Hellboy (2004) is a superhero film adapted from Dark Horse Comics, directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman and Selma Blair. The film is part of the Dark Horse and was released by Sony Pictures. Runtime: 2h 2m. Rated PG-13. Audience rating: 6.8/10.
What is Hellboy (2004) about?
A demon summoned from hell during WWII is raised by a government agency to become Hellboy, a rough-hewn paranormal investigator who battles the very supernatural forces he was created to serve.
Released in 2004, Hellboy was directed by Guillermo del Toro and produced under the Sony Pictures banner. The film occupies a significant place within the Dark Horse — contributing to the ongoing narrative and mythology of that cinematic universe.
The film features lead performances from Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, among others, anchoring a story that adapts characters first brought to life in Dark Horse Comics. Its source material gives the film a foundation rooted in decades of published storytelling, which Toro and the creative team interpret through a cinematic lens.
Its 6.8 rating reflects a film that divided audiences — appreciated for its ambition and spectacle by some, criticized for pacing and execution by others. Its place in the genre remains a frequent discussion point.
What happens in Hellboy (2004)? — Full Plot
We open in 1944 Scotland. The Nazi occult-researcher Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden) — the same historical-Rasputin who supposedly died in 1916 Russia — and his protégés Ilsa Haupstein (Bridget Hodson) and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen (Ladislav Beran) are conducting a ritual at the Scottish-coastal occult-research-station Trondheim. The ritual objective: opening a dimensional portal to the Ogdru-Jahad — seven-eyed cosmic gods of chaos who have been imprisoned in dimensional darkness for millennia. The Ogdru-Jahad's emergence would end Earth's existence.
The American military-occult-research unit — led by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt) — arrives at Trondheim to interrupt the ritual. The American team includes young Bruttenholm and his research-team. The ritual is interrupted at the last moment — but not before a small baby demon emerges through the partially-opened portal. The baby demon — called 'Anung un Rama' (cosmic-prophetic name) — is a literal Hell-spawn demon child. Bruttenholm takes the baby with him back to the American-base. He names the baby 'Hellboy.'
The baby demon — Hellboy — grows up under the guidance of Bruttenholm and the Bureau-for-Paranormal-Research-and-Defense (B.P.R.D.) — the American-government-occult-research-agency. The childhood-flashback sequence is approximately 6 minutes of childhood-screen-time: Hellboy as a young-boy in the B.P.R.D.-headquarters, eating large-quantities-of-candy, reading comic-books, training in combat-techniques under Bruttenholm's paternal-mentorship. The Bruttenholm-Hellboy father-son dynamic becomes the film's foundational emotional thread.
Cut to: 2004. Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is now an adult B.P.R.D. operative — a hulking, red-skinned demon with stone-fist hands ('the Right Hand of Doom' cosmic-artifact), sawed-off horns (he files his horns down daily to disguise his demonic-appearance), and a fondness for cats, cigars, and his girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) — a pyrokinetic mutant who has been institutionalized for her fire-power-instability. Hellboy's team-members at B.P.R.D. include Abe Sapien (Doug Jones in prosthetic-makeup, with David Hyde Pierce as Abe's voice).
Hellboy's personality is depicted as essentially-blue-collar-American despite his demonic-origin. He speaks in working-class-Brooklyn vocal-cadence, references American-popular-culture (cigars, pancakes, Mexican-food), and holds bureaucratic-government-employee opinions about his B.P.R.D. work. The everyman-demon characterization is director Guillermo del Toro's foundational creative choice for the film; del Toro wanted Hellboy to feel canonically-relatable-despite-demonic-appearance.
Rasputin returns from the dead. He has been planning his own resurrection for sixty-years, using Ilsa Haupstein (who became Hellboy's mother-figure in his earliest childhood-memories) and Kroenen (now converted into a clockwork-cyborg with clockwork-organs replacing his original-physical-organs) as occult-anchors. Rasputin's resurrection-mechanism: the Ogdru-Jahad's dimensional-radiation has been charging Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom — and Rasputin can use Hellboy's hand to open the Ogdru-Jahad portal.
The B.P.R.D. agents investigate Rasputin's lair — a abandoned-Carpathian-castle in Eastern-Europe. They find Ilsa-Haupstein, who has been canonically-alive-in-suspended-animation across the 60-years since the Trondheim-ritual. They engage Rasputin in a multi-front confrontation. The Carpathian-castle sequence is approximately 25 minutes of screen-time: combining monster-fights (with Rasputin's resurrected-creatures), Hellboy-vs-Kroenen-combat, and Abe-Sapien-mystical-investigation work. Bruttenholm is killed during the sequence by Kroenen's clockwork-blade.
Hellboy, devastated by Bruttenholm's death, pursues Rasputin to the final-Ogdru-Jahad-portal location — a cosmic-abandoned-Russian-mausoleum buried beneath Moscow's Red-Square. Rasputin attempts to use Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom to open the portal. Liz Sherman arrives. Her pyrokinetic-power is activated by her grief over Bruttenholm's death; she becomes the most-powerful-firepower-source in B.P.R.D. history. She incinerates Rasputin and his resurrected-creatures.
The final-battle climax. The Ogdru-Jahad's portal has been partially opened by Rasputin's ritual. Rasputin transforms into a massive-cosmic-demon being. Hellboy, in a moment of moral-commitment, refuses to use his Right Hand of Doom to open the portal further. He chooses human-moral-loyalty over his demonic-cosmic-destiny. He defeats the Rasputin-cosmic-demon through physical-combat combined with Liz-Sherman's pyrokinetic-support. The Ogdru-Jahad portal closes.
The film closes with Hellboy returning to the B.P.R.D. headquarters. Liz Sherman and Hellboy formalize their romantic-relationship. The mid-credits sequence tease the future B.P.R.D. missions across upcoming cinematic-installments. Director Guillermo del Toro's foundational-design — combining monster-makeup, gothic-cinematography, and comedic-character-dialogue — is referenced as the foundational template for subsequent del Toro directorial work (Pan's Labyrinth 2006, Pacific Rim 2013, Shape of Water 2017).
Commercial and critical reception. Hellboy grossed $99 million worldwide on a $66 million production budget — modest commercial success. Critics responded warmly (Rotten Tomatoes 80%); the film established Guillermo del Toro as a Hollywood-directorial-voice. The Ron-Perlman casting was praised — his 4-hour-daily prosthetic-makeup-application has been referenced as one of the most-elaborate actor-physical-transformations in 2000s superhero cinema. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) followed; the sequel grossed $168 million worldwide. The Hellboy franchise was rebooted in 2019 (Hellboy with David Harbor) and again in 2024 — reboots have not matched del Toro's original-films' critical or commercial reception. The source-comic Hellboy by Mike Mignola continues publication.
Who stars in Hellboy (2004)?
Find Hellboy (2004) on Amazon
Watch Hellboy on Prime Video, browse the original Dark Horse Comics source material, and discover Blu-rays, soundtracks, and related merchandise on Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Link clicks do not affect editorial coverage — see our disclaimer.
What are some facts about Hellboy (2004)?
Hellboy released in 2004, placing it within the 2000s era of comic book cinema — a decade that marked the modern superhero cinema revolution.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, the film was produced by Sony Pictures and adapts source material from Dark Horse Comics.
The principal cast features Ron Perlman and Selma Blair, with key supporting roles played by John Hurt, Rupert Evans, Doug Jones.
The film belongs to Dark Horse — a distinct corner of comic book cinema.
Hellboy carries an audience rating of 6.8 — a middling reception but one that hasn't prevented its cultural footprint.
The Dark Horse Comics source material for Hellboy has been in continuous publication for decades, giving filmmakers a rich well of storylines, character arcs, and iconography to draw upon.
Films from this era combined practical stunts with the rising CGI industry — many sequences would be impossible with either technology alone.
Hellboy is catalogued on Movies on Comics among our collection of 163 comic book films spanning 48 years of cinema — from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman to the present day.
💬 Reader Comments