Lionsgate has unveiled a set of new Hellboy posters that spotlight the reboot’s various monsters and nod to the movie’s comic book influences. Red returns to the big screen next month, more than a decade after his last appearance in Guillermo del Toro’s 2008 sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The character is being brought to life by Stranger Things’ David Harbour in Neil Marshall’s relaunch of the franchise, which promises to be a bloodier, more horror-centric take on the property than del Toro’s Hellboy adventures (as evidenced by its now-official R rating).
Hellboy comic book creator Mike Mignola has also touted the reboot film as being more faithful to its source material than del Toro’s adaptations. In fact, the movie’s storyline directly adapts a major narrative arc from Mignola’s comics involving Hellboy’s battle against the powerful Blood Queen, Nimue (played by Milla Jovovich in Marshall’s reboot). The latest posters for the movie further highlight that element, while at the same time shining a light on the film’s monsters and bloody nature in general.
Lionsgate (h/t to CBR) uploaded a fresh collection of Hellboy one-sheets to the film’s Twitter account this week, with less than four weeks to go before the movie hits theaters. You can check them out in the space below.
The Hellboy reboot was written by Andrew Cosby (the co-creator of the cult TV series Eureka) and draws inspiration from Mignola’s comic book storylines “Darkness Calls”, “The Wild Hunt”, and “The Storm and the Fury” (which, together, form a three-part narrative). Both the Hellboy trailers and these posters nod to “The Wild Hunt” in particular by showing Hellboy traveling to the English countryside, where he crosses paths with not-so-friendly giants and other assorted creatures. Mignola’s original Hellboy comic trilogy also touches on Red’s troubling backstory - namely, that the half-demon was summoned by Nazis in WWII to bring about the end of days - and involves the Blood Queen’s resurrection in the present-day. Both of those story elements were teased in the full-length Hellboy trailer released at the end of February, and are further alluded to in these one-sheets.
Beyond that, these posters (specifically, the ones with just Hellboy) once again emphasize that the movie reboot will be more violent and gruesome that del Toro’s Hellboy films (which, to be fair, sometimes bordered on earning an R rating themselves). Lionsgate’s marketing has been hitting harder on that point for the last two months, after the Hellboy teaser trailer left fans confused by emphasizing comedic moments like Red snacking on chips or cracking one-liners while confronting the Blood Queen. Fingers crossed, the actual movie will prove to be successful at balancing its humor and monster horror aspects, much like the Hellboy comic books have typically been.
MORE: Hellboy 2019: Every Update You Need to Know
Source: Lionsgate [via CBR]
- Hellboy Release Date: 2019-04-12
