At Christmas, 1955, the young Hellboy (Montse Ribé) listens to a bedtime story told by his adoptive father, Trevor Brutterholm (John Hurt) about a long-ago war between human and magical creatures. When the magical creatures seem to be losing, the goblin blacksmiths offer to build an indestructible army for Balor, King of the Elves (Roy Dotrice). Encouraged by his son, Prince Nuada Silverlance (Luke Goss), Balor agrees and the Golden Army devastates the human race. But Balor comes to regret it and accepts a truce with the humans. The magical creatures will live in the forests and the humans in the cities. The crown that commands the Golden Army is split into three pieces. Angrily, Prince Nuada leaves for exile.
In the present time. Prince Nuada returns and begins to gather up pieces of the crown. One piece is being auctioned off, so he unleashes vicious tooth fairies that eat the crowd alive. He kills his father for the second piece. His twin sister, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) escapes with the third piece. Meanwhile, at the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is on the outs with his pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and grumbles about all the secrecy. He wants to mix it up with the bad guys out in the open. Investigating the slaughter at the auction, he allows himself to be seen. In all the commotion, empathic amphibian Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) discovers that Liz is pregnant, but she swears him to secrecy.
Furious at what Hellboy has done, BPRD Head Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) brings in the ectoplasmic medium Johann Krauss (puppeteers John Alexander and James Dodd, and the voice of Seth Macfarlane) in his environment suit to run the place. Under the command of Krauss now, the team tracks the fairies to a secret market under the Brooklyn Bridge. Abe Sapiens encounters Princess Nuala, who has a map to the Golden Army’s location, and he falls in love with her. Hellboy kills Prince Nuada’s giant troll accomplice Wink (Brian Steele) and an elemental forest god. Princess Nuala is taken under BPRD protection.
Nuada tracks his sister to BPRD HQ using their magical sibling bond. Princess Nuala hides the final crown piece and Nuada critically wounds Hellboy and abducts Nuala to trade her for the last piece of the crown. Hellboy is unable to remove the spear-point in his chest, so Liz and Abe take him to the Golden Army’s location under the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Krauss accompanies them. They meet the Bethmoora goblin master blacksmith (John Alexander), who brings them before the Angel of Death (Doug Jones) hoping to remove the magical spear. The angel does so and advises Liz to give Hellboy a reason to live, so she reveals that she is pregnant.
The goblin leads them to the resting place of the Golden Army, where Nuada is waiting. Abe gives him the last piece of the crown and he awakens the Golden Army. He orders them to kill Hellboy’s team, but Hellboy challenges him for the right to command as he is part of Hell’s royal family, and Nuada must accept the challenge. Hellboy defeats him and spares his life. But Nuada tries to stab him. Nuala commits suicide to stop him, and Nuada tells Hellboy he must choose humanity or magical creatures. Abe links with Nuala as she dies. Liz uses her pyro powers to melt the crown. The team quits the BPRD and Liz informs Hellboy that she is to have twins.
The film was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, from a story by him and comic-book artist Mike Mignola, who created Hellboy. The film was a box-office success and was praised by the critics, who loved the fantasy atmosphere and many of the performances. It received an Oscar for makeup. Doug Jones not only played Abe Sapien, but the androgynous Angel of Death and the door-keeper for King Balor, called Chamberlain, who is eight feet tall with silk and velvet robes and long spindly arms.
Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) trained with Brad Allen of the Jackie Chan stunt team for his gorgeous fight-scenes. He and Anna Walton learned to speak in Gaelic. Creatures were created by Spectral Motion and Danny Elfman wrote the music. In TV spots, Hellboy appeared on Ghost Hunters, was interviewed by James Lipton on Inside the Actors’ Studio and hosted a public service announcement with a cat. There was much talk of a Hellboy III but by the time that happened it was without Guillermo del Toro and without Ron Perlman, and it was a dud.
The young Hellboy was played by a 36-year-old woman. Brian Steele played the giant Wink on ten-inch stilts, going from 6’ 7” to 7’ 3”. He lost 12 pounds sweating. Mr. Wink was named after Selma Blair’s one-eyed dog. Ron Perlman’s daughter Blake Perlman played a reporter. Seth MacFarlane based the voice of Johann Krauss on Jeremy Irons in Die Hard with a Vengeance. The poem that Princess Nuala recites as she dies is In Memoriam by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Archangel of Death has eyes on its wings, as Pan in the following movie has them on his hands.