More Hollywood Actors Played Hellboy Than You Likely Realized

As far as big-screen adaptations go, there's more than one Hellboy aside from Ron Perlman.

When it comes to some of the most iconic comic book characters of all time, it's difficult to deny the impact that Hellboy has had on pop culture over the last two decades. Created by Mike Mignola for Dark Horse Comics, Hellboy is a certified badass, both on and off comic pages. Half-man, half-demon, and all chaos, Hellboy has become one of Hollywood's most interesting IPs. 

Back in 2004, director Guillermo del Toro cast Perlman as Hellboy, bringing the character to the big screen for the first time. Hellboy's live-action debut managed to gross shy of $100 million at the box office but emerged as a critical juggernaut, receiving acclaim for its visual language and otherworldly character designs. Many years later, David Harbour would play the role, and now, Jack Kesy is set to step into Hellboy's shoes for the franchise's second reboot. In addition, the late Lance Reddick will be voicing the character in the upcoming video game "Hellboy: Web of Wyrd."

Perlman is widely considered to be the definitive star to bring Hellboy to life and is, to this day, tied to the character. In addition to his live-action efforts, Perlman has voiced the character in animated films and video games. The actor later reprised his role as the demonic anti-hero in "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," which was equally praised as its predecessor. Unfortunately, del Toro never got to complete his trilogy of "Hellboy" films. 

Back in 2019, Harbour, best known for his performance in "Stranger Things," was brought on board to reboot the character. Unfortunately, the film emerged as a critical and commercial failure, failing to kickstart a viable franchise. 

While Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" films were never financial juggernauts, they were critical successes and have since garnered a cult-like following. Released in the mid-2000s, the del Toro and Ron Perlman-led films debuted before the proliferation of Marvel projects, making them unique, gritty gems in the comic book genre. Since then, superhero films have become big business and it made sense to reboot Hellboy with a fresh new face. Helmed by veteran "Game of Thrones" director Neil Marshall, the film debuted in 2019 to poor reviews and failed to make an impression at the box office — it raked in $53 million on a $50 million budget. 

David Harbour, who has since become the Red Guardian in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, believes the film failed to find an audience because of the loyalty fans had to Perlman's version of the half-Demon. "I think it failed before we began shooting because I think that people didn't want us to make the movie ... Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman created this iconic thing that we thought could be reinvented ... the loudness of the internet was like, 'We do not want you to touch this,'" Harbour said in an Instagram live (via Screen Rant). 

Prior to the maligned reboot's release, Perlman revealed he had no interest in joining a "Hellboy"-centric project without del Toro. "The reboot was something I had the opportunity to participate in and decided that the only version of Hellboy I'm interested in is the one I do with Guillermo and so in walking away from it," he told Comic Book Movie. 

While 2019's "Hellboy" may have been a failure, Hollywood is still interested in turning the character into a cinematic superstar. Brian Taylor, best known for co-directing "Crank" and "Gamer," was brought on board in early 2023 to helm another "Hellboy" reboot. While details on the third iteration of the character are slim, fans can likely rest easy knowing that franchise creator Mike Mignola is co-writing the film, which is titled "Hellboy: The Crooked Man." This version of the character will be played by Jack Kesy, who audiences may remember from "12 Strong" and "Deadpool 2." 

Les Weldon, one of the producers behind the second "Hellboy" reboot, revealed to Collider that "The Crooked Man" will be "a very moody, very kind of dark and creepy movie." Weldon continued by praising Kesy, saying, "And Jack, look, I had worked with Jack before, as had other guys in our company, and we sort of came to the same conclusion that that sort of personality he has was gonna work really nicely for that film." 

Seeing as Ron Perlman shined as Hellboy, and David Harbour fizzled in the role, only time will tell how Kesy manages to interpret the iconic character.