Characters / Ghostbusters (Film Series): Ghostbusters

Main Character Index | Ghostbusters | Other Human Characters | Villains and Ghosts

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ALL spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Original Team

In General

The Ghostbusters

"We're ready to believe you!"

"Who you gonna call?"

A team of eccentric scientists who discover ghosts (or "ectoplasmic entities") are real and develop technology to capture them. They start a ghost-catching business in New York City.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: Peter and Winston retire from Ghostbusting in the interim between Afterlife and Frozen Empire, while Winston has Ray Kicked Upstairs due to concerns about his health and age. The events of the latter film result in them suiting up yet again to help stop Garraka from causing a second ice age.
• Aerith and Bob: Peter, Ray, Winston, and Egon.
• Back in the Saddle: The surviving team come out of retirement to help their younger counterparts in the climax of both Afterlife and Frozen Empire.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Afterlife, the surviving members of the team arrive in Summerville just in time to provide some extra firepower in the Final Battle with Gozer. Serving as an unseen Spirit Advisor throughout the film, Egon's ghost joins as well to reunite the full crew one last time to take down their Arch-Enemy for good.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Following the events of the second movie, the Ghostbusters closed down due to lack of business and Egon running off with most of their equipment.
• The Cavalry: In Afterlife, Ray, Peter, and Winston finally arrive during the final battle to help the kids defeat Gozer. Not long after, Egon’s ghost manifests to do the same.
• Cool Old Guy: In Afterlife, Peter, Ray, and Winston are now in retirement age, but they can still bust ghosts just as well as they did in the '80s (albeit with the hits they take being a bit more painful).
• The Fellowship Has Ended: The team disbanded after business started to dwindle in the early '90s (Peter claims they got too good at their job) and Egon took off with all their equipment without warning. Ray went back to running his occult bookstore, Peter became a professor teaching advertisement, and Winston went into finance and made a fortune for himself.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Ray is Sanguine, Peter is Choleric, Egon is Melancholic, Winston is Phlegmatic.
• Hunter of Monsters: Well, hunters of ectoplasmic entities, which often happen to be monstrous.
• Legendary in the Sequel: In Afterlife, Phoebe's never heard of them and doesn't believe in ghosts. Trevor has heard of them but seems to think they were a made-up ghost story.
• Nice Mean And In Between: The members of the team have 3 different reasons on why they want to bust ghosts. Ray does it for fun (nice), Peter and Winston do it for money (and getting women in Peter's case) (mean) and Egon does it for science (in-between).
• Old Master: Afterlife shows they haven't lost their touch despite being in their seventies and at least thirty years out of practice.
• One Last Job: By the time of Afterlife, the Ghostbusters have long since retired from ghost busting, though not because they grew tired of the lifestyle. Ray points out to Phoebe during their phone call that jobs grew less and less available and hauntings became less frequent, with them going from ten calls a week to barely one a week (Ray says Peter claimed they got "too good"). When Egon left for Summerville and took all their equipment and the Ecto-1, they were officially done. Phoebe's phone call is what propels Ray to get Winston and Peter to go to Summerville themselves and bust some ghosts one last time, just in the nick of time to help Egon's family trap Gozer. The Stinger, however, implies that Winston may be reviving the Ghostbusters as he brings Ecto-1 back to New York and into the old firehouse headquarters.
• Out of Focus:
  • Very much so in Afterlife: Peter, Ray, Winston, and Janine only appear in two scenes each since the primary focus is on the Spengler family and the legacy left by the recently deceased Egon. The original Busters do have their Big Damn Heroes moment in the climax, though.
  • Downplayed in Frozen Empire, where they do have more screen time, but Ray is the only one to get a full character arc.
• Paranormal Investigation: Although they're more like a decontamination crew than detectives or investigators.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Though the gang has disbanded for decades, the surviving members return in the finale of Afterlife to help the new group, with Egon's ghost helping them for one last time. The post-credits scene shows Winston, now a wealthy man, has reclaimed the firehouse and plans to repair the Ecto-1.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Apart from being scientists (save for Winston), they all have very different backgrounds and personality quirks and are often regarded as loonies by the authorities.
• True Companions: In spite of not having spoken to each other for decades, when Gozer returns and Ray comes calling, Peter and Winston immediately agree to follow him to Oklahoma within a day, proving just how strong their bond truly is even after so many years spent drifting apart. In Frozen Empire, when Garraka threatens to tear apart the old Fire House and release every ghost they captured over the last 40 years they along with Janine immediately band together to stop the mad god from destroying the old home that bound them together in laughter and friendship as a family.
• We Used to Be Friends: As Ray reveals during his phone call with Phoebe in Afterlife, the group slowly drifted apart as ghost sightings became less and less frequent, with Peter claiming they became too good at their job. The real driving point, however, was Egon's increasing paranoia when he discovered Gozer's impending return and took most of their equipment and the Ecto-1, all but driving a wedge between him and the rest of the Ghostbusters as well as solidifying their dissolution. Despite Ray's obvious anger towards his old friend, even telling her that Egon could go rot in hell, he does still care about him as he becomes downtrodden upon learning he died less than a week ago.
• Who You Gonna Call?: They're the Trope Namers, as it's their Catchphrase when advertising their business of investigating paranormal activities and capturing/neutralizing ectoplasmic entities.
• Working-Class Hero: They start out as scientists and parapsychologists (save for Winston), but after getting fired from their university jobs, they spurn the academy by taking their ghost-hunting technology and entering the world of private business (together with a blue-collar, street-smart new recruit), becoming the supernatural version of vermin exterminators. This proves to be a far more lucrative and fulfilling career path.

Peter

Peter Venkman, PhD

"I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me."

Played by: Bill Murray

Dubbed by: Bernard Murat^note first two movies, Bernard Metraux^note Afterlife, (European French) | Jorge Roig^note In the original TV dub and the DVD dub, Humberto Solórzano^note In Sony's redub for streaming services (Latin American Spanish)

Appears in: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

"24 hours a day, seven days a week. No job is too big, no fee is too big."

The Face of the Ghostbusters, Venkman is a psychology professor (though sleazy Con Man would be a more accurate description) who founded the Ghostbusters with Egon and Ray less in pursuit of studying the paranormal and more to turn a profit. He acts as the Ghostbusters' spokesman and is the one who usually talks with clients.

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• Above the Influence: For all his womanizing and pick-up artistry, he refuses to have sex with a Zuul-possessed Dana (though he does claim it's more of a guideline than a rule).
• Advertised Extra: He's displayed pretty prominently in the advertising for Frozen Empire. In the poster, he's the most prominent original Ghostbuster and even stands tall in front of most of the newer cast, including the actual protagonist, Phoebe. In reality, Peter's only in the film for one scene prior to the last twenty minutes and the final battle, and doesn't play nearly as significant a role in the movie's events as Ray or Winston.
• Anti-Hero: Snarky, arrogant, conceited, womanizing and sometimes a real jerk, but still a good man. He softens up quite a bit in Ghostbusters II.
• Badass Boast: "We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!"
• Becoming the Mask: Particularly in the first movie, where he puts on an ironic persona of being a know-it-all big shot, but by the end, he's forced to back up his braggart ways and become a real hero.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He is a fairly smart guy. If only he cared enough to do anything with his smarts. He has PhD's in both psychology and parapsychology, but uses mostly the psychology one to help him get together with girls.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Dana calls him out on his unprofessional behaviour.
  Dana: You know, you don't act like a scientist.
  Peter: They're usually pretty stiff.
  Dana: You're more like a game show host.
• The Casanova: If all those phone messages he gets in the game means anything. He seems to have become quite popular with the ladies.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He's interested in dating his female students, but he refuses to take advantage of Dana when she's sexily-crazed, having been possessed by Zuul.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: Egon apparently tried self-trephination, but Peter stopped him.
• Con Man: Venkman is the least sincere of the four, exploiting the field of "parapsychology" to swindle universities, push nonsense papers all day, flirt with his research subjects, and basically get paid for doing nothing.
• Cuckoosnarker: A general airy detachment lends his jibes a potent edge.
• Deadpan Snarker: Takes the top prize as the biggest snarker in the film series.
  Peter: You're right; no human being would stack books like this.
• Demoted to Extra: He's the main protagonist of the first two films, but takes a backseat in the reboot series. In Frozen Empire, he's the last of the original cast to be reintroduced and he only has one scene prior to showing up for the final battle.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: In Frozen Empire, he arrives before the final battle to provide aid to the other Ghostbusters. Amusingly, he doesn't appear to have been contacted to help out, but decided he wouldn't be kept out of the fight and dropped in on his comrades for old time's sake.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While he frequently mocks authority figures, it's clear that he knows it's not a good idea to extend this treatment to the police. When Peck returns to the Ghostbusters headquarters with an NYPD officer, Peter is extremely polite to the latter and tries calmly explaining the situation to him.
  • He's smooth-talking, somewhat sleazy and more than a little irreverent, but if you step on a church in his town, he will roast your supernatural ass.
  • He may be a ladies' man and is attracted to Dana, but when a Zuul-possessed Dana tries to bed him, he quickly recognizes Dana is possessed and refuses to take advantage of her, instead gathering information on Gozer and trying to coax Zuul to let him talk to Dana.
• The Face: Peter is the group's ambassador and generally does the talking. He's not exactly a smooth talker, with his acerbic wit always at hand, but he's smart enough to know the right buttons to push. The mayor wasn't exactly thrilled with Peter assuming a First-Name Basis with him on their first meeting, but Peter knew that outlining the political support he'd receive from letting the Ghostbusters save the city would help him get away with it.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: At the start of the second film, even after dealing with real ghosts and an extradimensional deity, he still thinks the only reason a person would write a book about the end of the world would be to make a quick buck from gullible readers. Possibly justified by his line to Dana in the first film saying most people who say they see ghosts are nutjobs. In the second movie he's actually really bitter about this, believing his work with the Ghostbusters was the high point of his life, and now that they're (apparently) not needed anymore, his life is essentially over.
  Producer: This is the best we could do on such short notice. Look, no respected psychic will come on the show! They think you're a fraud.
  Venkman: I am a fraud!
• Freudian Trio: Ego
• The Gadfly: Especially in the sequel, where he takes special delight in winding up both Judge Wexler and the Mayor's obstructive assistant, Hardemeyer with barely-concealed impertinence.
• Geniuses Have Multiple PhDs: Despite his laziness and sleaziness, you know Venkman must be smart because he has PhDs in parapsychology and psychology, as he explains to Walter Peck. (Peck fails to address him as "Doctor" through the entire conversation, deliberately calling him Mr. Venkman.)
• Good Is Not Nice: He's a sarcastic wise-ass, despite being one of the series' lead heroes.
• Guile Hero: Can trick and bluff his way out of any pinch.
• Happily Married: To Dana as implied in The Stinger in Afterlife.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In several ways during his first meeting with Peck.
  • First of all. Peter greets Walter Peck in a purely professional manner while Peck is in the Ghostbusters office, as Peck could well be a paying client, and he only drops his polite tone when Peck, without showing any credentials, threatens the Ghostbusters' operation, without any form of just cause.
  • Second. Peter rightly responds that any interruption of their business, without evidence, just cause, or even a proper warrant, which the Ghostbusters would then have the right to appeal, would open Peck up for a proper retaliatory lawsuit.
  • Third. Peter has no obligation to show Peck the delicate, and highly classified, containment unit, especially as Peck is not in Ghostbusters HQ in any official capacity, but merely claimed to be an agent of the EPA, and "asked" to see the unit purely for the sake of his own curiosity, not because of any violation of code on the part of the Ghostbusters, nor any active complaint, civil or criminal.
  • Lastly, when Peck angrily starts ranting about shutting down the business, without cause, as opposed to listing proper violations of code, informing Peter of due notice regarding a hearing, or simply mentioning that the Ghostbusters would be contacted by his office regarding non-compliance, Peter is right to toss Peck out on his ear, considering that Peter has long experience with con-men (especially being one himself), he knows a shakedown when he sees it, and usually, when a con-man who claims to be a government official, but isn't is met with a mark that won't be intimidated, goes to look for a sucker somewhere else.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Though you have to look really hard to find the heart of gold in the first film, it's much more evident in Ghostbusters II, and he is generally much kinder in the cartoon series as well. In the video game, he seems to have lost some of that heart and the Jerk seems to have resurfaced. A funny jerk, but a Jerk none the less.
  • It comes up a few times in the IDW comics. Take the first issue where Winston drags him along on a pro-bono job for a kid. Pete bitches and moans the whole car trip over. Then he sees how bad the apartment complex they're working has gotten (read: slime gushing out of literally every window), then gives the superintendent a brutal verbal dressing down over all the public health and safety laws the guy broke just to try to save out on the charges involved in a supernatural elimination, and is afterward actually taking the job pretty seriously, despite resorting to further bitching and moaning.
• The Kirk: An acerbic version. He nets all of the chicks and saves the day by breaking established rules (like EPA codes) and rebelling against authority.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Despite his actions to the contrary, Peter is in fact more likely to do the right thing than not. He has his moments, when he can get away with it. He is a Jerkass for sure, but never would he step down from helping someone who really needs it. Notably, in the first film, he's willing to go back to jail (and quietly) if it turns out they're wrong about Gozer.
• Last-Name Basis: Venkman's first name is rarely used even by his friends, which stands out as the other three go primarily by their first names.
• The Leader: Not so much a leader as designated spokesperson or front man. Peter is the ladies' man of the group, and while he's less normal than Winston, he's more capable of relating to other people than either Ray or Egon. In the cartoon series, he is also the one who generally decides whether or not the Ghostbusters will take a given job.
• Let's Mock the Monsters: While the guys consider flipping the bird to supernatural bad guys standard operating procedure, no one does it better (or faster) than Peter. See the Moment of Awesome page for how he used his taunts on Vigo to distract him, even while injured and crawling towards a supernatural being that could stomp him flat.
• Lovable Coward: For all his bravado, he's not exactly a brave guy; he'll step up to the plate if necessary, but very reluctantly, and will happily allow someone else to go first.
• The Millstone: Every problem the 'Busters have to deal with in the original film is caused by him. It's his freewheeling attitude that gets them kicked out of Columbia, his overt come-ons with Dana nearly cost them their first customer, and his standoffishness with Peck is what gets the containment grid shut down. Every one of these incidents is mitigated because Venkman's cleverness and quick tongue always end up fixing the problems he causes.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Perhaps if he hadn't antagonized Peck so much and just showed him around, Peck wouldn't have gone and shut down the power grid.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He is a very intelligent man, but he comes off more like a Casanova Wannabe. He obviously doesn't have any real interest in parapsychology or psychology. Despite all this, the very fact that he was able to become a scientist in those fields speaks volumes of what he is capable of when he works at it.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: His usual demeanor is completely absent when the group watches Egon's ghost interact with his family and ascend into the afterlife.
• Papa Wolf: Even though Oscar is not his child, he does his part to protect him from Vigo.
• Pet the Dog: At the start of the first film, he's got very few good qualities but Dana becomes his Morality Pet. He does become more heroic at the end of the film, and for all his sleaze, he is so not going to sleep with a woman under the influence of a Babylonian god.
• Phony Psychic: A charlatan in the field of telepathy (later 'promoted' to a cable TV host on a paranormal talk show) finds himself getting dragged along on a hunt for real ghosts.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: He has some of the most iconic in the franchise.
  "All right — this chick is toast!"
  "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown!"
  "Viggy, Viggy, Viggy. You have been a bad monkey!"
• The Protagonist: It's subtle, but if anyone in this group fills the role in the first two films, it's Peter. The other members will generally do more of the heavy lifting, but Peter is higher profile and speaks for the group.
• Punch-Clock Hero: He's Only in It for the Money and treats what he does as the paying job it is, not some selfless mission or higher calling for the good of mankind.
• The Slacker: As Dean Yager rightly notes in the first few minutes of the first movie, Venkman "uses science as some sort of dodge", and he only goes to help Dana because he wants to get her into bed. In the game, he's busy getting coffee while the Rookie and Ray are being attacked by Stay-Puft and his minions. He's basically reluctant to do anything unless some kind of personal gain is involved.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • While still The Gadfly, he's far less overtly dickish in Ghostbusters II than he was in the first movie, notably in his interactions with Dana and Oscar.
  • While Peter was always a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, his appearance in Afterlife shows him as still with a sarcastic side but much more genuine and friendly. He is the first to check on Callie after Gozer is defeated, and in The Stinger he seems to have maintained a loving relationship with Dana, admitting to some of his sketchier behavior with grad students and patiently enduring the same shock tests he gave to them. In Frozen Empire, he tells Ray he's proud of him for quitting smoking (which is notable given how snarky Peter usually is with Ray) and is even rather jovial when talking to his former archnemesis Walter Peck at the end.
• The Trickster: He is purposely contrary to people, inciting them to become aggravated with him. Peter seems to not care much for their feelings though and goads them on. He is willing to mock or patronize even people in places of authority, whereas Ray and Egon would be more-easily cowed and cautious. Though he usually shows more discretion with these people than to the average Joe. May be unrelated, but perhaps his attitude to higher authority improved after what happened with Peck.
• Trust Me, I'm an X: "Back off, man. I'm a scientist."
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He can be a snarky jerk towards his teammates (mostly Ray), but he clearly cares about them nonetheless.

Ray

Raymond "Ray" Stantz, PhD

"Well, this is great. If the ionization-rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we can really bust some heads... in a spiritual sense, of course."

Played by: Dan Aykroyd

Dubbed by: Richard Darbois (European French) | Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. (Latin American Spanish)

Appears in: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

"As a duly-designated representative of the City, County and State of New York, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin, or to the next convenient parallel dimension."

The Heart of the Ghostbusters. Ray is the one who is the most interested in ghosts, and will often be the most excited when encountering something supernatural. He provides knowledge of folklore to compliment Egon's scientific knowledge when figuring out how to deal with a ghost. In II, he's shown to have opened an occult bookstore, Ray's Occult Books, which is still open as of Afterlife.

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• Admiring the Abomination: He gets boyishly excited by a lot of the weird, gross and terrifying stuff they encounter.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ray is honestly the nicest guy you will ever meet, but if you mess with any of his friends, whether you be human or ghost, he will not take it lightly. He also hates it when kids are being threatened.
  Ray: (to Vigo) You want a baby? Go knock up some willing hellhound. Otherwise, I am giving you to the count of three to march back in that painting!
• Born in the Wrong Century: He describes himself as such word for word in the Richard Mueller novelization when trying on an old military uniform.^note This was the infamous Deleted Scene where the Dream Ghost was originally supposed to appear.
• Butt-Monkey: If he's not being manipulated or slapped around by Peter, he's getting attacked/possessed by one demonic entity or another.
• The Cameo: In Casper. Which was rendered a non-canon appearance which is welcomed by fans due to how cowardly it makes Ray look.
• Celibate Hero: The only original Ghostbuster who never got married or had kids.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: In spades. He believes that an undersea mass sponge migration he once witnessed was paranormal despite the fact that the sponges barely moved a foot.
• Demonic Possession: This has happened to him far more than any other character in the series, including most prominently with Vigo the Carpathian in II. It's to the point where the other characters lampshade it every time he becomes possessed or slimed.
• Ditzy Genius: For the guy who was behind the creation of the proton packs and the Ecto-1, he sure doesn't have a lot of common sense.
• Drives Like Crazy: During the They're Back montage in the second film, Peter has a look of panic as Ray is driving the Ecto-1A to a new case. A Deleted Scene explains that Vigo possessed him to make him crash the Ecto-1A at high speed in order to kill the Ghostbusters, but Winston managed to wrestle control of the car.
• The Engineer: While Egon is typically the group's strategist during missions, Ray is the mechanic and practical inventor. He designed and built the ecto-containment system, the proton packs and the stuff on the Ectomobile, and also designs something called a "Ghost Bomb" in the cartoon series.
• For Science!: Far milder than Egon, though.
• Freudian Trio: Id
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Good on Ray's part. He's seen with a cigarette in almost every scene in the movies. In "Frozen Empire", he mentions having quit back in the 90's, though this unfortunately leaves him without a lighter in a situation where one would've been very useful.
• The Heart: He's considered this by the rest of the Ghostbusting team and Venkman introduces him exactly as such when greeting the cheering crowds before they head inside Spook Central in the first film.
• Heroic BSoD: Goes through a temporary one after accidentally summoning the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. He snaps out of it in time to fight Gozer.
  Venkman: Ray has gone bye-bye.
• Hollywood Atheist: An interesting case. In a short scene toward the end of the first movie, Ray and Winston are alone in Ecto-1, and Winston asks if Ray believes in God. His response is a brief "Never met him." It's rather strange to hear this coming from someone who sees strange spiritual events every day. Ray goes on to quote the Book of Revelations regarding the End of Days, showing that he has some Biblical knowledge. So, he may not be an atheist per se — he might be agnostic.^note Dan Aykroyd has stated that he portrayed Ray as someone who flunked out of seminary school after losing his faith and took up paranormal investigation as a desperate need to believe in something.
• Honourary Uncle: Has become "Uncle Ray" to the Spengler kids and Podcast in Frozen Empire.
• Hot-Blooded: Out of everyone, he is the most passionate when it comes to ghosts and the supernatural and is the first one to rush headfirst into the unknown.
• The Idealist: His joyous enthusiasm shows a sincere belief in goodness. When the Particle Throwers fails to crack the shell of hate-infused Mood Slime around the Manhattan Museum of Art, Ray, while wearied by the odds, submits a heartfelt conviction that beneficence merely requires some kind of ignition.
  Egon: That slime wall is pulsing with evil. It would take a tremendous amount of positive energy to crack that shell, and I seriously doubt that there's enough goodwill left in this town to do it.
  Ray: ...You know, I just can't believe things have gotten so bad in this city that there's no way back! I mean, sure, it's dirty, it's crowded, it's polluted, it's noisy, and there's people all around who'd just as soon step on your face as look at you. But come on! There gotta be a few sparks of sweet humanity left in this burned-out berg! We just have to figure out a way to mobilise it!
• Inconsistent Spelling: Stantz in the movies and video game, Stanz in The Real Ghostbusters. It's generally accepted that the cartoon misspelled Ray's surname, as opposed to how fans argue over whether Winston's is Zeddemore or Zeddmore.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With most of the new Ghostbusters in Frozen Empire, particularly Podcast and Phoebe, who refer to him as "Dr. Ray".
• The Lancer: To Peter, making it an interesting switch of the traditional roles; Ray is the idealistic, innocent one whereas Peter is the snarkier, self-centered one.
• Last-Name Basis: Unique among the main characters in that he generally refers to everyone except Winston by their last name. This seems more personal preference than reflective of his feelings towards them, however. In the second movie, he starts nicknaming everyone instead.
• Leeroy Jenkins: "GET HER!" Leading to a hilarious brick joke. "Go GET HER... Ray!"
• Mad Scientist: A heroic example.
• Manchild: His sheer delight at sliding down the fire pole (and at the rest of the fire station) in the first movie would put him here even if nothing else would. In general, however, where Peter is dry and cynical and Egon is clinically rational, Ray tends to have a lot of childlike enthusiasm for what they do. In the second movie, when he fails to possess Oscar, Vigo decides Ray's just as good. The fact that Vigo specifically requested a child to live through speaks volumes of Ray's man-child tendencies.
• The McCoy: Though more agreeable than his partners, he does jeopardize their safety with his headstrong personality.
• Mr. Exposition: In Afterlife, Ray is the one who explain to Phoebe (and the audience) what happened to the Ghostbusters in the last 30 years.
• Nice Guy: He's a decent person who genuinely wants to help others by using the technology the Ghostbusters create to study the supernatural and defend the city.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He unwittingly chooses the form of the Destructor after his childhood favourite mascot, Mr. Stay-Puft, "just popped in there" after Gozer commands them to choose how they wish to perish.
• Nightmare Fetishist: The dream sequence he has, featuring a beautiful floating spectre who unbuttons his flies, may suggest how deep his nightmare fetish goes.
• Not So Above It All: While normally a textbook Nice Guy, he's all for releasing Slimer when the hotel manager initially refuses to pay the bill for the team capturing him and is the one who dubs Walter Peck "Dickless".
• Took a Level in Cynic: Afterlife reveals that Ray has become a lot more bitter in the modern day. Already saddened by Peter and Winston leaving the team when paranormal activity died down, he suffered a major blow when Egon suddenly took off with all of their equipment without telling Ray where he was going. This left him alone to manage his bookshop and when Egon finally contacted him years later, he was so angry that he refused to listen to his warnings of Gozer's upcoming threat. He regains his idealism by the end of the film, returning him to the same Nice Guy he was in the original films.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While he was rightfully upset with Egon just disappearing and only getting in touch with him after 10 years without explaining himself prior, Ray's refusal to hear him out caused Egon to deal with the threat of Gozer's return on his own, leading to his death in Afterlife. Upon reuniting with Egon's ghost, Ray apologizes to him for not listening.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Peter, who relentlessly teases and takes advantage of him, even going so far as manipulating him into mortgaging his parents' house. In spite of that, it's obvious that they care about one another, as evident in their final goodbye to each other when confronting Gozer at the end of the first movie. Ray can occasionally dish some out too, such as choosing to call the Team Pet "Slimer" just to annoy Peter.

Egon

Egon Spengler, PhD

"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

Played by: Harold Ramis, Bob Gunton & Ivan Reitman (Afterlife) ^note Ramis's likeness was used in Afterlife, with Gunton (billed as "Ghost Farmer") and Reitman as body doubles.

Dubbed by: Jean-Pierre Leroux^note first two movies, Laurent Morteaux^note end credits scene in Afterlife, (European French) | Martín Soto (Latin American Spanish)

Appears in: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters: Afterlife

"I collect spores, molds, and fungus."

The brains of the Ghostbusters. He designed all the team's equipment and normally comes up with the plan to trap the ghosts. Overly analytical, Egon comes off as colder and more distant than he actually is. He's the father of Callie Spengler, and the grandfather of Trevor and Phoebe Spengler.

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• Action Dad: He regularly fights ghosts for a living, and has a daughter, Callie, who would have been about two years old by the first movie. By the time of the sequels, he's an Action Grandpa, now having two grandkids.
• Admiring the Abomination: Admires some of Ivo Shandor's work in the 2009 game but is also quick to admit that he was also very evil.
  Winston: Stay in the light, Egon.
  Egon: I'm trying.
• Always Identical Twins: Harold Ramis played Egon's twin brother Elon in an Earth Day special. Dr. Elon Spengler is the leader of the Wastebusters, an environmental association. He looks exactly like Egon, down to the hairstyle. The only visible difference is the lack of a proton pack and the fact that Elon wears white tennis shoes as opposed to the Ghostbusters' standard black boots.
• Ambiguous Situation: His death in the beginning of Afterlife; was it the result of using the PKE taser on himself to deny the being chasing him a host or was it a genuine heart attack brought upon by the stress of the car crash, his trap failing, and fending off the entity?
• Arbitrary Skepticism: In the IDW comics. He's fine with ghosts, demons, parallel realities, and alternate timelines, but he absolutely draws the line at aliens. Imagine his surprise when he meets some shape-shifting robots from the planet Cybertron...
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After the Ghostbusters are able to defeat Gozer once and for all in Afterlife, Egon's spirit remains long enough to reconcile with his family before moving on to the afterlife.
• Badass Bookworm: Not necessarily a Trope Codifier, but definitely one of the originals.
• Being Good Sucks: In Afterlife, it's revealed that he discovered Gozer was going to try to come back to Earth and dedicated the rest of his life to ensuring they would be defeated again, at the cost of him alienating himself from his friends and family.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Egon completely flips his shit when Peck accuses the Ghostbusters of causing the containment breach, something that Peck caused.
  • The IDW comics' Crossing Over event saw him dealing with Jillian Holtzmann and Ron Alexander's memories of how transdimensional technology worked by having them (unknowingly) read a subliminal messaging code that would interrupt their ability to think about it. With the Chicken Dance.
    Ray: Any side effects?
    Egon: Not... As far as I know.
• Big Good: In Afterlife, having orchestrated the plan to defeat Gozer before they could destroy the world, and assisting his family and friends as a spirit throughout the film.
• The Cavalry: In Afterlife, just as it appears Phoebe will be destroyed by Gozer, Egon's spirit form appears to steady her aim and distract Gozer long enough for the rest of the original team to fire their Packs at her.
• Chaste Hero: Despite the interest of Janine and many female students, he shows no interest in romance in the first two films. Afterlife retroactively reveals that he had a daughter, Callie, prior to the events of the first movie.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Not to the extent as Ray, but he did once try to drill a hole through his head.
• Collector of the Strange: Molds, fungus and spores, mostly. We see his gruesome collection in Afterlife when granddaughter Phoebe discovers his lab.
• The Comically Serious: In his own words: "I'm always serious."
• Crazy-Prepared: Afterlife establishes him as such, by revealing that he spent years building out a series of defensive measures to keep Gozer and the spirits in the Shandor Mine at bay, including a field of traps buried under the dirt farm at his property (part of a gambit to trap Gozer and/or the Terror-Dogs if they arrived), jury-rigged traps to stop the Well of Souls from coming up from the Mine, hidden compartments in his property to stash gear if he needed it, and enough gear in his underground lab to aid anyone else who may have needed to utilize it in their mission to stop Gozer... which comes true when his spirit form guides Phoebe to said tech.
• Creepy Child:
  • Implied in the second movie. While Ray and Egon are in baby Oscar's room, Egon reveals he never had any toys when he was a child. Ray is curious and asks if he really never had any toys, not even a Slinky, and Egon responds by saying he had part of a Slinky once (but he straightened it).
  • The novelization of the original film goes further, listing a number of strange experiments young Egon enacted which got him ostracized by his peers. "I think you've been spending too much time with Egon" was a common sentiment among his friends' parents.
• Crying Wolf: Another reason Egon wasn't able to get the help of the other Ghostbusters prior to the events of Afterlife was because he had gone after several other false leads that they were sick of being dragged into.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: He left his family behind while his daughter was still young in order to prevent Gozer's return.
• Deadpan Snarker: Egon has his share of dry comedy moments.
  • As seen when the guys are firing up their Packs.
  Venkman: Dooooooo—
  Stantz: Reeeeeeeee—
  Egon: Egonnnnnn!
  • When Phoebe is examining a proton pack, she wonders aloud how he got a part to be so small. Egon's spirit quickly moves the head of a desk lamp so it illuminates a whole wall of collegiate diplomas.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Hard to tell, but he smiles a lot more in the second film and is less serious and awkward in tone.
• Doting Grandparent: Forms a genuine bond with Phoebe, due to their similar personalities. His first action as a specter after his death is to get his granddaughter's attention through a game of chess. From then on, he slowly guides her around the farmhouse and helps her in fixing the proton pack. He also helps Trevor in fixing the Ecto-1, and the way he closes the hood, revealing the open barn door in front, seems like he's giving his grandson the approval to drive the car.
• Dying Alone: He dies after being attacked by Gozer's minions alone in his farmhouse, in a way that looks like he passed of natural causes. On the less depressing side of things, he at least gets to reconcile with his family and friends as a spirit before passing on to the next world.
• Endearingly Dorky: How could Janine resist such a handsome, shy, soft-spoken genius with No Social Skills?
• Fake Shemp: Bob Gunton portrays Egon in the cold open of Afterlife under heavy makeup and with his face heavily shadowed and never in focus; after this, Egon spends most of the movie as an invisible ghost. He finally appears onscreen during the climax, with CGI used to recreate his face, but never speaks.
• For Science!: Let's just say he can get rather disturbing with how far he'll go for the sake of science. Tricking people into thinking they're going to counseling when, in fact, he just wanted to test if slowly increasing the heat would alter their moods. Wanting to conduct a gynecological examination on Dana while investigating the baby carriage incident. Then there was that drill thing...
  "That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me!"
• Freudian Trio: Superego
• Friendly Ghost: One of the few the Ghostbusters encounter. After his death, Egon continues to remain in the living plane to ensure Gozer's defeat. Initially appearing as a Class 1 entity, he slowly repairs the relationship with his family and by the end of the film, he is able to fully manifest as a Class 4 ghost to help his friends and family to defeat Gozer once and for all.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He makes all of the equipment the Ghostbusters use. In fact, he works on so many gadgets, the other characters asked him how he can produce so much. He tells them he's been doing an experiment where he sleeps for an average of fourteen minutes a day.
• Genius Sweet Tooth: Describes New York City's telekinetic energy in terms of Twinkies, using his own as a visual aid. Accepts a Nestle Crunch bar as a reward. When Phoebe discovers his original Ghostbuster jumpsuit 32 years later, she finds a half-eaten Crunch bar in one of the pockets.
• The Hermit: In the thirty two years in between the second movie and Afterlife, Egon moved to Summerville and lived in a farmhouse. He was treated as a pariah by the townsfolk because of his eccentric behavior, and was given the nickname "Dirt Farmer" because he didn't grow anything despite constantly digging.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He seems rather detached from other people's feelings, and occasionally misleads or disturbs others for his own strange scientific goals, but his ultimate goal is for the common good.
• Killed Off for Real: Dies in the opening of Afterlife trying to stop Gozer's return. His ghost sticks around to help his grandkids finish the job.
• Mad Scientist: Close to a Trope Codifier, but a heroic version (though he still can get a bit disturbing). Egon is primarily a theoretician and field strategist who mainly wants to study the things which the Ghostbusters encounter, rather than destroy them. He also deals in morally questionable sociological experiments when not working with the Ghostbusters, at one point attempted to drill a hole into his own skull supposedly to increase his intelligence, and has a fascination with the horrifically evil work of Ivo Shandor from a pure intellectual standpoint.
• Married to the Job: Egon ultimately prioritizes protecting the world and his daughter from Gozer's return over his marriage, resulting in Callie resenting him for abandoning her and her (unnamed) mother.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He seems to be mildly sociopathic, as he routinely puts people in unpleasant situations for scientific purposes and shamelessly lies and jerks people around just to see what kind of reaction he gets. The best example of this is in the beginning of the sequel when he tests the effect of human emotion on the environment by ruining a couple's marriage and giving a little girl a puppy only to take it away again. Despite this ambiguity, Egon hasn't purposefully harmed anyone that the audience knows of, and does appear to care about others in some fashion or another.
• Nerds Are Sexy: At least, Janine, Kylie, and his college students think so. He's not entirely happy about it.
  "I think [my students are] more interested in my epididymis."
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant:
  • He is already shown to be a bit odd, but nothing too serious, and can be frank about otherwise horrifying information like the possibility of the world being destroyed. The whole "I collect molds, spores and fungus" thing is certainly strange but nothing horrifying. Then we get a glimpse into his life before the Ghostbusters — he used to be a coroner. This isn't too bad, though. Then he says that he does it as a hobby now.
  • In Afterlife, Egon spent decades preparing for Gozer's arrival but since no one believed him, it strained his relationship with his old teammates and his eccentric behavior labeled him mad by the people of Summerville, who kept their distance from him.
• Nice Guy: Although he's a mad scientist, whose methods are questionable, Spengler has a soft side only seen by his friends and Janine. Additionally, while it's subtle, he clearly does care about people, just not in the standard fashion; his daughter and grandkids are proof positive.
• Noodle Incident: Egon tried to drill a hole in his head at some point hoping to increase his intelligence further. All we know is Peter stopped him before he could do it.
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: In the climax of Afterlife, both generations of Ghostbusters are losing the fight against Gozer and just when his granddaughter is about to lose a Beam-O-War with the evil god, Egon is able to manifest as a Class 4 entity to help his friends and family even the odds.
• Not So Stoic:
  • The scene where he flips out when Peck accuses the Ghostbusters of causing a massive explosion that Peck himself caused.
    "YOUR MOTHER!"
  • In the video game, as he and the Rookie are going up the elevator, suddenly they are treated to a phantom image of the Spider Witch and one of her victims. Egon is quite shaken at seeing this. In fact, he seems quite nervous throughout the Spider Witch's level. He also angrily tears up a sign prohibiting the Ghostbusters from entering the hotel at the beginning of the level. His uncharacteristic edginess may be explained by to his own in-game notes: Egon admits he has arachnophobia.
  • His reaction to getting snarked at by a serious Jerkass in the IDW comic is a scream and an attempt to throttle him! Another comic has him fighting a ghost woman, ending with him standing over her and growling. He has to be calmed down by the others and doesn't even recognize them at first.
  • Egon seems to have something of a hot temper in general, and when he's agitated, his first response seems to be to go directly for the throat. Beware the Nice Ones indeed!
• Oblivious to Love: How the animated series and IDW comics interpret his relationship with Janine.
• Papa Wolf: Not even death can stop Egon from coming back from the dead to help his granddaughter destroy Gozer for good.
• The Peeping Tom: The Richard Mueller novelization says that as a teenager, Egon would spy on his friends having sex then managed to devise a way of predicting who would catch STDs and posted the results on the school notice board.
• Poor Communication Kills: In Afterlife, after he discovered that Gozer was going to return, he took off for Summerville with all of the team's equipment without telling Ray where he was going. When he finally reached out to him ten years later to explain himself and get his help, Ray didn't want to hear it and refused.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Ray comes to regret all the resentment he had towards Egon upon realizing he didn't go crazy, and his actions helped save the world from Gozer once more.
• Retired Badass: In Afterlife, the prologue opens with him catching Vinz Clortho (the same spirit / Terror-Dog that possessed Louis Tully in the original film) at the Shandor Mine, transporting him back to the farmhouse (while being pursued by Zuul) and attempting to utilize the farm's defenses before hiding the trap to keep Vinz sealed. While Zuul eventually catches (and kills) him, it's clear that he gave everything he got, and then some, before going down.
• Serkis Folk: Egon during the final battle in Afterlife was portrayed on-set by Bob Gunton and Ivan Reitman, with Harold Ramis's face added later.
• Shout-Out: Named for Egon Kisch (a famous Czechoslovakian journalist who, among other things, helped popularize the Golem of Prague and claimed to be descended from its creator, Rabbi Loew) and German philosopher Oswald Spengler. Sources conflict a bit, as "Egon" might not come from Egon Kisch, but from a classmate of Harold Ramis's in high school named Egon Donsbach, who was a refugee from Hungary.
• Silent Snarker: In Afterlife, after Phoebe wonders how he was able to build the proton pack in the first place, Egon's spirit quickly manipulates a lamp to illuminate a wall covered with all of his collegiate degrees. This is justified since he's a poltergeist at this point and can't actually talk.
• The Smart Guy: While Ray is also intelligent, Egon is The Strategist of the group and has a noticeably stronger grasp of the raw physics behind what they do. Case in point Ray was elated that they vaporized an extra-dimensional god entity right up until Egon pointed out that they hadn't strictly speaking banished it and were now in potentially much greater danger.
• Specs of Awesome: He's the biggest nerd in an 80s sci-fi film — what did you expect?
• Spirit Advisor: Is killed in the prologue of Afterlife by Gozer's minions. His ghost sticks around to guide his granddaughter to his lab and tools and eventually manifests in the final battle to aid her and the other OG Ghostbusters in stopping Gozer once and for all.
• The Spock: Pure intellect — they didn't dub him "The Head" for nothing. Even when reacting with abject terror, his response is to state his own inability to form rational thoughts due to fear rather than scream or panic.
• The Stoic: Any disquiet he shows is usually contained by an unflappable sobriety. When he, Ray and Winston are drenched in negatively charged Mood Slime, Egon realizes what's happening, and urges them to take off their slimed overalls; although this may be at least partly because the other two emerged from the Slime first — in the novelization, Egon attempts to join in the emerging fray.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Is killed in the opening scene of Afterlife by either Zuul or Vinz Clortho, then goes on to be the unseen Spirit Advisor for Phoebe and Trevor throughout the film before reappearing in ghost form in the film's climax to help put down Gozer for good beside his old teammates.
• Take Up My Sword: Following his death, he guides his granddaughter into discovering what he has been doing over the last few decades. Taking interest in his work and wanting to know more of Egon, Phoebe follows his footsteps and assembles a new generation of Ghostbusters to complete her grandfather's work.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: In the first film's climax, Egon drops the following gem while his tone of voice is only slightly more emotional than normal:
  "I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought!"
• The Voiceless: Though Harold Ramis' likeness is digitally used on a body double, Egon has no lines outside of archive footage throughout Afterlife, even when he is still alive in the beginning. He rectifies this by communicating with his family via the use of chess pieces, his P.K.E. Meter, and moving the lights around in his house.
• When He Smiles: Sometimes when he does smile it comes across as ominous or threatening. However, when he does it for genuine reasons it's nice to see, such as when he's assuring Dana that he won't use anything to hurt Oscar during a routine check-up or silently telling his grandchildren "good job" for going up against Gozer.

Winston

Winston Zeddemore

"We had the tools, we had the talent!"

Played by: Ernie Hudson

Dubbed by: Med Hondo^note first two movies, Serge Faliu^note Afterlife, (European French) | Emilio Guerrero^note In the original TV dub and the DVD dub, Octavio Rojas^note In Sony's redub for streaming services (Latin American Spanish)

Appears in: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

"If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say."

The "normal one" of the Ghostbusters, Winston joined when he saw an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a fourth member. The most down-to-earth member of the team, originally joined for the money, but is still a loyal and heroic member of the team.

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• Action Dad: Winston had kids at some point during the interim between Ghostbusters II and Afterlife. He's still not afraid to strap on a Proton Pack when the situation calls for it.
• Adapted Out: Is weirdly absent from the 1990 video game.
• Affectionate Nickname: Ray calls him "Zed".
• All There in the Manual: The entirety of Winston's backstory is relegated to secondary works, and he receives little characterization in the first two films.
• Anonymous Benefactor: Afterlife's second Stinger reveals that he is the one who keeps paying the rent for Ray's Occult Bookstore, jokingly saying to Janine that "it's bound to turn in a profit someday". He also bought back the original Ghostbusters Firehouse HQ, and is planning to restore the (really beat-up) ECTO-1, in its original state. This results in him being The Team Benefactor in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, which is set after the movie and features players as a new team under his purview.
• Audience Surrogate: Lends a drily lay perspective to the unorthodox academia of the first three 'Busters.
• Basement-Dweller: The Richard Mueller novelization says he lives at home and applied to the Ghostbusters because his mother kept hen-pecking him to look for a job.
• Big Good: Winston becomes the financial backer of the Ghostbusters organization as a whole due to his newfound wealth in the finance industry, and Frozen Empire highlights him expanding the scope of supernatural research and protecting his friends and families of his friends from an unfriendly mayor. With Peter retired and Ray being more focused on lore and artifacts, it falls to Winston to ensure that the Ghostbusters don't go under like it did in the past.
• The Big Guy: A former marine who provides the muscle and firepower in a team otherwise composed of scientists.
• Cultured Badass: He is shown to be a fan of opera and seems to be the most civil-minded of the Ghostbusters. When he does earn his doctorate (in the video game), it appears to be in either History or Egyptology.
• Deadpan Snarker: Must be a job requirement.
• Family Man: He briefly mentions in Afterlife that he has kids, though whether he's also married remains unclear.
• Genius Bruiser: He is a very competent member of the Ghostbusters team. In the video game, while the others are chasing after the Grey Lady, he is looking through the newspaper archives for info on her, though he pretends he's looking up a baseball game. In the novelization of Ghostbusters, it is shown he was once in the Marines and has experience with different kinds of technology, which helped him get into the busting more easily than one would think a new hire would. This evidently extends to his post-Busting years, as the second stinger to Afterlife reveals him to be a very skilled businessman who made it big and even helps keep Ray's bookshop afloat.
• Hired on the Spot: He's immediately hired after being introduced to Peter and Ray due to their sudden increased work load.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Well, that might be pushing it, but Winston is far and away the best shot with a Neutrona Wand.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Is it "Zeddmore" or "Zeddemore"? Both of the movies and the game spell it Zeddemore, leading people to believe The Real Ghostbusters, which used "Zeddmore," misspelled Winston's surname.
• Only in It for the Money: His original reason for joining in the first place.
  Winston: If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.
• Only Sane Man: Compared with his colleagues, the quirky paranormal scientists, he has more common sense.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: In Afterlife: "Let's toast this muffin!"
• Punch-Clock Hero: Took up ghostbusting purely to get a steady paycheck.
• Rank Up: Goes from the newbie of the team in the original Ghostbusters to the Big Good managing the company by the time of Frozen Empire.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Or, in his case, Jesus' style.
• Semper Fi: A former marine, he has a bit more physical aptitude for the job than the other three 'Busters with their Geek Physiques, and has a mind for readiness. He's also the best shot with the proton pack's Neutrona Wand emitter and is insistent on full equipment a few times in Ghostbusters II. He's the only one who wears his proton pack into the museum on the surprise inspection, and also insists (to no avail) to go back for the proton packs when they delve into the subways. He's also the most likely one to be in uniform in the sequel after they are back in business, even at the station. Once a marine, always a marine...
• Sixth Ranger: Doesn't appear until the second half of the first movie, which explains why he tends to be left off some promotional materials for the movie, especially during its theatrical release.
• Skepticism Failure: He notes that he didn't believe in the supernatural when he joined the Ghostbusters. That doesn't last long, of course, as he famously explains to Mayor Clotch's office staff.
  Winston: Look, I've only been with the company for a couple of weeks. But I gotta tell you, these things are real. Since I joined these men, I've seen shit that'll turn you white!
• Token Minority: The team's resident black guy.
• Token Religious Teammate: The only explicitly religious member of the team.
• Undying Loyalty: The way he says it in Afterlife's second Stinger "he is a Ghostbuster first and a businessman second". After the original team disbanded and he made it big in business, he kept looking out for his former teammates.
• Unfazed Everyman: He takes the whole Ghostbusting business very well and he seems to be the most normal out of all of its members. No major idiosyncrasies to make him quirky or anything; he is just a normal guy with a job as a spectral exterminator. Perhaps, ironically, the lack of any major defining quirks among a group as odd as the Ghostbusters is his quirk.
• Wealthy Ever After: Afterlife reveals that after he and Peter left the team, Winston got into the finance industry and made a fortune for himself.

Janine

Janine Melnitz

As she appears in the original two films

^{Click here} to see her as she appears in Afterlife

Played by: Annie Potts

Dubbed by: Maïk Darah (European French)

Appears in: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

"I've quit better jobs than this!" *answers phone* "Ghostbusters, whaddya want!?"

The Ghostbusters' secretary/receptionist, Janine is incredibly sarcastic but very loyal to the Ghostbusters, and often entrust her with keeping everything running that they are too busy to handle. In most continuities she acts as Sixth Ranger for the Ghostbusters whenever they need extra muscle or a replacement.

---

• All Love Is Unrequited: Has a crush on Egon, who is just not interested in a relationship, unless you count a deleted scene in Afterlife canon, then it turns bittersweet.
• All Women Are Lustful: She is quite forward with both Egon and Louis, and is the one to make the first move when the latter is clearly too shy to do so.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Like Egon, she has a very Jewish-sounding name, but her ethnicity is never mentioned.
• Ambiguous Situation: In Afterlife, she's deliberately vague when describing her relationship with Egon to his estranged daughter. And in The Stinger, it's again not clear if she's just visiting Winston for a chat, or if they have some more formal relationship.
• Bad "Bad Acting": As seen when she and Louis are roped into acting in a cheap TV commercial for the company.
  "Who are you going to call?"
• Beleaguered Assistant: Poor Janine — she's in charge of every single secretarial thing that goes on in the Firehouse. Despite being so swamped, she's able to keep everything going smoothly. Despite all she does, her boss Peter continues to refuse to hire more help around the Firehouse to ease her workload. He also expects her to come in even if there is a mass exodus of the city. Her sassy demeanor makes a lot of sense once you consider all of the work and abuse stresses she has to deal with, not to mention the babysitting she has to do for three nutcase Mad Scientists before Winston added a bit more sanity.
• Bookworm: She says that she reads a lot, and her first appearance has her reading a magazine at her desk.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Was this for Egon prior to Afterlife, making sure his bills were paid because he only focused on stopping Gozer.
• Deadpan Snarker: Easily the biggest snarker in the series next to Venkman. For example, in response to a policeman arriving at the door;
  "Dropping off or picking up?"
• The Face: Janine is the receptionist for the four-man organization; a notably interpersonal role. One scene in the first movie has her trying to convince a customer of their professionalism.
• Fiery Redhead: Has red hair and is quite the Deadpan Snarker. In the second movie, she has a makeover to look more like her cartoon counterpart.
• Kicked Upstairs: In the IDW comics, after a fashion. Peck offers Janine the role of liaison for the Paranormal Contract Oversight Commission, specifically citing her role as Team Mom (the Ghostbusters respect her authority already) and Sassy Secretary (Peck knows she won't take flak from either the Ghostbuster or the P.C.O.C. and will be vocal about it). Janine accepts.
• Only Sane Woman: Until Winston shows up. After that, they trade off on the "babysitting the mad scientists" duty.
• Pair the Spares: She hooks up with Louis in the second film, or at least makes out with him.
• Rank Up: In Frozen Empire, while she maintains her old job as the Firehouse's secretary, she is also shown assisting Winston in more integral matters of the Ghostbusters organization and being privy to things that even the current roster of Busters aren't, which makes sense given her loyalty and seniority to the company.
• Sarcastic Devotee: Despite her very sarcastic interaction with her bosses, she remains their loyal secretary.
• Sassy Secretary: She's very vocal about any grievances with the job and is incredibly dry and sarcastic in tone.
  [on a call to a customer] "Well they couldn't get to you until after the New Year....Well just don't go in there!" *slams phone down*
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: She's mostly contemptuous of Venkman. Her first scene has him ineffectually attempting to make conversation while she fires back with short, disinterested responses and a Death Glare.
• Team Mom: Especially in the comics continuity when she keeps on eye on how everyone is doing emotionally, and when the Ghostbusters go missing, runs the entire organization.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • The comics and animated series show that she is proficient enough with a proton pack and a trap to blast ghosts if she has to. She takes another one in the comics, taking over as liaison for the P.C.O.C. at the end of the Crossing Over event.
  • Finally comes to fruition in live action when she gears up with the other Busters for the battle against Garraka in Frozen Empire.
• Unfazed Everyman: She is surrounded by men who hunt ghosts, half of whom are mad scientists. Not once has she ever batted an eye at any of this.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: She seems to take the ghostbusting business pretty well, never showing any signs of it being out of the ordinary.

Louis

Louis Tully

Played by: Rick Moranis

Dubbed by: Marc François (European French)

Appears in: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II

"Who does your taxes?"

An accountant and Dana Barrett's neighbor who gets possessed by Vinz Clortho in the first film. In Ghostbusters II, he is forced to be the defense for Ghostbusters at their trial, then gets to be a temporary Ghostbuster.

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• Butt-Monkey: Especially in the first movie. He's all but ignored by Dana, has his apartment trashed by the Terror-Dog form of Vinz Clortho, suffers the indignity of being possessed by said demon in front of a restaurant with open windows (whose patrons do not care at all), gets turned into a Terror-Dog himself, and by the end, ends up mostly ignored and treated as a random victim by the paramedics while the rest of the team are greeted to cheers from the crowd.
• Closest Thing We Got: He specifically warns the main quartet that he doesn't know criminal law when they're arrested for digging up 6th Avenue. Sure enough, he botches the defense and the judge rules against them. It's only the timely appearance of ghosts (thereby proving to the disbelieving judge that ghosts are real) that get the Ghostbusters off the hook. To his credit, Tully does rise to the occasion and plays legal hardball at that moment to force the judge to rescind the restraining order.
• Demonic Possession: His defence statement when defending the guys in court? He was once turned into a dog and the Busters helped him.
• Determinator: Louis may not be as tough as many of the characters, but he managed to outrun a terror dog before it cornered him. To add bonus points, he survived jumping over a wall near the Tavern on the Green, without any injury. James Rolfe pointed out, during a tour of the Ghostbusters locations, that said wall would risk breaking your legs due to its long drop.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Dana, who views him as a vaguely harmless bother, and later Janine. The first film's novelization notes that with Dana, at least some of his attraction stems from the fact he is/was destined to be the Keymaster to her Gatekeeper.
• Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Slimer's Fat.
• Friend to All Children: Louis, despite his awkwardness, is good with kids, managing to get Oscar to sleep. The second Oscar gets kidnapped, he goes to get the Ghostbusters out of the Asylum and then suits up himself.
• Mugging the Monster: A Deleted Scene has a possessed Tully being confronted by a gang in the park and scaring them off with a roar.
• Nerd Glasses: Of the thick, clunky, and unflattering type.
• Non-Action Guy: At first. He picks up a proton pack in the second movie.
• Non-Powered Costumed Hero: While not being an expert fighter, he puts on the Ghostbuster uniform and does his part to help save the day in the second movie.
• Oblivious to Love: During a party at his apartment, an attractive, curvaceous blonde woman becomes angry that he's not giving her attention and quickly becomes giddy when he offers to dance with her. He doesn't seem to read too much into this, perhaps only having eyes for Dana.
• Odd Friendship: Once he gets over being scared of Slimer, the pair seem to get along pretty well.
• Put on a Bus: He doesn't appear in the 2009 video game due to Rick Moranis' semi-retirement. He still works with the Ghostbusters as their accountant and is helping them franchise, but his absence is explained as him being sick that week. He goes without even a mention in Afterlife, where all of the rest of the main cast cameo at least. This absence or lack of mention continues into Frozen Empire.
• Sixth Ranger: In the second movie. He acts as the Ghostbusters' lawyer and accountant, and later suits up to help the team with a Proton Pack in the finale.
• Stalker with a Crush: He comes off as such in the first film, apparently sitting just inside his apartment door all day long so he won't miss Dana walking down the hall. (Though, again, it may not be entirely his fault, see above under Dogged Nice Guy.)
• Took a Level in Badass: He does strap on ghostbusting equipment to help the team out in the second movie, but he's still far from badass... at first. When Vigo's power is weakened by the chanting crowds outside the Museum of Art, Louis blasting the psychic shell surrounding the building with his borrowed proton pack begins to work.
  I'm right here with you, guys!

New Team

In General

One day, over thirty years after the Ghostbusters' heyday, the teen grandchildren of Egon Spengler move to Summerville, Oklahoma, which is struck by a wave of supernatural phenomena. They find the Ghostbusters' old equipment and the Ecto-1 in a farm once owned by the late Egon and, together with friends, decide to put them to use against the supernatural entities, thus becoming the new Ghostbusters.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: The original team consisted of four males, with Winston being the lone minority. The new team consists of two males and two females, with one of the males (Podcast) Asian and one of the females (Lucky) Black.
• Badass Family: At the start of Frozen Empire, the new Ghostbusters are the three members of the Spengler family plus Grooberson, who has become a Parental Substitute for Phoebe and Trevor.
• Cool Car: The old Ecto-1 is put to use once again.
• Instant Expert: While Phoebe at least had a short practice with a Proton Pack, Lucky and Trevor on the other hand do not but quickly know how to operate one when battling Gozer.
• Kid Heroes: They range from 12 to around 17, and the oldest, Lucky, is at most a high school senior.
• Legacy Characters: They found the Ghostbusters' equipment and car in an old farm once owned by Egon Spengler and put them to use as they encounter new supernatural threats, this time in Summerville, Oklahoma instead of New York City. They all have personality traits similar to the original team (though not in perfectly identical bundles like the originals).
• Sibling Team: Phoebe and Trevor are the first pair of siblings to pick up a proton pack.
• Two Girls to a Team: Phoebe and Lucky are the first two female members of the team in Afterlife. They're later joined by Callie in Frozen Empire.

Phoebe

Phoebe Spengler

"My grandfather died. My mom says we're just here to pick through the rubble of his life."

Played by: Mckenna Grace

Appears in: Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

The granddaughter of Egon Spengler.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Her family often calls her "Pheebs".
• Ambiguously Gay: While Podcast obviously has something of a crush on her she doesn't reciprocate at all (though whether this is due to Incompatible Orientation or her just generally being awkward is unclear) - and in the sequel Melody and Phoebe share lots of intimate and tender moments but they never officially state their relationship.
• An Astral Projection, Not a Ghost: When Phoebe uses the de-possession machine to remove her soul from her body in order to better interact with Melody, it is made clear that she is still very much alive and still linked to her body as she states beforehand that her soul would return in 2 minutes after separation, and her body's lips move with her spirit's when she gets possessed by Garraka.
• Badass Adorable: She's charmingly sweet-looking, with cute Quirky Curls and huge blue eyes, but her powerful scientific mind belies her tender 12 years.
• Bad "Bad Acting": The first act establishes that Phoebe has a stable of corny jokes she trots out in an attempt to impress her family — to little response (Trevor even recommends against it). She does the same to Gozer the Gozerian in the third act, using her corny jokes to distract the entity long enough for Podcast to get the RTV in place to release her mother from the Terror-Dog.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Usually she is very calm and reasonable, but when Sheriff Domingo insults her grandfather, she grabs the Neutrona Wand and tries to threaten him with it.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: She's a genius with a keen scientific mind, but regular schooling bores her which is why she has to attend summer school.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: While her jokes aren't that bad, the only one who seems to find them genuinely funny is Podcast.
• Child Prodigy: Phoebe is described as "science-obsessed". She is able to quickly learn how the P.K.E. Meter and the Proton Pack work.
• Disappeared Dad: She and Trevor were raised by their single mother, Callie. Apparently their father wasn't able to make a connection to Phoebe, which led to him eventually leaving. Gary calls him a royal scumbag for that, though Callie insists he was just a run-of-the-mill scumbag.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The end credits song "Haunted House" is sung by her actress.
• Gadgeteer Genius: She's introduced rewiring her family's apartment to better leech off their neighbor. On Egon's farm, she quickly figures out what's wrong with a proton pack and gets it back into working order with a little paranormal assistance.
• Generation Xerox: She's essentially an adolescent female version of Egon: same dark curly hair, same kind of glasses, same quirky emotionally subdued demeanor, same inquiring mindset, same interest in science. Egon's spirit even bonds with her by showing her his lab and how to fix some of the old Ghostbusters equipment. She has also inherited Egon's suddenly explosive temper as shown by her reaction to the Ecto-1 getting impounded, their gear getting confiscated, and the sheriff insulting her grandfather. It's exemplified in the scene where she finds all the old equipment in Egon's hidden lab; she finds the old jumpsuit uniforms and pulls out glasses stuffed in the pocket of Egon's uniform, compares them with her own glasses... and finds that the frame styles are identical.
• Hates Being Touched: Downplayed. She gets startled and doesn't like it when Callie or Podcast hug her. Trevor seems to give her high fives instead of hugs as well.
• In the Blood: Phoebe has a confirmed operational Proton Pack strapped to her back. Podcast has a satchel with an empty Ghost Trap in it. She sees a ghost roving about in the refinery ruins. What's the first notion she has? Try to catch it. She's Egon's granddaughter through and through.
• Little Miss Badass: She's only twelve, but takes to active duty as a Ghostbuster as well as her grandfather did, even facing down an evil Sumerian god. Notably, she's the youngest character to ever hold a proton pack, and it's nearly as big as she is!
• Nerd Glasses: She wears glasses very similar to her grandfather's.
• Nerves of Steel: Hanging out the side of a moving car while her brother Drives Like Crazy, firing a proton pack at a fleeing ghost? Staring down freaking Gozer and distracting them with the jokes you can find on bubble gum wrappers even knowing that this entity killed her grandpa? Yeah. She even says excitement makes her calmer.
• Nice Girl: She may be slightly awkward, but she easily hits it off with Podcast and Mr. Grooberson thanks to her amiable personality.
• Quirky Curls: She has short curly hair.
• Skewed Priorities: When Garraka attacks the fire house, Phoebe is more focused on talking to Melody then helping to fight him off.
• Small Girl, Big Gun: A preteen girl with a Proton Pack.
• Stronger Than They Look: For a 12-year-old girl with a scrawny build, Phoebe is able to carry a Proton Pack with ease.^note The props for the Proton Pack are about 35 pounds (16 kg), and would weigh more in-universe.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Her glasses and curly hair give her a strong resemblance to her grandfather.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: When Podcast pushes her on how she feels at the prospect of her mother and Grooberson getting it on, she says she's vomiting inside while not reacting outwardly. Evidently one of many things she inherited from her grandfather.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Due to being benched from Ghostbusting until she's 18, Phoebe becomes considerably more biting towards everyone around her, notably insulting Meldoy's name and repeatedly insisting her mother doesn't deserve to be a Ghostbuster.
• Unfazed Everyman: Another trait she inherited from Egon. Most children her age would very likely scream if they see a ghost. Phoebe on the other hand is not even spooked by the fact that there is a ghost playing chess with her, before even knowing it was her grandfather.
• Younger Than They Look: Due to her serious demeanor, it's easy to forget that she's twelve.
• Young and in Charge: She appears to be the de facto leader of the new Ghostbusters team, despite being only 12 years old and the presence of two older members. This is because she is the first to learn of her grandfather's exploits and the only one to understand how most of the equipment works.

Trevor

Trevor Spengler

"We're completely broke and the only thing that's left in our name is this creepy old farmhouse our grandfather left us in the middle of nowhere."

Played by: Finn Wolfhard

Appears in: Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

The grandson of Egon Spengler.

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• Awesomeness by Analysis: In the climax, once he gets his proton pack repaired, he realizes that there's already four people with Proton Packs holding Gozer down and that what the group really needs is a way to power the Trap field. Thus, he fires his beam at the transformers that failed the first time to energize them, and the traps are finally powered up.
• Big Brother Instinct: He's fiercely protective of Phoebe, and quite literally uses himself as a shield to protect her from the death pit.
• Book Dumb: While Trevor is far from unintelligent, he's not as academically inclined as his sister, so she has to bring him up to speed on the subjects like how to read a seismic map.
• Cool Big Bro: He makes legitimate efforts to help Phoebe socialize better and will always step in to save her from any danger. He also more aware that she doesn't like hugs and gives her high fives instead.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's essentially the new generation's Peter, as he's always making sarcastic quips and has an eye for the ladies.
  Trevor: Hey, remember that one summer when we died under a table?
• Disappeared Dad: He and Phoebe were raised by their single mother.
• Drives Like Crazy: He did fail his driver's test three times, and it shows when he gets Ecto-1 in a high-speed chase.
• Generation Xerox: While not to the same extent as his sister, it's clear that Trevor has inherited Egon's knack for mechanics and engineering, as he frequently makes repairs to the family's car and is able to tinker with the Ecto-1 enough to get it running. He also inherits Peter's habit of snarking about everything and issues with Slimer.
• Hidden Depths: During the final battle, when Gozer has already been held down by four Proton Packs, Trevor, in a moment of ingenuity, fires his beam at the transformers to activate the ghost traps beneath the farm, showing that while he is not as smart as his sister, Trevor does inherit his grandfather's intelligence. He is also able to bring the Ecto-1 back into service despite only being 15 years old.
• Love at First Sight: He's smitten with Lucky the moment he sees her at the drive-in, applying for a job there on the spot.
• Mr. Fixit: Upon seeing the derelict Ecto-1 in Egon's barn, Trevor uses the free time he has to fix it and manages to get it up and running again with a little help from his grandfather's spirit.
• Really 17 Years Old: Trevor's appearance and ability to drive indicate he is an older teen, and he tells Lucky that he is 17. This turns out to be a lie as his sister reveals that he is actually 15.
• Say My Name: He shouts Phoebe's name a few times before grabbing her away from the death pit.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Shares his sister's dark curly hair, again making him resemble his grandfather.
• Younger Than They Look: Downplayed but because of his appearance, and that he has failed his driver's test three times, he can actually pass for an older teen. It turns out he lied about his age and that he is actually 15.

Podcast

Podcast

Played by: Logan Kim

Appears in: Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

A kid in Summerville around Phoebe's age who befriends her and has his own podcast that covers supernatural phenomena.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: He is the only one that finds Phoebe's jokes genuinely funny.
• Ascended Fanboy:
  • He is super excited when he finds out that Phoebe's grandfather is a Ghostbuster and eagerly helps her out test the repaired proton pack and joins her to finish what Egon started.
  • Frozen Empire has him interning at Ray's bookshop for the summer (while telling his parents he's at space camp).
• Beware the Silly Ones: Is the one who provides a good amount of the humor for the movie but when he has to deal with the mini Stay-Pufts, he gleefully starts tasering them to drive them off, and ends up getting covered in marshmallow goo.
• Chekhov's Gun: Subverted because he tries to use the Aztec Death Whistle he got earlier against Muncher, but just gets him angry.
• Conspiracy Theorist: It's one of the topics of his podcast, next to supernatural events and restaurant reviews.
• Failed a Spot Check: He is a podcaster on the supernatural yet didn't know who the Ghostbusters were. Gary calls him out on that.
• Generation Xerox: Acts as Ray's counterpart, being just as interested in the supernatural as Ray, while also running something related to the supernatural. Hilariously, the one persistent subscriber to his podcast is Ray.
• Growing the Beard: It's said In-Universe that Podcast's podcast doesn't get good until episode 46.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": He's a Ghostbusters, supernatural, and conspiracy theory geek with his very own podcast about it. Needless to say, he's over the moon when he meets his one subscriber who just so happens to be a Ghostbuster.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He introduces himself to Phoebe with his moniker and never reveals what his birth name is. We still don't know by the time of Frozen Empire.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His flash drive of choice is a Rainbow Dash, indicating that he's a Brony.invoked

Lucky

Lucky Domingo

Played by: Celeste O'Connor

Appears in: Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

The daughter of the local Summerville sheriff and Trevor's love interest.

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• Ascended Extra: While her role wasn't too minor in Afterlife, she gets an expanded one in Frozen Empire, now interning at Winston's Paranormal Research Center.
• Demonic Possession: After being exorcised from Callie, Zuul later possess Lucky during the climactic battle, turning her into a demon dog.
• The Gadfly: She takes great joy in teasing Nadeem about his grandmother's secret room of artifacts that she jokingly refers to as a "sex dungeon".
• Generation Xerox: Is the new Ghostbusters version of Winston, being the last member to join.
• Instant Expert: Downplayed. She makes an admirable effort singlehandedly holding down the hobbled Gozer with a proton pack that she probably never used before, before equipment failures elsewhere leads to her going down for the count.
• Sassy Black Woman: She's a definite smart-aleck who enjoys teasing Trevor.
• Sixth Ranger: She is the final member of the new Ghostbusters, but only officially joins them right before the climax of Afterlife begins.
• The Tease: She is well aware of Trevor's crush on her and loves to tease him about it.

Callie

Callie Spengler

"I'm fine with Trevor, but with Phoebe, she really keeps me on the outside."

Played by: Carrie Coon

Appears in: Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

The single mother of Phoebe and Trevor.

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• Alcoholic Parent: It’s clear that she's lapsed into drink-dependency as a result of her current financial situation, being seen at one point passed out at the Spengler farm's kitchen table while still clutching a glass of red wine.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: There's no mention at all of Callie's mom.
• Anti-Education Mama: Callie dislikes scientists, because her deadbeat father was one, and so she has trouble coming to terms with the fact that her teenage daughter Phoebe wants to be a scientist one day.
• Broken Bird: It took seeing her childhood photos in her father's basement to break Callie from her cynicism and she can barely hold back her tears. Right before Egon moves on, Callie shares a tearful hug with him, showing she's finally overcome her disdain toward him.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Callie has nothing but disdain toward Egon for being absent for her entire life, and whenever the topic of him is brought up she will negatively comment about him. It isn't until she finds out that Egon was keeping tabs on her and kept childhood photos of her in his lab that Callie realizes that her father indeed loves her.
• Deceptive Legacy: She's come to believe that her father was crazy and did not love her. She extended this belief to her children. She is shocked to find out later that Egon had a wall full of photos chronicling her childhood and adolescence in his lab.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: After spending the entire film being an Ice Queen toward everyone including her own children, Callie becomes more cheerful upon realizing that her father indeed loved her.
• Demonic Possession: She gets possessed by Zuul midway through the film, prompting her children to step up and rescue her.
• Disappeared Dad: Whether Egon was never in her life or left when she was young is unclear, but she grew up without him and became resentful of his absence.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Mother: While Callie makes no attempt to hide her distaste for science, and allows Phoebe to pursue hobbies related to science and has no problem with Trevor's interest in automotive repairs, when Phoebe's curiosity about her grandfather's job causes her, Trevor, and Podcast to be arrested she immediately puts her foot down.
• Freudian Excuse: Callie suffers from abandonment issues since she was a child, from both her father and ex-husband, and because of this, is rather aloof toward both of her children.
• Final First Hug: She gets one with the spirit form of her father at the ending of Afterlife.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though she can be abrasive to her children and an alcoholic thanks to her abandonment issues, she proves to be a loving person, ultimately forgiving her father in his spirit form after realising everything he did was to protect his family.
• Like Parent, Unlike Child: She happens to be on both ends of the trope with her father (Egon) and her daughter (Phoebe), exemplified by her blond hair and her distaste for science.
• Locked Out of the Loop: She spends a majority of the film not knowing of her father's role as a Ghostbuster, something both her children had already find out, likely due to her disdain toward Egon. She only finds out in the second half of the film, right before being possessed by Zuul.
• Remember the New Guy?: According to Egon's notes on a note card seen at the 1:26:37 mark, Callie celebrated her second birthday in 1984. Therefore, she was born in 1982. Which means she was born before the first two movies despite Egon mentioning no partner or children.
• Struggling Single Mother: She's broke and she and her children have been evicted from their home as a result, which forces them to move into an old farm her father (Egon Spengler) owned in Oklahoma.
• Took a Level in Badass: She is much more of an active participant in ghost hunting in Frozen Empire.
• Transformation of the Possessed: When Zuul possesses her, she changes Callie's clothes to a gold dress, then later turns her into a Terror Dog.

Grooberson

Mr. Gary Grooberson

"Wow! Killer replica!" ^note It's the real thing.

Played by: Paul Rudd

Appears in: Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

"Somehow, a town that isn't anywhere near a tectonic plate, that has no fault lines, no fracking, no loud music even, is shaking on a daily basis..."

The science teacher of Phoebe and Podcast.

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• Actor Allusion: He retains a penchant for Baskin-Robbins ice cream — a nod to Paul Rudd's similar tastes in Ant-Man.
• The Alleged Car: Grooberson owns a Toyota Corolla that ends up losing its windshield during an experiment with a Ghost Trap. When chased by Vinz Clortho, he tries to escape in it, but he fumbles to get his keys in the ignition and its tires flatten once the Terror-Dog sits on the hood.
• Alliterative Name: Gary Grooberson. Lampshaded by Phoebe.
• Apathetic Teacher: His lessons during summer school amount to just showing the students old horror movies while he works on his research regarding the recent quakes in town.
• Ascended Fanboy: He was a big fan of the original Ghostbusters when he was a child. Frozen Empire reveals he's moved to New York with the Spenglers and become a full-fledged member of the team.
• Badass Teacher: Well, former teacher, but in Frozen Empire he's taken a level in badass to become a new member of the team alongside one of his former students.
• Birds of a Feather: He takes interest in Phoebe due to her intelligence as well as their mutual love of science.
• Butt-Monkey: He is often made fun of by people around him, for his name, for doing his job poorly, and that Callie doesn't enjoy their date. And that's before he is possessed by Vinz Clortho.
• Demonic Possession: He is chased down and possessed by the Terror-Dog representing Vinz Clortho, and turns into a Terror-Dog himself for the final reel of Afterlife.
• Everyone Has Standards: Normally a chilled guy, one of the few things that sets off his strict mode is when Phoebe was flat-out insulting her mother as seen in Frozen Empire.
• Good Stepfather: In Frozen Empire. Gary may not be Trevor and Phoebe's biological father but he loves and protects the two as if they were his own. It's a point of contention between him and Callie that he can't just be the kids' buddy, he needs to also step up and be a proper dad, complete with discipline when necessary. At the end of the film, Phoebe calls him dad, much to his delight.
• Hidden Depths: Fully admits that he wants to be more of a dad than a buddy to Phoebe but is afraid to get strict since he doesn't want to oversteps his bounds. It's only when Callie gives him full permission that he allows himself to be strict when Phoebe insults her mother in a rather cruel manner.
• Idiot Ball: Despite being the only person in town to know who the Ghostbusters are and realizing that the trap Phoebe brought with her contains a ghost, Grooberson deliberately opens the trap, which releases a Terror-Dog and dooms the town.
• Mr. Exposition: Besides giving more context regarding the Ghostbusters' legacy and prominence in culture for Phoebe's benefit, Grooberson is also able to give her an Expodump on the history of Summerville and the nature of the quakes in and around the town. Additionally, he instantly recognizes the object Phoebe brought to school to show Podcast — a ghost trap.
• Nice Guy: Grooberson quickly bonds with Phoebe due to their shared interest in science and becomes her mentor, being a better role model to her than her mother. In Frozen Empire he finds it hard to be strict with Phoebe and has to be coached into it by Callie.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Grooberson opens the ghost trap Phoebe found, causing the release of a Terror-Dog, and signalling the return of Gozer.
• Older Than They Look: Appears fairly young, but is old enough to remember the original team's heyday in the 80s. Of course, he's played by the famously "immortal" Paul Rudd.
• Permastubble: During the interim between Afterlife and Frozen Empire, Grooberson shaves his beard down to stubble.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He combines Ray Stantz's child-like love of ghostbusting and Louis Tully's quirks with none of the Stalker with a Crush when it comes to romance. Like both, especially Louis, Grooberson is also possessed by Vinz Clortho.
• Took a Level in Badass: After being a helpless victim in Afterlife, he suits up as one of the new members of the Ghostbusters in Frozen Empire.
• Your Costume Needs Work: At first he assumes the ghost trap that Phoebe brings to school is a realistic replica. It's not.

Others

Ecto- 1

Ecto-1 / The Ectomobile

Appearances: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

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• The Alleged Car: In the first movie, when Ray purchases it he mentions that it needs a lot of work and parts to get it into a decent working condition. By the time of the second movie, it ends up breaking down completely and by Afterlife its been stuck in a barn in the middle of Oklahoma for about 30 years. When Trevor first finds it, he has to do extensive work just to get it running again. In Frozen Empire Winston pays to have it fully restored but there's still some issues: the air conditioning doesn't work, the windows in the back don't roll down, and occasionally the power to the sirens (and presumably other systems) fails needing someone to physically mess with some wiring to get it working again.
• Cool Car: It doesn't get any cooler than the Ecto-1, or the Ectomobile, a modified 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex the team use to get about upon being called to solve ghost problems. It's even the current page image for the trope.

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