The Hellboy Franchise Desperately Needs A Zack Snyder Reboot

As DC fans push for Warner Bros. to sell the Snyderverse rights to Netflix, a potentially more exciting project for Zack Snyder emerges: revitalizing the struggling Hellboy franchise.

Another Hellboy Reboot?

The live-action Hellboy films have evolved backwards. Guillermo del Toro’s original 2004 film is the closest we’ll ever get to the gritty world of Dark Horse Comics. Unfortunately, even that film received a disappointing sequel, starting the heavy decline the franchise has endured since The Golden Army.

Even 2019’s Hellboy failed to reboot the series properly – even if all the right ingredients were available. David Harbour’s performance was on point; the same can’t be said about the make-up department, cinematography, or the script. In short, the movie was a mess. So much so that now, four years later, another Hellboy reboot is coming to theatres – and this time, it looks much, much worse.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man will be the series’ second reboot, complete with a new cast, a new writing team, and a new Hellboy. This time, Ron Perlman and David Harbour avoided the red body paint, as Deadpool 2‘s Jack Kesy will play the demon with a heart of gold in the upcoming film. And it already looks terrible.

The Crooked Man

On paper, The Crooked Man should work. This is a Hellboy film based on a beloved limited series, with a script co-developed by Hellboy’s creator, Mike Mignola. Unfortunately, one look at the film’s trailer is enough to see The Crooked Man might not be the reboot fans have been waiting for.

The low production values and disappointing cinematography already damns The Crooked Man in the eyes of die-hard fans. Even Reddit’s Hellboy community was unanimously disillusioned by Hellboy’s reveal in the film’s trailer, with one user commenting the movie looks like “Hellboy on the CW.”

A dark mythos like Hellboy deserves more than what these lacklustre reboots had to offer. Del Toro was on the right track, blending the hellish nature of Hellboy with his pure heart. If there’s one filmmaker in the business who loves the grandiose storytelling a franchise like Hellboy needs, that’s Zack Snyder.

Why Zack Snyder Is Perfect For Hellboy

Snyder is no stranger to films with a marked religious subtext – look at Man of Steel. Hellboy’s struggles with his superhuman qualities aren’t that much different from Superman’s divine parallels we saw everywhere in the Snyderverse. The idea of metahumans as some sort of Gods among men is something Zack Snyder explored in the DCEU, and that shares some elements with Hellboy’s “Right Hand of Doom” backstory.

Considering how close Snyder is to the world of comics, the filmmaker has proved time and time again he’s one of the best when it comes to making live-action versions of some of the most mature graphic novels ever printed. I still prefer Snyder’s vision for Watchmen over Alan Moore’s, as much a cardinal sin that might be among comic book fans.

While fans discuss how “flat” or uninspired the cinematography looks in The Crooked Man, I think we can all agree that Zack Snyder is the ultimate visual storyteller. Even if some of his characters lack the necessary depth from a scriptwriting standpoint, his over-the-top setpieces (with the obligatory slow-motion, of course) make his movies feel like real live-action comic books in motion.

It’s unlikely that The Crooked Man will be the “definitive” Hellboy reboot. If anything, it looks more like an obligatory product to hold the rights to the character active. However, if at some point Dark Horse intends to create a version of Hellboy that both fans and newcomers can find as endearing as Guillermo del Toro’s, then there’s no doubt Zack Snyder is the right man for the job.

Heck, we’d even be keen on Snyder casting Henry Cavill as Hellboy.

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Tell us, do you think Zack Snyder should direct the next Hellboy franchise?