

The Men in Black: They have a host of them on their payroll, such as Connie Frazier, and are secretly monitoring the surrounding town of Hawkins via agents in their ubiquitous white Hawkins Electric vans, and even tapping the telephone network in blatant violation of the Constitution.Their vans are even marked "Hawkins Power And Light," evoking this trope painted white, having "Light" in the name, but also "Power," and power corrupts. Light Is Not Good: They're often associated with clean and sterile white surfaces (as those seen in their laboratories), and even after their Heel≯ace Turn in Season 2 they're pretty far from heroes.That said, they are attempting to fix the mess they caused in the first season, Owens is much more of a Reasonable Authority Figure and willing to work with the others once he realizes Hopper's assertions about the lab are right, and they genuinely attempt to help Will after his possession by the Mind Flayer.

Brenner's death/disappearance eliminated much of the nastier aspects of the lab, however they're still perfectly content to threaten those in the know to keep them quiet. A major subplot of Season 2 is Nancy and Jonathan's decision to expose them.
HAWKINS NATIONAL LABORATORY FULL
HAWKINS NATIONAL LABORATORY PATCH
A bunch of Faceless Goons with flamethrowers follow Joyce and Bob into the tunnels below the pumpkin patch as they rush to rescue Hopper. The Cavalry: Surprisingly, yes, in "Dig Dug".Yes, they may still be pretty ruthless, but they're actually trying to clean up their previous messes and are legitimately on the side of the protagonists this time around (more or less). Anti-Hero: What they become in Season 2.A laboratory ostensibly under the auspices of the United States Department of Energy, Hawkins Lab has long been conducting experiments on creating a Human Weapon with supernatural abilities.
