The Black Flame is actually two separate characters - Raimund Diestel, a 1930s Nazi with occult powers, and Landis Pope, the modern CEO of the shady Zinco Corporation, who provide the B.P.R.D. with technology but are allied to Rasputin's Ragna Rok plans. When Zinco acquires the bodily remains of Diestel's Black Flame and his various artifacts and mystic texts, he assumes the role of the iconic villain. Initially putting on a suit of armour with flames developed by Zinco's Research and Development team, Pope eventually finds himself and the armour becoming one and engulfed in real mystical black flames as the frog monsters he had sought to lead turn against him. The Black Flame is a great character because he is the one classic super-villain of the Hellboy world, intermingling elements of Captain America's Red Skull with Mignola's Lovecraftian mythos. His design, the dark flaming skull, has an aspect of a classic comic book villain, but is also genuinely sinister. While Pope's version of the character is something of a tragic failure, as Diestel the Black Flame represents a truly disturbing antagonist.
8. Kate Corrigan
While I said earlier that Professor Bruttenholm was the human heart and soul of the Hellboy world, that does rather ignore the fact that, for the main run of both Hellboy itself and its main spinoff BPRD, Bruttenholm has been dead. As a result, the role of the decent human surrounded by supernatural craziness has been taken up by Dr. Kate Corrigan. Initially appearing as an academic consultant on folklore in the earliest Hellboy comics, Kate has risen up through the ranks of the BPRD until she appears to be running the whole show. Often she seems to be the only one holding all the craziness together. Her relationship with Hellboy is more developed than any other female character, including Liz, a convincing close friendship in which both characters see the good the other provides even though their backgrounds are very different. Since Hellboy left and Kate has risen to a position of more seniority, she's more cut off and isolated. Her failed attempt at a romantic relationship with German police officer Bruno Karhu is one of the more poignant reminders of the difficulties of living any semblance of a normal life in the BPRD's world. Nevertheless, it's not unreasonable to suggest that the whole BPRD would just come crashing down without her.
