With a new ‘Hellboy‘ on the horizon, series creator Mike Mignola has opened up a bit about what to expect on this new cinematic take of his series. Not only does he talk about how the character will appear on screen but also drops some subtle hints on how it is being created that one could interpret that they could use this to launch a shared universe such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While it wouldn’t be quite as extensive as the MCU, the Mignolaverse in comics has a ton of layers and characters which could easily tie into one another in films. Likely, if that is part of the goal it also wouldn’t take us four years between films with a third never showing up.

One of the key reasons that this antihero will be different and possibly stand out from what Marvel and DC have done according to Mignola is that they are consciously trying to do something different:

“If anything, we’re trying to do something very different. Basically, there’s no part of Hellboy that was ever going to be like other superhero movies. And the more Marvel stuff there is, the more DC stuff there is, Hellboy never really feels like — even in the del Toro things — a superhero movie.”

You aren’t about to see Hellboy wearing a cape or just dealing with villains that could be put in a prison. The film will likely be even darker than what the DCEU has tried to do with their heroes so far.

As to what Mignola thinks of the current flock of superheroes and specifically how Hellboy won’t follow that path:

“It’s so much ‘big teams of guys, in costumes, running around and saving the world from big cosmic menace stuff…’ I believe the new movie will feel even less like a regular superhero thing. The idea with this one was to make it play much less like a superhero film, to downplay the superhero elements even more than del Toro did. This one is much more folklore/mythology/horror, and not ‘big team rushing into to do battle with whatever kind of stuff.'”

With the B.P.R.D. not having a flock of heroes, they do have a team of superpowered individuals that work hand in hand with humans. That being said, even a B.P.R.D. movie wouldn’t have to make extensive use of the characters or even include all of them past name drops or cameos.

The idea of “folklore/mythology/horror” is entrenched in the very DNA of ‘Hellboy’ and the universe which Mignola has created which could easily spawn related movies that don’t require a massive team up every other year to make it work for audiences who want something different.

Are you excited for the direction Mignola is sharing that ‘Hellboy’ will take? Do you think that we’ll see other non-Hellboy movies that take part in the same cinematic universe show up as well? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Syfy