Hellboy Heats Up the Superhero

The man who dreamed up Pan's Labyrinth finds humor and a little heart in comic-book mutants

Egon Endrenyi / Universal

Perlman plays a tough guy from Hades — with a soft heart.

The clamor of moviegoers to be the first to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight — theaters that scheduled midnight shows next Thursday have added others at 3 and 6 a.m. — proves that superheroes are plenty hot these days. But one of our favorites is downright infernal. That would be Hellboy. A demon summoned to Earth by Nazi scientists in 1944, he has grown into a strapping crime fighter, red of skin and with his horns sheared off because, well, they got in the way. As a member of the U.S. government's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!