'Hellboy' Trailer 2019: Cooler Than Thanos, According to David Harbour

Hellboy and Thanos have a lot in common. They’re both giant super beings with mono-colored skin. They both come from comic books. And they both have big, scary weapons attached to their arms (the Infinity Gauntlet for Thanos and the Right Hand of Doom for Hellboy). But there’s one huge difference between them, and it comes down to the long-running debate of CGI vs. practical effects.

Speaking at a New York Comic Con panel on Saturday, Hellboy star David Harbour emphasized the importance of makeup, prosthetics, and traditional movie magic over computer-generated graphics.

“When the reboot was first announced people thought it was gonna be a CGI movie like Thanos — not that there’s anything wrong with that,” Harbour said, adding, “I like practical stuff, even if it doesn’t always look perfect.”

To create an actual living, breathing Hellboy instead of just editing it in later, Harbour had to sit through two hours of makeup each day. On top of that, he wore a custom-made prosthetic and worked with a personal trainer to build up the necessary strength to do stunts with all that extra weight.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s no CGI at all in the Hellboy reboot. Harbour admitted that there’s “a lot of CGI and blue screen,” but there’s plenty of practical effects too.

“There are so many monsters, not just Hellboy,” Harbour said. “There are scenes where you have two practical monsters having a full scene,” adding that it gives the movie an extra sense of weight.

NYCC attendees also got a first look at the trailer for Hellboy, which still hasn’t been released to the general public. The trailer offers a detailed look at Harbor’s Hellboy, along with Milla Jovovich as the evil Blood Queen and the rest of the cast. We also see the 2019 reboot earn its R rating in one scene where Hellboy uses his oversized handgun to literally blow a bad guy’s brains out. In short, this movie looks awesome.

As one fan noted in the panel’s Q&A segment, the new trailer also hints at what could become an extended Hellboy cinematic universe. At one point we get a glimpse of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense seal on the floor of building. The BPRD is a fictional government organization focused on protecting the world from the occult and the supernatural. The group includes Hellboy, along with other popular characters like Abe Sapien the “amphibious man” and the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman.

When asked if any of these heroes would appear in Hellboy, Harbour did his best to avoid spoiling the movie’s plot.

“I wanna say something so bad,” he said, “but Lionsgate made me promise not to say anything — I don’t know if you’ll see anybody else from the BPRD.”