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Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility."
Spider-Man has declared that this article is still under construction. |
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| “ | I'm fireproof. You're not. | „ |
| ~ Hellboy to Sammael in 2004's Hellboy |
| “ | Hey! I'm on your side! (Police Officer: Sorry. My bad.) |
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| ~ Hellboy to a police officer in 2019's Hellboy |
| “ | Whatever you’ve got, I’ve seen worse. | „ |
| ~ Hellboy in Injustice 2 |
Hellboy is the titular protagonist in the franchise of the same name, starring in many comics and novels as well as four live-action films. He is a defender of the human world against a variety of supernatural evils and has his origins near the end of WWII. Raised by a human, Hellboy considers himself more human than demon and for this reason defends them.
He is not without flaws and likes to think with his fists at times, of course being a demon he can afford to be reckless as he is naturally durable and extremely strong especially in his massive right-arm, known as the Right Hand Of Doom, he is also prone to carrying a small arsenal of heavily-modified guns and other weapons that are designed to combat supernatural beings.
He is also fond of cats and keeps several as pets (in films) and has a passion for cigars rarely seen without one, he tends to be at odds with his superiors who wish to keep the supernatural largely hidden from the mainstream world to Hellboy such policies and procedures are nothing but a hindrance and his style of "diplomacy" is to shoot and ask questions later, not that he can't show restraint when necessary.
Hellboy is said to be both humanity's greatest ally and greatest threat as he has the power to destroy the world - although Hellboy has overcome his darkness their are continued doubts over whether or not he can ultimately stop the dark prophecy or not.
Hellboy was created by Mike Mignola.
In the first two live-action films directed by Guillermo del Toro, the animated films, and the 2008 video game, he was portrayed by Ron Perlman, who also voiced Kurtis Stryker and Scorpion in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, Conan the Barbarian in the 2007 titular video game, and played Felson in The Season of the Witch, Hannibal Chau in Pacific Rim, Optimus Primal in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Xibalba in The Book Of Life. In the flashback of The Golden Army, his younger self was portrayed by Montse Ribé.
In the 2019 film, he is portrayed by David Harbour, who also portrayed Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, Red Guardian in the MCU, Santa Claus in Violent Night, and voices Frankenstein in Creature Commandos.
In the 2024 film Hellboy: The Crooked Man, he is portrayed by Jack Kesy.
In Injustice 2, he is voiced by Bruce Barker. In Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, Hellboy is voiced by the late Lance Reddick (in one of his final/posthumous roles), who also played Charon in the John Wick series, and voiced Sylens in Horizon, Zavala in Destiny and Falcon in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
History
Background
Young Hellboy when he was 2 years old.
Hellboy, or "Anung Un Rama," as he was called, was conceived on October 5, 1617, the day his birth-mother Sarah Hughes was on her deathbed. In life, Sarah was a witch who gained her powers from being a consort of the demon Azzael, a duke of Hell who is Hellboy's "biological" father.
Taking Sarah's body to hell when she attempted to repent on her deathbed within a church in East Bromwich, England, Azzael burned her away so their child would be born, and chopped off the newborn's right hand to replace it with the "Right Hand of Doom," a relic tied to the Ogdru Jahad. When the other princes of Hell learned of his actions, Azzael sent his half-demon child away while he was stripped of his powers and imprisoned in ice.
Taken by the United States armed forces to an Air Force base in New Mexico, Hellboy is raised by Professor Bruttenholm and the United States Army where the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD), a private organization dedicated to combating occult threats, begins. However, it is not until he eats his first human meal (a meal of pancakes) that he is forever bound to the mortal world. In 1952, Hellboy was granted "honorary human" status by the United Nations and becomes a member of the BPRD as the "world's greatest paranormal investigator". As such, Hellboy interacts regularly with humans, primarily law enforcement officials, the military, and various "scholars of the weird", most of whom are not presented as overtly reacting to his strange appearance.
Seed of Destruction
Adult Hellboy as seen in comics.
As an adult, having matured physically within years and aging slowly while having a teenaged mind, Hellboy becomes the primary agent for the BPRD, alongside other human and quasi-human agents that include Kate Corrigan, a professor of folklore at New York University; Abe Sapien, an amphibian humanoid (Ichthyo sapien); and Liz Sherman, a young female pyrokinetic. But things changed for Hellboy during the events of Seed of Destruction when he found Professor Bruttenholm after he disappeared in a expedition in the Artic, witnessing his adopted father killed by a frog monster. The search takes Hellboy, Abe and Liz to the Cavendish Hall mansion, which was a trap established by Rasputin to have Hellboy embrace his destiny with the assistance of Sadu-Hem. Luckily, Abe impaled Rasputin before his body was incinerated by Liz's firestorm alongside Sadu-Hem.
The Chained Coffin
Soon after, during a visit to Bromwich Church (the place of his "birth"), Hellboy gets a glimpse of his conception 300 years ago and learns he had two human half siblings: a nun and a priest whose spirits haunt the church after they died attempting to stop Azzael from claiming Sarah. Here, it's revealed that he was not a pure demon like many people believed about his nature, but rather a hybrid birthed from a male demon father and human mother. His father was an archdemon named Azzael, and his mother was the former witch named Sarah Hughes. The flashback depicted that after the nun and the priest was killed by Azzael, Azzael claimed Sarah's soul as his for all of eternity, much to Hellboy's horror.
As Hellboy learned his nature from such experience, he send Abe a letter to tell him his story, and begged not to tell anyone else aside themselves know about his discovery.
Wake the Devil
Hellboy's journey of self discovery led him to Romania to investigate the theft of an ancient box containing the corpse of Vladimir Giurescu, a Napoleonic officer who was in fact a vampire before his assumed death at order of a fearful Adolf Hitler. The culprit of the theft is revealed to be Ilsa Haupstein, one of the surviving members of Project Ranga Rok who was revived from suspended animation and aids Giurescu’s in resurrecting him. Finding Castle Giurescu after splitting up with the other search groups, Hellboy learns that the source of Giurescu's rebirth is the ancient goddess Hecate. Though Hellboy destroyed Hecate's original body, he faces her again after Rasputin unintentionally provided her with Ilsa's iron-maiden enhanced body. Hecate swallows Hellboy, but he returns to his reality after he denounces the dark purpose he was born to perform.
Almost Colossus
Hellboy later learns that Liz is dying after losing her powers when she accidentally revived a homunculus while searching another location for Giurescu, finding Roger as he convinces the homunculus to save Liz's life.
The Right Hand of Doom
Gaining insight about his stone hand and being referenced as a harbinger of the Apocalyse, Hellboy is accompanied by Abe to hunt down the warlock Igor Bromhead in Box Full of Evil. But it turned out to be a trap conducted by Bromhead and the demon Ualac to capture Hellboy so that the latter can claim Hellboy's normally invisible Crown of the Apocalypse. But this act allows Hellboy to no longer be controlled by his true name as he kills Ualac's mortal body before the demon and the crown are taken to Hell by the demon Astaroth, who is later revealed to be Hellboy's paternal uncle.
After events of Conqueror Worm
Assisted by the ghost of Lobster Johnson, Roger, and Abe, a disillusioned Hellboy resigns from the Bureau before it later gains new agents in Johann Kraus, the spirit of a German medium kept in a containment suit; and Captain Ben Daimio, a special operations soldier that became an Olmec were-jaguar.
Strange Places
When he tries to find out the truth of his existence once and for all, Hellboy ends up being stranded on an island where he inadvertently resurrected an ancient mystic who gained knowledge of the secret history of the creation of Ogdru Jahad and the Right Hand of Doom.
Darkness Calls
Six years later, Hellboy's search takes him to England where he finds himself in the middle of a power vacuum caused by Bromhead incapacitating Hecate in Italy. Refusing to serve the witches as their king, Hellboy ends up in the dimension of Baba Yaga, a witch who he encountered in the past and happens to be an ally of Rasputin's. Managing to defeat Baba Yaga's champion Koshchei, Hellboy returns to his reality and is led to Bromhead after he became monstrous and in agony from his attempt to take Hecate's powers for his own. Hellboy gives Bromhead a merciful death before returning to England.
The Wild Hunt and Storm and The Storm and the Fury
Hellboy encounters Alice Monaghan, a young woman he saved as a baby from a fairy named Gruagach who has revived the lunatic sorceress Nimue to fill the void left by Hecate. During that time, Hellboy encounters the spirit of Morgana le Fay who reveals to Hellboy both the names of his parents and that Sarah Hughes was her descendant, which names Hellboy as the last living heir to Arthur Pendragon and the rightful king of England. But as he also learns from Astaroth that he is destined to kill Satan and become the new king of Hell, Hellboy is reluctant to wield Excalibur and the army of undead British nobility amassed to face Nimue's army. Therefore, enlisting Baba Yaga's assistance with his eye as payment for the injury he did to her in their first meeting, Hellboy decides face Nimue one-on-one.
But in the aftermath of his battle with Nimue, who was possessed by Ogrud Jahad at the time, Hellboy is killed by the witch in her final moments. As revealed in Hellboy in Hell, Hellboy ends up trapped in the Abyss as he begins a journey to return to the land of the living while learning the full story of his origins.
Film Appearances
Live Action Duology
- Main article: Hellboy (2000s Films)
Hellboy (2004)
In the 2004 live-action movie, Hellboy is a tall man with a muscular body build, red skin, yellow eyes and horns that he or Trevor removed. The most popular thing about Hellboy is his big right hand which is hard as rock. He wears a dark color jacket and a black shirt inside with the symbol of B.P.R.D while he has black hair, but bald at the top. He wears black trousers with black boots. Hellboy also have a big revolver. In his original form, Hellboy has big horns and sharp teeth.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
In the 2008 live-action movie, Hellboy still has the same appearance, similar to the one in 2004.
Reboot films
Hellboy (2019)
- Main article: Hellboy (2019)
In the 2019 reboot, Hellboy looks bigger than his original counterparts. He have yellow eyes, a small beard on his chin and longer hair, but bald at the top. Hellboy wears a jacket like his The Golden Army counterpart which uncovers his chest while he also still wears black pants with black boots.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)
- Main article: Hellboy (2024)
To be added
Hellboy Animated
- Main article: Hellboy (Hellboy Animated)
In the Hellboy Animated films, Hellboy is voiced by Ron Perlman, who also portrayed his live-action counterpart in the 2000s Hellboy Films.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Cambion Physiology: Hellboy's superhuman abilities would seem to stem from his demonic heritage. While his specific powers and abilities have never been explicitly listed, Hellboy is much stronger and more physically durable than an ordinary human.
- Superhuman Strength: Although the true extent of his strength is unclear and possibly limitless, Hellboy possesses a strength level of at least Class 100. He has tossed opponents weighing at least four to five hundred pounds, hurled a large broken tree at a giant, thrown a harpoon through a monster along with the ship mast, and managed to push a boulder with his legs.
- Superhuman Speed: While he's not much of a speedster, Hellboy's shown to be pretty fast for a creature his size. He could quickly purse a vampire from outside of a castle to the underground and appear right in front of a human after causing the human to flee.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Hellboy's reflexes are far greater than any normal human being, being able to catch a demon in its fly form before it escaped and snatch missiles out of the air. He's also reacted to several floating heads at once, a surprise charge from a super gorilla, and a blast from Grigori Rasputin.
- Superhuman Agility: Hellboy possesses agility, balance, and coordination which surpass even the finest human athlete. He's dodged attacks from humans, a giant werewolf, an entire army of zombies and he can dodge lightning, bullets, and lasers. Its agility is thirty times the speed of sound.
- Superhuman Durability: Hellboy is shown to be capable of withstanding wounds that would be fatal to ordinary humans without being incapacitated, as well as recovering from injuries at an incredible rate. He has been shown to withstand great impact forces, high caliber bullets, exposure to extremes of both temperatures and falls from great heights. He has been savagely beaten by large monsters on several occasions and survived, often with relatively minor injuries. Hellboy has also demonstrated immunity to the powers of August Breccan, granted to him by demons.
- Superhuman Endurance: Hellboy has consistently displayed enormous amounts of endurance. He can fall thousands of feet and walk it off like it's nothing and shake off injuries after being crushed and beaten by a giant. On one occasion, Hellboy directly charged an MG-42 machine gun and took numerous bullets to the chest before destroying the gun. On another, he was impaled by a massive spearhead through the chest, but smashed the handle and charged the attacker, leaving the spearhead buried in the tree behind him. Despite being shot in the face two times by a double-barrel shotgun, Hellboy got up and walked to the home of his shooter, all without passing out.
- Superhuman Stamina: While certainly not limitless, Hellboy's stamina has been shown to exceed that of normal and highly athletic humans. Hellboy's stamina is part of what keeps him going in a long battle and the factor that backs up his stubbornness as he refuses to go down in a fight.
- Enhanced Sight: Hellboy has been noted to have advanced sight, allowing him to see farther than average humans. The extent of his sight ability seems to be limited to distance, but he's shown to not have too much trouble seeing in the dark or in minimal-light situations.
- Accelerated Healing: Although he can be damaged like any living thing, Hellboy possesses a "healing factor" (much like the Marvel Comics character Wolverine) that allows him to recover from wounds at an incredible rate. One example of this was when he recovered after being in close proximity to his concussion grenade.
- Decelerated Aging: Hellboy seems to age differently from normal humans. At the time that young Hellboy tried his favorite food, “pamcakes” for the first time, he was technically two years old but appeared to be far older, around age six. In 1954 he already appeared to be a full-grown adult but was in reality about ten years old. His rapid physical maturation is in contrast to his physical rate of aging, which seems to be much slower than normal. Throughout the sixty-year span of his life, Hellboy seems to have ceased to age ever since reaching physical maturity.
- Immortality: Despite being taken out many times and eventually stopped at one point, Hellboy has survived blows that would kill any ordinary human. Possibly because he could fulfill his duty as the bringer of the apocalypse, Hellboy seems to have escaped death at nearly every turn. As he's described to be "as deathless as Koshchei", Hellboy can't die unless he believes he should.
- Thermal Resistance: Thanks to his demonic heritage and accelerated healing, Hellboy's body is quite resistant against high temperatures and fire. In the movies, he is depicted as being fireproof, and he is even more resilient against heat or burns than his comic book counterpart, to the point he became immune to all forms of fire and burns, including Liz Sherman's flames, and electrocution.
- Demonic Transformation: Hellboy assumes an even more demonic form under special circumstances, either artificially or when under emotional duress. In this form, Hellboy's stumps become full-grown horns. After coming to terms with his heritage, Hellboy seems to be able to transform at will, while also sprouting wings. Hellboy becomes much stronger and gains access to his latent magic. In his full-demon form, Hellboy was able to effortlessly slaughter Hell's most powerful inhabitants.
- Size-Shifting: Hellboy can increase his size to the point where he's very larger such as Leviathan and Behemoth.
- Hell-Fire Manipulation: While in his demonic form, Hellboy has the power to control the fires of Hell. With the power of Hellfire, Hellboy can create and manipulate massive devastating infernos from his body that obliterate anything in their path.
- Electrokinesis: In his demonic form, Hellboy has the power to command lightning from the sky and strike down whoever he wishes.
- Flight: When transformed into his demonic form, Hellboy sprouts wings which grant him the power of flight. However, it's unknown whether he uses wings or magic to achieve this feat.
Abilities
- Hand-to-Hand Combatant (Master): Although proficient with handguns, Hellboy often chooses to engage in close combat where he can utilize his incredible strength to defeat his enemies. He has also displayed skill with swords and other improvised weapons. He quite likely mastered all forms of Earth's martial arts, and a little further.
- Occult Knowledge: His decades of experience as a paranormal investigator has given him expertise in folklore, magical rituals, the use of charms and curses, paranormal creatures and other related topics.
- Innate Multilingualism: Due to his demon heritage, Hellboy was born with the ability to read, comprehend, and understand a number of ancient, magic and demonic languages. All parts of his intellect are super-human, making him an incredible strategist and an expert in all occult knowledge.
- Superhuman intellect: Hellboy's intelligence is incredible, being the best paranormal investigator since he was 8 years old.
- Master strategist: Hellboy is the best strategist on earth. Due to his destiny, he is capable of leading all the hell's instable army (more than 200 billions monsters) with perfection. He can create the best plans and can improvise very well too.
- Riders Aptitude: During the vision presented to him in the 2019 reboot film. Hellboy could be seen riding a massive dragon across an infernal wasteland made of the human world. Showing apt mount taming skills.
Trivia
- Ron Perlman portrayed Hellboy in the 2004 film. The film's success led to a 2008 sequel, for which Perlman reprised the role. A third film was in development, but was later cancelled.
- To prepare for his role, Ron Perlman read all of the Hellboy comics, and worked out three hours a day, five to seven days a week (varied). He also worked out while shooting; every day he had off from filming, he would work out.
- It's worth to mention Ron Perlman's iteration of Hellboy seemingly fares better than his comic book counterpart when it comes about firearm usage. He does however, claimed in 2004 film that his aiming still needs some work.
- His Right Hand of Doom is similar in purpose and design to the right arm of Nero from Devil May Cry, as the two characters have normal left arms while their right ones are demonic in origin and have considerable strength.
- David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, portrays Hellboy in the 2019 reboot. This film is R-rated, unlike the two Guillermo del Toro films, which were PG-13, as well as Harbour's incarnation taking on a mixture of both Perlman's appearance and the character's comic appearance.
- Hellboy was originally going to have cloven hooves for feet, like in the comics, but it was decided that it would be easier and safer for Ron Perlman to perform his stunts with normal, booted feet.
- Ron Perlman brought some Hellboy merchandise while recording lines for Abomination from The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.
External Links
- Hellboy on VS Battles Wiki
- The Official Hellboy site
- Hellboy on the Injustice Wiki
- Hellboy on the Near Pure Good Wiki
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