In Stephen King's IT, readers are introduced to a one-of-a-kind creature that can take any form, the most popular of which is Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and as terrifying as it is, this creature has one major foe: Maturin, the turtle.
Both being interdimensional entities, their powers are at the same level, meaning that the turtle could kill IT if it wanted to. It makes sense that IT is afraid of Maturin – but the viewers and readers also have genuine grounds for cosmic terror.
IT (2017) and IT Chapter 2 (2019)
When Ben is in the classroom during summer school, there is a turtle on the desk. Maturin is actually what we call the root that Mike takes from the Native Americans as part of his journey to help guide his path on how to ultimately defeat Pennywise.
You've also probably read all of King's horror novels, including The Dark Tower series, which reveals that Pennywise's archenemy is The Turtle.
Its natural enemy is the "Space Turtle" or "Maturin", another ancient dweller of King's "Macroverse" who, eons ago, created the known universe and possibly others by vomiting them out as the result of a stomachache.
It's weaknesses are courage and heart. For the sake of spoilers, I won't go too much into the Ritual of Chüd, but suffice it to say that if you want to defeat It, you've got to have the two traits listed above.
This incarnation of It/Pennywise is the icon of the Pure Evil Wiki. While every version of It easily qualifies as Pure Evil, it is arguable which version of him is the evilest incarnation of the character.
The only other being in that empty, dead space is Maturin: a giant, benevolent turtle that ends up helping the losers' club in their fight against It.
In the novel, It's origins are nebulous. He took the form of a clown most frequently, Mr. Bob Gray or Pennywise, but his true form is an ancient eldritch entity from another universe who landed in the town that would become Derry by way of an asteroid and first awoke in 1715.
King decided for IT to predominantly take the shape of Pennywise the Dancing Clown because he believes "clowns scare children more than anything else in the world." IT influences the adults of Derry to passively ignore it and not interfere with his attacks on Derry's children.
Red balloons are Pennywise's calling cards, and he often uses them as bait to kidnap children.
Young kids fear "pretend" things.
They fear what might be under their bed or in the closet. Many are afraid of the dark and at bedtime. Some are afraid of scary dreams. Young kids may also be afraid of loud noises, like thunder or fireworks.
As in the 1990 ABC miniseries, which starred Tim Curry as the terrifying clown, Pennywise takes the form of a giant spider for the final battle. (According to King's book, Pennywise actually is a spider—sort of.
The simplest and most obvious interpretation is that all the talk of floating is a reference to the fact that Pennywise (aka the titular "It") murders his victims and drags them down to the town's sewer system where he dwells, which is full of water. And what do dead bodies do in water? That's right — they float.
It Is Actually An Ancient Cosmic Force Of Destruction
It is actually an ancient cosmic deity. A god of destruction, not just of our world, but of multiple worlds and even multiple universes.
IT by Stephen King. It assumes thirty-two forms in the novel. Pennywise the Dancing Clown: The main and favorite form that the creature takes.
Throughout Stephen King's It, Pennywise is referred to as a male, but author Stephen King pulled a fast one on readers in the It book ending by revealing the creature's true form was a pregnant spider, implying that it is, in fact, biologically female.
In both the book and the films, It is an ancient alien creature, older than civilization, and in King's novel, older than our universe. It feasts on the flesh of humans simply because our fears are easy to manifest and they make us taste better.
Pennywise, the antagonist of the 2017 blockbuster Stephen King's IT and its 2019 sequel IT: Chapter Two, is significantly more powerful than Art the Clown.
The Deadlights are the true form of Pennywise/IT. The Deadlights are orange writhing lights that exist in Todash Darkness. Pennywise uses its Deadlights to break a person's mind because one look at the Deadlights will make a person go insane due to it not being able to be comprehended by a human mind.
The cinematic adaptation of Stephen King's IT Chapter Two depicted the satisfying death of Pennywise while subtly hearkening back to Pennywise's first 1988 victim, Bill's brother Georgie.
Saitama - One-Punch Man. Like his namesake suggests, Saitama aka One-Punch Man would take Pennywise out with a single death blow. As the single most powerful anime character of all time, he would ensure Pennywise never made it out of the first round.
The concept of clowns has been traced back to the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, but the modern circus clown developed in the 19th century, so by the time King's novel is set (the first part of it), Pennywise was around 200 years old.