Hellboy is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Dark Horse Comics character of the same name, created by Mike Mignola. Directed and written by Guillermo del Toro, it is the first installment in the franchise’s live-action film series; the film stars Ron Perlman in the title role, alongside Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, and John Hurt. The film draws inspiration from the comic book Seed of Destruction. In the film, a demonic beast-turned superhero known as Hellboy secretly works to keep the world safe from paranormal threats with his team, the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, but a resurrected sorcerer seeks to make Hellboy destroy humankind. Hellboy had its premiere at the Mann Village Theater in Los Angeles on March 30, 2004, and was released in the United States on April 2, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $99 million against a production budget between $60–66 million. The film was followed by a sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, released in 2008 by Universal Pictures, and a reboot of the same name, released in 2019 by Lionsgate. Plot In 1944, with the help of Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, the Nazis build a dimensional portal off the coast of Scotland and intend to free the Ogdru Jahad to aid them in defeating the Allies. Rasputin opens the portal with the aid of his disciples, Ilsa von Haupstein and Obersturmbannführer Karl Ruprecht Kroenen. An Allied team destroys the portal, guided by a young scientist named Trevor Bruttenholm (colloquially known as "Broom"). The German team is killed and the portal is destroyed, in the process absorbing Rasputin, while Haupstein and Kroenen escape. The Allied team discovers that an infant demon with a right hand of stone has come through the portal; they dub him "Hellboy" and Bruttenholm adopts him. Sixty years later, the eternally youthful Kroenen and Haupstein resurrect Rasputin. FBI agent John Myers is transferred to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) at the request of Bruttenholm, where he meets the adult Hellboy and a psychic, amphibious humanoid named Abe Sapien. Hellboy is sent to investigate an incident at a museum and battles a creature named Samael. After defeating it, Hellboy visits former BPRD member Liz Sherman at a mental hospital that she committed herself to due to her unstable pyrokinetic abilities. Abe learns that