Troperville
Editing Help
Tools
Toys
|
In Absentia Luci, Tenebrae Vincunt * "In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails."
Oh, crap. - practically Hellboy's catchphrase.
In the final days of World War II, the Nazis, through the assistance of Grigori Rasputin, attempted to bring about "Project Ragna Rok" on a small island off the coast of Scotland in an attempt to salvage the war effort for the Third Reich. A group of Allied occultists and soldiers were on hand to witness the event, and found the fruits of Rasputin's labors: an infant demon, quickly nicknamed "Hellboy."
Instead of being killed because, well, he's a demon, Hellboy is whisked away by the United States and raised under the auspices of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, a government organization devoted to... well, Exactly What It Says On The Tin. Over the years, Hellboy becomes one of the B.P.R.D.'s top paranormal investigators and forms a deep relationship with his colleagues, who include:
- Pyrokinetic Liz Sherman, a young woman suffering from Power Incontinence as well as struggling with self-esteem issues over childhood trauma stemming from when her powers first manifested.
- Fishman Abe Sapien, an intelligent man/fish hybrid and Hellboy's best pal.
- Professor Kate Corrigan, a folklore and mythological encyclopedia and Team Mom.
- Roger, a Gentle Giant and hulking but childlike homunculus.
- Doctor Johann Kraus, an eccentric German medium whose body was destroyed during an astral projection, leaving him alive in the form of moving ectoplasmic gas.
- Ben Daimio, resident Shell Shocked Senior (with good reason). In effect Hellboy's replacement after he leaves(hence the rank of Captain).
But there are still questions about his past, including the real reason why Rasputin summoned him all those years ago...
Hellboy is one of the more successful franchises to come from Dark Horse Comics, and has earned Mike Mignola a great deal of recognition in the comics world. After a run of miniseries and one-shots, a regular spin-off, B.P.R.D., was launched, focusing on Hellboy's colleagues after he takes a leave of absence from the titular organization. Hellboy was adapted for the big screen by Guillermo del Toro, with a sequel, The Golden Army, released in theaters summer 2008. In addition, a two straight-to-video animated movies have been produced (the planned third one was cancelled). There were never two video games, despite persistent rumors.
Surprisingly, despite the explosion of additional material, nearly every piece manages to link back to a larger narrative.
This franchise contains examples of:
- Adaptation Decay — Examples include turning Abe Sapien into The Empath Straight Man (he's pretty serious in the books) and leaving out other important characters such as Roger and Kate Corrigan. The fact that the BPRD is secret and Hellboy and the other "freaks" must be hidden from public view make the film much more like the typical superhero story, whereas in the books Hellboy and his crew are internationally known and respected. However, keep in mind that all these changes were author approved, especially the Liz/Hellboy relationship. It may also be considered Adaptation Distillation, since Your Mileage May Vary. See also Show Within A Show below for an in-universe example.
- Kate does make an appearance in the animated features based off the movies though, being voiced by Peri Gilpin. She looks a lot younger (in the comics, she's in her mid-40s - as is Liz, if you do the math; in the animated movies, she can't be older than thirty).
- Mignola said in one of his interviews that he felt that the way he did Hellboy was just one interpretation, and he didn't want the movie to be a rehash of that, so he let Del Toro interpret the franchise his own way for the movies.
- In which case the movies and the animated films can each be considered Alternate Continuity.
- Adaptation Dye Job — Liz Sherman, from the comics to the movies to the animated movies.
- A Day In The Limelight — Your Mileage May Vary on whether the B.P.R.D. sub-series is this.
- The Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and Witchfinder spinoffs could be considered this since they all expand on previously existing characters from Hellboy and are much more limited series. As for B.P.R.D., the "War on Frogs" miniseries could count for several agents and "Garden of Souls" is almost completely devoted to Abe Sapien with some supporting action for Daimio.
- All Trolls Are Different — The trip to the Troll Market in the second movie illustrates this point magnificently.
- Alternate Continuity — The Movies, which had considerable input from Mike Mignola (He co-wrote the sequel), have a different take on things to the comics (see above).
- A Million Is A Statistic — used and inverted by the protagonists and the antagonists in The Black Goddess
- The Anti Christ — Hellboy, though he's not too keen on the idea and becomes an Anti Anti Christ.
- Apocalypse Maiden — Hellboy.
- Artificial Human — Roger the Homonculus
- Author Appeal — Have we mentioned Mike Mignola likes Gothic antiquity? How about old myths? The list goes on.
- Back From The Dead — Subverted hard. They even spend an entire story arc letting you think it's gonna happen.
- Bad Ass — Hellboy.
- Badass Bookworm — Kate Corrigan.
- Badass Normal — Kate Corrigan again, Captain Daimio, and some of the other B.P.R.D. agents. Also Lobster Johnson.
- Badass Longcoat — Of the second Hellboy story, Mignola said it taught him two things. The first was that HB looked better in a trench coat.
- Bait And Switch Umbridge — Dr. Krauss in The Golden Army.
- Bazaar Of The Bizarre — Troll Market
- Beethoven Was An Alien Spy — Grigori Rasputin as master mystic. Granted, even many of his contemporaries thought there was something weird about him.
- Big Bad — The Ogdru Jahad.
- Bittersweet Ending — The ending of the second movie. Nuala kills herself pointlessly to stop her brother from stabbing Hellboy in the back.
- Alternately, it was a Heroic Sacrifice to put an end to Nuada's self-admittedly unending revenge trip. Bittersweet either way.
- BFG: The Big Baby in The Golden Army.
- Brains And Brawn — Abe and Hellboy, especially in the first movie.
- Brain In A Jar — Herman von Klempt
- Brother Sister Incest — Word Of God states that Nuada and Nuala had something going on, and the library scene had rather ''interesting'' implications.
- Source?
- This Troper recalls it was the actor who played Nuada that said this.
- Captain Ersatz —
Elric of Melnibone Nuada of Bethmoora.
- Chekhovs Gunman — Alice Monaghan from "The Corpse."
- Clue From Ed — Used very sparsely, generally to point you towards a cool event that was just mentioned. They are not attributed to an editor.
- Cosmic Horror Story
- Crossover Cosmology — Deities and monsters of classical mythology make regular appearances, while God was responsible for the creation of the (originally non-evil) Cosmic Horrors mentioned above
- Crowning Moment Of Funny — In the first movie, the rooftop conversation Hellboy has with a nine-year-old about love. In the second, movie, the heartfelt cover of the song " I Can't Smile Without You," without a doubt the greatest duet ever put to film.
- Hellboy vs. Lockers. Lockers win.
- Cursed With Awesome — Liz Sherman.
- Dark Is Not Evil — Despite being a demon, Hellboy is one of the more noble characters of the series.
- Although there are a lot of villains trying convince him that he should be evil.
- And the movies have several creatures that are, at worst, neutral
- Demon Slaying
- Designated Villain — Prince Nuada. Yes, he wants to destroy humanity with the Golden Army, but humanity started the war against the magic creatures, thus creating the need to forge the army, and then broke their end of the peace treaty. Since humanity forgot about their end of the deal, Nuada didn't see the need to keep his, especially as his kind was fading. Even his hypocritical use of the plant elemental makes the point that it wouldn't be endangered if the humans had left the forests and magical creatures in peace like they promised.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu — Hellboy's standard M.O. Also, given Hellboy's true name and nature, this probably applies whenever someone punches him out.
- Discontinuity — It says something that both of the video games are the only universally ignored items in the franchise.
- The Dragon — Mr. Wink to Nuada. He dies rather quickly for a Dragon, though
- Dull Surprise — Liz Sherman's default expression for most of the Hellboy comics & doubly so for Selma Blair's portrayal of her in the films. Justified, as she's supposed to be depressed & heavily medicated due to her tragic past, & in the later BPRD series she gets better.
- Eldritch Abomination — Sadu-Hem and Katha-Hem, among others. HP Lovecraft's influence here is no surprise.
- Ensemble Darkhorse — Kate Corrigan.
- Karl Kroenen, thanks to the movies
- Even Evil Has Standards — Kinda. In the first movie, after revealing his plan to the Professor as well as the knowledge that they would kill him afterwards, Rasputin asures him that his death will be quick and painless. Seconds later, Kroenen swiftly stabs him through the back of his neck, at the top of the spinal cord, killing him instantly.
- Everythings Better With Monkeys — von Klempt's series of "Kriegaffes", one of which prompts Hellboy's entirely accurate line, "Goddamn Nazi Frankenstein monkey!" "Box Full of Evil" involves a gun-toting Satanist getting turned into a chimp and trying to kill Abe. Lobster Johnson introduces shape-shifting Tibetan wereapes, and Daimio's grandmother, the Crimson Lotus, had a monkey that seems to have been her familiar.
"Enough with the damn monkeys!"
"They're apes!"
"THEY'RE MONKEYS!"
- Everythings Cuter With Kittens - Hellboy loves kittens. There's even a scene in the second movie where he's supposed to be spying on a troll, but disobeys orders and breaks cover to prevent her from eating a kitten.
- Evil Albino — Prince Nuada
- Extranormal Institute — The B.R.P.D.'s offices. Taken to a ludicrous level in the first act of The Golden Army.
- The Fair Folk — In the comicbook short story "The Corpse", Hellboy rescues a baby taken by Fairies; the Fairy King makes occasional appearances in other stories. The plot of The Golden Army focuses on a rogue prince of The Fair Folk who wants to destroy humanity.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink — the size of an Olypic swimming pool
- Fertile Feet — Fertile blood in this case.
- Fish People — Abe Sapien.
- Fluffy The Terrible — Mr. Wink, and perhaps the Tooth Fairies in The Golden Army.
- Full Frontal Assault: The Queen of Blood's nakedness only adds to her creep factor.
- Geek — Kate Corrigan was the occult/mythology geek in the comics (it was her day job before she joined the B.P.R.D.). Recently, Johann Krauss seems to be turning into the evil version of this.
- In the film, Abe Sapien. "Ooh, goggles! Yay!"
- Gentle Giant — Hellboy loves cats, in the movie at least.
- Gratuitous German — Johann Krauss. In the comics, when he loses his temper. In the films, whenever he feels like insulting someone.
- Grim Up North — The ancient temple to the Ogdru Jahahd is located somewhere in the Arctic circle.
- Grimmification
- Half Identical Twins — Nuada is a White Haired Pretty Boy, Nuala is a White Haired Pretty Girl.
- Hey Its That Voice — In the second movie, Krauss is voiced by Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy and American Dad.
- Hikaru Genji Plan — Hellboy & Liz in the movies.
- Historical Villain Upgrade — Rasputin, obviously.
- Somewhat averted, actually, since he didn't get involved with Cosmic Horrors untill after his supposed death (though this version did apparently have some contact with the sinister Baba Yaga while he was alive).
- Hit Me Dammit — In the first movie when Liz needs to get her flame on.
- Hoist By His Own Petard — Mr Wink dies this way in the second movie.
- Hollow World: The B.P.R.D. miniseries Hollow Earth.
- Humans Are Bastards — Outside of the BPRD, pretty much all normal humans treat Hellboy and his group like unstable monsters. In the second movie, this is probably why they quit.
- Note that this isn't the way it's played in the books at all. For one thing, Hellboy is a minor celebrity (see below), and there are plenty of sympathetic "regular human" characters - unfortunately many of them die because they can't swing it with Hellboy and his set. Not that everybody's nice - see What Measure Is A Non Human.
- Just Keep Driving - The first movie has two examples in rapid succession. One when Myers falls into traffic and is nicked by a car. Another when Hellboy saves him by launching an oncoming car out of the way with his stone fist.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover — At least in the movies. This can be a more supernatural version of a character keeping a dog, since cats are more mysterious and occult.
- King Arthur — Hellboy is the last living descendant
- Knight In Sour Armor — Hellboy.
- Like A Badass Out Of Hell: Rasputin in the first movie.
"Every time I died and crossed over, a little more of the Master came back with me."
- Love Triangle — A damn weird one in Johann Krauss' past. He fell in love with the ghost of a man's wife he was hired to contact as a spirit medium. Naturally, this did not end well.
- And a more standard one in the first film between Liz, Hellboy, and Myers (who seems to vacillate between trying to reconcile Liz and Hellboy and falling for Liz himself.)
- Masked Luchador: Lobster Johnson (see Show Within A Show, below).
- Hellboy also teams up with some in one of the Christopher Golden novels, which are apparently part of the comic continuity.
- Mayincatec — The Aztecs and the fall of Tenochtitlan figure big in the backstory of Hellboy: The Island. The Aztec priests had gold tablets inscribed with the true history of the Ogdru Jahad and the creation of the world.
- Masquerade — Averted in the comics; Hellboy was granted honorary human status by the UN and is something of a paranormal celebrity. There's a reason people don't freak out when a giant red demon shows up to investigate a wererat infestation. (In the movie, though, he's an Urban Legend.)
- In the the first trade paperback, though, while Hellboy stands around in broad daylight when on missions, Abe Sapien wears a coat, hat, goggles, and a fake beard to hide his amphibian nature.
- The Companion explains that Abe was never too keen on drawing excess attention and lacks the natural charm that Hellboy uses to overcome the fear his appearance causes. Hellboy even speculated at one point that it's easier for people to accept him because Hell seems "more abstract" than anything that reminds them of the weird things in the oceans that they know are real. Thus Abe uses the Coat Hat Mask and Hellboy doesn't.
- In the second movie Hellboy breaks the Masquerade, which causes his commanding officer no end of grief.
- Mecha Mooks — Averted with the titular Golden Army, they are all Implacable Bots and Nigh Invulnerable.
- Mighty Whitey — Invoked, but ultimately subverted by Martin "Fu Manchu" Gilfryd.
- Mind Screw — Mignola is a great admirer of mythology & fairytales, and the Hellboy comics often adhere more to that sort of curious dream-logic than the more linear storytelling most modern readers are accustomed to. This is especially prevalent in the one-shots, as the larger Story Arcs, by their very nature require a more cohesive approach. In his introduction to The Hydra & The Lion, Mignola comments: "I've always said that in supernatural stories you need bits that are beyond human comprehension. This one is pretty much made of those bits."
- And the fact that he takes ideas from everything (The Hydra & The Lion having sprung from something his daughter told him) may not help either.
- Moral Myopia: Prince Nuada chews Hellboy out for killing the Elemental because it's the last of its kind. If he's so worried about its safety, he shouldn't have used it as a weapon. This sort of hypocrisy shows up more than once with him.
- Mysterious Past — Oh yeah. The exact amount of mystery varies between characters. Several have even gotten enough plot attention to not be mysterious anymore.
- Mundane Utility — Liz Sherman lighting her cigarettes with pyrokinesis
- Nazis — If there's a non-supernatural foe in the comics, there's a good chance they wear a swastika.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot — In the first film, Kroenen is a Nazi zombie clockwork ninja.
- Oh Crap — HB's had so many of these moments it's practically become his Catch Phrase. A few villains have had them as well.
- Our Angels Are Different — The second film's Angel of Death, while fitting the classic Winged Humanoid mode has its eyes on its wings instead of its face. The ones in the comics are even weirder. So far we've seen ones that look like flaming skeletons, and another that looks like a giant maggot with a metallic black mask, pointy legs and wings made of flayed human skin, with a floating spear of fire that follows it around.
- To be frank, the angels looking like Eldritch Abominations is more in line with the actual descriptions of them in the Bible.
- In fact, angels like those exist in the Bible (well, except for the flaming skeletons, but then again...)
- Our Demons Are Different — HB's pretty typical, physically, but the other demons we see keep getting progressively weirder as time goes on. The bizarre crow/bat/udder thing in BPRD: The Universal Machine probably takes the cake.
- Our Elves Are Better — Well, Prince Nuada thinks so. And he is capable of splitting a water droplet with his spear. * That said, Hellboy and his crew have a different opinion.
- Our Vampires Are Different — Given the nature of the series, this is to be expected. The likelihood of Hellboy or the BPRD facing off against the classic vampire is just as likely as them fighting against: 1. Vampire-Human hybrids made from injecting the mentally and physically disabled, gay, and other prisoners that the Nazis had rounded up with vampire blood, 2. The Manananggal/Penanggalan, a normal looking woman by day, who at night detaches her head from her body to feed, ALL of her internal organs leaving with her, and 3. The Varcolac, a Titan-esque King of the Vampires that can devour the moon.
- Pet The Dog — (Movie) In several instances Prince Nuada was kind to members of species other than the humans he despises, including a dog. Justified by the fact that his big problem is with humans overrunning the planet and pushing out other species.
- Power Trio — (Movie version); Hellboy, Liz, and Abe
- Physical God — Hecate, The Queen of Blood. The plant elemental is referred to as a god as well.
- Psychic Powers — In the films, Abe Sapien is telepathic and able to read the past of objects and places, probably to allow them to do an Info Dump for the audience without it seeming too awkward.
- Punch Punch Punch Uh Oh — Hellboy and Mr. Wink. Also, Hellboy and Krauss against the Golden Army.
- Only replace "Punch Punch Punch" with "Rip Rend Tear."
- Put On A Bus: Arguably what the sub-series B.P.R.D. did to Hellboy. This also happens to Abe in an awesome way in the (B.P.R.D.) story "The Dead".
- Rasputinian Death — Well...Rasputin. And he's still not technically dead.
- Really Big Gun — Hellboy's not a very good shot, but The Samaritan uses really big bullets.
- Of course, the reason he's not a very good shot is because he has to shoot with his left hand.
- And let's not even talk about Big Baby...
- In the comics, he's used a whole series of handguns from a single-shot pistol of truly gigantic caliber given to him by The Torch of Liberty (a WWII-era superhero), through a more modern (though ultimately unreliable) autoloader that would make the Desert Eagle wet itself in awe, to a plain old antique Colt M1911A1 to replace his custom sidearm when it went MIA...
- Reassigned To Antarctica — Literally. Poor, poor John Myers.
- —> "He said he liked the cold!"
- Red Right Hand — Left hand, too.
- And the trope-naming Nick Cave song is used to awesome effect in the soundtrack to the first movie.
- Red Oni Blue Oni — In The Golden Army notably, Hellboy's brashness and emotional volatility contrasts with Abe Sapien's apprehensive thoughtfulness. As it happens, Hellboy's nickname is 'Red' while Abe's is 'Blue'. As a result, they also make a great singing duo
- Similarly, Hellboy and Krauss (or the Golden Army and Krauss) at the end of the second film, since the Golden Soldier possessed by Krauss glows blue rather than red.
- Red Shirt — Just about any non main character who has the gall to tag along with the main characters on their missions isn't coming back.
- The Right Hand Of Doom- the Trope Codifier
- Sadly Mythtaken — Before she was forced to possess the iron maiden containing Ilsa Haupstein's corpse, Hecate was apparently a snake-woman who demanded human sacrifice. Oh, and she wants to destroy the world. This is something of a contrast to the original mythology, where she has one of the few divine Pet The Dog moments in Classical Mythology as she helps Demeter search for Persephone.
- In this version, Hecate isn't even originally a Greek Goddess, having started her career as a deity in ancient Hyperborea under the name of Heca-Emmem-Ra.
- Justified in the Hellboy-verse because the myths are the result of several millennia worth of Memetic Mutation.
- Satan - Mentioned in The Wild Hunt. Is currently taking a two thousand year nap beneath Pandemonium.
- Screw Destiny — Hellboy was born to bring about the Apocalypse. He's not happy about that. In the second trade paperback, Wake The Devil, Hellboy actually says "Screw you!" to Hecate after she lectures him about his destiny.
- Sequel Non Entity — Myers' absence from the second movie is explained by his reassignment to Antarctica.
- His story in general counts as a Shaggy Dog Story, since he was supposed to look after Hellboy once Broom died and Red himself had him reassigned.
- Shell Shocked Senior — Captain Ben Daimio. He was dead for three days, wouldn't you be too?
- Show Within A Show — After his death in 1939, two-fisted adventure hero The Lobster became the subject of a number of these: Pulp Magazine stories, comic books, Film Serials, and finally Mexican movies with The Lobster (or, rather, "Lobster Johnson," the last name taken from the secret identity he was given in the pulps) as a Masked Luchador. Compared to his real life, they all make for massive cases of Adaptation Decay, and are all considered atrociously terrible, although some people (including Hellboy himself) enjoy them anyway. The existence of these adaptations allow the Hellboy-verse's US government to cover up the existence of the real Lobster (and the fact that he was a spy for them in WWII), and as a further side-effect, the character is more readily known, on both sides of the Fourth Wall, as "Lobster Johnson."
- Silent Scenery Panel — In the comics, lots of close-ups of thematically-important artwork and statuary.
- Sixth Ranger — While sorting the various agents into roles is a bit tricky, Captain Daimio is certainly a Sixth Ranger. Johann may also qualify.
- So Bad Its Horrible — The games are either this or So Okay Its Average (depending).
- Spinoff — So far the main Hellboy series has four official spinoff series, including B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien, and the upcoming Witchfinder series. Not too mention the Odd Jobs series, the Weird Tales comics, and all the non-canon novelisations; there's a whole lot more to the Hellboy universe than just the original comics.
- Steampunk — Clock Punk in the movies.
- The Stoic — Hellboy.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler — And how. Jet Packs, Lego Genetics, Hollywood Cyborgs, heads in jars, and quality occult advice from Rasputin; You name it, the Nazis had it. Mignola's Hitler had more toys than Batman. The first movie doesn't even start to show off their capabilities with a Clockwork Nazi assassin. In the (movie) Mignola-verse, World War II was simply the public face of the decades-long "Occult Wars" which began shortly after World War I and lasted until the Allies finally killed Hitler - in 1958. Only Mignola knows how America Saved The Day.
- Stylistic Suck — See Show Within A Show, above.
- Synchronization — Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala
- Tastes Like Friendship — A Baby Ruth Bar in the first movie.
- The Team Normal — John Myers, in the films. And then he gets transferred to Antarctica in the second movie!
- Technology Porn
- This Is Gonna Suck — See Oh Crap above.
- Timm Style - in the OVAs. Was likely used for being cheaper to animate than Mignola's actual style, while still being somewhat similar.
- The Problem With Licensed Games: Both Hellboy games had outdated graphics and repetitive gameplay, and the first one was full of bugs. Although The Science of Evil was supervised by Mignola and Del Toro, it didn't make up for the programming shortcomings.
- Took A Level In Badass — In the graphic novels, Kroenen was just a gas-masked Nazi with a Morally Ambiguous Doctorate. The first movie turned him into a Surgery Addicted Clockwork Nazi Cyborg Assassin with a taste for arm blades... and a Morally Ambiguous Doctorate.
- Trademark Favorite Food: "Pamcakes".
- Twin Telepathy — Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala
- The Unchosen One — Hellboy
- Ungrateful Bastard — In the second movie, most bystanders immediately go accuse the B.P.R.D. as freaks after just having been saved from
Cloverfield The Nightwalker a plant elemental!
- Urban Legend — Lobster Johnson, and this is the main reason why all the in-universe stories about him are pulpy and wildly incorrect. Hellboy, in the movies.
- Villain Team Up — In both the main series and B.P.R.D., see main article for details.
- Weenalized — Liz in the Hellboy film series has a romantic relationship with Hellboy. However, in the Hellboy comic books and the animated films, Liz and Hellboy are just friends; there is no hint of a romantic relationship between the two of them and she is more like a little sister to him than anything.
- Your Mileage May Vary — On everything from the quality of the Spin Offs to character interpretations.
- What Measure Is A Non Human — Something Hellboy must deal with often enough.
- In the books, the BPRD comes down on the wrong side of this question when it fits Roger the Homunculus with a self-destruct.
- And this comes up in The Black Goddess a bit with Johann.
- What Measure Is A Non Unique
- Whattya Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs? — Read the "Our Angels Are Different" entry up there.
- The Wild Hunt: The current Hellboy arc is seems to indicate that The Fair Folk are gearing up to take on the human race, so the trope may be fully invoked yet.
- You Killed My Father — "Your ass is mine!"
|
|
