In the original Ghostbusters, the film’s main antagonist was the God of Destruction known as Gozer. Through Gozer, New York City was nearly destroyed by a gargantuan Stay Puft marshmallow man and taken over by the spirit world. Over three decades later, it appears that Gozer’s threat is once again resurfacing in the town of Summerville. However, the new heroes in Ghostbusters: Afterlife may have to face a threat even more terrifying and dangerous than Gozer.
In the newly released trailer, there are multiple signs that the town of Summerville has ties to Gozer and its powers. This is evidenced by Ivo Shandor’s mine showing up in an early trailer. Shandor led a cult that worshipped Gozer and even erected a statue in its honor, which also appears to be the source of the portal seen in the trailer. However, this may actually be for its sister, Tiamat, to emerge from. In the film canon, Tiamat is briefly mentioned in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, as her cult was constantly at odds with Gozer’s.
Tiamat is the Goddess of Chaos, who is explored heavily in the Ghostbusters IDW comic. The series does a fantastic job of showing how powerful she is through her subtle actions. Firstly, she is capable of banishing Gozer to another dimension, planting herself as the far more dangerous threat. Her insatiable thirst for chaos and demented fun also drives her to force the Ghostbusters to make difficult choices, like making Winston Zeddemore sacrifice his wife’s memories of him to save reality. She later appears in the comic and is once again defeated by another sacrifice. This time, it’s Ray Stantz’s girlfriend, Rachel, who sacrifices herself to end Tiamat’s schemes.
The Goddess’ chaotic desires prove even more dangerous than Gozer’s, since Tiamat only does these things for fun. She has no stake in the worlds or planes she invades and only seeks to sew chaos into the fabric of reality. Signs of this are shown in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer, but are carefully hidden behind moments of nostalgia for the first film and creatures typically tied to Gozer.
One example of this is the Terror Dog chasing Mr. Grooberson (Paul Rudd) out of Walmart. The last time these dogs were seen chasing a person was in the 1984 film, when the creature hounded Louis Tully until he was possessed by it. While the brief snippet of footage brings back classic memories, it could also be a misdirect. Tiamat travels with Terror Birds in the comics, meaning these Terror Dogs could be a warning from Gozer that something even more terrifying is coming. However, it could also prove that Terror Dogs have no allegiance, and even Tiamat has some of her own.
The trailer also reveals massive amounts of chaos throughout the town of Summerville, but no destruction. These could all be a warning that Tiamat is coming and she’s coming fast. Her emergence is teased by constant tremors rocking the town. They aren’t enough to destroy buildings, but they disrupt the day enough to be a nuisance. But the chaos later ramps up as Mr. Grooberson sees smaller Stay Puft marshmallow men wreaking havoc in the sweets aisle of a Walmart. Undead corpses later begin to fill the town after spirits emerge from a mountain on the outskirts of town. While both scenes tie back to Gozer, the chaos that ensues in the town is more in line with Tiamat.
For now, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is leaving far more questions than answers. But the franchise has always shown that each threat is exceedingly more dangerous than the last when factoring in the films and video game. So for Egon to leave New York and travel to Summerville means that he was studying something more dangerous than ever before. Plus, if it’s more dangerous than Gozer, then all clues point to the emergence of the Goddess of Chaos, Tiamat.
To see if Tiamat will make her live action debut, watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters starting Nov. 11.
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