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Hellboy
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Real name Anung un Rama
Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (Aug. 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers. The character has been adapted into two live-action feature films in 2004 and 2008 that starred Ron Perlman in the title role, and two straight-to-DVD animated films, as well as two video games – Asylum Seeker and The Science of Evil.
A well-meaning demon whose true name is Anung Un Rama ("and upon his brow is set a crown of flame"), Hellboy was summoned from Hell to Earth as an infant demon on December 23, 1944 (given as his birth date by Mike Mignola) by Nazi occultists (spawning his hatred for them). He was discovered by the Allied Forces; amongst them, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who formed the United States Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). In time Hellboy grew to be a large, red-skinned man with a tail, horns (which he files off, leaving behind the signature circular stumps on his forehead), cloven hooves for feet, and an over-sized right hand made of stone. He has been described as smelling of dry-roasted peanuts. Although a bit gruff, he shows none of the malevolence thought to be intrinsic to demons, and has a strong sense of humor. This is said to be because of his upbringing under Professor Bruttenholm, who raised him as a normal boy.
Hellboy works for the BPRD, an international non-governmental agency, and himself against dark forces including Nazis and Baba Yaga, in a series of tales that have their roots in folklore, pulp magazines, vintage adventure, Lovecraftian horror and horror fiction. In earlier stories, he is identified as the "World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator.
Biography
Hellboy, or Anung Un Rama as he was called, was conceived on October 5, 1617, the day his birthmother Sarah Hughes was on her deathbed. In life, Sarah was a witch who gained her powers from being a consort of the demon Azazel, a duke of Hell who is also Hellboy's biological father. Taking Sarah's body to Hell when she attempted to repent on her death bed within a church in East Bromwich, England, Azazel burned her away so their child would be born and chopped the newborn's right hand off 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, Azazel sent his half-demon child away while he was stripped of his powers and imprisoned in ice.The child is eventually summoned to Earth in the final months of World War II by Grigori Rasputin on Tarmagant Island, off the coast of Scotland, having been commissioned by the Nazis to change the tide of war ("Project Ragna Rok"). As a direct result of this ritual, the child appears on Earth in a fireball at what remained of the ruined Bromwich Church on December 23, 1944. Proving not to be a devil, in the traditional sense, but a devil-like creature, the child was dubbed "Hellboy" by Professor Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm.
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. 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.
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 (Ichtyo sapiens); 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 an expedition in the Arctic, 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. Soon after, during a visit to Bromwich Church, 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 Azazel from claiming Sarah.
During the events of Hellboy: 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 Ragna Rok who was revived from suspended animation and aids in Giurescu’s resurrection. 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 encased body. Hecate swallows Hellboy, but he returns to his reality after he denounces the dark purpose he was born to perform.
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 in the events of Hellboy: Almost Colossus as he convinces the homunculus to save Liz's life. Following the events of the Hellboy: 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.
In the aftermath of Hellboy: 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. From there, Hellboy decides to find out the truth of his existence once and for all. But, as revealed in Hellboy: Strange Places, 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.
Six years later, as Hellboy: Darkness Calls opens, 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 whom 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 during the events of Hellboy: The Wild Hunt where he 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 in the events of Hellboy: The Storm and the Fury. 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.
Powers and abilities
Hellboy possesses superhuman strength, endurance, a degree of resistance to injury, and a healing factor that allows him to heal quickly from injuries. He also has the innate ability to comprehend ancient and magical languages. The extent of his strength is unclear, but he has torn down a large tree and hurled it at an opponent and has lifted massive stones. He has also picked up and thrown opponents weighing at least four to five hundred pounds. Hellboy has a high degree of resilience to injury. He can withstand powerful blows that would severely injure or kill a human. He survived being shot many times in the chest with an MG 42 machine gun before destroying it. He has survived being impaled through the chest with a sword, severe werewolf mauling, being beaten unconscious with heavy iron tongs, falling from extreme heights, being crushed by boulders, and more. In the film version it is stated that Hellboy is immune to all forms of fire and burns, including Liz Sherman's flames, and electrocution. Despite his ability to quickly recover from seemingly mortal wounds, he is far from invulnerable, and can be injured or bloodied by conventional weapons. It is revealed to Baba Yaga by the dead Russian nobility that Hellboy may not be slain even through supernatural means and that he appears to be as deathless as her warrior, Koschei the Deathless.
Hellboy ages very differently from humans. In the story Pancakes he is two years old but appears to be somewhere between 6 and 10 human years old. In Nature of the Beast, set in 1954, the ten-year-old Hellboy appears fully grown. His rapid physical maturation is in contrast to his actual rate of aging however, which seems to be much slower than humans. Throughout the sixty-year span of time depicted in the comics, he does not age beyond the plateau of physical maturity. This mystical aging process is similar to the other demons and supernatural beings that populate Hellboy's world. The lifespan of a Demon, or Half-demon as Hellboy's mother was human, are left undefined within the comics and seem to range from decades to many thousands of years. In the movies, Hellboy's aging process is described by on BRPD as "reverse dog years".
In addition to his natural physical abilities, Hellboy carries a variety of items in his utility belt and jacket that can be used against various supernatural forces. He has been known to carry holy relics, horseshoes, various herbs, and hand grenades. Though he commonly carries an oversized revolver, Hellboy freely admits to being a lousy shot and often fights hand-to-hand, preferring to use short-ranged physical weapons like swords, spears, and his massive stone fist over firearms. Hellboy's lack of formal combat training and education is compensated for by his decades of experience as a paranormal investigator, though encounters with unfamiliar threats have often forced him to resort to improvisation and using his wits.
Right Hand of Doom
As revealed in Strange Places, Hellboy's right hand was originally the right hand of Anum, one of the "greater spirits" that watched over the burgeoning Earth and created the Ogdru Jahad. After sealing the Ogdru Jahad away, Anum was destroyed by his fellow spirits. Only his right hand remained intact as it was kept and preserved by many races throughout history, including the first race of man. The Right Hand of Doom eventually ended up in the possession of Azazel before he grafted it onto the newborn Hellboy.
As the hand which created and bound the Ogdru Jahad, it is also the key which will "loose and command" them; in other words, it is a catalyst that will bring about Ragnarok. The comic books themselves never mention how the Right Hand of Doom would actually perform these tasks; it is only ever announced that this is the case and that someone or something intends to do it with or without Hellboy's consent. The film shows it working like a key: being turned twice in a special obelisk secured by Rasputin would release the Ogdru Jahad. It is made clear that it is not necessary for the arm to be attached to Hellboy to perform its duties. It has been suggested that if Hellboy dies while the Hand is attached to him, it would become useless. He has therefore concluded that the only way to prevent its falling into the wrong hands is to keep and protect it.
Best films
(2008)
(2004)Played by the actors
Filmography of Hellboy (6 films)
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Hellboy (2019)
, 2h1Directed by Neil Marshall
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Superhero films, Super-héros inspiré de comics
Actors David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Penelope Mitchell, Daniel Dae Kim
Rating53%
Durant l'Âge sombre, la Reine de Sang Vivian Nimue est vaincue par le Roi Arthur grâce à Excalibur. Le corps de Nimue est dispersé et chaque membre caché en des lieux différents.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
, 2hDirected by Guillermo del Toro
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Comedy, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror
Themes Pregnancy films, Films about religion, Films about sexuality, Films set in the future, Demons in film, Superhero films, Political films, Dystopian films, Super-héros inspiré de comics, Disaster films
Actors Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt, Seth MacFarlane
Rating69%
During Christmas 1955, an 11-year-old Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his adoptive father, Trevor Broom, involving an ancient war between man and magical creatures, started by man's greed. After defeat of the magical creatures' forces, the master of the goblin blacksmiths offers to build an indestructible mechanical army for the elven King Balor. Encouraged by his son Prince Nuada, Balor orders the building of this Golden Army. The humans are devastated by the army. Balor is ridden with guilt and forms a truce with the humans: Man will keep his cities and the magical creatures will keep their forests. Nuada does not agree with the truce and leaves in exile. The magical crown controlling the army is broken into three pieces, one going to the humans and the other two kept by the elves.
Disaster Movie (2008)
, 1h25Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Aaron Seltzer
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Comedy, Action
Themes La fin du monde, Films about religion, Comedy science fiction films, Films set in the future, Political films, Dystopian films, Disaster films, American disaster films
Actors Matt Lanter, Vanessa Lachey, Nicole Ari Parker, Crista Flanagan, Nicole Frances Parker, Kim Kardashian West
Rating19%
In the year 10,001 B.C., a caveman runs away from a predator through a plain and immediately gets into a fight with Wolf (Ike Barinholtz). After defeating him, the caveman then encounters the predator: a saber-toothed, gasoline-drinking Amy Winehouse (Nicole Parker), who after checking her Facebook account, informs him that the world will end on August 29, 2008 (the film's release date) revealing that their fate lies in a crystal skull. The film flash-forwards to the present, treating the first scene as a dream sequence of Will (Matt Lanter). He then finds out that his girlfriend Amy (Vanessa Minnillo) is having an affair with Flavor Flav (Abe Spigner), and she breaks up with Will because he is not admitting his true feelings for her.
, 1h15Directed by Victor Cook, Tad Stones
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror, Animation
Themes Superhero films
Actors Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, John Hurt, Cree Summer, Peri Gilpin
Rating65%
In a series of flashbacks played in reverse chronological order it is related that in 1939, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm investigated a series of murders in Eastern Europe. Erzebet Ondrushko, a vampire who bathed in the blood of innocents to stay young, was responsible. She had sold her soul to the Queen of Witches, the goddess Hecate, and had just kidnapped the fiancee of one of the townsmen. When the search party confronted Erzebet in her castle, all members of the party were horribly killed, and Bruttenholm was left to face her alone. He tricked her into the sunlight, effectively destroying her.
, 1h17Directed by Tad Stones
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Horror, Animation
Themes Superhero films
Actors Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Peri Gilpin, Dee Bradley Baker, Keith Ferguson
Rating63%
The film starts in the middle of an unspecified mission which sees Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien battling bat-worshipping Mayan zombies who are lead by a gigantic zombie bat. The group are eventually able to defeat their opponents when Liz unleashes her pyrokinetic powers, although she is still unsure of her ability to control her powers.
Hellboy (2004)
, 2h2Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Fantastic, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about religion, Films set in the future, Demons in film, Superhero films, Films about psychiatry, Political films, Dystopian films, Steampunk films, Super-héros inspiré de comics, Films set in psychiatric hospitals, Disaster films
Actors Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt
Rating67%
In 1944, the Nazis build a dimensional portal off the coast of Scotland. With the help of Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, they intend to free the Ogdru Jahad—monstrous entities imprisoned in deep space—to aid them in defeating the Allies. Rasputin knows this will be an apocalyptic event that he believes will create a paradise. He opens the portal with the aid of his disciples, Ilsa von Haupstein and Obersturmbannführer Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, member of the Thule Society and Adolf Hitler's top assassin. An Allied team is sent to destroy the portal, guided by young Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in the occult. The German team is killed and the portal is destroyed—in the process absorbing Rasputin—while Haupstein and Kroenen escape. The Allied team discovers that an infant demon with a right hand of stone came through the portal; they dub him "Hellboy" and Bruttenholm adopts him.