Dustin Henderson

Dustin Henderson is one of the main protagonists of the franchise. 
He is the best friend of Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Eleven and Max Mayfield, and the brother-figure to Steve Harrington. When Will went missing, Dustin and his friends searched for him and became involved in the Hawkins lab's conspiracy when coming across their test subject Eleven. Until the age of thirteen, he had cleidocranial dysplasia, a genetic disorder where bone teeth growth are delayed. Following Will's return, Dustin has remained a core member of the Party, helping his friends deal with the creatures of the Upside Down.
He is portrayed by .
==Biography==
===Background===
Dustin Henderson was born in May 29th, 1971 to Claudia Henderson, and became a student at Hawkins Middle School where he befriended Will Byers, Mike Wheeler and Lucas Sinclair. The group bonded and became best friends, often playing Dungeons & Dragons in Mike's basement.
===Season One===
The day after playing Dungeons & Dragons with his friends, Dustin, Mike and Lucas noticed that Will didn't come to school. When brought to the principal's office, the three learned from Chief Jim Hopper that Will was reported missing. After school, the three traveled to Mirkwood where Will using takes to go back home and encountered a girl named Eleven. Taking her to Mike's basement, Dustin and Lucas went to school while Wheeler accommodated her. Henderson and Sinclair came to the basement after school, witnessed Eleven use her telekinesis to lock the door, and give the three a vital clue on Will's whereabouts. The group then had Eleven search for Will in Mirkwood, but they were left confused when Eleven brought them to the Byers' residence.
When police cars raced to a local quarry, the group witnessed the officers pull Will's "corpse", which angered them since they believed Eleven was lying. Later on, Mike explained that Will was still alive since he heard his voice signing, and the group decided to bring Eleven to the school so she could use the heath kit. Before they enter Mr. Clarke's classroom, they had to attend a ceremony honoring Will. At the ceremony, Dustin witnessed Eleven use her telekinetic powers to make the bully Troy Walsh piss on himself. Eleven later used the heatkit, which allowed the group overhear Will speaking to his mother before the device combusted into flames. The kids then deduced that Will was in another dimension, which Eleven confirmed by calling it the Upside Down.
During Will's funeral, Dustin and the boys spoke with Mr. Clarke, who spoke of theories of other dimensions effecting electrical devices. Dustin then saw that his compass wasn't pointing north due to the opening of the portal, and the kids decided to have Eleven direct them to the gate. However, they learned that Eleven was manipulating the compass to prevent them from reaching the gate. A fight broke out between Mike and Lucas, but it ended when Eleven pushed Lucas out with her powers. When Eleven left due to being upset, Dustin and Mike worked together to find her while Lucas used the compass to find the gate. The two were ambushed by Troy and his friend James, who threatened to hurt Dustin if Mike didn't jump off the cliff. Eleven soon arrived and saved Mike from their tormenters, and three reconciled.
Returning to Mike's home, Lucas tells them that "bad men" were coming, which provided Dustin, Mike and Eleven enough time to get on their bikes and evade the agents. Reuniting with Lucas, who apologized to Mike and Eleven, the group hid in an abandoned bus until they were picked up by Hopper. The kids then worked with Hopper, Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers to break into Hawkins Middle to use a makeshift tank to allow Eleven to reach out to Will. When the kids were left at the school, they were captured by Brenner's agents until the Demogorgon arrived. Dustin and his friends fended out the creature until Eleven sacrificed her to defeat the creature, and the others searched for her to no avail. Taken to the hospital, the friends reunited with Will, and later played Dungeons & Dragons during Christmas.
===Season Two===
During the next school year, Dustin and his friends played at the Palace arcade, where he and Lucas learn that someone by the name of "MADMAX" had beaten their high scores. At school, Dustin and his friends saw their new classmate Max Mayfield, and they deduced that she may be "MADMAX". Wanting to recruit Max into the party, Dustin and Lucas invited her to trick-or-treat with them on Halloween night. When leaving school, they are attacked by Max's stepbrother Billy Hargrove, who chases after them with his car. Following the incident, Dustin meets with his friends to trick-or-treat and encounter Max. After seeing Will have another episode, Dustin returns home and encounters a strange creature in his family's trashcan. Deciding to adopt the creature, Dustin names it D'Artagnan after feeding it a Three Musketeers bar, but gives it the nickname "Dart".
After stealing books from the public library, Dustin informed the group of Dart in the AV Club, and witnessed it run away when inspecting the creature under a lamp. After school, Henderson decides to show Mr. Clarke the creature, but is stopped by both Mike and Will. The two explain to Dustin that Dart is a creature from the Upside Down, but Henderson refuses to believe that Dart will be dangerous. Will then reveals that his episodes are him seeing the Upside Down, and that he heard a strange sound similar to what Dart makes. When Dart runs away again, Dustin finds his pet and lies to his friends that he doesn't know where the creature went. Meeting with Mike and Lucas, they witness Will have another episode until Joyce takes him away.
Feeling guilty for lying to his friends, Dustin decides to ask Dart questions about Will, but found that Dart had eaten his pet cat. Witnessing Dart open his mouth in a flower-like shape, Henderson realizes that his pet is a baby Demogorgon who is in the earlier stage of its transformation. After trapping Dart in the sewer, Dustin went to the Wheeler residence to find Mike, but instead ran into Steve Harrington. Out of options, Dustin asked for Steve's help to stop Dart, but when returning to the sewer, they discovered that it dug its way out. The next day, Henderson was contacted by Lucas to meet him at the junkyard, and traveled there with Harrington. Working with Lucas and Max, the group fortified the abandoned bus in their preparation to fight and trap Dart. By night, they were attacked by Dart and several Demodogs and were nearly killed, but the creatures stopped and left to the Hawkins laboratory. 
At the lab, the group reunited with the party, Hopper, Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan as Bob Newby was killed by Demodogs. At the Byers home, they formed a plan to make the shed unrecognizable so that they could find the Mind Flayer's weakness. Will managed to use morse code to signal that they needed to close the gate, but the Flayer is able to find their location and sent its Demodogs. However, the group are saved by Eleven, and Dustin, Mike and Lucas happily reunited with her, and formed another plan to distract the Demodogs while Eleven and Hopper closed the gate. While preparing their plan, Billy arrived looking for Max, and proceeded to get into a fight with Steve. The confrontation is resolved when Max injects him with a syringe and makes a deal for him to leave her and her friends alone, and the group head to the tunnels with Hargrove's car.
In the tunnels, Dustin, Steve, Mike, Lucas and Max pour gasoline all over the area to burn the Demodogs, but are confronted by Dart. Dustin manages to distract Dart due to the creature recognizing him, and giving his pet Three Musketeers bars to allow them to escape. After burning the tunnels, Eleven uses her powers to close the gate, thus freeing Will from the Mind Flayer's control. In December, Dustin was taken to the snow ball by Steve, and was rejected by all the girls he asked. However, Nancy danced with him, and informed him that he is her favorite of Mike's friends.
===Season Three===
By the end of the school year of 1985, Dustin was sent to Camp Know Where, and remained there until the end of June. At the camp, Dustin befriended a girl named Suzie Bingham, and the two began dating. While developing his relationship with Suzie, Dustin started to invent several gadgets, the most notable being cerebro, a device intended to keep in contact with Bingham. Once returning home, Henderson was given a welcome surprise party by the party, but accidentally sprayed Lucas when they frightened him. After reuniting with his friends, Dustin revealed his cerebro device and asked for their assistance in assembling it on a hill. Explaining his goal with the device, his friends didn't believe that he a long distant girlfriend.
Going to the Starcourt mall, Dustin reunites with Steve and meets his Scoops Ahoy co-worker Robin Buckley, whom notes that Harrington has a lot of kid friends. Henderson explains that he was able to hear a Russian message from his device, and asks for Steve's assistance in translating it. The duo's attempts fail, but Robin explains that she can translate the message since she understands the Russian alphabet. Once it's translated, Steve notes carousal music coming from the transmission, and deduces that the Russians are in Starcourt. After stalking several Russians disguised as delivery men, the Scoops Troop ask for Erica Sinclair's help in finding the Russian's base. Managing to convince her with an exchange for free ice cream, Sinclair goes through the air ducts and lets them in. 
The troop find themselves trapped in an elevator that is going down the mall, forcing them to remain in there for over a day. When Russians come into the elevator with karts, the group manage to leave it when Steve uses the green container that Erica obtained to keep the door open. Reaching the underground base, Dustin witnesses Harrington defeat a Russian officer, and congratulates him for winning his first fight. Entering another room, they discover a lower level where they see a machine attempting to open a portal to the Upside Down. Though Dustin and Steve realize that the Russians are trying to open the gate, they are forced to flee when soldiers are alerted to their presence. Henderson and Sinclair are able to escape by going through the air ducts, but Steve and Robin are captured and interrogated.
Despite managing to escape, Dustin and Erica form a plan to save their friends from captive, resulting in Henderson killing Dr. Zharkov in the process. Returning to the mall with Steve and Robin, Henderson tasks Erica with keeping her eye on them inside a screening of Back to the Future while he contacts the party. He manages to speak with Mike, but is forced to flee when the Russians attempt to kill him and his allies. When cornered, the Scoops Troop are saved by the party before witnessing Eleven collapse in pain from her injury. After witnessing her remove the Spider Monster from her leg, Hopper, Joyce and Murray Bauman arrive to help them destroy the Russians machine. Forming a plan, Dustin manages to make contact with Suzie, asking her to give him Planck's Constant to help Hopper, Joyce and Bauman get the keys to shutdown the machine. 
When she refuses unless he performs a duet of "The NeverEnding Story", Dustin agrees as the others listen to his performance in confusion. Henderson and Erica remained together during the party's quest to stop the machine, which was a success with Hopper allowing Joyce to shut down the machine with him in the center. Months after the Starcourt incident, Dustin is teased by Lucas and Max on his duet, much to his annoyance. Having his farewell with the Byers and Eleven, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max and Nancy witness them leave Hawkins to California. At some point following this, Dustin became friends with Erica due to their adventure, and along with Lucas, presents her a Dungeons & Dragons board game.
===Season Four===
Having graduated from Hawkins Middle, Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Max are in high school in 1986. Dustin and Mike have joined the Hellfire Club under the leadership of Eddie Munson, but their friendships with Lucas and Max have become distant and strained. Lucas has joined the basketball team to stop himself from being bullied by his peers, and Max has distanced herself from the others after the death of Billy. When one member of the club won't appear for their game, Eddie tasks Dustin and Mike to find a stand-in for the time being. The two attempt to recruit Nancy, Max and other students to no avail, but Henderson decides to recruit Erica into that night's game.
==Abilities==
*Genius-Level Intelligence/Wisdom: As being the bard, Henderson has wisdom and knowledge to maintain a balance where things can be endured through the indifference of chaos. His knowledge tends to save himself and his friends whenever trouble comes their way, building equipment and find resources to fight against evil foes.
*Expert Inventor: He is able to craft many impressive items which successfully worked and proved as the work of a great inventor at such a young age.
*Singing: Another skill of Dustin as the bard is having a good singing voice. As he excellently sang "Never Ending Story" to his girlfriend Suzie over Cerebro.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Gaten Matarazzo was considered for the role of Lucas during a screen test with Finn Wolfhard.
*Dustin is the youngest member of Stranger Things who curses the most.
*Dustin is the second member of the Party to take a life; the first being Eleven.
*Starting from Season 3, Dustin wears different colored hats as he had given his red, white, and blue hat to his girlfriend, Suzie.
*He is religiously agnostic.
==External Links==
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