History ComicBook / Hellboy

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: 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, 3. the bestial and often corpselike vampires of mexican folklore, and 4. The Varcolac, a Titan-esque King of the Vampires that can devour the moon.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous: [[TheDevil Astaroth's]] and his hoards' reaction to Hellboy having breakfast

* MaskedLuchador: Lobster Johnson (see ShowWithinAShow, below).

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: 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.

* PutOnABus: [[YourMileageMayVary 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".

* ReallyBigGun: Hellboy uses 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 [[CoolGuns Colt M1911A1]] to replace his custom sidearm when it went MIA.

** Hellboy himself would become one of these if he ever took up his place in {{Hell}} (he's on the verge of it as he is already, given his strength and how hard it is to kill him).
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Both Hellboy games had outdated graphics and repetitive gameplay, and the first one was full of bugs.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.

* ReallyBigGun: Hellboy uses 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 [[CoolGuns Colt M1911A1]] to replace his custom sidearm when it went MIA...
** The gigantic caliber pistol is justified in the comics not due to the immense stopping power that such a round would have, but because Hellboy's such a terrible shot that he needs a giant bullet to hit the target.

* RedShirt: Just about any non main BPRD character who has the gall to tag along with the main characters on their missions isn't coming back.
** Certain BPRD agents may be {{MauveShirt}}s, however, with Agent Devon being one of the more notable examples to emerge from the ''B.P.R.D.'' comics.
** RedshirtArmy ([[InvokedTrope Invoking]] FacelessGoons as well).
*** They did, however, TakeALevelInBadass in a few short stories. Sadly so did the Frogs...
*** They do okay when deployed properly and with heavy artillery backup. Sadly the BPRD often underestimates their opposition...

* SadlyMythtaken: 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 PetTheDog moments in ClassicalMythology 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 MemeticMutation.
** ''Sword Of Storms'' on the other hand has several cases of ShownTheirWork regarding Japanese mythology.

** I heard somewhere that Mignola chose that artist's style [[hottip:* : He's called Cheeks, he also designed ''TransformersAnimated'' and ''The Spectacular Spiderman'', and he's on DeviantArt!]] because it's so different from his own style to set it apart from the comics and live-action films, which all AlternateContinuities. Also, having seen ''TheAmazingScrewOnHead'' -- yes, Mignola's style is really hard to animate.
*** Though what's odd about this is that Mignola himself has lent a hand with this style in the past, including having created the new character design for Mr. Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series. There is also one episode of Teen titans with a villainous fish man who sort of resembles Abe Sapien, even being drawn in a vague Mignola style when compared to the show's normal artwork.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: "Pamcakes"
* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Mike's vision of Armageddon consists of a seven aspect god of chaos, its spawn, the forces of hell, and every magical being left in the world with a grudge against humanity vs. a half-demon half-human hybrid (with the fist of an angel), an undead army of Christendom, a global para-military defense agency, and a walking atomic bomb. That's the cliff notes version.

* TheUnmasquedWorld: 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 were-rat infestation.
** Interestingly enough, in the first trade paperback, while Hellboy stands around in broad daylight when on missions, Abe Sapien wears a [[WigDressAccent coat, hat, goggles, and a fake beard]] to hide his amphibian nature. [[AllThereInTheManual 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 [[UncannyValley weird things in the oceans that they know are real]]. Thus Abe uses the CoatHatMask and Hellboy doesn't.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Hellboy in the comics, but not as much in ''Hellboy Animated'' or the live-action movies.
** When he ''does'' have a shirt, it usually [[ClothingDamage doesn't last very long]].
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The animated films are in no way child-friendly, and in some ways are DarkerAndEdgier than even the live-action films.

-->''[[TearJerker Remember Hellboy, to be something other than human, does not necessarily mean to be something less...]]''

* AntiHero: The somewhat silly sounding Lobster Johnson is a solid type III, and he is *not* someone you want to piss off. Throughout his long career in the 30s he personally killed hundreds of gangsters, Nazi saboteurs, cultists and monsters. [[spoiler:And he doesn't really start rolling until he's dead]].

** Kate Corrigan also seems to be aging. Guy Davis' art makes Liz look reasonably older, but her birth date's 1962, so YourMileageMayVary.

* ADayInTheLimelight: YourMileageMayVary 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.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: And there's *no* escaping it. Mankind is currently fighting a desperate battle to ensure something of man's spirit and legacy will survive after the end. But the Ogdru Hem are rising, the FourHorsemen have been unleashed, cities are swallowed in war with monsters and natural disasters, the world's biggest hope [[spoiler:is dead]], and WordOfGod has said things that are broken aren't getting fixed.

* GentleGiant: Hellboy loves cats, in the movie at least.
** The Comic Hellboy seems to have a greater preference for children.
*** Really anything "cute" will get Red to [[CutenessProximity drop his guard]] and go "Awww..."
** The first scene with adult Hellboy shows him comforting distressed Prof. Bruttenholm.
* {{Ghostapo}} / StupidJetpackHitler: And how. [[JetPack Jet Packs]], LegoGenetics, {{Hollywood Cyborg}}s, [[BrainInAJar heads in jars]], the [[PublicDomainArtifact Spear of Longinus]], and quality occult advice from ''Rasputin''; you name it, the Nazis had it. Mignola's Hitler had [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys more toys]] than {{Batman}}.
** Interestingly, most of Mignola's Nazis hated Hitler - not so much because they ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards disagreed]]'' with the [[TheCaligula genocidal dictator]], but because they hated having to take orders from an ''[[ChaoticStupid unbelievably stupid]]'' genocidal dictator.
*** A sufficiently detailed study of the real-life Hitler suggests that this may have been based on RealLife -- among other things, most Nazi victories were battles Hitler was nowhere near.
*** Most of his officers also hated him because they were fully aware that they are being commanded by a corporal with minimal military experience. The fact that large part of the "old school" officers considered "plebeian" Nazi rules an anathema to the Imperial Germany they were raised in wasn't helping either. Hence the assassination attempts.
* GodIsGood: Aside from the plentiful holy relics, {{Badass}} undead saints and OurAngelsAreDifferent types that occasionally lend a hand, Hellboy is Catholic. He doesn't burst into flames at the sound of church bells, and stakes, crucifixes, etc. have no effect on him despite his 'demonic' nature. [[spoiler: Even going to Hell doesn't seem like too much of a torment to him]]. The guy upstairs is pretty forgiving.

* {{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.

** 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.

** In TheMovie, the trolls, Mr. Wink, and Prince Nuada all employ this trope.
** Hilariously subverted when Captain Daimio meets Roger, is flabbergasted by the (literal) block of wood and ring on his groin, and tells him to put some pants on. When it becomes apparent that Roger's... parts are so large that pants do absolutely nothing to hide them and make him a walking prince-albert joke, Daimio quickly tells him to, on second thought, lose the pants.

** Red himself seems to favor this over knowing his full past and origins: "I ''like'' not knowing. I ''sleep good'' not knowing.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, Ogdru Jahad, Anung Un Rama (the last a subversion).
** That subversion depends entirely on whose side you're on...

* OhCrap: HB's had so many of these moments, it's practically become his CatchPhrase. A few villains have had them as well. The better ones involve monkeys.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Hellboy's appearance is inhuman enough to make an apparent age not readily determinable, but he doesn't really seem to show his 60-80 years in which he has been on Earth (he was technically "born" in the 1600s, but doesn't seem to aged until he left {{Hell}}). [[spoiler:Alice Monaghen also looks about twenty years younger than she is, due to the influence of the fae]].

** To be frank, the angels looking like [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] is more in line with the actual descriptions of them in TheBible.
*** In fact, angels like those exist in TheBible (well, except for the flaming skeletons, but [[EldritchAbomination then]] [[LightIsNotGood again]]...)
*** The story of fallen angels is also slightly different. The Watchers (above-mentioned flaming skeletons) started as noble but overzealous angels who stole fire from the mouth of God and created, accidentally, the Hellboy-verse's BigBad. Specifically, one made it, and the rest worked hard to bring it to life, even stealing the divine fire to imbue the lifeless body. This did not work. Then, night fell, and the BigBad was born, and spawned a myriad of EldritchAbominations. The angels went to war with these, and eventually the Watcher who created the Ogdru Jahad imprisoned them/it in crystal in the abyss. The rest, now wary of this Watcher, cut off its RedRightHand and murdered it. The creator finally shows up, and is angered by the botching of creation, casting down many watchers and creating the protohumans of Hypeerborea out of lesser spirits.

* RasputinianDeath: Well...Rasputin. And he's still not technically dead.
** As of ''Darkness Calls'', it seems that [[spoiler:Rasputin is finally dead, the last of his soul used by the Baba Yaga to help Koshchei]].

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: And there's *no* escaping it. Mankind is currently fighting a desperate battle to ensure something of man's spirit and legacy will survive after the end. But the Ogdru Hem are rising, the FourHorsemen have been unleashed, cities are swallowed in war with monsters and natural disasters, the world's biggest hope [[spoiler:is dead]], and WordOfGOd has said things that are broken aren't getting fixed.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: And there's *no* escaping it. Mankind is currently fighting a desperate battle to ensure something of man's spirit and legacy will survive after the end. But the Ogdru Hem are rising, cities are swallowed in war with monsters and natural disasters, the world's biggest hope [[spoiler:is dead]], and WordOfGOd has said things that are broken aren't getting fixed.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Mike's vision of Armageddon consists of a seven aspect god of chaos, its spawn, the forces of hell, and every magical being left in the world with a grudge against humanity vs. a half-demon half-human hybrid (with the fist of an angel), an undead army of Christendom, a global paramility defense agency, and a walking natural disaster. That's the cliff notes version.

* DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight: Armageddon is underway, every military and super-natural resource the U.N. backed B.P.R.D. and Hellboy have has been committed, and the only thing they can hope for is to take some of these demon monsters down with them.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: And there's *no* escaping it. Mankind is currently fighting a desperate battle to ensure something of man's spirit and legacy will survive after the end. But the Ogdru Hem are rising, cities are swallowed in war with monsters and natural disasters, the world's biggest hope [[spoiler:is dead]], and Mike has said things that are broken 'aren't getting fixed.

* GodIsGood: Aside from the plentiful holy relics, {{Badass}} undead saints and OurAngelsAreDifferent types that occasionally lend a hand, Hellboy is Catholic. He doesn't burst into flames at the sound of church bells, and stakes, crucifixes, etc. have no effect on him despite his 'demonic' nature. Figure it out.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Hooboy, where to start? Not only is the primeval evil in the universe destined to reduce the world to cinders, it plans on ''replacing'' man with eldritch demon frog-spawn. Near every magical force left on Earth is alligned with this chaos or impotent to stop it. Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. are currently in the last phase of mankind's own DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight.

* DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight: Armageddon is underway, every military and super-natural resource the B.P.R.D. and Hellboy has been committed, and the only thing they can hope for is to take some of these demon monsters down with them.

* UngratefulBastard: In the second movie, most bystanders immediately go accuse the BPRD as freaks after ''just having been saved from [[strike:{{Cloverfield}}]] [[strike:[[PrincessMononoke The Nightwalker]]]] a plant elemental!''

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Nice job destroying the England, the world, you own people, and the human race Gruagach.]]

* SwissMessenger: [[spoiler: Nice job destroying the England, the world, you own people, and the human race Gruagach.]]

No connexion with ''Anime/HellGirl''.

* AscendedDemon: Hellboy is so heroic, his spilled blood [[spoiler:sprouted lilies on one occasion]].
** Particularly impressive since in traditional Christian iconography lilies represent 'purity;' roses are for 'the blood of a martyr.'
*** More to the point, ''[[TheMessiah Jesus]]'' apocryphally did the same thing.

* DeathbringerTheAdorable: Anung un Rama, Son of the Fallen One.

The {{BPRD}} spinoff series details the adventures of the organization in Hellboy's absence. Two new members are recruited:

''Hellboy'' is one of the more successful franchises to come from DarkHorseComics, and has earned Mike Mignola a great deal of recognition in the comics world. Surprisingly, despite the explosion of additional material, nearly every piece of the comic continuity manages to link back to a [[MythArc larger narrative]].

Has nothing at all to do with HellGirl.

There have also been a few adaptations (more akin to AlternateContinuity than straight adaptations):

* ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Hellboy}} Hellboy II: The Golden Army]]'', two live-action films directed by Guillermo del Toro.
* ''Hellboy Animated'': Two straight-to-video animated movies (the planned third one was canceled) which are arguably closer in spirit to the comics but feature the movie actors reprising their roles. There have also been several mini-comics set in the Animated continuity.
* A large assortment of novels and anthologies.
* A (paper) roleplaying game.
* Two video games.