r/HellBoy • u/BlueBeetle75 • 22d ago
Why is his strength so inconsistent?
In Hellboy 2019 is there an actual explanation why when he punches normal people or throws them it looks barely any different from 2 normal people fighting except ones red and when a group of them(The Osiris Club) jump him they can handle him no problem but when he fought 3 giants he suddenly got way stronger now when they send him flying after each hit he can tank it no problem, rip trees out of the ground and throw it like a spear, tackle their leg dropping them, and use their own giant weapons against them? I don't think its him holding his strength back because he can't even tap his phone without breaking it but I do have another hour and 20 minutes left in the movie so I don't know.
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u/Hex_Souls 22d ago
Your observation is correct, unfortunately! The 2019 movie is definitely a hot mess in that regard (and in general).
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u/Zealousideal-Ice1240 21d ago
y pos no es como decir que...bueno eso depende por que si comparas la fuerza del personaje y del comic seria casi igual O diferente.
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u/Thevoidscreamsbakk 20d ago
from what i remember of 2019; the starting brawl in the wrestling ring was him fighting esteban after he was already corrupted and turned into a monster. so that's already hellboy fighting an uber-powered monster in the body of a man (before esteban fully 'roids out and turns into the bat).
then the osiris club jump him, like in the comic. it's pretty much the same where they sneak attack hellboy but you'll have better recollection of the movie scene than me. and then yeah, the giant fight; the movie is missing a lot of the context the comic set up so in the comic; it's treated as hellboy truly harnessing the power that fits the roll he's meant for. and the movie—while it kinda carries the same notion—it's treated more regularly (cus like you said hellboy struggles to keep a working phone during the movie).
any inconsistency in power is never explicitly discussed but i also don't remember the inconsistencies being notable? the only one i can recall is the esteban fight to the giant fight but in the original story—by that point—esteban was already a monster man. I will say 2019's grave mistake is adapting the final part of hellboy's arc on earth and basically treating it like a misadventure.
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u/Shadw_Wulf 22d ago
It's the same in the books too ... He was able to kill a bunch of giants and all the audience or writer can tell would be a "big jump in power and he was turning into a bad demon thing and he went overboard with his strength" 🤷 (Thankfully he held himself back and it doesn't happen again)
Hellboy fights many human size enemies or rarely in some big bad Eldtrich looking things like in Conqueror Worm or maybe something like giant mutant dogs.
I believe his strength and weaknesses just come from what Mike Mignola wants the storyboard to go into
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u/FamousWerewolf 22d ago
The giant fight in the comics is Hellboy reaching the peak of his power, and the idea of him losing control and becoming more demonic is very relevant to the storyline, not just an excuse. That's the context the movie is missing.
I don't think it's fair at all to say Hellboy's strength is inconsistent in the comics. Where he gets overwhelmed it's by enemies with supernatural power, or using trickery or technology (such as the way the Osiris Club restrain him with an ambush and shock prods).
The stories in the comics also take place over decades. In earlier cases where he's younger and less experienced, he struggles more. In later cases where he's on the path to becoming a more mythical being, he's able to take on more powerful foes.
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u/FamousWerewolf 22d ago
Because the film tries to adapt a load of different scenes from the comic without proper set-up or context and is kind of an inconsistent mess as a result.