Headscratchers / Hellboy (2004)

• The ancient war between Humanity and all the supernatural races. It's a bit of a head-scratcher that in those days of yore the humans could almost beat the Elves and their allies in open warfare, all while in present day humans with modern tech and weapons are still woefully overwhelmed whenever fighting supernatural threats (IE: The whole reason for having people like Abe and Hellboy around).
  • Elves are just one type of threat. The fact that they were secret, naturally, would limit the BPRD's desire to openly deal with threats, especially since a lot of the threats may have evolved too.
    • The movie also didn't exactly say the humans were winning the war, just that they were causing a serious amount of harm to Balor's people. It is entirely within the realm of reason that mankind was just zergrushing all the mythical beings and using scorched earth tactics just to mess with them and killing a shitload of magical beings.
  • The ancient humans may have had primitive technology, but at least they knew the supernatural races existed. Modern humans were so vulnerable because almost nobody (except the BPRD) realized the threat was possible, let alone what elven tactics to be prepared for or what weaknesses of theirs could be exploited. If modern weapons had been built with faerie opponents in mind, we'd have wiped the floor with Nuada's minions.
    • Going by the Comic Canon (which does not necessarily apply to the Hellboy movieverse, granted), those humans the Elves fought against most likely were the Hyperboreans, the first race of man. We are talking about a mighty race of superhumans who had dominated the entire planet, and had gained dominion over the Vril, the so called secret fire, god's magic. It makes sense the Elves even with all their unerthly means, had troubles dealing with those humans.
  • Just because the humans in question weren't fey folk or techno-geeks doesn't mean they couldn't have been really formidable magic-users themselves. They may have had loads of sorcerers backing up and enhancing their conventional troops, whose powers would make modern-day wannabes like Rasputin look like stage magicians pulling coins out of ears.
• Why does the BPRD send Red Shirts into situations at all? All they do is get killed.
  • Given the way director Manning calls Hellboy out for indirectly causing the death of three agents via his poor leadership skills, I would assume that BPRD death rates weren't that bad prior to the first movie.
  • Also, Kroenen and Sammael are likely really that much more dangerous than most of the things they encounter.
    • I assume that the BPRD can handle most of the problems they come up against; but against serious Elder Gods/black-market mojo, they're still only human. Hey, the resident demonspawn has a hard time handling those threats!
    • Yeah, they didn't really seem to be too hard pressed about wrestling down the angry troll-ish monster and giant octopus monster in the background near the beginning of TGA while the metahumans were otherwise occupied. Sure they were kinda being tossed around by the latter, but Manning and Abe didn't really seem to be too concerned while they walked past.
• Rasputin wanted Hellboy to open the gate to the Void. He must have needed Hellboy alive, otherwise he would have killed Hellboy while he was unconscious (following Liz's flameout). Why then did Kroenen — while working for Rasputin — attempt to drop Hellboy down a spike-filled pit?
  • Given what Hellboy is, and what we see him survive, its likely that the spikes would merely have disabled him.
    • Exactly. Kroenen would know how powerful Hellboy was, and using deadly force would be the safe option. Better overkill than underkill.
  • While not made clear in the movie, it is said repeatedly in the comics that only the hand is needed to free the Ogru Jahad as it is the hand of the creature who sealed them away.
    • It's also said in "Box Full of Evil" that, if one wanted to cut off the Right Hand of Doom and use it, they have to do it while Hellboy is still alive.
    Ualac: ...but the Hand must be struck off while he lives, lest his death bleed into it and poison it against us.
  • Rasputin strikes me as simply the kind of guy who wants to see the hero be corrupted and end the world. It's possible they didn't actually need him alive.
  • Probably also cause Kroenen is three cogs short of an clockworK, bloodthirsty and forgets the difference between "detain" and "filet" in the heat of the battle.
    • Considering how much his own body's fallen apart without him croaking, Kroenen may take it on faith that Hellboy (whose physique is much tougher than any human's, even his own) is going to prove hardy enough to live for a while after impalement, certainly long enough for Kroenen to amputate his arm before he expires.
• Right after he said he needed it, Abe's breathing thing disappeared for the rest of the movie.
  • He replaced it with those contact lens things.
    • No, he sprayed this experimental stuff on his gills, to keep them from drying.
  • That bothered me too (I thought the contact lenses were aesthetic, or to keep his eyes from drying out). Were they magic? Because the breathing thing oxygenated water and kept it flowing across his gills, and the contact lenses... didn't.
  • Maybe it's more of a comfort issue, he doesn't need it but prefers it at times because it's easier only deciding until later to stop using it in order to "toughen up" so to speak.
• Why is Hellboy transported using a garbage truck? I mean, it is inconspicuous and makes sense since the BPRD is disguised as the local sanitation service, but wouldn't people find it weird that a garbage truck is allowed to enter a crime scene? The library was completely cordoned off to keep the people out, so the only way in would've been through the police barricade. Can't the huge crowd of people see the random garbage truck enter? It would actually be less suspicious if he just arrived in a SWAT truck, and provide less fuel for any Conspiracy Theorist who notices the same garbage truck showing up at unusual crime scenes or Hellboy sightings.
  • A news reporter covering the scene is on-camera when they pull in; you explicitly hear her say, "And now even a GARBAGE TRUCK is entering—". Obviously everyone can tell that something blatantly weird is going on, but said truck doesn't have the normal municipal or corporate branding on it so it's entirely possible it was part of some special disposal unit to get rid of whatever was making them keep the museum closed off. Which, technically...
  • That could've been their cover story, but I think it would be more plausible if the truck was part of a biohazard unit. The Newark sanitation building is already pretty weird, then again saying it's equipped for problems like that just reassures how Hellboy is the worst kept secret in the world.
• Was the thing inside Rasputin an Ogdru Hem, like in "BPRD"?
  • Yes. The comic made it clear that the "master" Rasputin referred to was Sadu-Hem, one of the 369 Ogdru Hem, and that his knowledge of the Ogdru Jahad came through its teaching/influence. In the film, Rasputin's statement that he brought part of the master with him after each death might mean that this version of Sadu-Hem was trapped in the Void with the Jahad, although being outside of their crystal prison. Rasputin's plan of releasing the Jahad may have been motivated by the idea of recreating the world, but most likely Sadu-Hem had simply lied to him in order to release itself and its own masters. Of course, this is all speculation, since the film may have gone a completely different direction with the mythology.