What is the best of the Hellboy movies? We rank all three films from the franchise from worst to best.
The first time we were introduced to Hellboy was in March of 1993, when writer and artist Mike Mignola unleashed this unique hero on the world. At the time, it was just a cover featuring an early version of the character. Later that same year, the character would get a much more in-depth introduction, although it was a black and white comic.
From that early beginning, the character would go on to feature in multiple comics, graphic novels, and of course, three movies. As someone who has read some of the comics and graphic novels, I was excited when we learned that there would be a movie about this unique superhero.
When the first movie (which was released in 2004) was announced, the real excitement came from the fact that Guillermo del Toro was attached to the project. With the help of Ron Perlman as the titular hero and a supporting cast that included Selma Blair, John Hurt, Rupert Evans, and Jeffrey Tambov, to name a few, we got a film that deserved and earned a sequel (released in 2008).
But instead of a trilogy with Perlman continuing the role, for our third adventure with this fascinating character, in 2019 we got a reboot of the franchise instead. This time the hero was portrayed by David Harbour, with a supporting cast that included Mills Jovovich, Ian McShane, and Daniel Dae Kim.
While all three movies easily stand on their own and work to introduce a wide range of people to this character and his story, the fact is that it’s actually quite easy to pick the best of the three. And in this case, we are actually ranking them from worst to best, because there really is a best movie when it comes to this franchise, and a lot of it has to do with the actors.
So which Hellboy movie is the best? And which did we not exactly love?