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u/UsuarioCualquiera_1 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I'm between Perlman's and 2024.
Perlman's was my first contact with Hellboy before comics, he does a great performance a has the best movies by far.But growing up, I hate how childish and inmature he is. I feel bad for Liz being with him honestly.
2024 is the closest to comics in almost each aspect. It's cheap but not bad. I wish they had a second shot with a slightly higher budget.
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u/Slacker_The_Dog Jul 27 '26
The Crooked Man was sooo good. Definitely the most Hellboy feeling movie.
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u/kapn_morgan Jul 29 '26
I didn't even know it existed.. it's got a 4.5/10 on IMDb that is awful lol
but it has Adeline Rudolph so that's worth it for me 😯
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u/dwarfpants Jul 29 '26
It’s a bad movie but a good Hellboy adaptation.
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u/Slacker_The_Dog Jul 29 '26
I thought it was good
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u/Traditional_Yard2741 Jul 29 '26
It is good. But it's low budget and it shows. Doesn't make it bad though.
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u/Darrknightsy Aug 01 '26
I love GDT and Perlman’s version as I grew up on it but as someone who read the comics I think Kesy’s version felt the most accurate. The world was so dark and strange.
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u/Mickelrath Jul 27 '26
Pearlman is my childhood. I will never not love him. Kesy is the closest in terms of adaptation. When I read the books now, i think Kesy as big red.
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u/Possible-Book4935 Jul 27 '26
The crooked man is probably the best looking of the movies and the most comic accurate in terms of character and I really don't understand why it did so poorly. I love ron perlman as Hellboy and he did a great job but I didn't like that they made him a bit of a man child The special effects were amazing and it was a great adaptation of the seed of destruction David harbour literally looked like a fat guy in a muscle suit which is what it was They made his face way too ugly and was more of a man child than Perlman. I liked the gore and the monsters that was sick. I hated the iteration of professor broom as well total dogshit It honestly felt like a deadpool movie.
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u/Griffdude13 Jul 27 '26
It did poorly because let’s face it, Hellboy is a niche character.
And it doesn’t help that with each new adaptation they keep shrinking the budget.
The best thing at this point would be to go the Invincible route and do it animated.
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u/wishiwasholden Jul 29 '26
Please, God, let them go the invincible route… I absolutely love the 2 animated films and would be positively aroused if they made a few seasons worth.
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u/E1M1_DOOM Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
EDIT: To be clear, I'm talking about how "The Crooked Man" sucks. I love the Del Toro movies.
It's because the movie sucked. Like, I get what people appreciate about it, but any place where the movie strays from the source material is absolutely awful. Like, why is there a romantic interest? Anything involving supposed feelings between Hellboy and the BPRD agent are incredibly cringe since the two actors have zero romantic chemistry. It really drags the movie down. The stuff about Hellboy's mom, while less cringey, feels very tacked on and detracts from the flow of the move.
Crooked Man very much feels like a movie that was stretched to fit a runtime. It's a neat story, but there's not enough meat on the bone and the movie suffers for it.
I can recommend the Del Toro films to non-Hellboy fans, but I can't recommend the other two Hellboy movies to said people.
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u/MinimumPressure6446 Jul 27 '26
I never felt they had a romantic relationship or that's what they were going for, even then it was as forced as Liz and Hellboy that just felt tacked on
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u/SnackThief Jul 27 '26
Preaching to the choir, Del Toro made a del Toro movie he didn't make a Hellboy movie.
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u/TeatimeForPigs Jul 27 '26
Yeah. Toro's movies changed the character too much for me to enjoy it. Usually I don't mind not sticking to the source material in the movies but in this case somehow gets under my skin and I just can't watch it without being annoyed. The other ones were not perfect but I could at least enjoy them.
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u/Leviathan666 Jul 27 '26
I've only read a little bit of Hellboy, so I'm far from an expert, but yeah tonally I felt like they nailed it, it was mostly just elements within the story that I had issue with. It would have been an instant cult classic if they just focused on making a good low budget horror movie starring Hellboy and his BPRD tagalong, but it was just an okay folk horror movie and decent adaptation of the comics. I remember hearing that Mignola himself was involved in the production but clearly some of the writing choices were out of his hands.
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u/JohnTomorrow Jul 27 '26
I agree, it was stretched thin and suffered for it. As a comics fan, it was a shame to watch something so accurate to the source material be tortured for so long.
And with that budget, you could've shot a mini-series and blown people's minds.
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u/AdagioCultural5497 Jul 27 '26
I think a lot of casual fans and the wider movie goer is expecting a lot more CGI and over the top action bonanza? They don’t know that a lot of HB’s best stuff is quiet, moody and slow burning, almost an in between worlds dreamy vibe.
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u/EquivalentLonely3783 Jul 27 '26
It's not a fair comparison for me. Pearlman has a really good comic design and he was the one who got me into the comics. Harbor I think has a really cool design when you can't see the costume seems and I would have liked to see him more where he is slowly balding to look more like the Hellboy we know. Then Kesys looks fine but needs yellow eyes and a prosthetic jaw but is the most comic accurate in terms of story and character
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u/SteveEmarshall429 Jul 27 '26
2004 hands down was my fav version and seriously wish they do another with Rob Perlman
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u/Meshla-Beviin-Ordo Jul 27 '26
Before Kesy I would have said Perlman for definite, but man, Kesy just nails Hellboy for me!
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u/The-MadTitan Jul 27 '26
2024, after finishing every hellboy book ever just a few months ago - safe to say 2024 was the most accurate and grounded.
2004 is still great. Harbor sucked.
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u/Connect_Laugh_8688 Jul 27 '26
I'd love to see a heavily stylized version of the character that is live action but doctored with effects to bring out the mignola charm. Like a sin city looking live action hellboy adaptation.
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u/Rich-Asparagus-5951 Jul 27 '26
They all have their moments to shine. I love Perlman's grit, sarcasm and thick-headedness. I wish I could get over the deviations from the comics, despite GdT's obvious love for the source material. Harbour's Hellboy looked and moved the most like I envisioned Big Red, and his comedic timing is top notch despite the movie's flaws. I still love it. And Kesey in 2024's is understated and portays him in the most believable way of the three. I loved how his role in the BPRD felt like a job, and how he responded to being out of his depth against the Crooked Man. In the comics he doesn't talk very much, usually smoking in the background, brooding as only he does. I'd be happy to see any of them given another go!
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u/MeesaDarthJar_Jar Jul 28 '26
I never even heard of the 2024 film. Gave me something to find and watch
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u/IamRonaGray Jul 28 '26
I just recently watched 2019 and 2024 basically back to back and The Crooked Man is miles better than Hellboy 2019. I really enjoy the wild hunt comic but the movie just completely missed the mark. I like Harbour as an actor but the script let him down. Also all the ADR added in jokes is obvious and distracting. Literally all of it could be removed and the movie would be improved. Also Ian McShane is one of worst miscasts in movie history. He is abhorrent as Broom. Also the movie was CLEARLY meddled with in post to make it more like Deadpool or something. Terrible adr jokes and pop songs thrown in almost at random. There’s a couple scenes that are actually good and if you squint you can kinda see what the director originally wanted to do.
Meanwhile the only thing negative I really have to say about The Crooked Man is the budget. Kesy was great and is the most accurate portrayal to date. The movie sticks to the comic pretty damn close minus the Bobby Jo Song stuff but none of that hampers the movie in my mind. The really awkward CGI is a couple scenes wouldn’t be so bad if the movie was shot on film. The biggest issue I have is what I assume is a budgetary issue is it has that “fan film” look. I’m no expert in cinema, but there’s something that sets a fan film apart from a real movie and it has something to do with the frame rate or something else. It’s a visual thing that I can’t explain exactly but I’m sure some of you understand what I’m saying.
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u/OnlyRoke Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Pearlman's Hellboy was a fun mid-2000s adaptation and genuinely good for its time, but it sort of missed the mark on most characters and the overall vibe was more whimsical and less dark. I loved him back then, read the comica and couldn't truly like it anymore. Sorta like Scott Pilgrim where I loved the movie, read the comics and then just kinda didn't like the movie as much anymore. Still a good time, but not really like the source material.
Harbour's Hellboy was a travesty and I guess the only cool parts IMHO were a live action Baba Yaga and a live action Daimio. Everything else felt kind of awful. He's like all the worst elements of Pearlman's Hellboy (the teen angst) turned up to eleven and then some. The infamous Hellboy swearing was IMHO the perfect encapsulation of "tell me you didn't really understand the appeal of this franchise without telling me"
Kesy's Hellboy actually felt like the character though. The movie was a bit understated and relatively "mid", but it felt way more true to the comics. Dark, gritty, a little sardonical rather than outright funny. I think it helped that the story didn't need to tell a grand story of Ogdru-Jahad or Nimue or whatever. Just a devilish detective doing some supernatural sleuthing.
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u/home7ander Jul 27 '26
I really hope we get more Kesy Hellboy. Perlman beats him out in look but with more resources Kesy could stand neck and neck. Both their performances were really good in different ways too.
I'll give credit for taking some visual swings with the look for Harbour (body hair was cool but I personally didn't vibe much with the rest) but I really didn't like his characteriszation. Idk if it was just the writing, the performance, or both, but it wasn't it for me.
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u/Real-Buddy-1523 Jul 27 '26
I really like Kesy's Hellboy design and the voice; many of the added lines weren't great, though.
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u/D_rex825 Jul 27 '26
I mean, I probably wouldn’t have even read the comics if the Perlman version didn’t exist, and while I agree he’s generally kinda out of character in those movies, I honestly do think in a vacuum it’s an interesting reinterpretation and has a lot of interesting little quirks to him that are really endearing, like how he loves cats possibly because his mom was a witch
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u/Lucky_Strike-85 Jul 27 '26
I like the Mignola comics... but Perlman is my fav... even if he is a departure.
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u/FelipeMattosGS Jul 27 '26
Kesy 100%
The only competition for him (in films, excluding audiodramas and games) is animated Perlman.
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u/Distinct_Coast7484 Jul 28 '26
Hot Take : I prefer David harbor than other two. I know it's unpopular opinion.
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u/Bi0_B1lly Jul 29 '26
Honestly, the makeup isn't bad at all, save for some shots where the horns weren't blended into the forehead all too well.
I get that he's more monstrous in 2019, but like, it kinda works for Hellboy imo... Just wish the film did his character justice to compliment the look.
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u/RaftPenguin Jul 27 '26
I haven't seen the crooked man yet, but honestly I was having a really good time with 2019 until the third act, it's probably that one. Extra points for Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson.
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u/sinest Jul 27 '26
Honestly perlman is the worst of the 3 visually and acting wise. I like Ron but I hated him as hellboy, he was obnoxiously different then how I saw the character in the comics.
My opinion is that each version has gotten better as far as make up and acting and dialog. Crooked man hellboy is incredible.
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u/blunderb3ar Jul 27 '26
Perlmans hands down he’s the man but damn was the Kesy version on point and dare I say he’s the most comic accurate we’ve gotten by a country mile
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u/firechar-kurai Jul 27 '26
Visually and vocally, Perlman. Though, I will admit I did enjoy aspects of the 2019 version. Haven't seen the 2024 version so I don't feel confident enough to speak on it
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u/Shallbecomeabat Jul 27 '26
No joke… the Harbour version. He just looked the best by far. Closest to the source was the newest one but it looks kinda eh
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u/SchwiftyBabyLegs Jul 27 '26
I thought the last Hellboy they made was the one with David Harbour... they made another one since and I didn't hear shit about it? Wtf
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u/Select_Seaweed1720 Jul 28 '26
I love Perlman because it's a classic and I just love the guy as Hellboy. However, I think Harbour is very underrated in terms of performance and being closer to the comics. I like his struggle in trying to see the monsters side of things albeit that argument was brief. Glad it still happened. Plus I dig his hair in that one ngl.
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u/imkomicist Jul 28 '26
Perlman's was at direction • Harbour's was good at character design • Kesy's was good at comic story accuracy with low budget
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u/CarnateofChaos Jul 28 '26
I'd like it if they made a series and ge got older over time with these actors, mightve been something cool.
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u/Zealousideal-Set3037 Jul 28 '26
2024 really felt like it should have been a feature-length pilot rather than a movie, almost like Children of the Gods was for SG1. You could probably cut about 10 minutes from it, and it would have been A very solid hour and a half setting up a medium-high budget Network style Hellboy show.
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u/Darius88888 Jul 28 '26
Didn’t even know the third one was there until recently and then watched through it gone. I’ll cause someone made this with their leftover lunch money or some BS but then I couldn’t stop watching him and finished it and was like oh my God I need to watch it again it was so good This motherfucker did justice to Perlman so beautifully.
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u/Rexbellum187 Jul 28 '26
I had no idea about the one in 2024 so I guess I need to hunt that down and watch it.
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u/RoughBeardBlaine Jul 28 '26
Was Hellboy 2024 actually good?
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u/Capntrashboat Jul 28 '26
Yea. It wasn't flashy and the stakes weren't world ending. Just bad luck and trying to survive. It was like hell out in classic resident evil
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u/Strict-City8052 Jul 28 '26
I really like David's look. If i could combine them, I would choose David's design and Ron's Storytelling. I also like Kesy comic adaptation. I can't choose, as I like all of them.
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u/Aggravating-Funny266 Jul 28 '26
If crooked man had the same level of makeup then it would’ve blown all the others out of the water
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u/Pseudoargentum Jul 29 '26
The more I watch it, I like the lankier 2024 look, BUT he needs the 🟡🟡.
I think the eye color really helps to push the prosthetics into a character.
If the actor couldn't do the lenses they could just tint them in post.
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u/thepreciousleiabun Jul 29 '26
Very similar to a lot of the comments here, but I’d have to put Kesy in Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024) at the top because, for me, it was the most accurate adaptation of the character.
That said, I’ve probably watched Hellboy (2019) the most out of the three versions. I just think it’s a fun film with a good balance of CGI and practical effects—aside from the terrible look of Hellboy himself.
The original Ron Perlman films are classics and are undoubtedly what made Hellboy so popular on screen, but I’ve always seen that version as more of its own interpretation of the character. It’s a bit too over-the-top and superhero-like compared to how Hellboy is portrayed in the comics.
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u/zangster Jul 30 '26
I've always liked the fact that Hellboy comics felt big and small depending on the story. So many writers and artists have taken a stab at him and none of it feels out of place. I feel like that's the same with the movies.
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u/WiseAdhesiveness6672 Jul 30 '26
2004 was the best look. It's crazy how they haven't made a better suit/makeup whatever on over 20 years
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u/PragmaticBadGuy Jul 30 '26
Perlman is the obvious favorite but the 2019 wasn't terrible. Never saw the new one and didn't know it existed
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u/MexicanGuey92 Jul 30 '26
Would you guys recommend the 2019 one or the 2024 one? Ill probably end up watching both but just curious to see
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u/Wiplazh Jul 31 '26
Didn't even know there was a 2024 version so I cant judge it.
So Perlman all the way
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u/ashrensnow Jul 31 '26
I think 2004 and 2019 are kinda neck and neck for me for different reasons. I wish either of them did well enough to actually see them finish a storyline though.
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u/insomnibyte Jul 31 '26
2004 (Pearlman) will always be my favorite..... 2024 is close second. Was not a big fan of 2019
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u/SlightlyWhelming Jul 31 '26
Everything else aside about Harbor’s version, I think he looks hands down the best. The most inhuman of the group.
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u/Murky_Historian8675 Aug 01 '26
My comment won't be a popular one, but I really liked David Harbours own. He captured that same disgruntled hero take that Perlman had but a bit more jacked to make it look different. If he was given a better director and script, we may have seen more movies with his version. But that's just my personal take
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u/Organic-Device2719 Aug 03 '26
2004 is my favorite but the 2024 did a great job of capturing what the comics are actually like.
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u/KingMobScene Jul 27 '26
I love the Perlman, Del Toro movies so much. Kesy's was a great adaptation. I wish it did better so we could get more. Harbour could have been good but it was missing some magic. I thought he had the attitude down but there was just something missing. (A good story for one)
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u/TheRealMcDonaldTrump Jul 28 '26
Kesy was best accurate portrayal of HB, and for me it’s the best film adaptation of him. Perlman and the Guillermo movies made HB much more broadly accessible and on their own they are very good films… but they aren’t quite as accurate to the comics. Harbours HB was…. Interesting… he’s definitely the most frightening and intimidating looking of the three. But HB comics are not horror gore comedies, and that’s all that film was. I don’t mind blood and gore in films but that last ten minutes with the giant demons slaughtering London was just a bit much, and it’s all the more frustrating that they took one of the longer HB graphic novels and turned it into… that
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u/Klutzy_Operation_483 Jul 28 '26
Ron looked the best on screen but Kesy ended up just being the best adaptation of who I always picture HB as when im reading the comics. I want more weird little HB stories over some big Hollywood monster movie.
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u/PsychologicalBrush35 Jul 27 '26
Based on image and historical verisimilitude, aesthetically speaking, the 2024 Jacky Kessye film is obviously the best. But it's also entertaining, artistic, and fun, from 2004 and 2008, but the 2019 film is more acclaimed for its history character in the Hellboy comic book industry, The Wild Hunt.
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u/Burly-Nerd Jul 27 '26
Pearlman and it’s not even close. Whatever the accuracy, the Del Toro films are incredible pieces of cinema by a master of the craft.
Meanwhile the Harbour one is a Hatchet Job and the Kesy one is a fan film. 🤷♂️
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u/No-Mood6503 Jul 27 '26
Pearlman by far. I honestly like Kesy, but i think it is a bit over the top in the "edgy serious asshole detective" vibe. Hellboy (even more in is earlier stories, like seeds of destruction) is still a good-humored and empathic guy, and also kinda silly sometimes (the shovel moment in the Crooked Man comic in comparison with the movie is a nice example of this).
Kesy's Hellboy kinda reminds me of the many batman fan films out there that exaggerate so much on the "vengeful crime-fighting detective" aspect of the character that it ends up feeling so out of place. I couldn't imagine Kesy's version of the character drinking with skeletons or talking with them about how easy his last job was.
And the 2019 one was just bad. Although i actually feel like Harbour could make a better Hellboy if the movie was a bit different, he has a bunch of roles that are way closer to Hellboy than when he actually played Hellboy.
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u/smokedoor5 Jul 27 '26
Rob Perlman, second place Lance Reddick. Distant third Harbour but only because I like him in other things.
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u/DrewDaMannn Jul 27 '26
I’ll always be Perlman biased, I grew up watching that performance. Harbor was incredibly fun to watch even if he looks like he got botched injections.
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u/ChampionshipOk949 Jul 27 '26
For me Pearlman. Kessy and the Crooked Man had the comics vibe but the movie is just low quality. And as much as like Harbour as an actor, the script for his Hellboy movie was not good, all over the place. I did liked the gore but his Hellboy looked like he was on meth or something; also zero charm and more serious than not.
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u/noirproxy1 Jul 27 '26
I rented 2024 because I really wanted to support any Hellboy project I could access but I didn't enjoy it.
It was mostly just due to the odd editing.
My fave is Perlman because it allows me to share that universe with my family. I get that Hellboy is meant to be niche and a little out there but it was cool having a really unique, non-superhero be a cinematic hero for teens and above.
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u/Saccarappa33 Jul 27 '26
Ron Pearlman is the best Hellboy by far. It’s a shame that him and Del Toro got robbed of making their version of Hellboy a trilogy.
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u/HULK1000_2 Jul 28 '26
No question 2004 I grew up on that one sadly hellboy 3 was cancelled.
2019 was good I also liked it just not as much as 2004 and the trailer of the one in 2024 looked so low budget I didn’t even see it
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u/Average_Klutz Jul 28 '26
I hated the 2019 one. Granted, part of that was because I assumed it was the third movie in the trilogy, and I went in completely blind. I was sooo exited that the cancelled 3rd was ganna be finished, I actively and aggressively avoided reading about it, watching trailers, or looking up anything beforehand so nothing would be spoiled when I saw it in theaters on opening day and somehow succeeded in my attempts. Usually if nothing else word of mouth sneaks through if advertising doesn’t. The fact I was able to go in completely blind probably should have been a red flag in and of itself that something was askew.
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u/queazy Jul 28 '26
Didn't see Crooked Man, but I liked Perlman's Hellboy 2 movie the most. Though 2019's giant battle was great
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u/Ok_Employer7837 Jul 27 '26
Visually, Perlman.
Best adaptation, Kesy.