Sometimes it can feel like every bit of pop culture has been mined to the point that every moment of every character's life has been covered in movies, TV shows, books, video games, and comics. From learning that Darth Vader used to be called Annie to finding out that Peter Parker was chosen to be Spider-Man by the gods, no part of a popular character's life goes untouched.
But then there are the Ghostbusters. Even with a number of movies, animated series, video games, and comics, much of their lives still hasn't been fully explored. But in the case of Ray Stantz, there actually is a lot about the character that has been revealed over the years.
10 Ray's Family Isn't Close
Thanks to the novelization of the 1984 film Ghostbusters, it is known that Ray Stantz is one of three Stantz children to grow up on Long Island. Ray's father was a doctor and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. As the Stantz children grew up, their political differences pulled them apart. Ray's sister Jean is a liberal who lives in San Francisco and his brother is a Republican who moved to South Carolina. Sadly, Ray's parents died in a plane crash while on vacation in Puerto Rico.
9 Ray Always Had An Interest In All Things Strange
Even as a child, Ray was interested in the stranger things of life. In the 2009 video game Ghostbusters, Ray mentions that he used to play in a graveyard when he was young. In his teen years, Ray become interested in Project MKOFTEN, the government's sister program to the much better-known MKULTRA.
MKOFTEN was tasked with testing "the behavioral and toxicological effects of certain drugs on animals and humans" but supposedly also investigated the paranormal by hiring palm readers, psychics, voodoo practitioners, and other members of the occult community to test their abilities.
8 Ray Isn't Religious But He Is Spiritual
Despite his belief in the paranormal and the massive amounts of evidence he has of the existence of ghosts and demons, Ray has been shown to be something of an agnostic. It is known that Ray studied at a seminary and he is very well versed in the beliefs and texts of most, if not all of, the major religions. Still, Ray is not convinced that there is a God or any gods of any kind, believing more that the ghosts and demons are interdimensional beings of some kind or perhaps a form of magic as seen with Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II.
7 Ray Studied Parapsychology At Columbia University
Ray went to Columbia University in New York, which is where he met both Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler. Ray first met Peter in Professor Tonick's Esoteric Literature course during their freshman year, which is where Ray first started to take an interest in the lost city of Atlantis.
When the school announced its parapsychology doctorate program, he quickly informed Peter, who was already aware of it. It was then that Peter introduced Ray to Egon and the three planned to not only take part in the parapsychology program but to then teach parapsychology at Columbia after graduation.
6 Ray Is Peter's Oldest Friend
In the script for Ghostbusters, Ray is described as Peter's oldest friend. Considering that they met in college, it suggests that Ray is one of the few people who has found a way to stay close to Peter over the years. The strength of the friendship between Ray and Peter is further proven by Ghostbusters II where it is seen that, even though the Ghostbusters had disbanded years earlier, the famous duo still get together regularly, usually hanging out at Ray's shop.
5 Ray Went On A Deep Sea Sponge Expedition
Ray's interest in Atlantis led him to take part in an undersea expedition. Ray and two other researchers used a deep-sea submersible vehicle to search the seabed to better understand the unknown reaches of the world's oceans. It was during this journey that Ray witnessed something he couldn't believe, an unexplained mass sponge migration.
While no one else seemed to ever be impressed by what Ray experienced that day, it meant a lot to him and helped keep his love of researching the unknown alive. Without that unexplained mass sponge migration, there may have never been a Ghostbusters.
4 Ray Co-Invented The P.K.E. Meter
While Ray and Egon met through Peter, they bonded through their love of science and the unknown. Early into their budding friendship, Egon told Ray that he was working on a way to track sentient energy, which piqued Ray's interest. Together, although according to Ray Egon did most of the work, the two men created the P.K.E. Meter, the first took that would lead to everything the gang would need to catch ghosts. From that invention came the proton packs and the ghost traps that would make the Ghostbusters possible.
3 Ray Got The Stantz Family House Because Of Peter
While Ray was working at Columbia, the Stantz family tried to put aside their differences and have a reunion. To help him get through the day, Ray brought Peter to the family home where Peter quickly went to work putting the moves on Ray's sister Jean.
It was during that night that Ray's father decided to leave the house to Ray in his will. Years later, Peter would convince Ray to take out three mortgages on the house in order to finance the creation of the Ghostbusters
2 Ray Is The Only Ghostbuster To Appear In A Movie Without The Rest Of The Team
In general, the Ghostbusters are only ever seen together. At the very least, there will be two of them at any investigation just to be safe. After all, investigating spooky spirits and deadly demons is dangerous work, and going at it alone could lead to serious problems.
But Ray Stantz appeared to break the "two to a case" rule at least once. Ray showed up in the 1995 film Casper, based on the famous Harvey Comics character Casper the Friendly Ghost. At the time, six years since Ghostbusters II, it seemed like there would be no more Ghostbusters films, so some fans appreciated the chance to see Dan Aykroyd back in the suit, even if it was just a cameo.
1 Ray Is The Only Original Ghostbuster
Speaking of Dan Aykroyd, the actor didn't just play Ray Stantz. He also created the character and the entire concept of Ghostbusters. Aykroyd originally wrote a script Ghostbusters, which was set in the future and focused on two men who worked for a large company called Ghostbusters, for him and John Belushi to star in after their hit movie The Blues Brothers. After Belushi's death, Aykroyd still wanted to make the film, but the director Ivan Reitman wanted to make the film more grounded and brought in Harold Ramis to help rewrite it, creating the version of Ghostbusters that is known and loved today.
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