10 Reasons Why Hellboy II: The Golden Army Is Still ICONIC

While the last elemental sequence may see del Toro at his firing-on-all-cylinders, setpiece-crafting best, this key sequence from later in the film showcases a far more intimate and even more compelling facet of del Toro's skills; the culmination of two films' worth of character-work.

After Hellboy has been nearly fatally stabbed in the chest by Prince Nuada, Liz, Abe, and Krauss take him to the Angel of Death in hopes of saving him. The Angel of Death (played by Doug Jones, delivering another show-stopping performance here) proceeds to tell Liz that if he saves Hellboy, Hellboy is destined to destroy the Earth and gives her the choice: to save Hellboy or humanity.

It is the literal embodiment of the arc both Liz and Hellboy have been on across this entire film, learning how to love one another even at their worst of time and learning how to become a self-functioning family in their own right.

Liz chooses Hellboy, the Angel of Death saves him, and Liz wakes him up by telling him he's going to be a father. It is an incredibly well-staged sequence with high emotional stakes, impeccable creature and production design, phenomenal performances from everyone involved but especially Selma Blair as Liz.

It teases where a third film would have gone while also delivering some of the most affecting character moments of the entire film. This is how you do impactful world-building.