When Eleven realized how bad he was, she pulled the trauma from being bullied and abused, and the anger of being betrayed and losing the closest thing she had to friends. As a result, she proved even more powerful than One and opened a gateway to the Upside Down through him.
Did Eleven create the Upside Down? The first known human contact with the Upside Down was in 1979 during Eleven's fight with Vecna. During the match, Eleven was able to overpower Vecna, using her psychic abilities to keep him pinned to the Rainbow Room wall as his body disintegrated.
Eleven. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is the most gifted test subject at the Hawkins Lab, and most likely the most powerful character on "Stranger Things." She possesses strong telekinetic abilities, telepathy, and remote viewing capabilities, and is able to use sensory deprivation to locate nearly anyone in the world.
The first reason that Vecna was stronger than Eleven is simple. He was older and more experienced. He was the original subject in Project MKUltra, and using his DNA, Dr. Brenner was able to make or alter the other children so that they would also have powers.
Eleven literally raised the dead, an accomplishment beyond anything Vecna has ever achieved, a power beyond even Dr. Brenner's wildest dreams. And it was only possible because she allowed her love to serve as the fuel for her powers.
Vecna successfully stole Eleven's powers when controlling the Mind Flayer in Stranger Things' season 3 ending, which finally allowed him to emerge stronger than Eleven and enact his plan to take over Hawkins with the Upside Down.
And he saw the possibility for escape when he realized the extent of Eleven's untapped potential. One manipulated Eleven into plotting her own escape, which also involved getting her to remove the device in his neck.
But it's soon revealed that no, Max does not have powers in Stranger Things 4. Her storyline is actually much more terrifying... In the season, viewers are introduced to a new villain called Vecna who lives in the Upside Down.
Based on all the gut-wrenching and action-heavy trailers for Stranger Things season 4 volume 1, it looks like Max, played by Fear Street actress Sadie Sink, now has mind powers while Eleven, played by Enola Holmes' Millie Bobby Brown, still does not.
A fearsome entity aligned with the Upside Down, Vecna had humble origins as the human Henry Creel. After moving to a new home in Hawkins in 1959, the young Henry discovered he had remarkable psychokinetic abilities and could manipulate the perceptions of others.
At birth, Eleven was taken away from her mother by Dr. Martin Brenner and was raised as a test subject in Hawkins National Laboratory in order to develop her psychokinetic skills. When placed in a sensory deprivation tank, she can use remote viewing to access other dimensions, primarily for the purposes of espionage.
More powerful than any other creature in the show's history, and someone who feeds on the pain of the living, Vecna is the villain Stranger Things has been building toward all along. Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are streaming on Netflix.
Dr. Brenner's children were granted powers by treating their mothers with psychedelic drugs during pregnancy. Henry Creel appears to be different, however; there's no evidence his mother ever experimented with LSD. Rather, his powers seem to be natural, developing around puberty.
Stranger Things season 4 already showed audiences how Eleven can defeat Vecna in the Netflix series' final season. When season 4 ended, the town of Hawkins was left reeling from an earthquake-like fracture between reality and the Upside Down caused by Vecna.
The final scene of Volume 1 shows a shot of Vecna, and a close up of the 001 tattoo on his arm, confirming that Henry Creel, a.k.a. Number One, became Vecna.
In episode 7, Vecna is revealed to be Henry Creel (played as a youngster by Raphael Luce), the son of Victor Creel (Robert Englund) and his wife Virginia (Tyner Rushing) shown in the 1950s flashbacks.
Even Eleven, who entered Max's mind to face Vecna herself, was not strong enough to keep the monster from completing his ritual. Even though Vecna succeeded at his master plan, El was able to save Max, with mixed results.
The reason that Eleven couldn't find Max is actually pretty simple -- Max had already died. That means her soul had already been absorbed into Vecna's consciousness. So, while Eleven restarted Max's heart and brought her body back to life, she was trapped inside of Vecna's hive mind.
She breaks free, momentarily incapacitates Vecna, and runs with the determination to live toward her friends, dodging debris that Vecna throws in her path. Max hurls herself through the portal, awakes from the trance, and is held by Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). "I thought we lost you," he cries. "I'm still here.
Of course, the real reason Max became Vecna's victim was because creators the Duffer brothers and producer/director Shawn Levy wanted to showcase Sink's talent and really allow her to get some meaty material to work with this season.
That First Undercurrent Of Jealousy
When Eleven first saw Max, she was skateboarding around Mike in the school's gymnasium. Eleven mistakenly thought that Max had replaced her in Mike's affections. The look of jealousy on Eleven's face said it all. She was livid.
There are many questions about Eleven, like whether Eleven created The Upside Down, and in the season 4 finale, she brings Max back to life. Eleven uses her telekinetic powers to get into Vecna's mind and battle him herself.
"I walked up to her [as Vecna] and she burst into tears. She wouldn't look at me and she was visibly just disgusted by the whole thing... After she cried and I made it obvious that she knew it was me, one of the things she said was that, 'I knew it was you when I could smell cigarettes,' because I'm a smoker."
Next up, the viewers go on to theorise that One/Vecna is actually Eleven's dad. Yep, told you it was wild. The theory claims that Brenner wanted to create a child with stronger powers, so he waited until One was old enough to become a father.