Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen - 8 Things It Must Do Differently From Del Toro's Films

7. The Character's Origins

Though Hellboy is nowhere near as iconic or indeed as popular as the likes of Batman and Spider-Man, it's not difficult to imagine that audiences are familiar with his origin. The first film was a reasonable box office success after all, but, even then, the character's origins don't need to be explicitly retold. The whole apocalyptic prophecy thing is, of course, an integral element of Hellboy, but we should be able to manage without a flashback to his Second World War Nazi-induced birth.

The Queen of Blood - a British witch called Nimue - is a big figure in Hellboy mythology, but what's particularly interesting is that she didn't make an appearance until the series' final years, during a story-arc that saw the character reclaim his Arthurian roots and take his place as the rightful King of Britain (it's honestly even better than it sounds). While it remains to be seen if Rise of the Blood Queen will follow Mignola's twist on Arthurian legend, it would make for an interesting reevaluation of the character's origins, and avoid repeating a story audiences are already at least fairly familiar with.

The great thing about Hellboy is that he's the perfect character to just jump into. The fact he's so dry means that even the most absurd and indeed horrific situation can be invested in. An origin story, in this instance, is surplus to requirements.