Hellboy Returns In A Thrilling Comic With An Unexpected Storyline

Too much time has passed since the world saw what many view as the one-and-only true Hellboy in a live-action movie, but more on that in a moment. Because while there still exists a very real anger surrounding the absence of Hellboy III, there is at least something intriguing to celebrate in 2026 regarding the character, thanks to Dark Horse Comics.

Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures #1 is on the way to local comic book shops on May 20, a four-issue series headlined by the Sky Devil herself, Scarlett Santiago, one Young Hellboy idolizes.

• Writer: Mike Mignola · Thomas Sniegoski
• Artist: Craig Rousseau
• Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
• Letterer: Clem Robins
• Cover artist: Craig Rousseau

Young Hellboy Makes an Appearance in 2026

Per the official release: "In a comic adventure within a comic adventure, Scarlett Santiago may have beaten too many villains to keep a low profile on the streets anymore. To keep herself safe and defeat the bad guys who are after her, she may need to team up with a mysterious, feline figure who has similar goals."

Admittedly, while Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures stands to be very entertaining in its own right (so go read it), it likely won't quench the thirst of hellhounds who are still, to this day, trying to figure out what happened to a third installment of the live-action franchise that would have completed the trilogy for Golden Globe-winning actor Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim).

In 2019, the first attempt at a reboot arrived to a 17 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and failed to financially break even at the box office. The 2024 version of the character featured in Hellboy: The Crooked Man, a mess of a movie that was dragged by critics and audiences alike en route to earning just $2.1 million at the box office (in limited European release before being sent straight to PVOD thereafter) against a $20 million budget, only served to further recenter the conversation around Perlman.

Will There Be a New Hellboy Movie?

Asked if he'd don the red skin, horns and fist again if the opportunity presented itself, Perlman, as usual, was without filters; and made it clear being 75 years old wouldn't stop him (nor would some pesky incontinence).

“F**k yeah,” he told the Joe Vulpis Podcast in early 2026. “I mean, I was asked to do the one with David Harbour. But the only Hellboy I’m interested in doing is Hellboy III — finishing the trilogy we started with [Guillermo] del Toro and the original crew. It can’t be jobbed out. You know, call me in five years if we haven’t made Hellboy III yet, and ask me if I’m ready at 80. And I’ll go, ‘Yeah, alright. As long as I’m covered in rubber, no one will know I’m pissing my pants.’”

He continued: “I thought we owed it to the fans. I still do. I'll do it now at 75-years-old, if the right person came along and says, ‘Okay.’ Because it was meant to be a trilogy, right? At the end of the second one, she's pregnant with twins, and he still hasn't either destroyed the earth or saved the earth, which is his oracle. The third movie was going to have all that in it. It was going to be resolved. ... It should have happened.”

No one that matters would disagree with Perlman and that take, 2008's Hellboy II: The Golden Army leaving the world on a cliffhanger that's now lasted nearly two decades. But while he and his fans are forced to wait and see if Hellboy III ever materializes, enjoying the adventures of Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures might serve as a bit o' medicine.