History ComicBook / Hellboy

* AnalProbing: Almost happened to Hellboy after he was [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]], but he decided that he didn't like that idea so he kicked all their alien asses.

* {{Geek}}: Kate Corrigan was the occult/mythology geek in the comics (it was her day job before she joined the BPRD). Recently, Johann Krauss seems to be turning into the evil version of this.

* GratuitousGerman: Johann Krauss, when he loses his temper. Allmachtiger!

* LoveTriangle: A 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.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous: [[TheDevil Astaroth]] and his horde's reaction to Hellboy having breakfast
--> '''Mammon''': It is the boy. He has eaten the pancake.
--> '''Haborym''': He will never come back to us now.
--> '''Astaroth''': Truely, this ''is'' our blackest hour.

* ItGotWorse: In recent huge developments:[[spoiler:Hellboy's dead]].

* HonorBeforeReason: In the animated film ''Hellboy: Sword of Storms'', the Japanese daimyo offers his own daughter to the demons Thunder and Lightning, in order to cease their rampage on his land. However, his trusted warrior, a samurai, fell in love with the daimyo's daughter, so he hid her and defeated the demons by trapping them in his sword. But the daimyo feels his word has been broken, and in order to regain his honor he turned the samurai to stone and then [[OffWithHisHead beheaded]] his own daughter.

* HorsemenoftheApocalypse: And boy are they pissed off.

* TheAnimatedSeries: Sort of: a handful of animated movies were released and shown on Creator/CartoonNetwork / AdultSwim. Notable for showing that [[HeroicMime Doug Jones]] was capable of doing Abe's voice as well as his body.

* KnightsTemplar: The Knights of Saint Hagan, a Crusader who rose headless to fight in the last battle of the Crusades. His followers continued their campaign to destroy all things Satanic with considerable success. Hellboy lampshades their 'kill em all' approach as misguided... however, most of the demons and heathens killed were CompleteMonster material themselves.

* LoveTriangle: 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.

* TheAnimatedSeries: Sort of: a handful of animated movies were released and shown on CartoonNetwork / AdultSwim. Notable for showing that [[HeroicMime Doug Jones]] was capable of doing Abe's voice as well as his body.

* CrossoverCosmology: Deities and monsters of classical mythology make regular appearances, while {{God}} was responsible for the creation of the (originally non-evil) [[CosmicHorror Cosmic Horrors]] mentioned above.

* KillItWithFire: Liz uses this a lot, obviously. Also, the BPRD usually sends one "flame-thrower guy" with field teams when they expect contact. Most of the Cosmic Horrors can be killed with fire, though not all.

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

* BrainsAndBrawn: Abe and Hellboy, though Hellboy is nearly as bright as he's strong and impulsive and Abe is every bit as tough as he's smart. Although the [[AlternateContinuity alternate continuity]] [[FilmOfTheBook film]] plays up this trope more.

* EldritchAbomination: Ogdru Jahad and their 369 offspring Ogdru Hem, which are Sadu-Hem and Katha-Hem, among others. HPLovecraft's influence here is no surprise.
* 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.

* [[{{MotherlyScientist}} Fatherly Scientist]]: Professor Trevor Bruttenholm adopts Hellboy after he was summonned into this world.

* GodzillaThreshold: In full swing starting with Black Flame. The world is now at open war with the various demonspawn spilling out all over the world. Collateral damage is barely a concern. Half of Indonesia has been obliterated along with Munich, California, Houston, Seattle and a zombie plague is devastating Russia. The nuclear option has come up several times... The B.P.R.D. and its allies are desperately trying to HoldTheLine... it's not working.

** The [[spoiler:Queen of Blood's]] true identity is revealed to be [[spoiler:Nimue, the sorceress who seduced Merlin, stole his secrets and imprisoned him. She was driven mad by the Ogdru Jahad]].

* KnightsTemplar: The Knights of Saint Hagan, a Crusader who rose headless to fight in the last battle of the Crusades. His followers continued their campaign to destroy all things Satanic with considerable success. Hellboy lampshades their 'kill em all' approach as misguided... however, most of the demons and heathens killed were CompleteMonster material themselves.

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: While not outright ''evil'', it seems that the head of Research for the [=BPRD=], Dr. Roddel (And to a lesser extent his associate Dr. Cobb) is not a particularly compassionate man. He had to be talked into the proceedure that woke Abe from his [[RipVanWinkle Magical Sleep]], and refused to do the proceedure that revived Roger after he was first brought back (Abe had to sneak into the lab and do it himself). Abe describes his first few days awake in the [=BPRD=] research labs as "Terrifying", and we see him in a tank with attached electrodes surrounded by dead fish (Presumably that they had thrown into the tank to feed him and never cleaned up after). Hellboy agrees, stating from his own experience that the lab boys will keep going, finding new things to experiment towards until told to stop. Hellboy says this as he charges into an experiment-in-progress, pulls Abe from the tank he's in and takes him to the cafeteria for a sandwich.

** 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.

* ShoutOut: You'll be hard pressed to find a Hellboy story that doesn't have at least one reference to HPLovecraft.

* StrippedToTheBone: Happens a whole lot.

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

!!Provides examples of:

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Subverted hard. They even spend an entire story arc letting you think it's gonna happen.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Read the "Our Angels Are Different" entry up there.

** '' Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron'' featured a vampire Elizabeth Bathory as the villain. [[spoiler:She gets killed when Professor Bruttenholm sneaks some holy water into her blood bath.]]

* HonorBeforeReason: The Japanese daimyo in ''Sword of Storms'', to the point of killing his own daughter to keep his promise to the demons Thunder and Lightning.

* OffWithHerHead: In ''Sword of Storms'', the daimyo beheaded her own daughter.

* CrossOver: With ''ComicBook/TheGoon'', ''NextMen'', ''BeastsOfBurden'', and ''TheSavageDragon'', as well as a memorable three-way crossover with {{Batman}} and James Robinson's Comicbook/{{Starman}}.

* AlternateContinuity: Both the movies and ''HellboyAnimated'' have differences from the comics.

* CouldntFindALighter: Liz Sherman uses her pyrokineses to light her cigarettes on occasion.

* CuteShotaroBoy: Young Hellboy, even random archeologists will say how cute he was back then.

-->'''Hellboy''': This is the worst place ever.