerV Dan AykroydV[2]
Dr. Egon Spengler Harold Ramis Harold RamisL
Bob GuntonM
Ivan ReitmanM
Harold RamisA Maurice LaMarcheV Harold RamisV Bronze head bust
Dr. Winston Zeddemore Ernie Hudson Arsenio HallV
Buster JonesV
Buster JonesV Ernie HudsonV
Janine Melnitz Annie Potts Laura SummerV
Kath SoucieV
Pat MusickV Annie PottsV
Dana Barrett-Venkman Sigourney Weaver Sigourney WeaverC
Phoebe Spengler Mckenna Grace
Trevor Spengler Finn Wolfhard
Podcast Logan Kim Appeared[3]
Lucky Domingo Celeste O'Connor Appeared[3]
Callie Spengler Carrie Coon
Gary Grooberson Paul Rudd

Supporting cast

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Slimer Ivan ReitmanV Appeared[4] Frank WelkerV Billy WestV Ivan ReitmanV Appeared[5] Adam RayV
Louis Tully Rick Moranis Roger BumpassV
Mayor Lenny Clotch David Margulies Aron KincaidV
Frank WelkerV
Neil RossV
Hal SmithV
Walter Peck William Atherton William Atherton Robert TowersV William AthertonV
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
The Destructor
Bill Bryan Ira HeidenV
Sarah NatochennyV
Shelby YoungV
Shelby YoungV[6] Frank WelkerV
John StockerV
Appeared Appeared Parade balloon
Zuul
The Gatekeeper
Sigourney Weaver
Ivan ReitmanV
Carrie Coon
Celeste O'Connor
Ivan ReitmanV
Vinz Clortho
The Keymaster
Rick Moranis Paul Rudd
Gozer the Gozerian Slavitza Jovan
Paddi EdwardsV
Olivia WildeU[7]
Emma PortnerM

Shohreh AghdashlooV
Eleanor Twitty Ruth Oliver Appeared[8] Appeared
Roger Delacorte John Rothman John Rothman
Mooglie
Ghostbusters Logo
Appeared Frank WelkerV

Arsenio HallV
Appeared Neil Casey[a]
Vigo the Carpathian Wilhelm von Homburg
Max von SydowUV
Howie Weed
Dan Aykroyd
Painting Max von SydowV Painting
Ivo Shandor J. K. SimmonsC Brian Doyle-MurrayV
Bug-Eye Ghost Appeared Frank WelkerV Appeared
Muncher Josh GadV Appeared
Garraka Gil KenanV[9] Appeared[3]
Lars Pinfield James Acaster Appeared[3]
Samhain Bill Martin Appeared Ryan Colt Levy

Ghostbusters (1984)

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Human characters

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Peter Venkman

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Peter Venkman is a focal member of the Ghostbusters. He is portrayed by Bill Murray in all four main series movies, and is voiced in the animated series by Lorenzo Music and subsequently Dave Coulier who would later reprise his role in a cameo in Extreme Ghostbusters. Peter is one of three doctors of parapsychology on the team; he also holds a PhD in psychology. In the movies, although he is the leader, he is characterized by his blunt persona, laid-back approach to his profession, and his womanizing demeanor; of the three doctors in the Ghostbusters, he is the least committed to the academic and scientific side of their profession, and tends to regard his field, in the words of his employer in the first film, as "a dodge or hustle". In the first movie, he is shown to develop genuine concern and romantic feelings for the Ghostbusters' first client, Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver).

Raymond Stantz

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Raymond "Ray" Stantz, another member of the Ghostbusters, is played by Dan Aykroyd in all four main series movies. He was voiced by Frank Welker in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters and he reprised his role in a cameo in Extreme Ghostbusters. He is one of the three doctors of parapsychology on the team, and Peter's closest friend. Ray is considered the "heart" of the Ghostbusters by the other members of the team, and the second in command. He is an expert on paranormal history and metallurgy. Ray is characterized by his almost childlike enthusiasm towards his work, and his outspoken acceptance of paranormal activity.

Egon Spengler

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Egon Spengler is the brains of the Ghostbusters – described in the original script as a "New Wave Mr. Spock" – and the creator of the Ghostbusters' equipment along with Raymond Stantz. Lacking much of a personality other than his focus on all things scientific, he is often shown as lacking social skills when dealing with people. Egon was portrayed by Harold Ramis in the films Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, voiced by Maurice LaMarche in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, and Ramis' likeness was used for the character in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, with Bob Gunton and Ivan Reitman acting as stand-ins for the late Ramis. LaMarche was the only voice actor to remain for the entirety of both series. Before the original movie was released, American Cinematographer described Egon as "maniacal" based on reading the script.[10] Ramis credited the part as launching his acting career, as up to that point he had been a director and writer, despite having co-starred alongside Bill Murray in Stripes.[11]

In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Egon is revealed to have had a daughter, Callie, prior to 1984, whom he is estranged from. Egon came to believe that the apocalypse would come. His continued research came at the cost of his relationships with his fellow Ghostbusters, who disbelieved Egon's assertions. This culminated in Egon stealing Ecto-1 and a large amount of equipment and moving to Summerville, Oklahoma, where he learned of Shandor's secondary Gozerian temple and Gozer's impending return. Egon rigged a proton barrier to contain the ghosts within the Shandor Mines while capturing one of Gozer's minions to force Gozer into a trap he set up. The trap failed, and Egon hid the captured ghost within his house. Egon is killed by the other entity, his death ruled as a heart attack.

Callie moved to Summerville to take possession of Egon's house. Phoebe, Callie's daughter and Egon's granddaughter who shares a similar passion for science with her late grandfather, discovered the trap containing Gozer's minion, which is released the following day by Gary Grooberson, and Egon's spirit guided her to his underground workshop, where he helped her fix a damaged proton pack. He also helped Trevor fix the dilapidated Ecto-1, and guided Callie into realising that, far from being a deadbeat, Egon had always watched over her.

During the final battle with Gozer, Egon materialised as a ghost in order to aid Phoebe and his old Ghostbuster colleagues in trapping Gozer permanently. He reconciled with his friends and family before passing peacefully into the afterlife.

Winston Zeddemore

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Winston Zeddemore is played by Ernie Hudson in all four main series movies and the 2009 video game, and was voiced by Arsenio Hall in the first three seasons of The Real Ghostbusters. Buster Jones provided Winston's voice in the remaining seasons, and he reprised the role in a cameo on Extreme Ghostbusters. Hudson reportedly auditioned to reprise the role of Winston for the animated series, but he was rejected in favor of Hall. Unlike the other members of the team, Winston is not a scientist with a background in the paranormal; the novelization says that he was in the Marines. He is hired when the Ghostbusters' business begins to pick up. Despite not sharing the educational credentials of his coworkers, Winston often serves as the everyman of the team, acting as a voice of reason and displaying more common sense than the others. In the 2009 video game, Winston claims to have spent time in the Egyptian exhibit of the museum while in graduate school working on his doctorate, suggesting experience in anthropology or a related science, and addressing himself as a doctor, indicates that he has his own PhD.

The post-credits scene in Ghostbusters: Afterlife reveals that Winston's post-Ghostbusters career was highly lucrative as he built several businesses from the ground up. In his discussion with Janine Melnitz, though, he reveals that nothing fulfilled him like being with the original Ghostbusters, which is why he has secretly been financing Ray Stantz's occult business. He vows to expand the support to the new crew as they continue Egon's work.

Dana Barrett

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Portrayed by Sigourney Weaver, Dana Barrett was a cellist living at 550 Central Park West (55 Central Park West), a haunted apartment building which would become the gateway for the apocalyptic deity Gozer the Gozerian. Dana's living quarters is located where the entrance to the building's Gozerian temple is hidden, referred later to by Ray Stantz as the "Spook Central." She is singled out early for unwelcome paranormal attention by Gozer's minions, and seeks the help of the Ghostbusters after seeing their advertisement on television. She is possessed by the demon Zuul, Gatekeeper of Gozer, who, along with Keymaster Vinz Clortho, opens the interdimensional gate to summon Gozer to Earth in the first film. She promptly attracts the romantic attention of Peter, whose flippant behavior causes her to doubt her decision to seek aid from the Ghostbusters. In the sequel five years later, Dana is a divorced mother of an eight-month-old boy named Oscar; Peter is neither her former husband nor Oscar's father. Dana was then working as a restorationist for the fictitious Manhattan Museum of Art. It is here that she (and later Baby Oscar) come to the attention of the evil Prince Vigo the Carpathian, whose malevolent spirit inhabits his massive self portrait. When Dana and Baby Oscar become the target of Vigo's plot, the Ghostbusters re-enter her life to save her, Baby Oscar, and the world once again.

Dana was also a neighbor of Louis Tully at 550 Central Park West in the first movie. The two remained acquainted, then became friends. Louis and Janine Melnitz baby-sat Oscar (and themselves became a romantic item) during the second film. Dana appears in the mid-credits scene of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021),[12] in which she and Peter are revealed to be married and settled in Cortland, and play with the cards Peter used to discover his students' psychic potential. Peter is hooked up to the "shock" machine, in which Dana is having pleasure by tormenting her husband with it. She is not seen or mentioned in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but a poster is glimpsed that advertises a concert by "Cellist Dana Barrett". Dana is the only character that didn't appear in The Real Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Janine Melnitz

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Janine Melnitz, the Ghostbusters's secretary, is played by Annie Potts in both movies, and is voiced by Laura Summer and Kath Soucie in The Real Ghostbusters and Pat Musick in Extreme Ghostbusters. Janine has occasionally worn the Ghostbusters uniform and used ghost-catching equipment in the animated series. During the first film, and in both animated series, Janine often flirted with Egon but he remained oblivious. She dated Louis Tully in the sequel.

In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Janine contacted Callie Spengler to inform her of Egon's death and to arrange for Callie to collect Egon's belongings. She informed Callie that Egon had accrued a large amount of debt. In the post-credits scene, she and Winston discuss the latter's success.

Louis Tully

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Louis Tully is a nerdy accountant as well as a tax attorney and a neighbor of Dana Barrett, played by Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II and voiced by Rodger Bumpass in the Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters animated series. He is possessed by the demon Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster who, along with Zuul, opens the interdimensional gate to bring Gozer to Earth in the first film. In Ghostbusters II, he is revealed to have graduated from night law school, in which he implies that it was an inadequate educational institution, and, in the novelization, revealed that it was called Famous Lawyer's School & Dry-Cleaning Emporium. Due to his limited trainings in laws, he mostly handles matters relating to taxes and probate. He represents the Ghostbusters at their trial in his first court case.

In the film's deleted scenes, revealed that he has a cousin, Sherman Tully (played by Eugene Levy), a dermatologist on staff at the Parkview Psychiatric Hospital. Louis then takes up permanent employment with the Ghostbusters when they reestablish their business. In addition, Louis seeks to become the fifth Ghostbuster. At one point, he borrows a Ghostbuster jumpsuit and proton pack to attempt to help defeat Vigo the Carpathian. After the release of Ghostbusters II, Louis became a semi-regular character on Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters as the Ghostbusters' legal and financial advisor. Ghostbusters, like many films on which Moranis has worked, had him improvising some of his lines.[13]

Louis is a playable character in New Ghostbusters II for the NES. He appears as a non-playable character in Lego Dimensions voiced by Mick Wingert. In his side quest on the Ghostbusters Adventure World, he requires the player's help to get more guests for his party. Although Louis did not appear in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, it is obvious that he was the "other guy" that Peter referred to who tried to be a fifth Ghostbuster. Louis is still employed by the Ghostbusters, but he left a note on his desk saying that he is "feeling sick, going home early", explaining his absence (due to Moranis declining to reprise his role for the game) and it is filled with piles of paperwork needing to be finished. His own Ghostbuster uniform (with his name on it) hangs behind it as well, implying that he may have officially been a member. Louis is also tasked to scout locations to expand the team's operations beyond New York City.

Though the character did not appear in the 2021 sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife, old aura scans of Louis taken from when he was possessed by Vinz Clortho are in Egon's storm-cellar laboratory, acknowledging Moranis's past involvements to the franchise.

Lenny Clotch

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Leonard "Lenny" Clotch is the mayor of New York City. He was played by David Margulies in the films Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, and by Frank Welker in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. Though skeptical of the Ghostbusters due to his Catholic background (in reality, Margulies was Jewish), Clotch is apparently open-minded on the paranormal and thus quietly and reluctantly supports them when facing supernatural crisis. By 1989, Clotch is running for governor, and is assisted by Jack Hardemeyer until Clotch fires him for misconduct; he later rehires him. During the supernatural chaos "Vigo Incident of '89", Clotch meets the ghost of deceased mayor Fiorello La Guardia, which was an unpleasant experience for him. By 1991, in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, he is succeeded by Jock Mulligan as mayor implying he has become governor. Decades later, in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, they are succeeded by Walter Peck.

Walter Peck

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Walter Peck is a cynical and over-zealous inspector for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for the third district in the greater New York area, played by William Atherton. Spurred on by "wild stories in the media," Peck is sent to "assess any possible environmental impact" by the Ghostbusters' operation. Peter Venkman instantly dislikes Peck and refuses him access to inspect the premises, in particular the Containment Unit ghost-storage facility. This confrontation leads to Peck getting official inspection orders and eventually having the Containment Unit shut off. The result is catastrophic, unleashing all the entities that were trapped, powering Ivo Shandor's tower at 550 Central Park West (55 Central Park West), and providing the 'sign' that Terror Dogs Keymaster and Gatekeeper of Gozer, Vinz Clortho and Zuul (possessing Louis Tully and Dana Barrett, respectively) were waiting for. Peck again confronts the Ghostbusters and orders them arrested, refusing to take responsibility and blaming them for the explosion at the firehouse. This provokes Egon Spengler's furious attempt to assault Peck, and Venkman and Ray Stantz display contempt for Peck's harassment.

As the Manhattan Crossrip of 1984 begins, the Ghostbusters are released from jail and brought to City Hall. There they square off against Peck, trying to convince the mayor that not just the city, but the world, is in danger. Peck's belief that the Ghostbusters were drugging the city with hallucinogens is invalidated by the authorities and experts. Evidence supporting the Ghostbusters' innocence is brought forth, humiliating Peck since he has nothing to support his claims. The mayor sides with the Ghostbusters and has a furious Peck removed from his office. With the mayor's support, the Ghostbusters gear up and head off with a police / military escort towards their confrontation with Gozer the Gozerian. Peck also heads up to 550 Central Park West and bears witness to Gozer manifesting in Its Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man Destructor form. He eventually gets engulfed in Mr. Stay-Puft's melted remains, leaving him publicly humiliated.

Despite this, later, in Ghostbusters II, people like Peck from nearly "every state, county, and city agency" in the New York area sued the Ghostbusters and put them out of business for five years. This caused them to loathe short-sighted, selfish bureaucrats, exemplified by their interactions with the mayor's assistant Jack Hardemeyer and Judge Stephen Wexler.

Walter Peck appears only once in The Real Ghostbusters animated series, in the episode "Big Trouble with Little Slimer," voiced by Robert Towers. Having been fired from the EPA, Peck has become a member of the government organization BUFO (Bureau of Unidentified Flying Organisms). Dead set for revenge, Peck became determined to prove that the Ghostbusters were frauds and end their business. His first attempt involved making a false call to try to arrest the Ghostbusters on trespassing warrants, though it backfires on him when it's discovered that the compound actually was haunted by a ghost. His next attempt involved taking Slimer away from them. Not believing him to be a real ghost, Peck had Slimer classified as a U.F.O, and pressed charges against the Ghostbusters should they refuse to hand him over. Peck then placed Slimer in a cyclotron machine in an attempt to destroy him, and changed the codes to prevent Slimer being rescued. However, the machine was not designed for long-term use. When Peck forgot the code, the Ghostbusters had to use their throwers to prevent the machine from blowing up the building. The general running BUFO dressed Peck down for his reckless, dangerous, and selfish vendetta. Peck and his partner Calahan had their contracts terminated.

In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Peck – again played by Atherton – went on to lead the PCOC (Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission), an agency overseeing the Ghostbusters; they remain in mutual enmity; Venkman continues to refer to Peck as "Pecker" and threatens to kill him with his proton pack. For his part, Peck still firmly believes that the Ghostbusters are scam artists despite evidence to the contrary. His attempts to discredit them have become an obsession, which causes Peck more trouble when he's caught in the fight between the Ghostbusters and the spirit of Ivo Shandor. By the end of the game, he has been captured by Shandor and begs the Ghostbusters to free him from his captivity. The Ghostbusters' recruit does so, but simply by severing his bonds with a proton stream and letting Peck fall on the ground. As a result, he angrily leaves, again blaming the Ghostbusters and telling them they hadn't seen the last of him.

Walter Peck returns in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire as mayor of New York and Peck still has a vendetta against the Ghostbusters and again scapegoating them for the city's renewed supernatural activities. In the end, despite Peck threatening to shut them down, they maneuver him into supporting the team and reinstating Phoebe to avoid ruining his reputation, once again leading to another defeat for him (though not as humiliating as last time).

Supernatural entities

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Slimer

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Slimer is a translucent green blob creature, with two skinny arms, no feet, and several chins. In the first movie, Slimer was voiced by director Reitman, while Frank Welker voiced the green ghost in The Real Ghostbusters. In the 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II, Robin Shelby performed Slimer and Reitman again voiced Slimer but most of the footage shot was not used. In the late 1990s cartoon Extreme Ghostbusters, Slimer's voice was provided by Billy West. Troy Baker voices Slimer in the 2009 video game, though with the sound effects used in the first movie. Aykroyd reportedly referred to Slimer as "The Ghost of John Belushi".[citation needed]

In the script for Ghostbusters, Slimer is never called by any name. He is described by Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) as an "Ugly Little Spud," just before he slimes Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray). In Ghostbusters terminology, Slimer is designated as a "Focused, Non-Terminal Repeating Phantasm or a Class 5 Full-Roaming Vapor" (Class 5 manifestations are fully developed entities that lacked human forms). The creature's original title was "The Onionhead Ghost", which the film crew dubbed him for the horrible odor he used to scare a couple in a scene cut from the original movie. Slimer's personality is one of tremendous gluttony, and he is referred to as a "disgusting blob". In the movies, he is not named and makes short appearances. In the cartoon, he is known as Slimer, is able to speak, and demonstrates a child's intelligence and intense loyalty to Peter and the Ghostbusters with the personality of a dog. His role in the series is explained in the episode "Citizen Ghost", which primarily consists of a flashback to the immediate aftermath of the movie, where Slimer returned to the firehouse as the Ghostbusters were the first people to show any interest in him, the team "adopting" him as a means of testing ghosts and an ally after he helped them defeat ectoplasmic manifestations of themselves that had manifested from their old uniforms after the uniforms were exposed to ghostly energies from the containment unit. In the Marvel UK comics of the Real Ghostbusters, Slimer had his own half-page sketch, in which Slimer's past life was covered; he was originally called King Remils ("Slimer" spelled backwards), a greedy, obese monarch who had died of heart failure.

Slimer's popularity soared from the subsequent spin-off animated television series The Real Ghostbusters. Slimer later starred in his own Slimer! cartoons when The Real Ghostbusters was extended to a one-hour format. SLIMER! was briefly published by NOW Comics, a defunct Chicago firm. Artists included Mitch O'Connell and Mark Braun. Writers included Larry Parr who also wrote for the animated series. Slimer also appeared as a representative of The Real Ghostbusters in the animated anti-drug television special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. Slimer was also the mascot for the Hi-C flavor "Ecto Cooler", which came out shortly after The Real Ghostbusters, and was colored green. Slimer remained on the box well after the Real Ghostbusters was cancelled; but in 1997 the drink was renamed "Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen", and Slimer was removed. Slimer also had a toothpaste named after him. A more monstrous and "evil-looking" incarnation of Slimer appears in the 2016 reboot, as voiced by Adam Ray: it appears in the ghost havoc scenes, as it ravages a hot dog cart, but, as the Ghostbusters near to investigate, he steals the Ecto-1 and starts joyriding with other ghosts (including a Lady Slimer) around Manhattan, but the Ghostbusters decide not to shoot him, as the car contains a nuclear reactor. Later, they actually do shoot at the car to use the reactor to reverse the effects of the ghost portal, with Slimer and Lady Slimer sharing a kiss before falling inside it.

Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man

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The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man – mascot for the fictional Stay-Puft Marshmallows company – became the chosen Destructor form of Gozer (towering roughly 112.5" feet tall) after Dr. Ray Stantz "tried to think of the most harmless thing, something he loved from childhood and that could never, ever possibly destroy them." Stay-Puft also makes appearances in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters (most times friendly due to not being possessed by Gozer any longer, other times a bit cranky), and returns as a boss – the resurrected Destructor avatar sans Gozer – in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Stay-Puft was inspired by Peter O'Boyle, a security guard at Columbia Pictures whom director Reitman met filming his previous movie, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. According to Sam Delaney of The Guardian, "Stay-Puft's familiar mascot combined elements of real life brand ambassadors Bibendum (aka the Michelin tire man) and the Pillsbury Dough Boy."[14] The costume was created by Bill Bryan using miniatures, optical compositing and Bryan himself in a latex suit.[15] In the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Gozer creates Mini-Pufts as minions out of Stay-Puft Marshmallows as distractions.

Gozer the Gozerian

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Gozer the Gozerian is a Class 7 Deity of Destruction revered by the Hittite, Mesopotamian and Sumerian cultures who appears as the first film's main antagonist, known by many titles that include "The Destructor", "The Destroyer", "Volguus Zildrohar, Lord of The Sebouillia", "Scourge of the Glethestements" and "The Traveler." Its base form is that of an androgynous woman, leading to it typically being identified as female. Gozer's appearance is preceded by increased paranormal activity and the disruption of natural forces. As briefly mentioned in the film and fully covered by the 2009 game sequel, Gozer had a following on Earth around 6000 BC before being banished by the Babylonian goddess Tiamat following a protracted conflict between their followers. Via its chief minions – Terror Dogs Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster, Gozer can enter into another reality and offers those witness to its arrival to choose an avatar form known as a Destructor before proceeding to destroy that plane of existence, as it did in one dimension as a Torb (electric eel-like creature) and in another, a Sloar (reptilian humanoid that produces venomous ectoplasmic substance that conducts psychomagnotheric energy).

In the 1920s, cult leader Ivo Shandor and his followers set up Gozer's coming to Earth while predicting the years during which a cross-dimensional rip would occur. Such a rip occurred years after Shandor's death as the "Manhattan Crossrip of 1984", when Zuul and Vinz Clortho opened the portal for their master to emerge from the rooftop temple of 550 Central Park West (55 Central Park West). Being confronted by the Ghostbusters upon arrival, Gozer uses Ray Stantz's accidental thought to assume its Destructor form of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man before being banished back to its realm when the Ghostbusters fired their crossed proton streams on the gateway. Prior to it being banished, Peter Venkman mockingly nicknamed Gozer "flat top", "chick", and "prehistoric bitch" after its first attack. Thirty-seven years later, in Summerville, Oklahoma, revealed that Winston Zeddemore himself referred Gozer as "muffin" out of his own scorn against it.

Gozer "reappears" in the 2009 game via the Gozerian Mandala-revived form of Mr. Stay Puft, but was easily defeated since lacking a portal to Gozer's domain made it comparatively weaker than its initial manifestation along with its fixed manifestation as Stay Puft within Earth preventing Gozer from assuming more effective avatar forms and the fact the Ghostbusters upgraded their arsenal since their first encounter. Stay-Puft's defeat convinces a disillusioned Ivo Shandor to alter his plans while forsaking his faith in Gozer.

Gozer returns in the 2021 sequel. Ghostbusters: Afterlife as the main antagonist. In the film, Egon learned of Gozer's eventual return in 2021 and moved to Summerville, Oklahoma, where the selenium used to construct the Shandor building—from the first film—was mined from, to prepare a series of traps to stop Gozer permanently. Egon lured the disembodied Gozer to his farm after capturing one of its minions and preventing ghosts from flooding into Summerville, but the gambit failed, and Egon hid the ghost trap holding the creature. Egon is then attacked by the other creature, causing him to suffer a fatal heart attack. When the creature inside the trap was freed, it returned to Shandor's mine. Vinz Clortho and Zuul picked new hosts and return to the Gozerian temple, and Gozer was brought back to Earth in a form similar to its previous, but includes skeletal protrusions and spikes, with energy surging throughout its body (due to Jason Reitman's desire to use prosthetic like Alien film series' that starred Sigourney Weaver instead of a form-fitting costume like the first film's and of different actresses as the character both physically and disembodied, and with Gozer being a shape-shifter, explaining the differences in appearance). This time, Gozer does not assume a Destructor Form when facing the Ghostbusters. However, it animates Stay-Puft Marshmallows as Mini-Pufts as minions. Egon's grandchildren, Phoebe and Trevor, re-enact Egon's plan to lure Gozer to the farm by capturing Zuul in a ghost trap to render it incorporeal, though the trap once again fails and Zuul is released with Gozer's physical form restored. It is confronted once again by the original Ghostbusters, including the ghost of Egon, who help snare Gozer while Phoebe battles the entity and Trevor fires a proton beam to power the trap. Gozer and its minions are again defeated by the Ghostbusters, trapped inside ghost traps buried underneath the farm, and its threat is neutralized. However, after Gozer and its minions are deposited into the firehouse's ecto-containment unit, a warning light blinks.

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Gozer is referred by Janine Menitz after the Ghostbusters defeated another evil deity Garraka.

In Ghostbusters terminology from West End Games' role-playing game, Gozer would be a Class 7 Metaspectre. Gozer never appeared in The Real Ghostbusters animated series or receive a classification, but is referenced by Ray as a "Primal God" in the episode, "Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster". Gozer was also used as a benchmark for other potent entities encountered, such as Proteus, Nexxa, Murray The Mantis and Great Cthulhu. Gozer was originally played by Yugoslav actress/model Slavitza Jovan and its demonic voice was provided by Paddi Edwards in the 1984 film. In the 2021 film, Gozer was portrayed by Emma Portner and an uncredited Olivia Wilde while voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo.[16]

Terror Dogs: Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster

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Zuul and Vinz Clortho are the primary servants and harbingers of Gozer the Gozerian, their true forms being bipedal demons before manifesting in the physical world as horned quadruped hounds. Though they look similar, Vinz's primary horns are twice as long as Zuul's.[17] A pair of fully corporeal possessors, Zuul and Vinz seek out a mortal female and male to inhabit and turn them into The Gatekeeper and The Keymaster, respectively, for a sexual rite to open a portal for their master to manifest through. In Ghostbusters terminology from West End Games' role-playing game, The Terror Dogs would each rank as a Class 7 Metaspectre, and in Erik Burnham's Tobin's Spirit Guide: Official Ghostbusters Edition, they are designated as a Class 7 Fully Corporeal Possessors. In addition to their ability to dematerialize and possess mortals, The Terror Dogs exhibit other supernatural powers such as summoning lesser entities, levitating, telekinesis and shape-changing (usually the physical form of those they possess into their own horrific forms).

Prior to the "Manhattan Crossrip of 1984", manifesting through twin gargoyles atop 550 Central Park West (55 Central Park West), Zuul and Vinz possess Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) respectively to summon Gozer. In the end, they are forced back to their dimension by the Ghostbusters. While not necessarily the origin of the word "Zuul," there is a similarity with the ancient Maya word for dog, "tzul".[18]

Zuul's name was referred to by Patty Tolan in the remake of the original film Ghostbusters (2016) after hearing strange recordings, implying that the setting of this film is a parallel universe to the original film and its sequels', and that Gozer is going to attack their universe, making the film possibly canonical to the original film series, though these were never explored further onscreen.

Zuul and Vinz Clortho reappear in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. In the film, in addition to being minions and emissaries of Gozer, they serve as sentinels to stand and keep watch the temples devoted to their master including the one in Shandor's mine at Summerville. Because of this, for 27 years, they have been clashing with Egon Spengler after he arrived to prevent Gozer from returning. Egon captured one of them in an attempt to trap Gozer, but his plan failed and he hid the ghost trap underneath the floor boards of his house prior to being attacked by the other creature and suffering a fatal heart attack. After Egon's estranged daughter, Callie, moves to Summerville to inherit his farm, her daughter Phoebe uncovers the trap and unintentionally freed the creature inside with help from Gary Grooberson, and it returns to the Shandorian mine. Vinz Clortho chooses to possess Gary, while Zuul possesses Callie, and the two unite in the Gozerian temple in the Shandor mines to summon Gozer. Phoebe and Trevor attempt to enact Egon's plan to trap Gozer by trapping Zuul inside a ghost trap with Gozer and Vinz pursuing them to the farm. But the trap fails a second time and Gozer frees Zuul, who possesses Lucky before she is trapped for good, alongside Vinz Clortho and Gozer, after the original Ghostbusters appear to aid, and Trevor fires a proton beam to power the trap.

The Grey Lady

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Dr. Eleanor Twitty a.k.a. The Grey Lady or "The Library Ghost", portrayed by Ruth Hale Oliver, is a lady in grey and the first ghost encountered by the original three Ghostbusters (Ray, Egon, and Peter) while they are investigating paranormal activity at the New York Public Library. When they attempt to touch her, she transforms into a much larger and more frightening skeletal form and causes the trio to flee the library in terror. Though they do not catch her, they get a scan of her and use the information to construct their containment grid and ghost-catching equipment, allowing the creation of their ghost-catching business. In Ghostbusters terminology from West End Games' role-playing game, The Grey Lady would be a Class 4 Free-Floating, Full-Torso, Vaporous Apparition, as she was human in appearance and later identified by the Ghostbusters. In Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009), she is designated as a Class 4 Semi-Anchored Entity.

She returns in the 2009 video game, where much of her history is revealed, and the Ghostbusters uncover the tragic story of her death. She was once Dr. Eleanor Twitty, the New York Public Library's head librarian in the 1920s, and overseer of its Special Collections of ancient artifacts, stone tablets, long-forgotten tomes, and rare books. She was murdered in 1924 by philologist and oil tycoon Edmund Hoover, The Collector, a disciple of Ivo Shandor who seduced her for the Gozerian Codex among other rare books in her care. She is memorialized by the library as a dedicated staffmember who died protecting its properties. However, since Twitty's death, other librarians sense her haunting presence, eventually frightening one staff, Alice Melvin (Alice Drummond), in 1984. In the video game, the Ghostbusters discover her reading the Codex in the library's secret catacombs where she died before capturing her. Due to the ease of the capture, they state that she must have wanted them to recover the Codex to aid them in defeating Hoover after he died and became the guardian of the mandala node Shandor built into the library. Offscreen, she is later freed after the spirits of the Cult of Gozer attack the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters for the spiritual energy from their ecto-containment unit.

In the film Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), The Library Ghost makes a cameo appearance in the library, in both her Grey Lady form as well as her transformed skeletal form that still frightens Ray Stantz. Oliver returned as the Library Ghost in human form via the archived footage from the first film, but new puppet was made for her skeletal form.

Dream Ghost

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According to Tobin's Spirit Guide, dream ghosts are Class 4 benign entities that only manifest in the presence of a sleeping individual. Ray encountered with such a spirit in his sleep, who was portrayed by late Playboy centerfold Kymberly Herrin. In omitted scenes, she was originally a ghost who haunts Fort Detmerring guardhouse. It is believed that when alive she was a sweetheart of a military officer who stationed there over a hundred years ago. In the IDW Publishing's Ghostbusters comic book series, she has a reference in Ghostbusters Annual 2017 in the Dramatis Personae Pages on Ray's biography with the line "In love with a ghost (but not the one from Fort Detmerring)."

Ivo Shandor

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Ivo Shandor, a surgeon and an architect of some renown during the early 20th century, was born in Romania around 1859, and he moved to New York City from Bucharest in 1898. Shandor is the overall cause for the circumstances in the events of the original film's canons and appears as the "boss" of the 2009 video game. He is played by actors Brian Doyle-Murray and J.K. Simmons in the game and the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife, respectively. He is also a relative of Wolf Van Shandor, a famous artist who made mythological artworks. As an architect, his structural styles include Federal, Art Deco, Occult, and Gozerian (Mesopotamia). Shandor is obsessed with mythologies, having extensive knowledge on the occult and science that rivals Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz, despite being insane with a God complex, he deemed that humanity is beyond redemption after the First World War. He established the Cult of Gozer worshippers with close to a thousand followers based on his American family's ancestral island home on the Hudson River where he mass-produced ectoplasm. John Horace Tobin, author of several reference books, infiltrated Shandor's new religious movement and published his findings on their methods and history as part of Tobin's Spirit Guide.

Shandor used his connections to steel mogul and disciple Cornelius Wellesley to design 550 Central Park West (55 Central Park West) as a temple to summon Gozer through, using materials from a mining operation he established along with the town of Summerville, Oklahoma in 1927. Shandor also developed a mandala across the city, with the New York Public Library, the Museum of Natural History, and the Sedgewick Hotel (built by Shandor's misanthropic follower Godfrey McCallister Sedgewick) as key nodes protected by demonic spirits who were originally his three top disciples (Edmund Hoover, Cornelius Wellesley, and Evelyn Lewis). The fourth node is located on Shandor Island (before it sank) and is guarded by a captured Sloar, a demon that produces the black slime that powers the Mandala system and flows into a series of abandoned city subway tunnels, turning New York City into a hotspot for supernatural activity. His cult also had experimented with time travel, attempting to find artifacts from the future that would reveal the outcomes of their apocalyptic schemes, but managed to retrieve a Ghostbusters (1984) DVD from an unknown origin (implying that the Cult of Gozer had breached the barrier to another universe where details of the Ghostbusters' world are fictitious) but unable to play it because the Digital Versatile Disc had not yet been invented. After Shandor apparently died in 1945, reputedly from complications surrounding an attempted self-surgery, his body was believed to be buried in a cult-owned mausoleum in what is currently Central Park, his resting place desecrated, as had been most other deceased New Yorkers. Apparently having no living relatives (though later revealed to have a descendant in Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn), Shandor's fortune and resources are managed by his eponymous foundation.

Shandor's original scheme comes to fruition during the events of the first film in 1984, when sufficient energy collected results in Gozer's minions, Zuul and Vinz Clortho, physically manifesting in preparation for their master's coming. The Ghostbusters foil Gozer's entry and neutralize it. As revealed in the video game, Shandor is also indirectly responsible for the events of Ghostbusters II, as the psychomagnotheric "mood" slime produced on his island was discovered by the malevolent spirit of Vigo the Carpathian underneath the Manhattan Museum of Art; Vigo used Shandor's substance to strengthen himself and to pursue his own apocalyptic agenda after his cursed painting's arrival at the museum.

After decades of operating behind-the-scenes, Shandor finally makes an appearance in Ghostbusters: The Video Game as a main antagonist of the game. It is revealed that prior to his death he made pacts with the Gozerian pantheon, allowing his spirit to become a powerful deity in exchange for his services. By 1991, Shandor possesses the body of Mayor Jock Mulligan and makes Peck head of PCOC to hinder the Ghostbusters, while he abducts his descendant – Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn – to invoke the nodes of his mandala and revive Gozer's Mr. Stay-Puft Destructor form. After Gozer is defeated by the Ghostbusters and Dr Selwyn freed, the disillusioned Shandor forsakes the deity and decides to use the mandala to deify himself, boastfully renaming himself "The Architect" (Class 7 Transformed Mortal Remnant). He is defeated when the Ghostbusters cross their proton streams during the fight after following him into the Underworld.

The 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife reveals that Shandor's preserved body was placed in a glass coffin within a Gozerian temple that he built under the Shandor Mines, which doubles as a backup portal for Gozer to manifest through in 2021. Egon learned of this and dies attempting to prevent Gozer's return. After Egon loses his life to stop Gozer, he wills his home to his estranged daughter Callie and grandchildren Phoebe and Trevor. Guided by Egon's spirit, Phoebe and Trevor discover his old ghostbusting equipment and learn of Shandor's plan. Revived in his body once Gozer fully manifests, Shandor praises the deity and expresses his desire to rule by its side before being promptly ripped in half.

The Ghostbusters: Afterlife script and credits list the spelling of the surname as Shandor; this is correct for the Magyar language (Hungarian), which spells the English /s/ sound as <sz>, pronounces its written "s" like English "sh", and is where the name originated (as a variant of Alexander); the Magyar variant of his forename is Ivan. His canonical forename is the South Slavic (Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs) Ivo; his surname in that language would have been Šandor. In the Romanian language, his name would have been spelt Ioan Șandor.

It is worth noting that Shandor's native Kingdom of Romania had only recently been established at time of birth, was multi-ethnic, and that it fell under the arguably post-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire. The spelling Shandor is displayed on-screen in the original film but is not in the subtitles; this represents his adopted country, the United States of America.

Ghostbusters II (1989)

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Human characters

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Oscar Barrett

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Oscar Barrett (played by William T. Deutschendorf and Hank J. Deutschendorf II) is Dana Barrett's baby boy, born 8 months prior to the beginning of Ghostbusters II. He is nearly sacrificed to serve as a new earthly incarnation of Vigo the Carpathian, but is saved by the Ghostbusters.

There has been speculation as to who Oscar's father actually is. Sigourney Weaver – on the June 14, 1989 episode of "The Arsenio Hall Show" – recalled she thought the father was the Violinist from the Lincoln Center scene. Referred to by Peter as "The Stiff," the Violinist is given the name "Andre Wallance" in the novelization of the 1984 movie, 'Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular.' On the 1999 Ghostbusters DVD commentary track, both Joe Medjuck and Ivan Reitman state that Oscar's father is the Violinist. In July 2016, Ivan Reitman changed his opinion to Oscar's father probably being Peter Venkman (Bill Murray). However, this is contradicted by Dana and Peter revealing in Ghostbusters II that they had long not been involved in a romantic relationship. According to Dana, her former husband, and Oscar's father, was a fellow orchestra employee and their relationship fell apart after he accepted a job offer for an orchestra in London.[19] Originally, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis had Peter Venkman as the infant's father when plotting the story.

Peter says to Oscar in their first scene together, "You know, I... I should have been your father. I mean, I could have been..."

Jack Hardemeyer

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Jack Hardemeyer (played by Kurt Fuller), is Mayor Lenny Clotch's assistant. Like Walter Peck, he is skeptical of the Ghostbusters' operations and tries to discredit them. After overstepping his authority and having the Ghostbusters committed to a psychiatric hospital under the pretense of protecting the mayor's political interests, Hardemeyer is then fired for his misconduct. However, on Liberty Island, Hardemeyer is by the mayor's side again during him giving a Key to the city to the Ghostbusters, indicating that he got his job back. In a deleted scene, it is revealed that he was originally supposed to be killed off by the mood slime, but it changed because it is too gruesome at that time for a family comedy film.

Janosz Poha

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Dr. Janosz Poha (played by Peter MacNicol) is Dana Barrett's boss at the fictional Manhattan Museum of Art. He is somewhat nerdy and harbours a hopeless love interest in her. Janosz is later enslaved by Vigo the Carpathian to bring Dana's baby Oscar to serve as a new vessel for Vigo's evil spirit. However, Vigo's plan for reanimation is stopped by the Ghostbusters, who also manage to free Janosz from Vigo's spell.

Supernatural entities

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Vigo the Carpathian

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Vigo the Carpathian (full name: "Prince Vigo von Homburg Deutschendorf") (Wilhelm von Homburg) appears in the second film as the main antagonist. He was a sadistic, power-hungry 16th/17th century tyrant of Carpathia and the conquered country of Moldavia. He describes himself as the "Scourge of Carpathia" and "the Sorrow of Moldavia." His unfortunate subjects gave him other titles: Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Despised and Vigo the Unholy. During his time, he was as despotic as other notorious tyrants in history like Attila and Genghis Khan, and according to Leon Zundinger's article in the occult text Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen, that "Carpathia was in a constant state of turmoil" until he died. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray)—upon hearing all these unflattering titles—cynically commented, "Wasn't he also 'Vigo the Butch?'"

Born in 1505, Vigo was a warlock skilled in black magic, granting him an unnaturally long life span. It came to an equally unnatural end when in the year 1610, he was "poisoned, stabbed, shot, hung, stretched, disemboweled, drawn and quartered." In spite of all that, as Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) notes about Vigo, "just before his head died, his last words were, 'Death is but a Door; Time is but a Window... I'll be back!'" Vigo was based on Vlad the Impaler (the inspiration for Dracula by Bram Stoker), and in part on Grigori Rasputin, who also survived several attempts on his life.

In addition to the dark arts, Vigo was also skilled in painting. This combination provided him with the means to remain within the mortal realm after death. Vigo's spirit possesses and remains within his life-size self-portrait, which inevitably arrives at the restoration department of the fictitious Manhattan Museum of Art in 1989. In Ghostbusters terminology from West End Games' role-playing game, Vigo would be a Class 4 Full-Torso Apparition, as he was human in appearance and identified easily. He is also designated as a Class 4 Possessor in Erik Burnham's Tobin's Spirit Guide: Official Ghostbusters Edition. However as the events of Ghostbusters II progressed, Vigo drew strength from the negatively-charged rivers of psychomagnotheric "mood" slime (revealed later in Ghostbusters: The Video Game produced by the Gozarian cultists under Ivo Shandor) flowing beneath Manhattan. In doing so, his potency increased to the comparable levels of a Class 7 entity. With his newfound power, Vigo manipulates art gallery curator Dr. Janosz Poha into finding a child whose body he can permanently inhabit at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, causing a supernatural crisis throughout the city that later labeled as the "Vigo Incident of '89". Janosz chooses Oscar, in return for being allowed to take Dana as his wife. His plan is foiled by the Ghostbusters' use of positive mood slime, disrupting his attempts to possess Oscar. Needing a host, Vigo briefly possesses Ray Stantz, but this gives Winston Zeddemore a better aim for firing his slime blower while Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman fire their particle throwers at Vigo's painting's canvas without harming Stantz, and he is again trapped within his painting.

In the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, Vigo was mentioned in the sixth episode of season 5 "Partners in Slime", indicating that he also exist in the animated Ghostbusters canon as an unseen character.

In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, the portrait of Vigo is stored in the Ghostbusters' firehouse as one of the cursed artifacts they collect and filed. Though unable to again be a threat without access to Shandor's psychomagnotheric slime to draw strength from, Vigo can only taunt anybody who approaches him. He also makes cryptic predictions based on real-world history, as the game's release post-dates the time period of the game by nearly two decades, along with outcomes of the game's future events.

Vigo's full name is a combination of the stage name of Norbert Grupe (aka Wilhelm von Homburg), who played Vigo, and William and Henry Deutschendorf, the twins that played the baby Oscar. The menacing voice of Vigo was provided by Max von Sydow.

The Scoleri Brothers

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Nunzio and Tony Scoleri were portrayed by puppeteers Tim Lawrence and Jim Fye, respectively, and co-created by Henry Mayo with collaborations with Lawrence, Thomas Enriquez, and Howie Weed. In the film, the brothers were convicted murderers sentenced to death by electric chair by the then-newly appointed Judge Stephen "The Hammer" Wexler at Ossining Correctional Facility in 1948. Since then, they have haunted the Foley Square Courthouse as unseen poltergeists, where Wexler tried them.

Forty-three years later, they manifest as Class 4 Noncorporeal Elemental Spirits when Wexler was trying the Ghostbusters in court, unintentionally scaring him so much he rescinded the court judgment on the Ghostbusters practicing their craft. Nunzio also carries the trial's prosecutor to the hall; the prosecutor survived but was traumatized by her ordeal.

Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)

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Eduardo Rivera

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Eduardo Rivera (voiced by Rino Romano) was first introduced as one of the next generation of Ghostbusters in Extreme Ghostbusters. He seemingly a lazy, sarcastic and somewhat clueless character, Eduardo nevertheless makes himself an integral part of the team by being determined and reliable. Eduardo, along with Garrett, resembles original Ghostbuster Peter Venkman in that, like Venkman, Eduardo is sarcastic, has a penchant for pursuing attractive women, and is generally unscientific and constantly spouts pop culture references. He also reads "J.N. Kline" young-adult horror novels. Eduardo has a long-running subplot dealing with a love–hate relationship between him and Kylie, although it is very much revealed "In Your Dreams" that he has intimate feelings and dreams about her. These feelings are further enforced in that he is usually the one to rescue Kylie from dangerous situations, and vice versa, in several episodes. He once said to Kylie herself that nothing was going to happen to her "while [he's] around". In fact, in the episode "Darkness at Noon" he outright admitted to Kylie, who was possessed by a ghost at the time, that he felt an attraction of sorts when he saw her for the first time and even showed the intention of kissing her when Kylie asked him to. In "The Unseen" he takes the rap for Kylie's mistake, not wanting "the worst day of her life to get any worse". In "Rage", Eduardo reveals to have an older brother, Carlos "Carl" Rivera, an NYPD officer who is angry with Eduardo for not being a police officer like the rest of their family, and thinks the Ghostbuster are a scam, which is why Eduardo kept his job a secret. In the same episode it is also implied that his father is dead (or at least retired) as he and Carlos refer to him in the past tense during a heated argument. In "Fear Itself", it is revealed that Eduardo has a fear of death (specifically his own). He has a vicious rivalry with Slimer, but has ended up working with the ghost, and volunteered to save him in "Slimer's Sacrifice". He also has an on the surface rivalry with Garrett with the two often mocking each other and attempting to one up the other. In spite of this as the series goes on the two seem to have the closest thing to a friendship even though Garrett's enthusiastic personality completely contrasts Eduardo's cynical attitude. (The official website claimed he slacks off due to fear of failure.[20]) Despite all his cynicism and slacking he demonstrates a reasonably high level of intelligence as in the episode "Eyes of a Dragon" he states how the proton aspect of light works to Kylie and later on how to defeat the ghost of that episode. Eduardo was also the one to smash a cursed orb, causing the eye-stealing ghost to disintegrate in the episode "The Unseen" and also continued the incantation that destroyed the demon of an alternate dimension in which he, Roland and Kylie were imprisoned in the episode "Casting the Runes". Eduardo has also exhibited bouts of jealousy whenever Kylie seemingly flirts with other men and in "Till Death Do Us Start" he showed signs of sheepish nervousness when asked if he and Kylie were together.

Kylie Griffin

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Kylie Griffin (voiced by Tara Charendoff) was first introduced as one of the next generation of Ghostbusters in Extreme Ghostbusters. She is appointed by the group to carry the ghost trap on her back. She becomes involved with the Ghostbusters after enrolling in Egon Spengler's course at City College of New York. Kylie shares certain traits with Egon, such as knowledge of the supernatural. Both are eccentric and socially awkward and they both had encounters with supernatural beings from their childhood (Egon met the Boogeyman and Kylie's friend was taken by the Grundel). As part of Extreme Ghostbusters, Kylie is featured in the video games Extreme Ghostbusters for the Game Boy Color, Extreme Ghostbusters: Code Ecto-1 for Game Boy Advance and Extreme Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Invasion for the PlayStation. She was also the basis of several action figures from Trendmasters. Kylie is widely regarded as the fan favorite of Extreme Ghostbusters.[21][22]

Kylie reappears as a supporting character in IDW Publishing's Ghostbusters comic. She first appears in issue 5 in 2012 as the manager of Ray Stantz's occult book shop. In November 2012, it was announced that Kylie would be made an official Ghostbuster in issues beginning in February 2013.[23][24]

Roland Jackson

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Roland Jackson (voiced by Alfonso Ribeiro) was first introduced as one of the next generation of Ghostbusters in Extreme Ghostbusters. He is the mechanic of the group. Roland is the most level-headed and mechanically gifted of the new Ghostbusters, helping Egon repair and improve the Proton Packs and Ecto-1; his reason for joining Egon's class was seeing the Ecto-1 at an auto show. Roland approaches the paranormal from a practical point-of-view, and in the episode "Fear Itself" reveals that his only fear is the dangerous breakdown of his equipment. In "The Infernal Machine", he became disgruntled that his technological efforts were being taken for granted. Roland's strongest wish is to get into the Ivy League and become a doctor. He's a very staid, square personality, slow to anger, though he came close to striking one of the racists in "The True Face of the Monster"; it is implied he has had to deal with racist attitudes before. Roland has twice come under the mental control of villains, the Siren in "Sonic Youth" and Luko in "The Infernal Machine". "Grease" reveals Roland is the oldest in a lower-middle-class family and volunteers for the Little League and helps the homeless; in "Grundelesque" we meet his very mischievous younger brother whom Roland (at first) refuses to believe is a troublemaker. Like Winston, Roland is the only African American member of the team, yet he has a talent with machines like Ray.

Garrett Miller

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Garrett Miller (voiced by Jason Marsden) was first introduced as one of the next generation of Ghostbusters in Extreme Ghostbusters. Garrett is a lifelong wheelchair user, has a very 'jock'-like attitude and is a huge fan of extreme sports and attempting mad stunts. In the episode "Grease", it is revealed that Garrett was born with the inability to walk and studying to be a physical therapist, and throughout the series he only refers to his condition to mock it (and in "Be Careful What You Wish For", uses it as an excuse to dump some work on Eduardo). He is the most headstrong and enthusiastic of the new Ghostbusters, often claiming that he is in it only for the adrenaline rush; he was left bitterly disappointed in "Ghost Apocalyptic Future" to learn he was the only Ghostbuster not remembered in the future dystopia. While he studies to be a physical therapist to help other disabled people, his secret dream is to be an NBA star. In "Fear Itself", it is revealed that Garrett is claustrophobic (though he never admits it to anyone), and has a deep disdain towards the FBI ever since the incident where two agents arrested them under the belief they were causing the sabotages and released a gremlin they recently captured while they were on a plane. He has a rivalry with Eduardo, the two of them constantly bantering and trying to one-up each other. In "Deadliners", we find out Garrett wrote a (bad) horror story starring himself (the other Ghostbusters died on the first page, to their annoyance). Like Ray, Garrett is the most enthusiastic. Garrett is the only Ghostbuster in the history of the franchise never to be made as a toy (all other Ghostbusters received at least two toys, including Louis and Janine), presumably due to the implausibility of having the wheelchair as a separate assembling piece. Though a prototype figure was made. Bob Higgins has said that during a focus group of young children, the creators found Garrett was the most popular character: "when we asked... which of these characters would you want to be and they all wanted to be Garrett, they all wanted to be the guy that does the crazy things. They all wanted to be the guy that was the leader and they all kind of saw him as the leader of this group [even though he wasn't]".[25]

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)

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Human characters

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Abby Yates

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Dr. Abigail L. "Abby" Yates is portrayed by Melissa McCarthy in the 2016 film, and is the Ghostbusters' de facto leader.

In the novelization, she transferred to Erin's high school after moving from Indiana in her senior year. The two became fast friends due to their fascinations with the paranormal, and spent their college years at the University of Michigan researching ghosts. They collaborated on a book about their findings, but Erin backed out of a planned interview after her graduate advisor at Princeton panned the project. Undaunted, she moved to New York City to continue her research. Like Erin, her expertise is Particle Physics, but Abby fancies herself as a fearless parapsychologist, having an additional degree in the field.

In the film, she rereleases her book without Erin's consent, threatening her bid for tenure. When Erin demands to have the book taken down, Abby complies in exchange for her participation at a ghost investigation with Holtzmann at the Aldridge Mansion Museum. She shares traits with Ray Stantz - both have been possessed and have the same enthusiasm and talent for invention. Like the Ghostbusters from another narrative universe (established by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ivan Reitman in the 1984 film), Abby likes Chinese food, especially wontons, and is a regular patron of Zhu's Authentic Hong Kong Food. However, she is frustrated with their delivery man, Benny (Karan Soni), who fails to deliver her orders correctly, suspecting him of stealing the food she paid for. Abby hires Kevin Beckman to carry heavy equipment, but having an attraction to "huskier men" she does not find him attractive.

Erin Gilbert

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Dr. Erin Gilbert, Abby Yates' second-in-command, is played by Kristen Wiig in the 2016 film. She is introduced as an assistant particle physics professor at Columbia University, but her bid for tenure fails after her previous research into the paranormal with Abby comes to light. Having been repeatedly stalked by a ghost of a deceased neighbor when she was 8 years old, Erin later loses her belief in the supernatural after years of psychiatric therapy paid by her family but regains it after encountering Gertrude Aldridge's ghost.

She shares traits with Peter Venkman as both kept getting slimed and are also team leaders with a sense of humor and attraction to the opposite gender. Erin is attracted to Kevin Beckman, and she had tried to seduce him; her motive of hiring him as a receptionist is for her to look at.

In the novelization, she is depicted as having grown up near Battle Creek, Michigan; she met Abby in her senior year of high school and spent much of her time at the University of Michigan researching ghosts with Abby. She did postgraduate work at Princeton University and got her doctorate at MIT. In the extended version of the film, revealed that Erin was dating fellow Columbia University professor Phil Hudson (Justin Kirk), but their relationship ended after Erin got fired. Also, like Egon Spengler, Erin is prone to violent reactions when pushed too far temperamentally and has a powerful right cross that would break one's nose.

Jillian Holtzmann

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Dr. Jillian "Holtz" Holtzmann is portrayed by Kate McKinnon in the 2016 film. An engineering physicist by training who just missed being admitted to CERN, she is introduced as Abby's research partner on the paranormal (taking over Erin Gilbert's position) and becomes the team's equipment designer, constructing their proton packs as well as a range of auxiliary weapons. Though she is implied to be a lesbian (as McKinnon is in real life), Holtzmann seems to be attracted to Kevin Beckman's charisma, despite his stupidity. She is hinted to have a romantic interest in Erin, as seen in an alternate ending scene where she claims that they are dating, as well as several other instances of flirting throughout the film. Her mentor is Dr. Rebecca Gorin (Sigourney Weaver), revealed later in IDW Comics's series Ghostbusters 101 that she is a parallel universe counterpart of Dana Barrett.

In the novelization, it is revealed that several of her peers in school started calling her by her last name because "Jillian" sounded too feminine, and by the time of the film she almost never answers to her first name. She shares traits with Egon Spengler; both are highly intelligent, tend to do strange things, and eat junk food.

Director Paul Feig confirmed in an interview with The Daily Beast that Holtzmann was supposed to be a lesbian, or somewhere on the LGBT+ spectrum, but the studio refused to allow that detail into the movie and instead left the audience to more personally interpret her character.[26] She was also observed by some viewers to depict autistic traits, or more specifically, someone with Asperger syndrome.[27]

Patty Tolan

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Patricia "Patty" Tolan is portrayed by Leslie Jones in the 2016 film. She works for the New York MTA as a subway booth attendant, and is the only member of Abby's team who does not have an advanced degree, but is working on her master's in history. She is however, a big fan of non-fiction and is a municipal historian with intense knowledge of New York's history. After contacting them to report a ghost sighting in one of the tunnels, she joins the team and borrows a hearse from her uncle Bill Jenkins's funeral home that is eventually converted into Ecto-1, a vehicle for personnel and equipment transport.

She shares traits with Winston Zeddemore (revealed later in IDW Comics's series Ghostbusters 101 that her uncle is a parallel universe counterpart of him) as both believe in the supernatural without being scientists, and are African American.

Kevin Beckman

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Kevin Beckman is the Ghostbusters' receptionist in the 2016 film, played by Chris Hemsworth. He serves as the male counterpart to Janine Melnitz from the first two films, a "fellow in distress" (a damsel in distress role thus in Dana Barrett's position), and an embodiment of the jock stereotype. In the film, the team is skeptical about hiring him since he is silly and a bit of a dullard. However, he gets the job because no one else applied, and he is seen as a nice, calm guy. Additionally, the girls desperately need his help on carrying heavy equipment due to him being a muscleman. Erin Gilbert nurses a crush on him, and even Jillian Holtzmann is apparently also attracted to him, with the former has tried to seduce him. Kevin sometimes provides jokes throughout the film. Later, he is inspired to be a fifth Ghostbuster. Kevin becomes possessed by the spirit of Rowan North, who uses him as a host and goes to the Mercado Hotel to activate the device to unleash the ghost army in New York City. The Ghostbusters arrive in the building to save him and Rowan discards him but the girls catch him when Kevin falls down to the floor. After repelling Rowan's invasion, Kevin is back in his job as the girls see him as a valuable worker in their business.

Rowan North

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Dr. Rowan North appears in the 2016 film as the main antagonist, portrayed by Neil Casey. In the film, he is essentially a combination of Gozer the Gozerian and Ivo Shandor. Numerous diplomas on his wall indicate that he is a scientist, having earned a bachelor's degree and a Doctorate in Physics from Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, making him a foil personality to Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert, and Jillian Holtzmann. However, due to a psychiatric disorder, Rowan has been unable to find steady work in his field and works in the Mercado Hotel as a maintenance man. He is also a skilled comics artist, and makes a lot of horrific doodles of his plans on pages of a copy of Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates's book "Ghosts from Our Past".

Rowan is miserable with his life and blames everyone for him being scorned and mocked. An occultist with a god complex, Rowan plans revenge by unleashing a ghost army in New York City. He places ionizers (similar to the Ghostbusters' proton packs) he built all over Manhattan connected to the main machine in the Mercado Hotel, as a former site of paranormal history of violence that sat on the intersection of ley lines running through Manhattan. He uses the ionizers to charge the ley lines, intending to activate a vortex between the mortal and ghostly dimensions. Rowan also used Gilbert and Yates's book as foundation for his plans, developing his technology based on their research. When the Ghostbusters discovered his plans, he electrocuted himself with his main machine. However, while reading Rowan's copy of her book, Gilbert discovers that Rowan planned to commit suicide all along so he could become a godlike ghost (Class 7 manifestation) powered by his machine's ionized psi energy. After briefly possessing Abby, Rowan then possessed Kevin Beckman to get to the Mercado and activate the portal machine, unleashing ghosts in New York. When the Ghostbusters arrived, Rowan discarded Kevin, took on a perverted, kaiju-like form of the caricature ghost from the Ghostbusters logo, and went on a rampage. The women destroyed the vortex by firing their particle throwers at Ecto-1's reactor, detonating a nuclear explosion inside it. Rowan was pulled into the Ghost World, but caught Abby, trying to kill her. Erin entered the dimension and saved her, leaving Rowan trapped in the Ghost World.

Supernatural entities

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Gertrude Aldridge

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Gertrude Aldridge, portrayed by Bess Rous, was the first ghost seen by Erin, Abby and Holtzmann in the 2016 film, in a similar role to the Library Ghost in the 1984 film. Gertrude Aldridge was the psychotic eldest daughter of a wealthy New York City aristocrat who murdered her family's servants. To avoid scandals, rather than turn her to the police or have her committed, the Aldridges lock her away for life in their manor's basement, feeding her through a small slot on the door. This secret is eventually discovered by another family, the Mulgraves, after they found her father's journal and remains, and they later discovered that the basement is haunted after hearing Gertrude's wailing as a poltergeist (Class 2 or 3 entity, noncorporeal and telekinetic). The manor becomes the city's haunting attraction, and the house has turned into a museum. However, after its supernatural activity had diminished at some point, the Mulgraves and their employees then fake them to keep the manor open.

In the present day, she haunts the Aldridge Mansion Museum when tour guide Garrett (Zach Woods) was about to head home. As soon as Garrett heard her banging on the basement door, he makes numerous attempts to escape before clinging on a collapsed stair for dear life. Gertrude later reveals herself from the green ectoplasm on the floor, with Garrett shrieking. Despite these attacks, Garrett manages to escape and informs his boss Ed Mulgrave Jr., who is well-aware of the manor's supernatural history, who contacts Erin for help. While Abby and the group were inspecting the mansion, she manifests from the basement door as a Class 4 Semi-Anchored Entity, electrified by Rowan North's ionizer, and moving towards the group. When Erin tries to communicate with her, Gertrude suddenly transmogrifies and vomits ectoplasm on Erin, then escapes out of a wall and into the streets.

During Rowan's invasion of New York City, the team, calling themselves "Ghostbusters" encounter her again, alongside the Electrocuted Ghost found in the subway and Mayhem. She participates in the battle by picking Erin up off the ground and throwing her to a nearby pilgrim ghost. She later attempts to attack Erin again with "Sparky", but they end up getting knocked back by a proton shotgun blast.

Electrocuted Ghost

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The Electrocuted Ghost (not to be confused with the Scoleri brothers of the 1989 film, though, like them, he is also a Class 4 Semi-Anchored Noncorporeal Elemental Entity), also known as "Sparky", is the second ghost Erin, Abby and Holtzmann spotted at Seward Street Subway Station in Auburn, New York. It is heavily implied that he is the ghost of William Kemmler, the first inmate executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison in 1890, based on his resemblance to him. He is portrayed by Dave Allen. Shortly after Rowan North (Neil Casey) gave his train ticket to Patty Tolan, he disappeared onto the tracks, causing Patty to go tell him to get out. Instead of finding him, she finds a device on the tracks. The device then opens, revealing the Electrocuted Ghost, causing Patty to flee. Later, the team arrive with Patty and after inspecting the tracks for a bit, Sparky appears. The team decides to test their new proton lasers on him, but the first attempt did not have enough power to even reach the ghost. After being caught in the second attempt, a train later hits Sparky, nearly killing the group as well. Patty then states he will be the third scariest thing on the train.

The Ghostbusters encounter "Sparky" again, alongside Gertrude Aldridge and Mayhem during the Battle for New York. He joins Gertrude Aldridge in trying to attack Erin, but they get knocked back by a proton shotgun blast, which caused him to disintegrate.

Mayhem

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Mayhem is a Class 5 supernatural entity that haunts Stonebrook Theatre. Its origins are unknown but likely it was not human based on its bestial appearance akin to a bat, suggesting it an animal spirit claiming the theater as its territory, and it manifested after Rowan North planted his ionizer there. The entity plays the similar role to Slimer in the 1984 film as being the first spirit the Ghostbusters have caught during their public debut, even having the same color. Mayhem later escapes, during which it murders paranormal debunker, Doctor Martin Heiss (portrayed by Bill Murray), by throwing him through a window, similar to Slimer's attack to Heiss' facsimile Peter Venkman in the 1984 film though he survived.

The Ghostbusters encounter Mayhem again, alongside Gertrude Aldridge and "Sparky" during the Battle for New York.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

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Human characters

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Phoebe Spengler

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Phoebe is portrayed by Mckenna Grace in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Phoebe is the youngest grandchild of founding Ghostbusters member, Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis). She is intelligent, resourceful, inquisitive, and in many ways takes after her grandfather and an aspiring scientist. She initially is a skeptic on the paranormal-like ghosts until the encounter with her ghostly grandfather. Trying to fit in with normal social cues, Phoebe attempts to connect with people, leading her to use a series of bad jokes. She also tells jokes to cope with her anxiety or to distract others. Like Egon, Phoebe is also a puzzle and chess hobbyist. In addition, she is skilled in locksport, in which her mother often calls Phoebe for lockpicking when having no keys to open doors to her own properties. She also shares Egon's fondness for junk foods like popcorn and, like him, she is prone to violent reactions when pushed too far temperamentally, as demonstrated by her being tempted to fire a proton stream at Sheriff Sherman Domingo and his deputies. As stated by her mother Callie, Phoebe is having difficulty relating to her father due to them having nothing in common. Due to the family's financial troubles and eviction, Phoebe travels with her mother and older brother Trevor to Summerville, Oklahoma to begin anew at the farmhouse left to them by the now deceased Egon. It is here that she discovers the farmhouse is being haunted and a hidden ghost trap belonged to her grandfather, and her family's connection to the original Ghostbusters team's legacy. Rather than being scared, Phoebe is curious of the house's poltergeist after knowing that the ghost is benign, leading her to discover that the entity is the grandfather she never acquainted. Fascinated with the Ghostbusters and their exploits and technology, she then restores their equipment after Egon leads her to his storm cellar laboratory, during which she alters one of his jumpsuits for her to wear. In time, Phoebe becomes confident of herself and brave when facing dangers; this development later surprises her mother when Phoebe wards off Vinz Clortho. Being lonely, Phoebe befriends a boy who goes by the name Podcast, another outcast who believes in conspiracy theories, and bonds with her grandfather, despite his being a ghost. She eventually forms her own team and using Egon's lab as the new Ghostbusters' headquarters, and comes face-to-face with Gozer, helping to trap the malevolent being. After Gozer is defeated once more, Phoebe receives a commendation from Peter Venkman, thus acknowledges her as a Ghostbuster, and she grieves over her grandfather after seeing his departure to the afterlife.

Trevor Spengler

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Trevor is portrayed by Finn Wolfhard in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Trevor is the eldest grandchild of Egon Spengler. A motorhead, he loves cars and is his family's mechanic, responsible for the maintenance of his mother's Subaru Outback. He finds and eventually repairs the Ghostbusters' Cadillac, ECTO-1 (with a little of ghost Egon's help in mending circuits). Unlike his sister, Trevor bears no resemblance to their maternal grandfather, embodies average teenage boy stereotypes of obsessing over driving and girls. The only thing that Trevor and Egon apparently had in common is that they are both skilled automotive mechanics. At the same time, he adjusts to their new life in Summerville, Oklahoma, gets himself a job as a carhop at the drive-in diner, Spinners Roller Hop, to help his mother financially and to be close to the waitress Lucky Domingo. Trevor is a skeptic, and as supernatural phenomena begins to occur in Summerville, he becomes a reluctant third member of his sister's Ghostbusters team after Podcast, serving as Ecto-1's driver. It is Trevor who realizes that the mass-trap needs more power to work, and uses his proton pack to boost the capacitors on the farm.

Podcast

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Podcast is portrayed by Logan Kim in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Podcast is Phoebe's classmate in Summerville Middle School; he befriends Phoebe after seeing that, like him, she also needs a friend. He is a paranormal believer and conspiracy theorist who makes a series of vlogs detailing strange events and occasional restaurant reviews in Summerville, in which the forty-sixth episode is the most popular and attracts Ray Stantz as his only subscriber. Though not as scientifically minded as Phoebe he has high intellect and investigative mind, thereby an amateur sleuth. As a conspiracy theorist, Podcast suspects that Egon Spengler was murdered before anybody else does. He keeps Egon's Aztec Death Whistle as a souvenir and his means against evil spirits (even though it is ineffective against Muncher). After learning Phoebe's relation with one of the original Ghostbusters, he becomes a second member of Phoebe's own Ghostbusters team.

Lucky Domingo

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Lucky Domingo is portrayed by Celeste O'Connor in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Lucky is a classmate at Summerville High School who befriends Trevor soon after he moves to town. She also works at Spinners Roller Hop as a carhop and is the daughter of the town sheriff.[28] Her family has been living in Summerville since her great-grandparents following the town's establishment. Hating her tedious town life and seeking adventure, Lucky becomes the fourth member of Phoebe Spengler's Ghostbusters team after Trevor, providing her extensive knowledge on Summerville to Phoebe.

Callie Spengler

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Callie is portrayed by Carrie Coon in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. She is Egon Spengler's daughter, divorced and unemployed. She struggles to make ends meet and is eventually evicted from their apartment in Chicago due to late rent payments. Having never reconciled with Egon, she is unaware of his whereabouts or activities until told of his death. Like her father, Callie enjoys Chinese food and shares his fondness for egg rolls. When she arrives at the farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma she meets Janine Melnitz who clarifies her late father's situation. She subsequently meets and dates Phoebe's summer schoolteacher Gary Grooberson, but is possessed by the demon Zuul, Gatekeeper of Gozer, and freed when Phoebe and Podcast open a ghost trap underneath her terror dog incarnation. She then assists the neophyte Ghostbusters in their defense of the farm and the mass-trap of Gozer. When Egon appeared as a ghost, she finally reconciles and makes peace with him before he departs for the afterlife.

Gary Grooberson

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Gary Grooberson is portrayed by Paul Rudd in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He is Phoebe and Podcast's science teacher and a seismologist, investigating mysterious local earthquakes. Despite being a scientist, Phoebe initially stereotyped Grooberson as a middle school football coach based on his unkempt appearance and seemingly laid-back attitude. Besides having expertise on seismology, Grooberson also has knowledge in world history and culture, indicated by his familiarity with cuneiform writings and Aztec objects. He is also a fan of the Ghostbusters and believer of the paranormal, and loves popular culture such as cinemas and comic books. Needing income while staying in Summerville, he takes the job as a summer schoolteacher. He is apathetic about his job, and because most of his students are delinquents and not interested in learning, he just lets them watch old violent movies in his classroom and gets paid while focusing on his seismic investigations - except Phoebe and Podcast, whom he mentors in science and the paranormal. When Phoebe brings Gary a Ghost Trap she found in the Spengler farmhouse, he assumes it is a replica. After discovering the device is real and Phoebe's relation to Egon Spengler, Gary is supportive of Phoebe following her grandfather's footsteps as a Ghostbuster. After Gary and Callie begin dating, Phoebe initially feels uncomfortable, but she later accepts their relationship. Gary plays a news clip on YouTube, showing them footage of the Ghostbusters during what came to be known as the Manhattan Crossrip of 1984.

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Gary's childhood dream of becoming a Ghostbuster is fulfilled after he moved to New York City with the Spenglers, collaborating with them, his idols, Podcast, and Lucky Domingo. He has become a father figure to Callie's children and is especially very protective of Phoebe. In addition of using the Ghostbusters' equipment, Gary also has the capability of repairing them without needing Phoebe or the original Ghostbusters' help.

Sherman Domingo

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Sherman Domingo is Summerville's sheriff and Lucky's father, and is portrayed by Bokeem Woodbine in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He is skeptical of the neophyte Ghostbusters' operations in Summerville. He and Deputy Medjuck (portrayed by Dan Aykroyd's daughter Stella) pursued and arrested the kids after they stopped the rampaging Muncher. His officers are fascinated with Egon Spengler's equipment after learning that the "dirt farmer" was an inventor. Phoebe dislikes the sheriff's department after they refer to her grandfather as a lunatic. Later, during an interdimensional crossrip event caused by the possessed Grooberson disabling the proton cannons, Domingo's department flee, allowing the neophyte Ghostbusters to retrieve their equipment from the evidence storage locker.

Supernatural entities

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Muncher

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Muncher, voiced by Josh Gad and creature designed by Brynn Metheney, is a new ghost described by the creators as a new generation of Slimer. In life, he was a miner working for Shandor Mining Company who couldn't get enough of the ore he was mining for. After his death, his ghost was conjured into the mortal world by a seance gone awry in the 1940s, in a selenium processing plant owned by his employer. Since then, he is trapped in the factory manager's office where the conjuring occurred.[29] Like Slimer, Muncher is also a Class 5 manifestation and gluttonous spirit, and he is extremotrophic, specifically eats metals and ores, similarly to bacterium Halomonas titanicae. In addition, because of the munching noise he makes while chewing, he is named Muncher by Phoebe and Podcast, after they found him in the plant, where he is eating pipes. After Podcast provoked Muncher with his ineffective death whistle, Phoebe is forced to fight the ghost with her grandfather's proton pack to defend themselves. Following a failed attempt to capture him in the plant, Muncher flees into Summerville and heads to Shandor's mines, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake; the kids have no choice but to stop him, as they are the only people around with the Ghostbusters' means. Phoebe, Podcast and Trevor successfully capture Muncher, but release him later on when they return to Summerville Sheriff Department to retrieve the equipment Lucky's father seized from them. Muncher eats through the bars of the cell housing the Ghostbusters equipment and flees.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

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Human characters

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Lars Pinfield

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Dr. Lars Pinfield is portrayed by James Acaster in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. In the film, Lars is an eccentric new recruit and inventor from the United Kingdom who is responsible for creating new technology for the Ghostbusters, include upgrading Egon Spengler's decades-old equipment in his absence.[30] His left hand is frostbitten after touching the brass object Garraka is stored in; his arm is seen in a cast and sling afterwards.

Nadeem Razmaadi

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Nadeem Razmaadi is portrayed by Kumail Nanjiani in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. He is a descendant of the Firemasters and inherited their pyrokinetic powers but has no knowledge of them, because he had no interest in his family's history despite his grandmother trying to tell him about his lineage. After getting control over his abilities, and with the help of Melody, Nadeem manages to hold Garraka off for long enough while the original Ghostbusters use the containment field to entrap it.

Hubert Wartzki

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Dr. Hubert Wartzki is portrayed by Patton Oswalt in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. His expertises are anthropology and library and information science, and he works at the New York Public Library. Like the Ghostbusters, Wartzki is a paranormal believer and he provides background detail about Garraka to them.

Supernatural entities

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Garraka

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Garraka is an evil Class 7 apocalyptic horned deity trapped inside an ancient orb that functions similarly to witch bottles, witch balls and the Ghostbusters' trapping technology and once belonged to the Firemasters, a benevolent coven who practiced apotropaic magic, capturing evil spirits much like the Ghostbusters. Garraka is so powerful that even while trapped he can mind control ghosts and Gozer's Mini-Pufts. Garraka can create sub-zero temperatures and uses "Kusharit Umoti" - "the power to kill by fear itself". His weaknesses are copper alloys that used for apotropaic practices like brass, combined with fire. He has been weakened by the absence of his horns that augment his powers and properties. Garraka sought to free himself from his imprisonment with the help of the spirit Melody, offering to help her ascend to the afterlife in return. After being freed, he attempted to cast the Ghostbusters' dimension in a deadly winter curse called the Death Chill, but was defeated by the Ghostbusters with the help of Melody, who turned on him after learning that he never planned to help her at all.[31]

The Hell's Kitchen Sewer Dragon

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The Hell's Kitchen Sewer Dragon is a Class 5 entity that was rampaging above New York City and being pursued by the Spengler family-assembled Ghostbusters. He is the first ghost to appeared in the film.

Pukey

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Pukey is a Class 5 entity that rolls around and pukes ectoplasm, it appears like a baby based on its appearance and behaviors. He is also shown to walk. In the Hasbro toy line, Fright Features, he is depicted as throwing up ectoplasm, while donning a meaner look.

The Possessor

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The Possessor is a Class 2 poltergeist that possesses objects. In Frozen Empire, he steals the wax tube containing the chant to free Garraka with a trash bag, He later possess a lion in an attempt to guard said tube, then being blown into bits by Phoebe who uses the Ecto-C. During the start of the climax, he goes to the firehouse in a tricycle, before possessing various objects in order to get to the Ecto-1, in which he tries to kill the Ghostbusters by driving backwards into their path. He transfers upstairs, where he possesses a pizza, flops around, and then is eaten by Slimer. In the Hasbro toy line, Fright Features, he is depicted as a trash bag with legs and a scary face.

Melody

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Melody is portrayed by Emily Alyn Lind in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. She is a Class 4 ghost of a 16-year-old girl who was killed in a tenement fire and is unable to pass on, the matchbox that contains the match that started the fire being in her possession, the match unable to be truly used. Since then, she haunts Central Park and frightens people with her presence in spite of her longing for a friend, though in time they see her and other ghosts as pests due to the supernatural has become a common occurrence in New York City for decades caused by Ivo Shandor and his Cult of Gozer. She plays chess with Phoebe, beating her after years of playing following her death, and they become friends. She made a deal with the god Garraka to help him with his plans in exchange for access to the afterlife, but she is also genuinely fond of Phoebe and shows remorse for betraying her trust. Melody later turned against him after seeing that Garraka never intended to help her. After she helped the Ghostbusters defeat Garraka using her matchbox, she is able to finally ascend to the afterlife.

Notes

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References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
The Ghostbusters characters are the fictional individuals, including human investigators, support staff, ghosts, and supernatural entities, that populate the media franchise across its films, animated series, comics, video games, and related works. The franchise originated in 1984 with the release of the supernatural comedy film , directed by and written by and , which introduced the core team of parapsychologists (played by ), (), and (), who lose their university funding and establish a ghost-capturing business in , later recruiting () as their fourth member. Supporting human characters from the original film and its 1989 sequel include receptionist (), neighbor Louis Tully (), and Dana Barrett (), alongside iconic ghosts and antagonists such as the green specter , the destructive deity Gozer (voiced by ), and the giant . The franchise expanded significantly in the late 1980s with the animated series (1986–1991) and its sequel (1997), which featured voice-acted versions of the original team and introduced additional supernatural foes like the Grundel and , while comics from publishers including IDW and Dark Horse have continued the lore with crossovers and new threats through the 2020s. A 2016 reboot film, also titled and directed by , presented an all-female team comprising Erin Gilbert (Kristen ), Abby Yates (Melissa ), Jillian Holtzmann (Kate ), and Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), battling a new wave of apparitions including the villain Rowan (Neil Casey). Recent entries, including (2021) directed by and (2024) directed by , shift focus to Egon Spengler's descendants—Phoebe (), Trevor (), and their mother Callie ()—who join forces with returning originals and new allies like teacher Gary Grooberson () to combat entities such as the ancient spirit Garraka. This list organizes characters by their primary appearances in the franchise's media, highlighting protagonists who wield proton packs and ecto-containment technology, as well as memorable villains and recurring spirits that define the series' blend of humor, horror, and special effects-driven action.

Overview

Core Ghostbusters team

The core team comprises the four primary protagonists who establish and run the paranormal investigation and elimination business in , appearing consistently across the franchise's live-action films and animated series as the central operational unit. Originally three researchers from —Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler—they lose their academic positions and launch the venture with Stantz's financial backing from mortgaging his family home, later expanding to include Winston Zeddemore as a practical field operative. Their collective expertise in science, engineering, and the enables them to capture and contain entities using innovative technology, while their interpersonal dynamics—marked by Venkman's cynicism balancing Stantz's enthusiasm and Spengler's logic—drive the group's problem-solving approach in both high-stakes busts and business challenges. Peter Venkman serves as the team's de facto leader and public face, a parapsychologist with a sarcastic, opportunistic personality who prioritizes charisma and deal-making over rigorous science, often using his wit to navigate media and client interactions. Portrayed by in the live-action films, Venkman is depicted as the group's smooth-talking skeptic who evolves into a committed buster despite his initial focus on personal gain. In the animated series , he is voiced by in the first two seasons and by thereafter, retaining the dry humor and leadership role across episodes. Ray Stantz is the enthusiastic engineer and occult specialist, providing the team's technical innovation and financial foundation as the primary backer of their startup equipment and headquarters. Portrayed by —who co-wrote the original film—Stantz embodies boundless passion for the , contributing designs like the and ecto-containment system, and serving as the emotional core that motivates the group during crises. Voiced by in The Real Ghostbusters, his optimistic demeanor and deep knowledge of ghostly lore remain consistent in the animated adaptation. Egon Spengler functions as the team's stoic inventor and lead scientist, a brilliant but socially detached parapsychologist focused on and gadgetry development, often delivering analysis amid chaos. Portrayed by in the films—where he also contributed to the screenplay—Spengler is the intellectual anchor, devising containment protocols and risk assessments that underpin their operations. In , provides his voice, capturing the monotone precision and occasional absent-mindedness in animated adventures. Winston Zeddemore joins as the fourth member midway through the original team's formation, bringing practical skills as a mechanic, driver, and everyman perspective to balance the academics' eccentricities, often voicing relatable concerns about their escalating encounters. Portrayed by in the live-action films, Zeddemore handles logistics and provides grounded reliability, becoming a full partner in subsequent stories. In , he is initially voiced by before takes over, maintaining his straightforward, no-nonsense role in the series.

Recurring supporting humans

Janine Melnitz serves as the receptionist and office manager for the Ghostbusters, characterized by her tough, no-nonsense exterior and Brooklyn accent, often providing administrative support while displaying romantic interest in . She is portrayed by in the original 1984 and 1989 films. In the animated series , she is voiced by for the first two seasons and by for the remainder. Louis Tully is depicted as a nerdy, socially awkward accountant who becomes an ally to the Ghostbusters after his possession in the first film, offering comic relief through his enthusiasm and frugality. Portrayed by in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), he is hired in the latter as the team's accountant and tax attorney, occasionally donning a proton pack to assist in busting. In The Real Ghostbusters, voiced by starting in season 5, Louis evolves into a more integrated team member, handling finances and joining operations as a junior partner of sorts. Both characters contribute to administrative support and humor across the original films and , grounding the Ghostbusters' operations amid chaos; Janine primarily handles office duties, while Louis occasionally assists in fieldwork.

Iconic recurring entities

is a green, gluttonous ghost composed of pure ectoplasm, classified as a Class 5 Full-Roaming Vapor, who serves as the first major entity captured by the in their initial bust at the Sedgewick Hotel. In the The Real Ghostbusters (1986–1991), transitions from an antagonistic force to a mischievous ally and official mascot of the team, often assisting in ghost-hunting adventures while indulging his insatiable appetite for food. Voiced by throughout the series, 's character provided and became a staple of the franchise's lighter tone in animation. The is an enormous, destructive manifested by the Sumerian Gozer in the form of a sailor-hatted from the fictional Stay Puft brand, selected subconsciously by as the entity's destructor form during the climax of the 1984 film. Towering over 100 feet tall, this seemingly innocuous yet rampaging figure embodies the film's blend of horror and humor, lumbering through and causing widespread chaos before its defeat. Both and the have endured as cultural icons of the Ghostbusters franchise, inspiring extensive merchandise such as PVC figures, apparel, and enamel pins available through official outlets. Their appearances extend to cameos in later media, including Slimer's recurring role in Ghostbusters II (1989) and animated episodes where he interacts with the team, as well as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's nods in The Real Ghostbusters and video games, solidifying their status as beloved supernatural symbols.

Animated series

The Real Ghostbusters (1986–1991)

The Real Ghostbusters animated series introduced several unique supporting human characters who interacted with the core team in rivalrous or allied capacities, expanding the narrative beyond busting operations to include scientific competition and media scrutiny. Norman Dweeb, a bumbling yet obsessive inventor, served as a recurring to the Ghostbusters, particularly targeting for capture in his misguided experiments to understand and exploit ghost physiology. In episodes like "Deja Boo," Dweeb disguises himself as an ice cream vendor to trap and probe his mind for supernatural weaknesses, highlighting themes of unethical science clashing with the team's protective role. His appearances, often in later seasons, added comedic tension without altering the core team's dynamics, portraying him as a foil who inadvertently aids ghostly threats through his incompetence. The series featured recurring media allies who amplified the Ghostbusters' public image, such as Cynthia Crawford, a UBN television reporter who interviews the team and covers spectral incidents to provide leads or public support during high-stakes busts. Voiced by , Crawford appears in episodes like "Citizen Ghost" and "When Halloween Was Forever," integrating real-world into the framework. Recurring entities in the series brought episode-specific villains that deepened the Ghostbusters' with folklore-inspired lore, emphasizing diverse ghostly motivations and containment challenges. The Grundel, a slimy, child-corrupting monster, debuted in a 1987 episode where it lures youngsters into mischief, transforming them into miniature versions of itself if not stopped in time. The Ghostbusters intervene by tracing its influence to a corrupted boy, using their equipment to sever the connection and prevent an outbreak, thus illustrating the entity's power over youthful innocence as a unique corruption mechanic distinct from standard hauntings. , the ancient "Ghost of Halloween," emerged as a seasonal in the 1986 episode "When Halloween Was Forever," awakened by mischievous goblins to enforce eternal night of tricks and treats. As a Class 7 entity rivaling Gozer in power, Samhain commands hordes of undead revelers and seeks to submerge the world in perpetual Halloween darkness; the team defeats him by exploiting his weakness to daylight-equivalent proton streams, establishing him as a holiday-tied archvillain who recurs in later media. These entities' arcs reinforced the series' episodic structure, introducing containment strategies and moral dilemmas that enriched the ecosystem without reshaping the core team's foundational roles. Slimer's role evolved significantly in the , transitioning from a antagonist to the team's mischievous pet ghost residing in the firehouse, where he provides comic relief and occasional assistance. Voiced by , Slimer often devours food supplies and causes chaos, but his loyalty shines in crises, such as aiding captures or alerting the team to breaches. From season four onward, Slimer gained expanded prominence with dedicated segments in the Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters run, where he operates ghost traps independently and receives kinder treatment from , solidifying his status as a beloved mascot who humanizes the team's high-tech ghostbusting routine. This development expanded the lore by portraying ghosts as potential allies, contrasting with the primarily adversarial spectral threats and adding domestic humor to the franchise's adventures.

Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)

Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) is an animated television series that follows a new generation of ghost hunters assembled after the original team retires, believing supernatural threats have subsided. When ghosts begin reappearing in , Dr. Egon Spengler recruits four of his college students to reform the , equipping them with updated proton packs and the iconic Ecto-1 vehicle. The series aired for one season of 40 episodes from September to December 1997, emphasizing a diverse, youthful team tackling more mature and horror-inspired supernatural encounters. The new team consists of Eduardo Rivera, a skeptical and laid-back student voiced by , who often displays sarcasm but proves reliable in crises; he harbors romantic tensions with teammate Kylie Griffin, leading to frequent flirtatious rivalries. Kylie Griffin, the team's expert and goth enthusiast voiced by , brings deep knowledge of lore, making her essential for identifying and countering spectral threats. Roland Jackson, voiced by Alfonso Ribeiro, serves as the tech-savvy mechanic, maintaining and upgrading the team's equipment with his level-headed ingenuity. Garrett Miller, a wheelchair-bound adrenaline junkie voiced by Jason Marsden, embodies an adventurous spirit, embracing extreme sports and charging into danger with unyielding enthusiasm despite his paraplegia. Egon Spengler, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, acts as the mentor, providing guidance from his paranormal research lab at while occasionally joining field operations. The series introduces unique entities that highlight the team's innovative approaches to diverse hauntings.

Live-action films

Ghostbusters (1984)

Dana Barrett is introduced as a professional cellist residing in the high-rise apartment building at 550 Central Park West in , where she becomes the Ghostbusters' first major client after experiencing bizarre disturbances, such as kitchen cabinets opening on their own and a demonic voice growling her name. Portrayed by , Dana serves as the romantic interest for , who accompanies her to investigate the activity in her home, leading to the team's discovery of ancient Sumerian carvings and a terror dog statue on the rooftop. Later in the film, she is possessed by the demon , transforming into the seductive who awaits the Keymaster to open the gateway for Gozer's arrival, culminating in her levitating above her bed and declaring herself "the ." Walter Peck, portrayed by William Atherton, acts as a primary human antagonist as the zealous inspector for the Environmental Protection Agency's third district, viewing the Ghostbusters' operations with deep suspicion and repeatedly clashing with the team over regulatory compliance. His antagonism escalates when he obtains a court order to shut down the team's rooftop containment unit at their firehouse headquarters, unaware of the supernatural risks, which results in a massive explosion that releases all captured ghosts into the city and leads to the team's arrest. Peck's bureaucratic interference peaks during a mayoral meeting, where he accuses the Ghostbusters of fraud and environmental hazards, but he is ultimately overruled in favor of the team's expertise. Lenny Clotch, the played by , appears in a minor yet pivotal bureaucratic role during the escalating ghost crisis, convening an emergency meeting at City Hall to address the containment unit shutdown's aftermath. Advised by his aide and influenced by Venkman's persuasive arguments about the impending , Lenny orders the immediate release of the imprisoned from custody and reinstates their authority, enabling them to combat the supernatural threat. The film opens with the Ghostbusters' inaugural bust of the Library Ghost, also known as the Grey Lady, a spectral librarian portrayed by Ruth Oliver who haunts the by violently shushing patrons and hurling books before revealing a grotesque, snarling form that chases the team in terror. This encounter, their first successful capture using proton packs and ghost traps, establishes the validity of in the city and sets the stage for their burgeoning business. Shortly after, experiences a haunting vision involving the Dream Ghost, a seductive female apparition played by Kymberly Herrin, who emerges from a wall in a dream sequence set at the abandoned Fort Detmerring military base, unzipping his pants in an erotic, otherworldly seduction that underscores the unpredictable and intimate nature of ghostly encounters. Central to the plot's supernatural arc is Ivo Shandor, an early 20th-century architect and deranged surgeon who founded a cult devoted to the ancient Mesopotamian deity Gozer, designing the 550 Central Park West building as a massive altar to summon the destroyer god through ritualistic murders disguised as unnecessary operations during the post-World War I era. Though long deceased by 1984, Shandor's legacy manifests in the building's paranormal hotspots, including the rooftop temple where the Ghostbusters confront the entity's minions, with Egon Spengler referencing Shandor's sinister history from Tobin's Spirit Guide to explain the escalating threat. The Terror Dogs, demonic minions of Gozer consisting of the and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster, are grotesque, horned beast-like entities that possess human hosts to facilitate their master's return, with leaping through Dana's refrigerator to claim her body and Vinz Clortho crashing through Louis Tully's window during a rooftop party to possess him. Once possessed, Dana and Louis adopt altered personas—seductive and primal, respectively—roaming the city until they reunite on the temple roof, where their union causes a massive gate to open, allowing Gozer the Gozerian to manifest as an androgynous, scantily clad deity in a sparkling gown, portrayed by Slavitza Jovan and voiced by . Gozer, an ancient Sumerian god of destruction who once ravaged civilizations like the and Shandorians, demands the choose the form of their destructor, leading to Ray's subconscious manifestation of the as a colossal, rampaging avatar that devastates . In the climactic battle atop the Shandor Building, the team crosses proton streams to overload Gozer's portal, banishing the deity and its minions back to their dimension while causing the building's temple roof to collapse, with Dana and Louis freed from possession as the possessed Terror Dog statues crumble. This victory solidifies the ' role as saviors, though it leaves the city scarred by the Man's path of sugary destruction.

Ghostbusters II (1989)

In (1989), the core Ghostbusters team reunites amid renewed supernatural threats in , five years after their previous exploits, facing bureaucratic hurdles and a malevolent ancient spirit. Oscar Barrett is Dana Barrett's infant son, born after her breakup with , who becomes a primary target for the Carpathian's possession scheme due to his vulnerability and Vigo's need for a suitable human vessel to reincarnate. Portrayed by twins William T. Deutschendorf and Henry J. Deutschendorf II, Oscar's eerie supernatural encounters, such as his unattended stroller careening uncontrollably down Riverside Drive, draw Dana back to the Ghostbusters for protection. Jack Hardemeyer serves as the scheming aide to Mayor Lenny Clotch, acting as a bureaucratic obstacle who enforces the against the and attempts to discredit their investigations into by having them arrested. Portrayed by , Hardemeyer's antagonism peaks when he tries to silence the team during a demonstration of mood-altering slime, only to be overruled by the mayor after the crisis escalates. Janosz Poha is a bumbling Hungarian art restorer at the Museum of Art and Dana's supervisor, whose fascination with the newly arrived Vigo painting leads to his possession by the tyrant's spirit, transforming him into a zealous servant intent on kidnapping Oscar for Vigo's ritual. Portrayed by , Janosz's possession manifests in his altered demeanor, adopting a sinister accent and using supernatural abilities to pursue the child, ultimately aiding Vigo's plan to harness the city's negative emotions. Vigo the Carpathian, also known as the Scourge of Carpathia or Vigo the Cruel, is a 17th-century Carpathian and sorcerer whose spirit is imprisoned within a cursed at the , feeding on the river of psychomagnotheric slime—a vast underground flow of mood slime generated by New Yorkers' collective negativity—to amplify his power and plot his resurrection. Portrayed onscreen by and voiced by , Vigo manipulates events from the painting, including psychically assaulting the and commanding the possessed Janosz, but his scheme unravels when the team counters the slime's influence with positive emotions. The Scoleri Brothers, Nunzio and Tony, are the vengeful ghosts of executed criminals who were sentenced to death by for , manifesting as oversized, electrified specters during a deposition when the accidentally trigger a disturbance. They represent the film's first major ghostbusting action, terrorizing the with their glowing, distorted forms until trapped by the team's proton streams, marking their comeback and validating their renewed operations.

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016), directed by Paul Feig, presents a rebooted continuity featuring an all-female team of paranormal investigators in New York City, distinct from prior installments. The film establishes a fresh universe where ghosts begin manifesting more frequently due to occult interference, prompting the protagonists to form a ghost-catching operation after personal encounters with the supernatural. This setup culminates in widespread chaos, including the destruction of the team's newly acquired headquarters during a massive ghost invasion orchestrated by the antagonist. The core team consists of four women with complementary skills. Abby Yates, portrayed by , is an enthusiastic and researcher who co-authors a book on ghosts with her former colleague and serves as a co-founder of the business. Her passion for the occult drives the initial investigations, though it initially costs her professional standing. Erin Gilbert, played by , is a skeptical academic who distances herself from her ghost-believing past to advance her career at but rejoins Abby after a direct ghostly encounter restores her faith in the , becoming a key field operative. Jillian Holtzmann, portrayed by , is an eccentric nuclear and inventor who specializes in developing ghost-capturing , including proton packs and containment units, providing the team's technical expertise during busts. Patty Tolan, played by Leslie Jones, is a street-smart MTA subway worker and amateur who experiences a ghostly attack firsthand, motivating her to join as the team's driver and provider of local lore on hauntings. The group hires Kevin Beckman, portrayed by , as their receptionist; he is depicted as affable but dim-witted, often misunderstanding instructions and contributing through his incompetence. The primary antagonist is Rowan North, portrayed by , a reclusive and vengeful and occultist employed as a janitor at the Mercado Hotel. Bullied throughout his life, Rowan harbors resentment toward humanity and uses his knowledge of the supernatural to install devices that amplify ghostly activity across , ultimately sacrificing himself to become a destructive spirit that possesses Kevin's body to lead a spectral apocalypse. Among the ghosts encountered, Gertrude Aldridge is the team's first bust: the vengeful apparition of a 19th-century murderess who slaughtered her family's servants and haunts the Mansion Museum, manifesting with ectoplasmic bile and demonic features before being captured. The Electrocuted Ghost, a charred specter of New York's first execution victim, terrorizes the subway system with electric shocks and screeches, attacking and confirming the rising threat. Mayhem, a winged, bat-like entity with red eyes, haunts the Stonebrook during a , flying aggressively and attempting possessions until trapped by the team using Holtzmann's . These encounters solidify the team's resolve and lead to their —a converted —being overrun and damaged in the climactic battle against Rowan's unleashed horde.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) introduces a new generation of characters connected to the original through Egon Spengler's family, set in the rural town of Summerville, , where Egon had retreated to monitor remnants of the ancient entity Gozer. The film centers on the Spengler family relocating to Egon's dilapidated farm after his death, uncovering hidden proton packs, traps, and equipment stored there to contain supernatural threats tied to Gozer's potential return. Phoebe Spengler, portrayed by Mckenna Grace, is Egon's granddaughter and a brilliant young science prodigy with a sharp, sarcastic wit, who becomes central to unraveling the family's Ghostbuster legacy while attending school in Summerville. Her curiosity drives the discovery of Egon's experiments at the farm, leading her to experiment with ghostbusting technology alongside her friends. Trevor Spengler, played by , is Phoebe's older brother, a laid-back teenager seeking independence, who takes a summer job at the local roller rink and later applies his mechanical skills to restore the iconic Ecto-1 vehicle found on the property. , whose real name is Munoz and portrayed by Logan Kim, is Phoebe's tech-savvy classmate and aspiring documentarian who records their investigations using his portable setup, providing comic relief and support as the group confronts . Lucky Domingo, played by Celeste O'Connor, serves as a foster sister figure to the Spenglers, a resourceful local teen working at the roller rink who joins the young team after witnessing ghostly phenomena, bringing athletic prowess to their efforts. Callie Spengler, portrayed by , is Egon's estranged daughter and the mother of Phoebe and , initially skeptical of the and focused on rebuilding her life after financial hardships, but gradually accepts her father's hidden history. Gary Grooberson, played by , is the enthusiastic science teacher at the local school and a longtime fan of the original , who aids the kids by recognizing the significance of the equipment at the farm and shares his knowledge of past events. Sherman Domingo, portrayed by , is the adoptive father of Lucky and the of Summerville, who provides local authority and support during the escalating supernatural disturbances linked to the farm. Among the new ghostly threats is Muncher, a small, mischievous ectoplasmic entity resembling a winged, flute-playing that devours metal, marking the young team's first successful bust using repaired proton packs.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

(2024) continues the legacy of the franchise by bringing the Spengler family back to three years after the events of Afterlife, where they relocate from to operate out of the original firehouse headquarters now owned and expanded by into a major ghostbusting enterprise. The film introduces new human allies and supernatural threats amid teen subplots involving Phoebe Spengler's isolation as a young genius grounded from ghostbusting, her budding friendship with a spectral peer, and Trevor Spengler's adventures navigating the city with the Ecto-1 alongside Lucky Domingo. These elements expand the family dynamics while integrating fresh characters into the urban ghost-hunting operations. Among the new supporting humans, Lars Pinfield, portrayed by James Acaster, serves as an eccentric inventor and parabiologist in the Ghostbusters' engineering lab, developing advanced technology funded by Winston Zeddemore and displaying an affinity for the supernatural that echoes Egon Spengler's quirky demeanor. Nadeem Razmaadi, played by , is a laid-back opportunist who enters the story by selling a mysterious ancient orb to Ray Stantz's shop, becoming an unlikely and reluctant ally as the artifact unleashes chaos, eventually embracing a heroic role with protective gear reminiscent of Louis Tully's colander helmet. Dr. Hubert Wartzki, brought to life by , is an enthusiastic research librarian and anthropologist at the who aids Ray, Phoebe, and Podcast in decoding the orb's origins, providing crucial historical and insights with infectious zeal. The central antagonist, Garraka, is an ancient, horned ice demon originating from , imprisoned centuries ago in a mystical orb by a Fire Master harnessing elemental powers; once freed in modern-day New York, this Class 7 entity seeks to engulf the world in an apocalyptic frozen curse, commanding ice manipulation, ghost control, and cryokinetic abilities that pose the franchise's most formidable threat yet. Complementing the main villain are various ghosts encountered by the team, including the Hell's Kitchen Sewer Dragon, a fiery, serpentine specter that rampages through 's underbelly, leading to a high-stakes chase sequence evoking classic franchise pursuits. Pukey, a diminutive, bipedal Class 5 ghost notorious for spewing ectoplasmic vomit as a defensive mechanism, provides comedic relief during a bust at the firehouse. The Possessor, a mischievous spirit capable of animating and inhabiting inanimate objects to cause havoc, escapes containment and wreaks disorder at Ghostbusters HQ before being recaptured. Finally, , portrayed by , is the apparition of a 16-year-old girl who perished in a tenement alongside her family; manifesting as a chess-playing prodigy in a park, she forms a poignant, relatable bond with Phoebe, offering companionship amid the teen's emotional struggles.

Video games and other media

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009), developed by and published by , is considered canonical to the franchise and is set two years after Ghostbusters II, in 1991. The game features the original Ghostbusters team reprising their roles with full voice acting: as , as , as , and as . The story centers on a sudden surge of across , originating from a heist at the Natural History Museum's exhibit on the ancient Mesopotamian Gozer, which unleashes waves of ghosts and spirits. The player assumes the role of the , a customizable new recruit hired by Egon to field-test advanced technology and assist the team in containing the outbreak; the is a . Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn serves as a key character and client, an and of the museum's Gozer exhibit who consults the Ghostbusters on the escalating supernatural threats tied to ancient Sumerian lore; she is revealed to be a descendant of leader Ivo Shandor and is voiced by . The supportive Mayor Jock Mulligan, voiced by , and his Aide coordinate with the Ghostbusters to grant them official access and resources amid the crisis, contrasting with antagonistic officials like Walter Peck from prior entries. The game introduces several original spectral entities, expanding the roster of bustable ghosts. The Spider Witch, also known as the Spider Queen, is a formidable arachnid-human hybrid ghost and former member of the Cult of Gozer, encountered as a boss in the Sedgewick Hotel where she weaves ectoplasmic webs to ensnare victims; she is voiced by . Coal Golem appears as a hulking, fiery construct formed from smoldering coal and , rampaging through industrial areas like the Ryan Memorial Library stacks as a mid-game boss, vulnerable to slime-based attacks that cool its molten core. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man returns in an upgraded, rampaging form during the finale atop the Shandor Building, enlarged and empowered by residual Gozerian energy, requiring coordinated team efforts to weaken and trap it.

Other video games

The 2016 video game Ghostbusters, developed by FireForge Games and published by , is tied to the 2016 reboot film and features the all-female team investigating paranormal activity in . Notable entities include the , a grotesque manifestation created by Rowan North, and various subway ghosts and apparitions central to the plot's escalating hauntings. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (2022), developed by and published by Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed LLC, is a multiplayer game where players can hunt or play as ghosts. It introduces original ghosts such as Pukey (a vomiting specter), (a shadowy figure), and Sleaze (a slimy entity), alongside familiar ones like , allowing for cooperative ghostbusting or evasion gameplay.

Other adaptations (comics and novels)

In the comics (2008–2019), original characters expand the Ghostbusters universe beyond the core team. Tiyah Clarke, a substitute teacher who first encounters the Ghostbusters during a bust, evolves into Winston Zeddemore's fiancée and occasional ally, providing support in paranormal investigations and even wielding specialized equipment like the . Ron Alexander serves as a primary rival, a scheming entrepreneur who steals blueprints to form the competing Ghost Smashers team, driven by jealousy and ambition to rival the original Ghostbusters' success. The "Ghostbusters International" comic arc introduces supporting figures tied to global threats, such as FBI Melanie , a skilled operative who allies with the team to track supernatural anomalies across borders, blending espionage with ghostbusting tactics. Recurring supernatural entities in these comics include , a primal god capable of reality-warping on a massive scale, who manipulates environments and possesses hosts to challenge the Ghostbusters in multiversal conflicts. Idulnas, the third minion of Gozer, appears as a demonic time-manipulating ghost that travels through mirrors, summoning collectors to trap souls and disrupt timelines. Novels like "Ghostbusters: The Return" by Sholly Fisch (2004) offer alternate scenarios, set years after with the core team facing a new ancient , Xanthador, while incorporating cameos from familiar allies like Dana Barrett and Louis Tully in reimagined roles that hint at unresolved past hauntings. IDW frequently explore a framework, stemming from the original films' defeat of Gozer, which splintered realities to incorporate crossovers with animated series versions of the Ghostbusters, allowing teams from different eras to collaborate against shared threats without exhaustive continuity conflicts. Following the conclusion of IDW's series, Dark Horse Comics began publishing new Ghostbusters stories in 2024. The limited series Ghostbusters: Back in Town (2024), set between Afterlife and Frozen Empire, follows the Spengler family returning to New York, encountering new threats like a spectral figure haunting Central Park and rekindling old rivalries with characters such as Walter Peck. Upcoming Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest (2025) introduces pirate-themed ghosts and supernatural piracy elements tied to historical New York lore.

References

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