The Big Picture

• Del Toro's Hellboy made a bold narrative choice by shifting the relationship between Hellboy and Liz Sherman from platonic to romantic.
• This change added depth to the characters and resonated with del Toro's signature style of humanizing monsters in his films.
• The romantic angle in Hellboy gave the film its heart, showcasing Hellboy's struggle with love and jealousy in a world filled with demons and magic.

Guillermo del Toro has crafted a number of memorable films during his career, with 2004's Hellboy being one of the most notable. There's are several reasons for that: the adaptation of Mike Mignola's hell-born monster hunter was one of the few times a comic book character outside of Marvel and DC managed to make a splash on the movie scene. Factor in a winning performance from Ron Perlman as Hellboy, along with del Toro's taste for humanizing his monsters, and you have a film that appeals to a wide number of viewers. Del Toro even hewed fairly close to Mignola's comics, particularly the "Seed of Destruction" arc from Mignola & John Byrne that brought Hellboy into the comic book world. But del Toro made one major change to the story that ended up driving a great deal of the narrative: the relationship between Hellboy and Elizabeth "Liz" Sherman (Selma Blair).

Hellboy and Liz Sherman's Relationship Changes From Platonic To Romantic

Throughout Hellboy, the title character is shown carrying a torch for Liz - which is rather ironic, given that he was born in hell and she has pyrokinetic powers. But Liz chose to leave the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) prior to the film in an attempt to leave a normal life. This leads Hellboy to break out of B.P.R.D. to try and visit her, which risks his exposure to the outside world, not to mention the wrath of FBI director Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor). Liz winds up returning to the B.P.R.D. as Hellboy is confronted by the malevolent sorcerer Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), who wants him to embrace his destiny as a herald of the Apocalypse.

This is a major change from the original Hellboy comics, where Hellboy's relationship with Liz is more of a platonic one. Liz joined the B.P.R.D. after her powers were triggered at a young age, wiping out an entire city block and killing her family. She was traumatized by the encounter, but Hellboy was the only one who treated her like a person, and the two had a brother/sister relationship. Liz even played a bigger role in "Seed of Destruction," where Rasputin stole her power to unleash the serpents known as the Ogru Jahad. In both comic and movie, this angers Hellboy enough to deliver a fatal blow to the "Mad Monk".

The Romantic Angle of 'Hellboy' Is in Line With Guillermo del Toro's Previous Films - and Gives It Its Heart

Del Toro shifting Hellboy and Liz's relationship to being more romantic in nature is a perfect fit for his sensibilities. His films have often shown creatures who are just as human, maybe even more so, than the actual humans they interact with. They have hearts to break and dreams to chase - for Hellboy, that's the dream of the woman he loves reciprocating said love. "The greatest blessing we can bestow upon each other as humans is to look at the other. To really gaze upon a person that is not an idea in your head, an idea of race, but a person—complete. That’s why I embrace monsters, because monsters are ultimately the patron saints of otherness—everything people say should not be," del Toro once said, summing up his approach to filmmaking as well as storytelling.

That approach is the core of the first Hellboy film, and it shapes how Hellboy interacts with Liz. He can fight hellhounds and magicians all day, but he struggles for the right words to tell her how she feels. When she grows closer to newly inducted B.P.R.D. agent John Myers (Rupert Evans), all too human feelings of jealousy flare up in Hellboy's behavior. But in one of the quieter moments, Hellboy is finally able to tell Liz his feelings: "I'll always look this good, and I'll never give up on you. Ever." The achingly human performance from Perlman, combined with the chemistry he has with Blair, makes Hellboy worth a watch. Del Toro would also return to this well for The Shape of Water, and crafted one of the most romantic films of the 21st century.

Hellboy and Liz's relationship also ended up propelling the thrust of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Throughout the film, Liz struggles to tell Hellboy that she's pregnant, but eventually, she does to save his life at a crucial moment. They end up quitting the B.P.R.D. but sadly fans won't know how they raised their children because a third Hellboy film never came to pass. In the end, Hellboy still stands out after all this time because it was willing to put in just as much work in its love story as it was with the monster-fighting action.

Hellboy is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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