New Hellboy Photo, Additional Plot Details Revealed

The B.P.R.D.'s gonna bust you up. 

Prior to the launch of the first trailer for Hellboy, which is coming this Thursday, Entertainment Weekly has unveiled a brand-new photo for the reboot. Featuring Stranger Things star David Harbour all done up as Big Red, Sasha Lane as the semi-magical civilian Alice Monaghan, and Daniel Dae Kim as the super-powered military man Major Ben Daimio, the photo brings the official and de-facto members of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development together for a meeting of the minds — that might lead to a meeting of Hellboy's fist to someone's face, as the doom-fisted demon is shown snarling at someone off-screen. 

The new image wasn't the only thing EW offered Hellboy fans on Wednesday. Oh no, the outlet also dished up some delicious plot details for the forthcoming film, directed by The Descent helmer Neil Marshall, following its chat with Harbour. 

"It's not an origin story, but it's his coming to terms with where he came from," the lead actor said of the pic's narrative and tone. "He's been Hellboy for a long time, but there's a new turn of events at the start of the film, where people start to bring up the fact that he might bring about the end of the world, and it's really the first time he's heard anything like that. The question that comes up in the movie is where does he really belong?"

Hellboy's origin and true identity is hardly a secret to those well-read in the Mike Mignola-created comics or those who watched Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy duology from the mid-2000s. The half-demon is, according to prophecy, meant to destroy the world. How? Though his enormous fist — the Right Hand of Doom his father, Azzael, a duke of Hell, grafted onto him when he was an infant. That mega-sized palm, those massive five fingers, and that thick forearm are even more mystically powerful than they are physically, as they have the ability to unleash the Ogdru Jahad demons and catalyze the apocalypse. Thus, Hellboy — whose real name, Anung Un Rama, translates to "and upon his brow is set a crown of flame" – is considered the Beast of Apocalypse and the World Destroyer. 

Many of us know that already, but Hellboy doesn't at the start of the new film, which will follow Big Red as he discovers more about his past and rethinks his relationship with his adoptive father, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane), who founded the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development and tried to raise Hellboy up into a "normal" man. 

As Hellboy sorts through his daddy issues, he must also decide how he feels about teaming up with humans like Alice and Ben. They aren't bad guys, not really, but they aren't Hellboy's kind. Like Kim teased earlier this year, "Just because they all exist in this universe doesn't make them all friends. There are suspicions and rivalries."

Amid his personal turmoil and "ongoing existential crisis," Hellboy will also have to face Nimue the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich), the medieval British sorceress who wants nothing more than to see humankind wiped out. EW noted that Hellboy will "show us some of the reasoning behind her actions," with Harbour hinting that the wicked witch is even more fleshed-out in the film than she has been in the comic miniseries Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt, and The Storm and the Fury. 

"We really three-dimensionalized her in the movie," Harbour said. "She was brought up in a culture that treated her kind a certain way, and it wasn't always deserving. That's the point that becomes compelling to Hellboy and spins his head around."

Harbour's conversation with EW shed some welcome light onto Hellboy and offered additional insight into what the central struggle of the film will be. It sounds like Hellboy is teetering over the line that separates humanity and demon-hood, with both sides wanting him for something (the former for his power in the B.P.R.D. and the latter for his ability to bring about the end of the world) yet not welcoming him entirely either. He's stuck between a literal rock on his arm and a hellish place, and it'll be thrilling to see how he works through such a struggle and what directorial decisions Marshall made when telling Hellboy's story.

Cool as these comments and this new image are, words and pictures can only do so much to get audiences hyped for a film. Luckily, we only have to wait one more day (from the time of this writing) until Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment roll out the first footage from Hellboy. How's that for an early Christmas present?

Hellboy is scheduled for release on April 12, 2019.