'Hellboy' Ending Explained

Neil Marshall's Hellboy is a Mike Mignola comic come to life with several nods to the comic source material sprinkled throughout the movie's two-hour runtime. Drawing heavily upon the comic story arcs like Darkness Calls and The Wild Hunt, the film features several supporting characters pulled from the character's mythos such as Ben Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim), Alice Monaghan (Sasha Lane), Nimue (Milla Jovovich), and Gruagach (Douglas Tait). The comic accuracy was carried throughout, all the way until the credits began to roll.

WARNING: Major spoilers for the ending of Hellboy up ahead. If you have yet to watch the movie, proceed with caution!

After the third act battle which finds Hellboy (David Harbour) besting Nimue, there's a six-month jump in time. As the text on the screen tells us, the team has been sent on a mission to Siberia. There, we find out that both Daimio and Monaghan have joined the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, and both of the characters have had ample time to work on controlling and harnessing their powers for good.

As the trio begins working on whittling down henchmen belonging to the mysterious Atlantis Society, Monaghan notices a peculiar tank full of water, including a nametag emblazed with "Itchyo Sapien." As the trio gathers around the tank, a webbed hand reaches up and touches the glass from the inside of the tank.

Fans of the Hellboy comics — or even Guillermo del Toro's two Hellboy films, for that matter — will instantly recognize the hand as that of one Abe Sapien, a long-time supporting character first appearing alongside Big Red and Liz Sherman during the events of Seed of Destruction. The character was played by Doug Jones in both of del Toro's films and it's likely the cameo that Jones was invited back for in this film, before ultimately turning it down.

You can read our full review of Hellboy here.

Hellboy is now in theaters.

Have you seen the movie yet? If so, let us know your thoughts in the comments below or join the conversation online by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things Hellboy!

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