Summary
Writer and artist Mike Mignola createdHellboywith his first appearance in the 1993 standalone comicSan Diego Comic-Con Comics #2.He has since appeared in a number of different comics, movies, and video games. General audiences know about various characters such as Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Professor Broom thanks to the three feature films. Notably absent from Hellboy’s debut was the organization the B.P.R.D., which wouldn’t debut until the 1994 storyHellboy: Seed of Destruction.
The B.P.R.D. is a significant force in theworld ofHellboy, and it became an even larger focus after Hellboy left the organization at the conclusion of the 2001 storyConqueror Worm. That’s when the B.P.R.D. received its own series that followed various agents such as Abe Sapien, an amphibious humanoid with green skin, and Liz Sherman, a pyrokinetic human. So, exactly what is the B.P.R.D.?
Who Created the B.P.R.D.?
Nazi Germany dove deep into the occult near the end of World War II, forcing President Franklin D. Roosevelt to call in an advisor from England’sParanormal Society. Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, an academic well-versed in the supernatural world, worked alongside the U.S. military to foil Hitler’s Project Ragnarok, which could have won the war for the Axis forces. During the events of Project Ragnarok, a little half-human, half-devil emerged from a portal that gravitated toward Trevor. The Professor named him “Hellboy” and raised him as his own son. He even made him an agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development, using Hellboy’s supernatural nature to their advantage.
Hellboy and Bruttenholm worked alongside each other for many years in the B.P.R.D., with the Professor as the organization’s director until the late 1950s when he decided to focus more on fieldwork. In 1992, Bruttenholm disappeared only to resurface two years later and meet his demise at the hands of the Mad Monk Grigori Rasputin, a Russian mystic hellbent on jumpstarting the apocalypse.
John Hurt played the Professor inGuillermo del Toro’sHellboyandHellboy: The Golden Army. The director changed some things about the character, such as not stepping down as Director in the 1950s. However, that’s largely due to the movie’s more modern setting. Mike Mignola praised Hurt’s portrayal of the character, boasting that it was as if the character stepped off the pages of his comics. Ian McShane portrayed Bruttenholm in the 2019Hellboyreboot as a more hardened character who does not sympathize with Hellboy questioning his place in the world.
What is the B.P.R.D.?
After the U.S. government learned of the supernatural forces lurking throughout the world in World War II, it created the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development. It’s a highly classified agency known only to several other government entities across the globe. The public is largely kept in the dark.Hellboy was the first non-human operativefor the organization and it didn’t enlist another paranormal being until Professor Bruttenholm stepped down as director and Dr. Thomas Manning took the role.
Liz Sherman was the first agent with special abilities to join B.P.R.D.’s roster in 1974. The B.P.R.D. eventually discovered the existence of Abe Sapien in the basement of St. Trinidad Hospital and conducted studies on the amphibious creature. They were going to dissect him untilHellboy stepped in, making him a field agent and saving him from a fate worse than death. As time went on, the B.P.R.D. garnered an even mix of human and paranormal agents prepared for any apocalyptic situation the spiritual side of the universe wanted to throw at them.
A series of events pit the B.P.R.D. up against an invading force of mutated frogs and a neo nazi, which eventually saw the destruction of Munich, Germany, and the B.P.R.D. disgraced in the eyes of the American military. However, the organization proved the only force capable of combating a giant, immobile creature in California that spewed a gas across America that mutated the populace. The United Nations Security Council drafted the B.P.R.D. as an ally and gave the agency “blank cheque” funding.
Eventually, the B.P.R.D. is the frontline defense for the world in an apocalyptic Earth during theHell on Earth Cycle. The title says it all, really, as everything is in utter chaos. Monsters emerge from underground, new enemies resurrect old villains,Lovecraftian godsinvade every region of the world, and longtime agents and fan-favorite characters sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
The different film iterations of the B.P.R.D., like all adaptations, differed from each other and their comic book counterpart in small ways. In del Toro’s version, it wasn’t the Professor who created the B.P.R.D., but it was Roosevelt. The agency also seemed to have a close connection with the FBI, which makes sense with the Roosevelt connection. In the 2019 film, a large “51” appears on several walls, giving the impression that it is housed in the top secretArea 51 military base in Nevada. The comics first house the B.P.R.D. in Connecticut, followed by an abandoned research facility in Colorado.
