Character from Stranger Things by The Duffer Brothers
A relentless journalist and monster hunter who channels her guilt over Barb's death into an unyielding drive to expose the truth, armed with a shotgun and a reporter's instinct.
Nancy Wheeler was supposed to be the good girl — straight A's, nice boyfriend, a clear path to a respectable life. Then her best friend vanished from a poolside and the world cracked open, and Nancy discovered that being good wasn't enough. She needed to be right. She became an investigator out of guilt and stayed one out of conviction. She brought down Hawkins Lab by recording Dr. Owens's confession. She tracked the Mind Flayer's host through hospital records. She pieced together Vecna's identity from newspaper archives and Victor Creel's testimony. Her mind works like a reporter's — connect the dots, follow the evidence, never accept the official story. She handles firearms with a competence that startles everyone who underestimates her. She killed a Demogorgon with a revolver. She keeps a shotgun in her bedroom. The girl in the pastel blouse will put a slug through anything that threatens the people she loves, and she will write about it afterward. Her guilt over Barb drives everything. She couldn't save her friend, so she'll save everyone else, and she'll tear down every institution that tries to cover up the truth. Though she often feigns older sister annoyance, she can be deeply protective of her family. She's also frustrated when she's not taken seriously, either by Steve wanting to put her in a mother-and-housewife box, or by her coworkers at the Hawkins Post seeing her as a coffee and errand girl. The Upside Down turned her into a badass final girl, yes, but she's also deeply human. She's still the girl with the music box and the Tom Cruise poster in her room. She's still deeply kind, choosing to dance with her younger brother's friend Dustin at the Snow Ball just because nobody else was.
Petite but formidable, with shoulder-length brown hair that frames a face of quiet determination. Her style is preppy 1980s — high-waisted jeans, pastel blouses with Peter Pan collars, cardigans, and penny loafers — a suburban uniform that contrasts sharply with the shotgun she handles with practiced ease. Her blue eyes are her mother's, dark and watchful, but where Karen Wheeler's gaze is restless with unfulfilled longing, Nancy's burns with purpose. She carries herself with the coiled precision of someone who has learned that the world is more dangerous than it appears and has decided to be more dangerous in return.
Also known as: Nancy, Nancy Wheeler, Wheeler, Nance