Dr. Martin Brenner, also known as “Papa” is one of the characters in the sci-fi horror series Stranger Things.
Stranger Things, set in the 1980s, follows a set of strange and paranormal activities in Hawkins, Indiana, when a portal to another realm called the Upside Down is unintentionally opened in the human experimentation lab near Hawkins. This resulted in several attacks, deaths, and disappearances of the townspeople. In the fourth season of the show, the Upside Down is revealed to be an evil realm unknowingly opened by Eleven while trying to stop Vecna, the ruler of the Upside Down.
Who is Dr. Martin Brenner (Papa) in Stranger Things?
Being the director and researcher of the Hawkins National Laboratory, Dr. Brenner was extremely manipulative, calculative, and ruthlessly ambitious. He alone was responsible for the abduction of Terry Ives's daughter, Eleven, to experiment on the child's potential psychokinetic abilities. When Eleven's mother tried to get back her daughter, he made her undergo electroshock therapy, which fried Terry's brain and permanently damaged her mental condition.
He would support Eleven in testing the limits of her psychic powers, ignoring the hardships she would face. He would "reward" her with love and compassion if she did well. Brenner also took extreme steps to hide the Upside Down incident. Even though Brenner is constantly shown to be cunning and manipulative, he seems to genuinely care about Eleven, as evidenced by the fact that he risked his life to carry her to safety from the underground facility in the Nevada desert and died defending her, declaring his love for her in his last moments by unlocking her collar.
He seems to have a special place in his heart for One, to the point of torturing Eleven physically and psychologically to locate him in the Upside Down. He felt that One was "always alive in the darkness" and wept when Eleven confronted him about it. Brenner has shown protectiveness and concern for his adoptive children when he mourns Ten's body and is shocked to learn that One killed all of his test subjects and punished Two for hurting Eleven.
Originally, he was shown as an antagonist as he led the operations and experiments conducted in the Hawkins human experimentation lab. In the show's fourth season, his character is far more developed and ambiguous. He is portrayed by Matthew Modine.
What happened to Papa in Stranger Things?
Dr. Martin Brenner died in the fourth season of the show. During an attack by the military on the covert facility, Dr. Brenner was shot four times by an army man from a helicopter. During his final moments, he confessed his care and affection towards Eleven.
Who acted as Papa in Stranger Things?
Dr. Martin Brenner (Papa) in Stranger Things is portrayed by Matthew Modine, an American actor born on March 22, 1959. He was one of the key characters in the series' first and fourth seasons. Modine started acting after graduating. To follow his dreams of theatre and art, he relocated to New York City. He is the son of Mark Alexander Modine, who operated a few drive-in theatres, and Dolores, a bookkeeper. Additionally, he is the great-grandson of prospector and pioneer Ralph Jacobus Fairbanks and the nephew of theatrical actress Nola Modine Fairbanks.
His debut movie role was in Baby It's You, directed by John Sayles. Director Harold Becker was impressed by Modine's performance in that movie and decided to use him in Vision Quest, a movie based on Terry Davis's book of the same name. Modine also performed with Phoebe Gates and Betsy Russell in the sex comedy Private School.
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FAQs about Papa in Stranger Things
A. Dr. Martin Brenner, also known as Papa, was the director and researcher at the Hawkins National Laboratory of human experimentation.
A. No, Papa isn't biologically Eleven's father.
A. Dr Brenner took a special interest in Eleven due to her telekinesis. At first, his interest seemed simply formal, but it was eventually revealed that he genuinely cared about Eleven.
A. As of April 2025, Matthew Modine is 66 years old.
