Before superheroes became the funny, flippant, sometimes freakish figures we know today, there was Hellboy, a cult favorite from comics author Mike Mignola. A burly demon with red skin, sawed-off horns and a sense of humor, Hellboy got picked up by director Guillermo del Toro for two visually inventive and unexpectedly soulful movies in the mid-2000s. These, too, were destined for cultdom rather than blockbuster success, but in hindsight they were prophetic _ visions of a future in which everything from snarling raccoons to carnivorous parasites would become box-office superheroes.
Today, "Hellboy" is the franchise that could have been _ and, judging by an execrable new reboot, probably never will be.
"Hellboy" shares its title and several characters, but little else, with the first film. Our hero is still a paranormal gumshoe but he's no longer played by Ron Perlman, who gave the role a crusty, hangdog humor. Gone is Hellboy's fishy friend Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, of "The Shape of Water"). Gone, too, is Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), the Goth girl whose literally fiery temper sent Hellboy's pulse a-racing. In other words, gone are everything and everyone that made the first films so compelling.
