On May 27, Netflix released the highly anticipated first volume of season four of “Stranger Things.” The first seven episodes of the season follow four main storylines, one of which revolves around Eleven and her past at Hawkins Lab. Unfortunately, in diving into the past, the show’s creators made it so that two series of comic books set in the “Stranger Things” universe are no longer canon.
SPOILERS AHEAD: If you have not finished “Stranger Things 4” or have not read the “Stranger Things” comic book series “Six” or “Into the Fire,” this is going to be heavy with spoilers, so read on at your own risk.
“Stranger Things 4” marks the return of Dr. Martin Brenner, believed to have been killed in the first season of “Stranger Things” we learn he is alive and well and holed up in an underground bunker in Nevada. Here, he is heading up Project Nina, alongside Dr. Owens, to help Eleven regain her powers, which she lost at the end of season three. Eleven must relive memories from her time at Hawkins National Laboratory as part of the project. We see moments in time throughout the season from Eleven’s stay at the lab. One scene, in particular, is reoccurring and takes place just before the massacre at Hawkins Lab. In it, Dr. Brenner is working with subject 010 on some of his lessons. At first, Brenner asks Ten to figure out what he’s drawn on a concealed piece of paper using his psychic abilities. Then, to make things harder, he asks Ten to locate another doctor in the lab and tell Dr. Brenner what she’s doing. Ten responds, “Lessons with Six,” At this moment, Netflix erased two of the “Stranger Things” comic series from canon.
In 2019 Dark Horse Comics released “Six,” a four-part prequel series that revolved around the subject Six. While the events in the series span various points throughout the 70s, the majority of the events featuring Six in Hawkins Lab take place in 1978, one year before the flashback events that appear in “Stranger Things 4.” Six, a teenager with special precognitive abilities along with two other subjects attempt to escape at the end of the series after a deadly incident featuring subject Nine. But during their escape, Six is murdered by a trigger-happy security guard who shoots her when she and two other test subjects escape Hawkins Lab.
Strangely, despite having an entire series built around Six that ends in her death, Netflix used this character not once but twice in “Stranger Things 4.” Not only is Six referenced in the scene with Dr. Brenner doing lessons with Ten, Brenner calls on Six to face off against Two in the scene where the test subjects face off against one another by using their telekinetic powers to try and push one another outside of circles drawn around them on the ground.
Unfortunately, “Six” isn’t the only series impacted by this continuity error. In 2020 Dark Horse released a follow-up series to “Six” called “Into the Fire,” which takes place several years after the events in “Six” and features subjects Three and Nine and a half, the two subjects who escape the lab at the end of “Six.” The series features numerous flashbacks to the “Six” series and references to the character Six, making the use of the character in “Stranger Things 4” an issue for this series as well.
Interestingly, when “Stranger Things” comic book writer Jody Houser began working on the comics, she was told she could write about any of the Hawkins Lab subjects except for number One. By the conclusion of season four, we understand why. One is tied to significant plot points in the series, both in the past and the present, so messing it up in the comics could be an issue. Unfortunately, Netflix and the show’s creators didn’t give Houser the same respect and used a character she had already told a story for.
