The film draws inspiration from the comic books Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt, The Storm and the Fury, and Hellboy in Mexico.

The project began as a sequel to Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), with screenwriter Andrew Cosby and Mignola writing the script.

In 517 A.D., the evil Blood Queen, Vivienne Nimue, unleashes a plague on England until King Arthur thwarts her with the aid of Ganeida, a member of her coven.

In present-day Tijuana, Mexico, paranormal investigator Hellboy accidentally kills missing agent Esteban Ruiz, who has been transformed into a vampire, during a wrestling match.

leader Trevor Bruttenholm, his adoptive human father, to assist the Osiris Club in hunting three giants in Great Britain.

The club's seer, Lady Hatton, reveals Bruttenholm was meant to kill Hellboy when he came into the human world as a result of the Nazis' Project Ragna Rok but instead raised him.

Meanwhile, a pig-like fairy known as Gruagach is advised by the witch Baba Yaga to retrieve Nimue's limbs so that she may grant his wish for revenge against Hellboy.

Finding the club slain, Alice channels Hatton's spirit, who reveals that Nimue seeks Hellboy to cause the apocalypse.

After Merlin cures Alice and puts her and Daimio to sleep, he reveals that Hellboy is Anung un Rama, the firstborn male heir of Arthur through his mother, who was spirited to Hell by his father.

Alice channels Bruttenholm's spirit to appeal to Hellboy's humanity, allowing him to decapitate Nimue and toss her head into Hell after the demons are sent back.

[24] In May 2017, Mignola announced on his personal Facebook page that the reboot, then titled Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, would be directed by Marshall and star David Harbour as the eponymous character.

"[29] Mignola confirmed that the film draws inspiration from Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt, and The Storm and the Fury,[30][31] but also pulls "bits and pieces from other stories", such as Hellboy in Mexico.

Mignola felt the three-book arc gave the filmmakers an "entryway" back into the world of Hellboy and allowed them to expand beyond the comic.

[33] Makeup designer Joel Harlow wanted to make the monsters and settings of Hellboy "believable within the context of the world they inhabit".

[37] On August 21, Ed Skrein was cast as Ben Daimio;[38] however, Skrein voluntarily dropped out of the film on August 28 following accusations of "whitewashing" the role he was set to play, stating, "It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts.

[45] Doug Jones (who had played Abe Sapien in the del Toro films) was offered a cameo but was unable to participate due to commitments to Star Trek: Discovery.

The report stated that producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin had chosen to fire the original cinematographer and director Marshall's collaborator, Sam McCurdy.

[51] The soundtrack was released at Sony Masterworks, and includes Wallfisch's score and a Spanish-language version of the song "Rock You Like a Hurricane", performed by Unprotected Innocence (Micki Milosevic and Steph Honde).

[55] On December 19, 2018, the first official trailer was released,[56] which drew mixed reactions from fans, with some excited for the film and others comparing it to Suicide Squad.

"[6] Business Insider added the film to its list of "16 biggest box-office flops of 2019", stating, "Hellboy failed to spark excitement this year due to a poor release date, awful reviews, and other factors.

[72] In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Little, Missing Link and After, and was initially projected to gross $17–21 million from 3,303 theaters in its opening weekend.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Bereft of the imaginative flair that made earlier Hellboys so enjoyable, this soulless reboot suggests Dante may have left a tenth circle out of his Inferno.

[76] Owen Gleiberman of Variety said the film wants "to be a badass hard-R epic, but it's basically a pile of origin-story gobbledygook, frenetic and undercooked, full of limb-hacking, eye-gouging monster battles as well as an atmosphere of apocalyptic grunge that signifies next to nothing".

[81] John Defore of The Hollywood Reporter said that "Neil Marshall's Hellboy isn't lousy because nobody wants it, nor only because it fails to live up to both its big-screen and printed predecessors.

"[84] Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post called the film a "grotesque misfire", writing, "The race for worst movie of the year is heating up.

[85] Phil de Semlyen for Time Out wrote, "We get a conventional, if blood-soaked, splurge of folklore, origin story, comic-book fan service and monster movie, all set to a bustling blues-rock soundtrack.

[89] Kim Newman wrote: "Though it covers a lot of ground – with punch-ups staged on significant sites of British magic, from Pendle Hill to St Paul's – this is fairly anonymous, with little of the distinctive grit of Marshall’s strongest works.

"[90] William Bibbiani of TheWrap gave the film a positive review, calling it "a horrifyingly good time", and adding, "Neil Marshall's Hellboy is a wellspring of creativity, a major superhero movie made for hardcore R-rated horror fans, overflowing with humor and action and scares".

She also praised her fellow cast members and director Neil Marshall for their work on the film, and said that fans would "have a blast" watching it, despite negative reviews.

"[24]In February 2023, Millennium Media announced plans for a new live-action reboot titled Hellboy: The Crooked Man, the first in a potential series of films.