Scariest Monsters From Hell-Boy Universe:
When Mike Mignola pitched his ideas of a devilish hell-spawn like a superhero with a hand of stone and shaved horns for a head, the comic book greats laughed him off. Years later Mignola breathed life onto his vision when he joined Dark Horse Comic Book Publications, and thus Hell Boy was born. With a gritty, dark and mature theme, Hell Boy struck a chord with many hardcore comic book readers who wanted to read that was different from the family-friendly drama DC and Marvel had made them accustomed to. Over the years, Hell Boy has fought so many monsters and been through so many ordeals that we have literally lost count. Beasts from demonic realms and alien entities are dime a dozen in the Hell Boy Universe. But this list has only included the creepiest of the lot.
1. Baba Yaga
In Russian folklore, Baba Yaga was a witch who devoured young children and kept human fingers as collectibles. Her house had the legs of chickens and it could move from place to place. In the 1998 comic book series titled “The Baba Yaga”, she fought toe to toe against Hell Boy and lost an eye in the process. Severely weakened, she fled the scene only to return years later, scheming along with Rasputin to bring down the stone handed freak from hell. Baba Yaga is one of the most enduring and oldest villainous characters of the series.
2. The Ogdru Jahad
The Ogdru Jahad is a classic case of Mignola’s love for Love-Craftian monsters. Mignola placed the Ogdru Jahad within the Hell Boy Universe after taking cues from the biblical times. The Ogdru Jahad is actually seven different entities of chaos and death that have existed since before the dawn of time. All they ever care for is death and devastation. When humanity was still young and the Ogdru Jahad was hot on our tails, the latter were luckily locked in a far corner of the universe, away from humanity forever. But they have found a way to come back to Earth. Hell Boy’s stone hand is actually a key that opens a portal that allows the Ogdru Jahad to come back to Earth.
3. Frog Monsters
They might sound funny but it is only because the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence, the organization that Hell Boy works with, named them as such. The Frog Monsters are amphibian, bi-pedal creatures created by the Ogdru Jahad to replace mankind once the latter manage to destroy the world and remake it in their own image. The frog Monsters represented the final evolution of mankind. These grotesque monsters have the power to extend their tongues to extraordinary lengths. They also have enhanced durability and super strength. Their greatest strength is their numbers. They always work together and have managed to even beat the hell out of Hell Boy on occasions.
4. The Black Flame
Raimund Diestel was involved in a demonic ritual that turned him into the mystical mutant death god called The Black Flame. The Black Flame is shrouded in ethereal flames that can never be extinguished. The Black Flame currently resides as a Godin New York City, albeit a self-proclaimed one. Its inability to die and no aversion to any weaknesses make it one of the greatest super-villains Hell Boy has ever faced in the comic books.
5. Hecate
Elizabeth Bathory was a Countess from the Imperial Times who had killed multiple women using an infamous Iron Maiden. Ilsa Rasputin, who was mentored by Rasputin at the time in the art of witchcraft and dark sorcery, decided to use that iron, Maiden. She literally entombs her-self in it, killing herself. When Hecate is defeated by Hell Boy, a part of her powers seep into the Iron Maiden and Ilsa Rasputin becomes the living Avatar of Hecate on Earth. She is now a half snake, half Iron Maiden hybrid that is too gross and too heavy metal for our taste. Hecate takes back her powers from Ilsa later.
6. Penanggalan
Hell Boy visits Malaysia in the summer of 1958. There he meets a little native girl who tells him the story of the Penanggalan. The Penanggalan once used to be a Malaysian Woman. One day she got so scared that her intestines and entrails shot out of her body and became a demon. That’s right folks. Hell Boy fights a demon that is literally a combination of human organs with ahead. It is later revealed that the Girl is actually the Penaggalan, who was leading Hell Boy into a trap. The artwork of the issue titled “The Troll Witch and Others” is also exceptionally exquisite.
7. The Visitor
The Visitor is actually an alien being that was sent to Earth back in the 1940s to kill Hell Boy. Nobody actually knows why but the prevailing theory is that the aliens knew about Hell Boy on day unleashing hell on Earth and had tasked their greatest warrior to end Anung Un Rama’s life before he welcomed catastrophe. The Alien Warrior appeared first in Hell Boy: Seed of Destruction. But a lot of its back story is still shrouded in mystery. Nobody knows from which part of the universe this weird alien hails from. And that only makes him even more enigmatic and dangerous.
8. The Crooked Man
The Crooked Man’s real name is Jeremiah Watkins. He was a low-life thug living in the Cowboy Times of the United States. He made the Appalachian mountain in the land of Virginia his humble aboard and swindled a lot of people out of their lives and money in the process. When he died, he was unsurprisingly condemned to hell. But Watkins was sent back to Earth by the Devil. He then became the Crooked Man, the personal collector of Souls for the King of Hell. The Crooked Man has been featured multiple times in the comic books. He even appeared in the first Hell Boy movie as the legless un-dead that guided Hell Boy through the castle of Rasputin.
9. The Conqueror Worm
The Conqueror Worm is one of the 369 alien warriors of the Ogdru Jahad that the seven-headed entity created using its own magic. While the Nazis only managed to contact 369 spawns, there are countless more scattered throughout the Cosmos. The Conqueror Worm although takes the cake when it comes to the general creepiness. The Nazis had a bright idea of sending a corpse to space. That dead body returned with the Conqueror Worm in it. The Worm has grown to resemble a giant tardigrade-caterpillar hybrid and is mostly concerned with creating slimy Frog Monsters that make up his army. The Conqueror Worm is a villain that many will never be able to un-see once they see him in action.
10. Sadu-Hem
Sadu-Hem was left on Earth to be the eyes and ears of the Ogdru Jahad after they were banished from Earth. Sadu-Hem is just a mass of tentacles and a lot of eyes put together into a gooey, icky substance. What makes Sadu-Hem so scary is that it takes a lot to actually kill him. The last time his body was destroyed, a small portion of him ended up co9nquering an entire town and turning its residents into Frog Monsters. It took an entire force of BPRD folks and Hell Boy personally came in to save the day. Sadu-Hem has been a recurring villain in many Hell Boy comic book arcs. We are still surprised it hasn’t been able to make it to the movies.
Hell Boy’s latest remake hit the theatres this year. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:
While battling a trio of rampaging giants, the legendary half-demon Hellboy encounters Nimue the Blood Queen, an ancient resurrected sorceress who’s out to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy soon becomes hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.
