See Dr. Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster for the iconic characters themselves appearing in media, and Fate of the Frankensteins for the appearance of the creator's descendant(s). Dr. Fakenstein when a scientist character's name references the titular creator, and Franken-X when it is the creation's name doing the reference.
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- An add for a bolt-manufacturing company had Frankenstein's monster have a problem with his head spinning round and round until he stuck a bolt in his neck.
Fan Works
- In the Gunslinger Girl fanfic Palermo Round-up, cyborg Henrietta loses some fingers during an operation so gets a replacement hand sent to her in the field. Unfortunately after it's surgically attached, she discovers they've mistakenly sent her a spare hand meant for Rico. Henrietta starts to freak out, saying she's like Frankenstein, and when another cyborg points out it was Frankenstein's monster she starts to carry on about that as well. Everyone else finds it Actually Pretty Funny, but they have trouble getting her to calm down.
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin: A Frankenstein poster is visible in Andy Stitzer's room.
- Guy from Catch Us If You Can dresses as Frankenstein's Monster to a costume party, complete with bolts on his neck.
- Home Sweet Home Alone: Max Mercer says Jeff McKenzie looks like Frankenstein. Jeff corrects him Max meant Frankenstein's monster, not the doctor.
- In Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Among the numerous etchings on the walls of Cletus Kasady's prison cell is a sentence from Frankenstein where Victor Frankenstein describes his tenuous hold on morality.
- Isaac Asimov's The Rest of the Robots:
- The introduction starts with a "Great Man" and his "little woman", which refers to Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley. The familiarity of his stories Adonais, Ode To The West Wind, and The Cenci are contrasted against her more famous story, Frankenstein.
- During the introduction, Dr Asimov compares Faust to Frankenstein, as both works are about dangerous knowledge. He develops the Faustian conflict further in the introduction, explaining that Faust must face Mephistopheles, but the plot did not require some sort of failing on Faust's end.
- In Dogs Don't Talk, Ben compares Johnny's artificial-sounding attempts at speech to Frankenstein.
- In Peta Lyre's Rating Normal, Peta's class reads Frankenstein. She relates to the monster because he doesn't have the usual instincts and learned how to behave by studying other people.
- Gunnar from Navigating Early has a copy of Frankenstein on his shelf. It reminds Jack of how his friend Frankie Daniels dressed as Frankenstein's monster last Halloween, with a huge scar drawn on his forehead by his mother.
- In The Boy Who Drew Monsters, Nick tries to draw monsters like Jack Peter. His first attempt is a picture of Frankenstein's monster.
- Stanley from When My Heart Joins the Thousand has osteogenesis imperfecta. He compares himself to Frankenstein's monster because he's been cut apart and sewn back together so many times.
- In The Monster Garden, Frankie Stein's classmates call her "Frankenstein". She thinks, "You really can't blame me for making a monster. What did they expect me to do, with a name like that?"
- Doctor Who: In "The Haunting of Villa Diodati", the 13th Doctor and her companions appear at Lake Geneva on the weekend Shelley was meant to write Frankenstein (the "fam" mutually agree not to mention the novel before it exists). Her soon-to-be husband is pursued by Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, whose human face could be seen behind the armor. Mary wondered if Ashad was a composite of multiple men and referred to his creators as a "Modern Prometheus", suggesting this encounter inspired her novel.
- Highlander: The Series. In "The Modern Prometheus", Lord Byron is an Immortal and Shelley witnesses him being struck by lightning and surviving, inspiring the novel.
- In The Love Boat episode "Accident Prone," Isaac asks a woman if she's made friends with the guy she injured in a car accident. She says, "I'd rather be friends with Frankenstein." The man replies, "He'd be perfect for you. His parts are replaceable."
Music
- The 1987 song China in Your Hand by T'Pau was based on Frankenstein after being inspired both by a documentary on how Shelley's success with the novel overshadowed her relationships with Byron and Keats and by the fragility and transparency of a china cup that Carol Decker was washing up one day. Several lyrics of the full song directly reference the novel, such as "now life will return in this electric storm" and "don't push too hard, your dreams are like china in your hand".
- The Sam Cooke song "Another Saturday Night" mentions a guy who sets the narrator up with his sister...who looked so fine
but instead of bein' my deliverance
she had a strange resemblance
to a cat named Frankenstein
- Chaos On Deponia: After Rufus brings a fish back to life, he calls it "Frankenfish".
- In the Persona series, the Velvet Room attendants are all named after characters from the novel.
- Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party: A fictionalized Mary Shelley appears as one of the guests at the party of famous writers. She brings bread that hasn't yet "risen" as a joke. The first victim, Eddie Dantes, had tried to take credit for Frankenstein over her, giving her motive for murder until she herself is killed via electrocution, referencing her novel. It later turns out Eddie was Faking the Dead and orchestrated her murder, via blackmail, in order to finish what he started.
Western Animation
- Dan Vs.: In Vegetables, Dan creates a giant broccoli monster and it attempts to eat him. Elise calls it the "Frankenstein principle", when an abomination is created its first action is to attack its creator.
- Dead End: Paranormal Park: In the Musical Episode, Norma calls her celebrity idol Pauline Phoenix "My Frankenstein" because of how much her films have shaped Norma's life and how devastated Norma became when Pauline turned out to be an uncaring, literally parasitic sociopath who had been lying to and using her fans for decades.You're my Frankenstein
And I'm your monster
Your films gave me life
Like lightning and thunder [...]
You're my Frankenstein
And now you're the monster [...] - Phineas and Ferb: During the Theme Tune, there is a bit where the titular duo look for the brain of Frankenstein's monster.
