Hellboy: 10 Flaws That Prove Hellboy 3 Would've Been Better

Between the Abe Sapien reveal, Lobster Johnson's allusion to an imminent struggle and the mysterious post-credits sequence, the Hellboy reboot tries hard to generate excitement for a sequel. Unfortunately, the latter of those scenes suggests that such a sequel might not be much more exciting than the reboot itself.

There's actually no telling who Baba Yaga's supposed to be talking to at the end of the film, but some fans of the comics have already ventured a fairly plausible guess. The dialogue suggests an immortal villain who will be working for Baba Yaga: Koshchei the Deathless.

While traditional Slavic folklore rarely depicts Koshchei and Baba Yaga in the same story, the two are inextricably linked in the world of Hellboy. The comic version of Koshchei is a slave to Baba Yaga who can't die unless she releases his soul, and she won't do that until he brings her Hellboy's head. She specifically wants his eye, albeit for different reasons than in the film.

The problem with Koshchei's story is that he doesn't actually do much. His appearance in Darkness Calls is largely an extended action sequence. There are some moments that would look great on film, such as a tree growing through Koshchei's tortured body - although rumors of on-set arguments may humorously call into question who would design the tree. In terms of narrative, however, he doesn't have much to offer outside of a later story in which he simply hangs out with Hellboy in a bar and divulges his backstory.

Only two approaches might make Koshchei a decent villain for a possible sequel. First, Marshall could combine Koshchei's action in Darkness Calls with a separate comic arc, but drawing from multiple arcs already failed in the reboot. Second, he could draw upon actual Slavic folklore for new ideas. That actually feels a lot like what del Toro might have done if given the character.