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{{trope}}
[[File:Frankenstein_monster_Boris_KarloffSmall.jpg|link=Frankenstein (1931
{{quote|''"[[Creating Life|It's alive]], [[Memetic Mutation|it's alive]], it's alive! It's '''alive!"'''''|'''Dr. Henry Frankenstein''' <ref>alive!</ref>}}
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'''*Warning: Spoilers Ahead!*'''
In the original 1818 book by [[
Few of this book's tropes were original -- most were commonplace in Gothic novels of the eighteenth century -- but they provide the oldest examples that are still widely read today. In it, the monster is created a blank slate, but is driven to evil by the way society mistreats it.
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* [[Lightning Can Do Anything]] (Using Lightning to create life.)
* [[Torches and Pitchforks]] (The torch-wielding mob of peasants)
* Victor's death [[Hoist
* [[Hulk Speak]]
* [[If I Can't Have You]]
* [[The Igor]]
* [[Kill It
* The "It's Alive!" quotation above.
* The "standard" appearance of the monster, usually consisting of a square head, greenish skin, enormous proportions, a scarred forehead, and bolts (actually electrodes) on either side of the neck. (To contrast, the most monstrous features of the novel's creature were his [[Uncanny Valley|proportions and his jaundiced, soulless eyes]].) Nowadays, this is a [[Discredited Trope]].
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''Soreike! [[
* Nobuhiro Watsuki (creator of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' and ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' ) made a one-shot called ''[[Embalming]]: Corpse and Bride.'' The main character is a monster called John Doe, and other monsters are the bad guys. A modified version with new main characters (but with John lurking in the background) is now running under the title ''[[Embalming]]: The Another Tale of Frankenstein.'' The premise of both is that Frankenstein's notebooks survived his death, and a thriving underground corpse-raising industry has resulted.
** Speaking of ''[[
* In ''[[
** Stein has had his own test-subject in his former Weapon, Spirit Albarn (himself descended from people experimented on by the witch Arachne). Franken also frequently expresses desire to cut up/dissect various characters, including child god Death the Kid. Which, given his issues with gods, is something that might be worth keeping an eye on. Maybe.
** ''Technically'', unless fan translations are consistently wrong, Stein's partner is named 'Marie'. Just to clarify.
*** Because "Marie" Shelley wrote ''Frankenstein'', right?
* In [[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* The original ''[[
* The Mariages from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
* ''[[
* There's a 1981 anime adaptation of Shelley's original novel. The monster never gets beyond inarticulate grunting, there's a poorly executed [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|Christ metaphor]], and to cap it all off, the ending is pure [[Trauma Conga Line]] as {{spoiler|the monster, realizing that he's hurting people, throws himself off a cliff in front of the little girl he befriended. As she's mourning him, her father, one of the people who persecuted the monster, ''shoots himself''. Poor little girl.}} The best place to find this is the Anime Hell panel of several American conventions.
* [[Junji Ito]] has done a manga adaptation. With his signature artistic style, it's quite creepy and notable for following Shelly's original story very faithfully.
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== [[Card Games]] ==
* ''[[Magic:
** The new Innistrad set takes this idea and runs with it with their Blue Zombie cycle. Skaab and Stitched creatures are made from the combined corpses of various other creatures, and this is represented in-game by how you must remove a number of creatures from your graveyard as an additional cost to summoning them. To drive the point home, the card [http://magiccards.info/query?q=Rooftop+Storm&v=card&s=cname Rooftop Storm], which resembles a mad scientist's laboratory, makes all zombies cost 0 mana, but you still need bodies to play them.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] cartoonist [[wikipedia:Dick Briefer|Dick Briefer]] had a noteworthy run in the 1940’s/1950’s which went through three distinct changes in style. The first incarnation, beginning in ''Prize Comics'' #7 (1940) presented the creature as a [[Villain Protagonist]] of high intellect battling first his own creator and later the superheroic Bulldog Denny. (The monster was eventually defeated by a coalition of Prize Comics’ co-stars in one of the first superhero crossover stories). The tone shifted to humor in ''Frankenstein'' #1 (1945), with stories that could be considered precursors to ''[[
* The latter of the two title characters in the comic book miniseries ''[[Doll And Creature]]'' is essentially a '50s greaser version of Frankenstein's monster from a freaky future world. Doll is a human woman, but she has the classic Bride of Frankenstein two-tone beehive hairdo.
* Appears as a (titanically [[Badass]]) hero in [[
** He goes on to get a ''[[Flashpoint (Comic Book)|Flashpoint]]'' miniseries and a subsequent ongoing, both written by Jeff Lemire. Incidentally, in the former he ends [[World War II]] by ''killing Hitler''.
** [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|"All in a day's work...for FRANKENSTEIN!"]]
** A teenaged version of this character, [http://www.titanstower.com/source/whoswho/OYG/youngfrankenstein.html Young Frankenstein], was briefly a member of the ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]''.
* In a ''[[Howard the Duck (
* ''[[Little Gloomy]]'' has Frank, who is, well, the Monster. He's slightly dim (''slightly''), and parts of him occasionally fall off and need to be restitched. He's actually one of the main characters, with a crush on Gloomy herself (though eventually he gets a "bride", Shelley).
* The 'actual' Frankenstein's Monster has showed up many times over the years in comic books, but DC's ''[[Swamp Thing]]'' also had The Patchwork Man, a normal man who was 'repaired' (badly) by Swamp Thing's enemy the [[Mad Scientist]] Anton Arcane. Adding to the tragedy, the unfortunate in question was Anton's brother, and the father of Swamp Thing's human girlfriend.
* Volume 2 of [[
* [[Superman
* Like [[Dracula]], Dell Comics turned Frankenstein's Monster into an Honest to Goodness [[Superhero]].
* In ''[[Fables (Comic Book)|Fables]]'', Frakenstein's Monster [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|was animated by Nazis during World War II]]. Bigby fought the monster (in a reference to the 1943 film ''[[
* In the [[
* ''[[
* Marvel 616 has had several Frankenstein's Creatures walking about, though none were the actual original product but homages (By in universe scientists.) One was a Hulk analogue (Makes sense seeing as Hulk seems like a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde/Frankenstein's creature combi.) and one led the Howling Commandos. In ''[[Dark Reign (
** There ''is'' a Frankenstein Monster in the Marvel Universe; but his creator's descendants have created several more.
* ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]: True Story'', in which Marvel's first family was trying to save the world of fiction from {{spoiler|Nightmare}}, featured the monster from the original book as one of their allies. Later, when the team had been stripped of their powers and attacked by [[Dracula]], Ben was trying to summon him for help.
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'''Ben:''' Ups, my mistake. I mean Frankenstein's '''monster''' fighting Dracula. }}
* Surely this troper can't be the only one that noticed a comparison between the monster and Marv from ''[[Sin City]]''. Both hulking near indestructible abominations who go to extreme lengths for love, and were 'created' in a sense.
* In a [[Pre Crisis]] story, [[
* Len Wein's ''Spawn of Frankenstein'' feature that ran as a back-up feature in ''[[The Phantom Stranger]]''.
* Pvt. Elliot "Lucky" Taylor of the ''[[Creature Commandos]]'' in [[The DCU]] - Lucky barely survived stepping on a mine. He was stitched back together against his will so he resembles the Frankenstein monster and has damaged vocal cords.
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== [[Film]] ==
* [[Frankenstein (1931
* The 1987 Universal homage/pastiche film ''[[
** This might be an homage to Paul Wegener's ''[[
* Both Frankenstein and his Monster figure prominently in the classic 1960's Rankin-Bass stop-motion feature ''[[
* Is ''[[
** The monster has his head attached with zippers instead of bolts.
* ''[[
** Also, the hero (or his Detect Evil power) is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to keep an open mind when first meeting the so-called monster rather than set up the expected [[Let's You and Him Fight]] scenario.
* [[Tim Burton]]'s early short film ''[[
* The title character in ''[[
* The [[Kaiju]] film ''[[
* ''[[
* The title character of the horror film ''[[
* [[Kenneth Branagh]] directed and starred in an [[Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
* ''[[Frankenstein Unbound]]'' is a 1990 movie directed by [[Roger Corman]] - and is pretty decent, in an episode-of- ''[[
* The killer in the [[Slasher Movie]] ''[[
* The 1985 movie ''The Bride'' is a spinoff starring Sting... yeah the one from [[
* ''[[Carry On]] Screaming'' includes a pair of Frankenstein's monster style creatures who do the bidding of the resident [[Mad Scientist]].
* The horror films ''[[Pieces (
* ''[[
* Frankenstein's Monster is one of the eight wrestlers in ''Monster Brawl''.
== [[Literature]] ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] and [[Ur Example]]: Mary Shelley's ''[[Frankenstein (
* David Bischoff's novel ''Mandala'' featured similar constructs known as "helter-skelters." They differ in being quite articulate, no bigger than the human average, and in being an odd mix of buffoonery and pathos.
* Subverted in "[[Dean Koontz]]'s ''Frankenstein''" novels, in that both the creature and Dr. Frankenstein have survived to modern times. Both characters have [[Walking the Earth|lived all over]] in the interim and taken new names; the creature calls himself ''Deucalion'', while the Doctor is now known as Doctor Helios. In addition, Dr. Helios spent the intervening time figuring out what went 'wrong' with his first creation and has decided to replace all of humanity with his custom-designed 'much-better models'. Deucalion has decided to oppose him, aided by a pair of local police detectives. The only signature feature that Koontz has added to all of the synthetic beings he has made (back to and including the original) is the presence of two hearts.
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* In ''Frankensteins faster'' ("The Aunt of Frankenstein") and its sequel by Allan Rune Pettersson, the aunt of Dr Victor Frankenstein takes up residence in his old castle, determined to get rid of the shame that silly boy has attached to the family name. Her plans end up including resurrecting the Monster, but in a way that won't cause a scandal. This young adult novel is, as you can understand, an [[Affectionate Parody]] of old Hammer Horror movies, including [[Monster Mash]] -- both Count Dracula and [[Wolf Man|Larry Talbot]] play a role.
* There's a short story about a father who tries to recreate his son by taking back the body parts the boy donated after dying.
* ''[[
** Scraps, [[Igor]]'s "mixed-breed" terrier in ''[[Discworld
** Also alluded to in ''[[Discworld
* Chopfyt in ''[[Land of Oz
* ''[[Fate
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Fantasy Island]]'': Anne Frankenstein appeared in one episode.
* The ''[[
** And a robot version of the monster appeared in one episode of ''The Chase''.
* ''[[
* Adam in ''[[
** There was also a one-shot version of this plot in "Some Assembly Required".
* ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' has Dogga/Riki, the [[Last of His Kind]] of an entire race of Frankenstein's Monster-like beings with immense strength who feed on human souls. Thanks to a [[I Owe You My Life|pact with the hero's father]], he can loan his power to Kiva, turning Wataru into a [[Mighty Glacier]] who grunts rather than speaking, [[Drop the Hammer|swings a giant hammer]], and has a lightning theme (matching up with the method of the Monster's creation).
* Both the good doctor and his creation turned up as ghosts in ''[[Ghostbusters]]''; there, Dr. Frankenstein tried to make his idiotic monster obedient by giving it "the brain of the world's most gullible fool." And guess what? Ghostbuster Spenser fits the bill quite nicely...
* In the ''[[Weird Science (TV series)|Weird Science]]'' episode, "In Search of Boris Karloff," Lisa takes Wyatt and Gary into the world of Frankenstein. In this version, the Creature (specifically referred to as ''not'' Frankenstein himself) lives with his creator. He is portrayed as quite dimwitted and prone to anger (the latter a result of constantly being mistreated), but he is a [[Gentle Giant]] to Lisa, as she showed him nothing but kindness.
* The ''[[
* The Frankenstein Monster is the [[Monster of the Week]] in the first [[Halloween Episode]] of ''[[
== [[Music]] ==
* The definitive Frankenstinian pop song was, is, and will remain, Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers immortal ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0thH3qnHTbI Monster Mash]''
* The [[
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* Abra Cadaver from ''[[
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In [[
* In the role-playing game ''[[
** This is all derived straight from the original novel, to boot - the alternate title to Shelley's classic is ''The Modern Prometheus''.
* ''[[
** Actually, Flesh Golems are near mindless, so they don't fit this trope as well as one would think. A closer fit would be the Blasphemes, stitched together undead with full sentience.
** In ''[[
** In the setting ''[[
* A throwaway line in the corebook for ''[[
* In ''[[
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* Frankenstein has been adapted into a Broadway musical.
* There is a straight play called ''[[After Frankenstein]]'' that tells of the confrontation between the creator and the monster in the Arctic.
* There is also a musical adaptation of ''[[
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[
* Victor von Gerdenheim from ''[[
** His name could be considered an inversion of the [[I Am Not Shazam]] issue the monster often faces.
* A common boss (later on a [[Degraded Boss]]) in the ''[[
** It gets confusing when you note the dates of some of the games he's appeared in: for instance, ''Castlevania'' is set in 1691 and ''Symphony of the Night'' in 1797.
*** You know except for the fact that Victor 'discovered' how to animate corpses, and did not invent, which makes it sort of a brilliant moment considering that the 'discovered' secret could easily have been possessed by Dracula, explaining his undead armies.
* In ''[[Operation Darkness]]'' {{spoiler|one of your squad members, Frank Gaunt, ''is'' the creature himself. He's intelligent, well-spoken, and can summon giant fists of lightning to come out of the sky to blow up Panzer tanks. Oh and the Doctor's not left out either, his descendant is helping the Nazis develop an atomic bomb}}.
* ''[[
* In ''[[
** Three installments ago, ''[[
* In ''[[
* A Frankenstein's Monster is the boss of the Dungeon level in ''[[
* ''[[
* The Magician in the ''[[The House of the Dead (
* Arisen from ''[[Allods Online]]''. Corpses reanimated by inserting cyborg implants in them (their arms from slightly above the elbows down to the hands, their legs from slightly above their knees down to the feet and possibly the head too since they use a mask (and there must be a way to carry their soul in a dead corpse, as they have presumably still have the soul of the person the corpse belonged to). These aren't outright evil (apart from the Tep), as they basically have human souls, but on dead + cyborg bodies.
* ''Frankenstein: Through The Eyes Of The Monster'', a first person adventure game that puts you in the shoes of the monster itself.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[
** The two constructs that raised Agatha were named Adam and Lilith Clay (in reality, {{spoiler|Punch and Judy}}). (In case you don't get it, in some versions of the creation myth, Lilith was the first wife of created-out-of-''clay'' Adam, deposed because she preferred the female superior position. It seems that "Lilith" in this case refers to Lilith being the equal of her husband rather than submissive as Eve was).
** Some of the Jägermonsters (a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] of "modified human" constructs) resemble The Creature closely, with greenish skin and intimidating proportions. Others sport claws, fangs, horns, and varying degrees of hair, and [[Amazing Technicolor Population|an assortment of skin tones]].
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** Klaus Wulfenbach himself has [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041206 a lot of nasty stitches]. Implied to have been both brought back after being messed up and heavily modified (nearly impossible to kill or incapacitate, [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070119 superhumanly] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110525 strong]).
* In [http://www.flashbackuniverse.com/ the Flashback Universe], the monster's "son," Victor, is part of the League of Monsters. {{spoiler|And the monster himself ended up becoming Paladin, an [[Alternate Company Equivalent]] of Captain America. No, really.}}
* ''[[
* Gwynn's "Clutter Monster" from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', a magical golem created out of all the clutter filling her apartment.
* [[Sociopathic Hero]] Unity from ''[[
* In ''[[
* Apparently Dr. Frankenstein [http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5092717/ was] [http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5151206/ quite] [http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5155249/ busy] [http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5156246/ in] ''[[The
* One of the main characters of ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In "The [[
* In ''[[
* The animated series ''[[
** The alien in question, incidentally, is very true to Shelly's original portrayal, looks aside. [[Lightning Bruiser|He's fast and dexterous in addition to be strong and resilient]], and he's extremely intelligent as well, being the chief organizer of the [[Big Bad]]'s plot.
* In ''[[
** This explains Rampage up to a point, but he seems to also just be a psychopathic sadist in his own right.
*** He is vengeful and sadistic towards the main characters but he befriended Transmutate and was in mental anguish when it was destroyed. [[Wild Mass Guessing|His comment to Blackarachnea ("I regret ''everything'', my sweet") and his welcoming of death at the hands of Depthcharge (knowing it would kill both of them) also indicate that he isn't exactly happy with what he is and reacts to that with sadistic violence.]]
* Also, in the original 80s ''[[The Transformers (
* ''[[Frankensteins Cat]]'' is an animated series about Dr Frankenstein's first creation: a cat named Nine, stitched together out of nine different cats.
* Frankenstein's Monster is one of the good guys in ''[[Monster Force (
* Frankie, one of the members of ''[[Drak Pack]]'', was a descendant of the Frankenstein monster.
* Frankie from ''[[Groovie Goolies]]''.
* A Halloween episode of ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[
* ''[[
* The champion of Monster Truck Wrestling as revealed at the end of [[Pixar Shorts|''Monster Truck Mater'']] is actually Doctor Frankenwagen's Monster.
* The ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* The emmy nominated [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTEFay_286U "The Monster Of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein"] has ''[[
* ''[[Igor]]'' has the [[The Igor|title character]] create a giant female Frankenstein monster named Eva. Unfortunately for him she turns out to be good and wants to be an actress.
* ''[[
* ''[[Scooby
* ''[[
{{reflist}}
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