Is Michael Myers Immortal? The Halloween Villain's True Power Explained

He can walk through fire, survive falls from the highest of heights, and live through countless stabbings and maimings. But is Michael Myers actually immortal? That's a tricky question — and one for which his film series does not offer a consistent answer. After all, there's a "Halloween" movie out there where Michael labors under an ancient Celtic curse that drives him to kill his family. But by and large, Michael Myers just seems to be a very tall, very strong guy who likes to stab anyone he's related to — and there are several ways to kill him, if the opportunity arises. 

How can you murder him? Where did Michael even come from? Is he immortal in some versions of his tale — and if he is, is there some sort of supernatural source for those powers? Do his hard-to-kill ways make him more powerful than his strongest slasher compatriot, Jason Voorhees? All of these questions and many more will be answered here.

Michael Myers is the centerpiece of the "Halloween" franchise of horror films. He starts out as a little boy in a clown costume who stabs his older sister to death. It later transpires that Michael is an unreachable psychopath, and when he escapes on Halloween night in 1978 to cause havoc, he goes back to his childhood hometown to reclaim his residence. Teenager Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), whom Michael stalks and tries to kill, declares that he's the "boogeyman" — something that seems to be confirmed when his body disappears after it falls out of a high window. Laurie happens to be babysitting in the house where Michael used to live, which leads into a night of mayhem.

Laurie survives the night with the help of Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who has been treating Michael for decades. He knows just how rotten Michael is — and over the course of several more films, he does his best to protect innocents and track down his wayward charge. But Michael will seemingly die many more times before meeting what seems to be his final demise in "Halloween Ends."

Over the course of the many installments of the "Halloween" franchise, Michael Myers has continued to dodge death. "Halloween II" seems to kill him off in an explosion, setting his body aflame before he collapses to the ground. "Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers" undoes this ending, explaining that he survived the explosion and has been healing in a coma before shooting him to death again. Myers is subsequently electrocuted, injected with corrosive chemicals, beheaded and burned (again) in various installments of the franchise before finally — well, for now — being killed by Laurie Strode and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). The Strode family hack him up, then carry him to the town dump where the citizens of Haddonfield cheer them on as he's pulped to death in an industrial shredder during "Halloween Ends." This proves that Michael Myers can be tough, he may have a very high level of durability, but you can kill him.

Rob Zombie's take on the Myers lore backs this up, as his version of Michael (Tyler Mane) is eventually stabbed to death by Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton), his own sister. That's before he's shot one more time by Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) and falls on a rake in "Halloween II." 

While Michael may be stronger and have a higher endurance level than the average man, he only has a connection to the occult in one of his films. "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" endows him with a literal curse. It proclaims that he suffers from the "Thorn," a Celtic curse that urges him to kill his family every Halloween.

Now that we've established Michael's lack of immortality, how does he stack up against the supernaturally-influenced, obviously semi-immortal Jason Voorhees from the "Friday the 13th" series? The difference between them might just be a matter of personality. 

As pointed out by u/LucidDremer247 on Reddit, the battle between Myers and Voorhees is a fight between a sociopath and a child with disabilities, no matter how much experience both have with killing. While Jason has supernaturally-enhanced strength and durability, he's still an innocent boy who drowned thanks to the inattentiveness of camp counselors. It's that memory that continues to drive him to kill, and he wears a mask to protect his damaged face. 

Myers, to be frank, is a sociopath who enjoys toying with his victims and doesn't mind playing games to get what he wants. He's craftier than Jason in many cases, who uses brute force to get what he wants. Aside from those driving urges, they are fairly equally matched, and equally adept with knives. They are both physically powerful, have a tremendous amount of stamina, and can recover from seemingly fatal wounds. 

By the end of Voorhees' series of films, he might be influenced by the Necronomicon, the powerful book of the dead. It's possible that this contest of sluggers, he will rise over and over again, no matter how hard Michael Myers strikes. Call the end result a draw, but fans will keep debating the topic, turning to fan films like "Michael vs Jason: Evil Emerges" to answer the question.