Hellboy Reboot In The Works: Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy threequel may be deader than the ‘As

…but the aped-up, super fisted, crimson Nazi killer is returning to the screen in the shape of Stranger Things’ David Harbour.

Left, courtesy of Dark Horse Books; Right, Getty Images, ‘Hellboy’; David Harbour

Millennium is in negotiations with producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin for a new instalment of the feisty Nazi-smashing ape from another realm.

Hellboy, the demonic comic book hero turned Guillermo del Toro film franchise, is poised to return to the big screen, without Del Toro.

But don’t fret, Millennium is in negotiations with producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin for a new instalment that would reboot and re-launch the property. Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Entertainment is also producing.Neil Marshall, the horror director who broke out with The Descent and won raves for his work on Game of Thrones, is attached to direct the project, which has a working title of Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen and has a script by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.

Del Toro is not involved, nor is Ron Perlman (more sad eyes), the actor who inhabited the red-skinned, cigar-chomping devil in the two previous instalments. Rather, David Harbour, the Stranger Things star, is in talks to play Hellboy. David Harbour is recieving wide acclaim for his work on Stranger Things, and was also in Suicide Squad, among other films.

When Ron Perlman played Hellboy, it was one of the more accurate page-to-screen adaptations of a comic book character we had ever seen. There have been many very accurate comic book character costumes seen on the big screen since, but Perlman’s Hellboy still sits pretty close to the top. Because the character requires a lot of prosthetic makeup and CGI that sort of masks the actor playing him, it makes sense that David Harbour look similar to what we saw in Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Above, Artist BossLogic, who very regularly does depictions of actors and actresses as characters they are going to be playing, rumored to be playing, or just as fun bits of fan casting, has done a rendition of David Harbour as Hellboy. His new piece was done for Comicbook.com and gives us a good look at what this new version of the character could look like in Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. Not surprisingly, it is pretty great. And also, not all that different than what we are already used to.

If a deal is made, Millennium would become the third company to make a Hellboy movie in as many releases.

Hellboy was created in 1993 by Mignola and became an indie comic hit as it told of a demon, raised by a professor, working to fight supernatural evildoers for an organization called Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

Del Toro co-wrote and directed the first adaptation, which was made by Revolution Studios and released by Sony in 2004. The movie made $60 million domestically (another $40 million internationally, asterisked by the fact that this was the era before international box-office dominated performance) on a budget of $66 million.

The second movie was made by Universal with the same team — del Toro and Perlman — but its box-office mojo was cut short when The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan and featuring Heath Ledger as the Joker, opened six days later.

But both movies engendered strong cult followings and there were rumblings of a third installment. Last year, del Toro, Dark Horse Entertainment, Levin and Gordon, the latter of whom controls the rights, explored their options. However, the budget was a stumbling block, with del Toro wanting a bigger canvas for his vision. In the end, the producers decided a reboot and relaunch was the more feasible route.

Marshall is now developing a new script with Aron Coleite, who worked on NBC’s Heroes and is also working on the new Star Trek: Discovery series. He will also act as a producer with his partner Marc Helwig.

OTHER NEWS: SIX THINGS WE WANT FROM THE REBOOTED FRANCHISE.

HELLBOY IN THE PUBLIC EYE:

The first movie treated Hellboy as an urban legend and made a big deal out of keeping him from the public eye. In the comics, Hellboy earned his recognition as a “honorary human” in the early ‘50s, and that gave him the freedom to openly interact with humanity for decades. That’s one of the main reasons that Hellboy stories rarely feature people freaking out about his appearance. After so many years had passed, people were used to him, and the magical side of that world wasn’t quite as hidden as it used to be.

Hellboy was also known as “the world’s greatest paranormal investigator,” which was the perfect excuse to send him on international adventures at supernatural hotspots. Once that’s established, the new movie can send Hellboy almost anywhere on the planet.

LIZ SHERMAN BACK:

While del Toro is a very unconventional filmmaker, he added a romantic subplot that didn’t exist in the comics. Hellboy and Liz were never lovers, but they were good friends. Liz also had her own interesting mythology about her pyrokinetic abilities and her love/hate relationship with them. In Hellboy’s absence from the BPRD, Liz even proved that she can be the leading heroine of the franchise. She can be more than Hellboy’s equal, if given the chance.

ABE SAPIEN RETURNS AS THE TRUSTED SIDEKICK:

Abe was wonderfully realized in both feature films, and it’s hard to picture anyone but Doug Jones filling out the merman’s role. While Abe also had a deep friendship with Hellboy, the new film should also explore Abe’s past and his own potential dark destiny. Hellboy isn’t the only one intrinsically linked to the apocalypse, and Abe’s quest for answers made him into a character who could carry his own comic book series. That’s something to keep in mind, if the Hellboy reboot is popular enough to warrant more films

KATE CORRIGAN AND ROGER MAKES A CAMEO OR MORE:

The first two live-action movies left Kate out of the mix despite her importance to Hellboy, Liz, and Abe. As one of the primary human members of the BPRD, Kate offers a different perspective on the supernatural events around them. She’s also refreshingly normal in a world that is anything but ordinary. While the core trio were off on their own quests, Kate also stepped up to lead the BPRD. She definitely deserves her due in the new reboot film.

If Dave Bautista wasn’t already Drax the Destroyer for Marvel, he would have been the perfect choice to play Roger the Homunculus, an artificial man brought to life by magic. Hellboy’s friendship with Roger was charming and they clearly had a bond. That’s why Hellboy took it so personally when he discovered that their superiors were willing to use Roger as a bomb. Without Hellboy around, Roger took on a leadership role in the BPRD before his life took a more tragic turn. His presence was missed in the first two films, but now he could potentially make his live-action debut.

HELLBOY IN THE FLAMIN’ PITS OF HELL:

When Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released, it was clear that del Toro and Mignola had very different ideas about what Hellboy’s endgame should be. We would have loved to have seen what del Toro had in store for Hellboy 3, but now Mignola will have the chance to give Hellboy the ending that he envisioned. The recently concluded Hellboy in Hell series followed the title character as he finally confronted his destiny, and it gave him the proper sendoff that he never received in the movies. If the films have to come to a close, then we’d love to see Hellboy’s misadventures in Hell.

AND FINALY THE BPRD EXPANDED UNIVERSE:

Hollywood keeps trying to recreate Marvel’s success with the MCU, and that’s one of the reasons that there’s now a Universal Monsterverse starting this summer with The Mummy reboot. The problem is that making a shared movie universe is very difficult, just ask DC! But unlike most of the pretenders, the Hellboy universe has over two decades of stories to draw upon and the perfect breaking off point. When Hellboy leaves the BPRD, most of the team remains and has adventures of their own.

Hellboy [reboot] what do you think? You like that the original helmer, ‘Del Toro’ and star ‘Pearlman’ will not be in the new films? How will David Harbour take up the red mantle of Pearlman’s shoes?

Your call, folks! Let us know. Share and like the article. Comment and drive Culturedemandsgeeks onwards and upwards…