The new BPRD team arrives in the latest image from the Hellboy movie reboot starring David Harbour. The Neil Marshall directed reboot is sticking close to the comic source material created by Mike Mignola, where Hellboy will work for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
The character of Hellboy has already received the live-action treatment once before thanks to Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman. Hellboy is doing its best to differentiate itself from the two prior films by making it more violent and bloody than the cult favorites. However, it is also leaning on the possible familiarity audiences may have with the character by not making it a true origin story. There will be elements of an origin, though, as Hellboy will learn about his role in potentially bringing about the apocalypse. This will bring Big Red back into contact with BPRD, who he's shown with in the latest image.
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EW debuted the brand new look at Hellboy today. The photo once again shows Harbour in his full demonic form, complete with the Right Hand of Doom. On the left is civilian Alice Monaghan (Sasha Lane), who was kidnapped by fairies as a child. But on right is BPRD's Major Ben Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim), who is a regular human that previously died and was reborn.
This image marks the best look yet at Daimio in particular, and is a long-awaited debut of Kim's character. The role of Daimio was originally subject to controversy when Ed Skrein was cast as the Japanese character. Skrein smartly dropped out of Hellboy and opened the door for Kim to take on the role of Daimio instead. Even though Daimio is shown here standing next to Hellboy, they don't particularly see eye-to-eye. Kim went on to tease Daimio's personal feelings about Hellboy saying, "Just because they all exist in this universe doesn’t make them all friends. There are suspicions and rivalries. As far as how he holds his own, let’s just say Daimio has a few tricks up his sleeve."
The release of this photo is likely one of the final steps in the studio's marketing strategy before they release the first Hellboy trailer. A few posters have previously been released to announce that the trailer is on the way. After momentarily being published online early, it will actually debut on Thursday Dec. 20. Since Hellboy working with Alice, Daimio, and the BPRD is the key to this photo, it could also be the focus of the upcoming Hellboy trailer.
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Source: EW
