Iron Maiden’s Mascot, Eddie, Too Enigmatic for Film?

Edward the Head, aka Eddie -- the Iron Maiden mascot created by Derek Riggs -- could easily star in a feature-length film, but frontman Bruce Dickinson isn't sure how to handle such an ambitious idea just yet. "We've got all kinds of ideas about what to do with Eddie, but his identity is so crucial that we have to be very very careful," he tells Noisecreep. "I'm sure at some point, the right story, the right project, the right feel will come along."

Riggs originally designed the rebellious character in a 1978 painting and called him Electric Matthew. Maiden's management came across it and asked the English artist to make some design changes for use on the first Iron Maiden album in 1980. He first appeared on the cover of the single 'Running Free.'

Riggs continued to create various Eddies until 1992. Other artists including Melvyn Grant, Tim Bradstreet and Hugh Syme have also had their hand in interpreting the creature for subsequent covers.

No doubt the skeletal android would make the perfect anti-hero. That, Dickinson does not dispute. "He would be, but what we don't want to do is exploit him in a way that destroys his essential nature."

What is his nature?

"Well, that's one of the problems -- nobody knows," Dickinson explains. "He's enigmatic. He's the ultimate monster anti-hero who you love; he'd be the coolest guy to have on the school bus with you, but you wouldn't really go to dinner with him. He does bad things, but only to people that deserve it. But he is an enigma and you lose the enigma at your peril, really. You lose that enigmatic thing about him. You lose the mystery."