(GIF by Hi Hi)

Nero, the young devil hunter and son of Vergil, employed by Devil May Cry

Hellboy, the hell-fire born agent and son of Azzael, employed by the B.R.P.D.

Part human, part demon, full awesome, these two may struggle with their inner demons (literally!), but they will rise up beyond them to fight for humanity and save the world. Despite a troublesome relationship with their fathers, with their special powerful arm, they’ll bring the fire and give hell to the demons that threaten the place they call home.

Will Hellboy show the young devil hunter his doom with his right hand or will Nero bring the devil within and show why he’ll never surrender? It’s time for a Death Battle!

Before We Start…

To address the elephant in the room, you’re likely aware of our old Nero vs Hellboy blog back in 2021 on the old G1 site before it got taken down. It spread way further than we were expecting, being scrutinized back and forth and has become rather infamous at this point. Straight to the point, it’s been 5 years since that blog came out and a lot of us on the team are really unhappy with how it was worded and presented and don’t really agree with the stances presented back then (this is made rather obvious with our recent Devil May Cry blogs).

So to that, we have decided to remake the blog from the ground up instead of simply copy pasting the old one. This matchup is beloved within the community and we want to represent it right and with as much care as possible. A lot of people didn’t really feel like Nero got a fair shake and that’s definitely unfortunate. We really hope the blog this time people feel he was treated much better than he was before.

That being said, while we are willing to listen to criticism, we do ask you to be constructive with any criticism you may have with this. While we are 100% willing to listen to responses, insults and aggression doesn’t help anyone and we’re more likely to listen if worded in a respectful and tasteful manner. There may be stances that change since our last DMC blog; opinions change, feats get discussed more and proper reevaluation is done. So don’t expect us to just copy paste old calculations and call it a day. We’re being serious when it’s a proper look through and listening to constructive criticism. Hellboy himself hasn’t had a proper blog since the old one, so we plan on giving him a fair (but honest) look too. So we really do hope you enjoy our updated takes on this MU.

At the end of the day, these are fictional characters and these blogs are made for fun with no stakes in them. We hope you take the time to enjoy our new perspective on these beloved characters.

For Nero, we will of course look through the Devil May Cry games, as well as the audio drama, the 2007 anime, novels, mangas, the Japanese and certain English guides and artbooks. All of these are canon as part of a single timeline. While we are aware of how…divisive it is, we’ll take a look at the Netflix show too for at least supplemental information. And though we have avoided it for a while due to it being a controversial thing in Vs, it should be fine under a soft composite and DMC5 canon Nero has shown up recently, so we are going to include the mobile game, Peak of Combat…sort of. You’ll see what we mean by the end of it.

For Hellboy, his primary source is of course his comics from Dark Horse created by Mike Mignola, as well as other comics that take place in the same universe. However, we’ll also take into consideration the movies, both live action and animated, the games and novels just for a comprehensive look at the character’s history.

We’ll of course take into account what’s considered “standard” for both of them, but also take into account any potential one offs just for a fun more in-depth look at the characters. No worries, we’ll make sure if any of them would decide/influence a verdict, we’ll let you know and talk about it more in-depth.

The only thing we’re going to say no to is of course crossovers like Injustice and Marvel vs Capcom because come on, we want to focus on both series’ history as they are. We hope you enjoy this blog!

Nero

Background

“From that day forth… my arm changed… and a voice echoed, “Power. Give me more power!”

Age: Around 22-23 as of DMC5
Human/Demon Hybrid
Height: 190cm or 6’23’’
Occupation: Devil Hunter for Devil May Cry
Likes: Kyrie, taking care of orphans, his uncle
Dislikes: Being called deadweight, dice games, smoking
Pretty good at the guitar honestly

You’ve likely heard of it; haven’t you? The story of Sparda, a demon that rebelled against his own kind to fight for the side of good and protect humanity. In the city of Fortuna, there was a cult that worshipped the legendary Sparda himself. This cult is known as the Order of the Sword, and the family of Kyrie and Credo who were part of it discovered an abandoned baby who would later be known as Nero. Despite being an orphan at the time and his hotheadedness preventing him from making a lot of friends, Nero would grow to respect Credo like a brother and develop feelings for Kyrie and want to protect her. He’d have to do that sooner than he expected when a demon attack happened in Fortuna and injured his arm and Kyrie. Nero managed to take care of the demons and both of them survived, but his arm didn’t quite recover. Instead, it transformed his arm into something demonic and started awakening his inner powers. From that day forth, his arm changed and a voice echoed in his head: “Power…give me more power!”

Nero hid this power, training with it in secret until a fateful encounter with a mystery red coated man, who seemingly assassinated the leader of the Order of the Sword. Nero was tasked to track the mysterious assassin down and capture him, but later on would realize the order he served wasn’t so free from corruption after all. Experimenting with demonic power, kidnapping Kyrie and later on seeing Credo die right in front of him, Nero knew what he had to do. Though he himself was captured for a time, thanks to the help of the man he was supposed to capture, Dante, the legendary demon hunter himself, he would be released, save the woman he loved and defeat the Order of the Sword once and for all, ending their corrupt tyranny. Dante entrusted Nero with the Yamato, a keepsake from his brother he thought he lost, realizing he still had a family out there and someone else who was willing to fight for the good of mankind.

For five years, Nero spent time together with Kyrie, helping repair the damage done to Fortuna City and taking care of people who lost their homes and orphans who lost their families. No longer needing to hide his demonic arm, he even opened up a demon hunting branch of Devil May Cry, to help protect people from demon attacks, later even going mobile, especially after meeting the gunsmith Nico who would help provide maintenance on Nero’s weapons. Things seemed peaceful as demon attacks in Fortuna went down a drastic amount…until the nightmare happened.

A mysterious cloaked man would rip off Nero’s demon arm and steal the legendary Yamato from him. Put into a coma for a long time, Nero would awaken and the demon who stole his arm, known as Urizen, rose as a huge threat to the human world. Understandably angry and his frustration getting bigger at losing his arm and feeling wounded even more when Dante called him ‘deadweight’, he would go and try and hunt down the demon for some payback, with some help from Nico for providing him with a new prosthetic arm. Nero felt the pain of being useless before, so perhaps that was why being called that really hurt him. Not being able to save Credo and even pay Dante back for helping him in the past, he really wanted to make amends for that. He would push through the demon carnage to settle a score to settle with a demonic force.

His plans would change though when he found the one who stole his arm was not just a demon, but his own father, a son of Sparda, Vergil, who had done so to regain power and reunite his demon and human halves together again. Dante, knowing he has his own score to settle with his twin brother, told Nero to just go home, knowing full well Nero couldn’t bear the pain of killing his own father. However, Nero looked deep within and with some encouragement from the people he cared about, would not kill either son of Sparda, triggering his inner devil in order to stop the sibling rivalry once for all, and reunite them as proper brothers. He was not useless or “deadweight” anymore, but a hero who protected his family.

Nero was always an emotional young man, but he was always honest with himself and accepted who he really was, not like his father who has to mask his feelings with cold ambition for power or his uncle Dante who hid his pain with laughter and banter. In a way, it’s strange, as Nero for the longest time had no idea he was related to either of these siblings, but he ended up being stronger in ways than either Dante or Vergil, being a role model who brought the siblings together. Perhaps he was more like the legendary knight Sparda than his sons ever were.

Experience & Skill

Despite his young age compared to the other devil hunters in his world, Nero has kept up with the best of them and held his own. Even without his sword and handicapping himself to just one arm, he was able to throw hands with punches and kicks and use the demon’s bladed weaponry against them. He does this again in his first bout against Dante, this time using his Devil Bringer, just showing how strong his punches are by launching him, catching up to him and disarming him before wailing on him. Even when he’s missing an arm, he can hold his own better than most people could with three. He’s also a skilled grappler (and possibly watches wrestling) as he’s able to toss demons around with great force, use an enemy’s weapon against them and even do piledrivers. He doesn’t just swing wildly as he’s also been shown to time his grabs just right to catch them off guard before unleashing a powerful counterattack.

Of course, Nero’s best with a blade and it’s highlighted best when he was a Holy Knight for the Order of the Sword. Holy Knights are the best fighters when it comes to hand-to-hand combat and no one is more skilled with a sword than them. Credo himself taught him how to use a sword and Nero has held his own and even defeated him in combat. Nero’s defeated hordes of demons, saving innocent people, destroying rubble/blocking off access ways so the demons couldn’t follow them and even ride the demons like a hoverboard! With him having shown his great observation skills, it’s no wonder he was assigned the Order of the Sword’s dirtiest jobs for his prodigious skills, having earned the respect of everyone.

Nero has kept up with both Dante and Vergil, the latter of whom is considered a master of iaijutsu and even as a child was able to master the Yamato to defeat Mundus’ forces. Dante himself is an exceptional swordsman, his master of close-quarter and ranged combat has led some people to believe he surpassed his father Sparda, who was considered to be the greatest in the demon realm. Dante has also defeated Sparda’s apprentices, Modeus and Baul, the former being considered a swordsman so great they could shake the demon world and have over two thousand years of combat experience.

The most impressive of Uncle Dante’s showings in skill was when he defeated Gilver, someone who analyzed and adapted to Dante’s fighting prowess but he was still no match for the Son of Sparda. Dante has also defeated the Black Knights, demons specifically created with Sparda’s and Dante and Vergil’s skill but they were still no match for him. Side material claims Dante is an “almost perfect being” capable of achieving anything. When presented with a task he has yet to master, he only needs a few seconds to conquer it. However, Dante’s most impressive skill showing is in the Devil May Cry 2 novel where he kept up and defeated Chen the Cannibal. Why is this impressive? Well, Chen absorbed the Beastheads that let him gain the knowledge of all time and space with precognitive powers, was able to mimic Sparda’s style and his knowledge of swordsmanship, and claimed that he gained literal infinite knowledge when it came to swordfighting… but he ultimately still fell to Dante. Dante and Vergil fight each other all the time and Nero’s kept up with both and even defeated Vergil at the end of Devil May Cry 5. Despite Nero’s young age, he’s shown to be worthy of the Sparda bloodline and kept up with the best of them.

Equipment

Devil Bringer

When Nero first awoke his demonic power, it manifested itself physically on his body, turning his right arm into that of a demon’s. Although Nero at first hated his arm, it gave him superhuman strength, the ability to absorb and manifest power, and became a reliable tool in his arsenal he used to slay evil and protect the ones he loved, so he eventually came around on it.

The Devil Bringer has all sorts of strong powers. Aside from letting him lift heavy objects (and he can alter the size of the arm when he needs to), it’s surprisingly a good defensive tool, letting him block Dante’s powerful stinger move. Nero used it to grab enemies for powerful throws with Buster and also pull enemies towards him with Snatch or pull himself towards his opponent with Hell Bound (and also use it to maneuver around the area). It also reacts to Nero if a demonic presence is nearby. One of its stronger abilities is being able to absorb energy to enhance his Devil Bringer but seemingly able to absorb enough to depower foes (like when he forced Credo to exit his demonic form).

Nero can use Hold to use a captured enemy as a meat shield of sorts, Auto-Search lets the arm glow when demonic orbs (or a secret mission location) are in his presence and thanks to absorbing Echida’s seeds (she’s a plant demon thing, don’t make it weird), trees will wither away should he come into contact with them. He can also bring life into certain inanimate objects (though likely not literally anything).

During the events of Devil May Cry 4, Nero’s Devil Bringer absorbed and repaired the broken halves of Yamato, but when Vergil re-appeared at the start of Devil May Cry 5 and stole the sword by tearing Nero’s arm off his body, the Devil Bringer would manifest itself in a different way for Nero. Appearing as winged, spectral arms that can do everything the Devil Bringer did and more (two hands are better than one, after all!), they become even stronger in Nero’s Devil Trigger. He can now use Hold on two enemies at once and use his Devil Bringer’s claws and fist to attack in-tandem for even more damage.

Funnily enough, Vergil can actually turn Yamato back into Nero’s arm in one of his taunts, so for all intents and purposes, the original arm is still functional, even if Nero did get a better upgrade later on.

Red Queen

As Nero likes to call it, this blade’s the best battle companion a swordsman could wish for. It’s a heavily modified version of the Order of the Sword’s Durandal, customized only for Nero. While this isn’t a magical blade like say Dante’s Rebellion or Vergil’s Yamato, the Red Queen can clash with them with no ill effect. Nero swings the sword with heavy powerful strikes, emphasizing rage and frustration, treating it almost like a blunt object than an actual blade but is clearly skilled with it, able to take down hordes of demons with ease.

What’s special about this sword is that it has a combustion engine equipped, adding extra power and propulsion to its powerful sword swings. Nero can “revv” this sword like a motorcycle, with its Exceed system, it lights the sword on fire by spraying a flammable fuel across the blade (and somehow it never is in danger of melting) which helps Nero set his foes ablaze. We’re serious when we say only Nero can wield it though; without demon blood in your veins, the Red Queen would go flying off your hands!

Blue Rose

Nero’s personal long-ranged firearm of choice, the Blue Rose is a massive, double barrelled revolver specially designed and outfitted by Nero himself. While the Order of the Sword believed guns to be dishonourable (sound familiar?), and as such didn’t use them, Nero bucked the trend with his exceptionally devastating hand cannon. What makes the Blue Rose special from other guns is its unique design where two bullets are fired at a slight delay. The first bullet pierces the enemy’s armour, while the second follows it up immediately, shooting straight into whatever foe he’s facing. Nero can also use Color Up to fire three powerful shots in a row. But he can push this even further with his Charged Shot, which explodes inside the enemy after piercing into their body. Talk about brutal.

Yamato

In Devil May Cry 4, Nero would gain his father’s weapon, the legendary katana, Yamato. This isn’t an ordinary katana as it has the power to cut through space and dimensions, allowing it to ignore durability by unleashing an attack on the dimension rather than material. Aside from its incredible potent spatial cutting, it also has the power to seal Hell Gates and close the portal in the demon world and even open up portals.

Aside from that, it also has the power to separate “power from heart” and “man from devil”, like when Dante used it to separate Nero from the Savior or Vergil split himself into Urizen and V, likely in reference to how it keeps the human and demon worlds separate. It also is able to nullify the power in Nero when he got stabbed by it even though seconds before he was able to fight back with the Devil Bringer. Even when broken, when in the presence of a kin of Sparda, it’s able to repair itself like when it saved Nero from impalement.

Nero himself has mainly used the Yamato for blade beams and as a strong weapon, but he himself has used the space cutting abilities as well like when he saved Kyrie using it’s properties.

Note: While Nero technically does not have Yamato anymore, he had it for a long period of time in his adventure in Devil May Cry 4, kept it for years until Vergil stole it back and it personally chose him as its wielder for that time. We decided to give the weapon for this blog but do note he can summon a spectral version of Yamato anyway with his Devil Trigger (more on this later).

Devil Breakers

After losing his original right arm, Nero needed a replacement to kick demon ass. Thanks to Nico Goldstein, she crafted a plethora of Devil Breakers for Nero to use in combat. While all of these Devil Breakers are quite effective, Nero can only use them for so many times. They can break if Nero gets attacked in the middle of use or if Nero uses a Devil Breakers charged attack. Not to mention, Nero can’t freely swap between them (though this is likely just a gameplay mechanic), he has to have one broken or make it self destruct with a short explosion in order to use the next one in line.

Should be noted while Nero did regenerate his arm by the end of Devil May Cry 5, he can still use the Devil Breakers via fusing them to his arm, so hey that’s handy! (Pun not intended)

Overture: Nero’s first Devil Breaker, which he uses to take down demons with an electric palm strike. Nero can also attach the arm to the enemy, which turns it into a timed explosive. Nero can also detonate it by shooting Overture while it’s on the enemy.
Gerbera: A Devil Breaker that allows Nero to maneuver around the battlefield with a shockwave, which can also negate or reflect projectiles. Nero can also use an ability known as Stamen Ray which unleashes a powerful blast that wipes out any enemies. If done in midair, Nero can fire penetrating lasers that ricochet off walls and floors.
Punch Line: This Devil Breaker is basically a rocket fist. Once Nero fires it, Punch Line runs rampant around the enemy, flying and constantly delivering strikes. Nero can also call it back to ride and do tricks on it. Nero can even charge Punch Line to deliver a boost knuckle punch, which uses the propulsion to deliver a devastating haymaker blow.
Helter Skelter: What this Devil Breaker may be lacking in range, it can pierce through a foe’s defenses with a drill-like attack. When charged up, it allows Nero to pierce multiple foe’s defenses at once in a single use.
Tomboy: A Devil Breaker that allows Nero to push his weapons, the Blue Rose and Red Queen, to their maximum limits. With the Blue Rose, Nero can fire powerful, penetrating shots and charge shots that can wipe out multiple enemies at once. With the Red Queen, Nero’s combos with it become even more devastating, both on the ground and in the air, since it’s set at max level 3 Exceed charge at all times with Tomboy activated
Buster Arm: This is basically a Devil Breaker version of Nero’s Buster Arm he had back before he lost it. It allows Nero to grapple onto foes to do a powerful finisher move and charging this up will allow Nero to do even more powerful finisher moves
Rawhide: This Devil Breaker has the widest attack range of them all. It allows Nero’s arm to become a metal whip chain that can strike enemies multiple times, as well as reel them in. When charged, the metal whip chain pulls in any enemies close to it to slam them to the ground.
Ragtime: A Devil Breaker that can literally control time. Nero does this by firing a sphere that slows down any enemy caught in it, which leaves them wide open for attacks, although Nero also slows down if he’s in the sphere. But when charged, Nero slows down everything around him for a short period, no enemy is safe from time being slowed when this ability is used.
Mega Buster: Hailing from the Mega Man series, this Devil Breaker allows Nero to rapid-fire energy based projectiles, much like Rock himself does. Nero can also fire devastating charge shots to take out multiple foes at once
Sweet Surrender: A Devil Breaker that’s better meant to soothe away the pain. When using it, the Devil Breaker vibrates and gradually refills Nero’s health. Charging it can make it self destruct, but it also restores a lot of Nero’s health in an instant
Pasta Breaker: A Devil Breaker that was originally made to help Nero eat pasta. But in combat, it has the same functions as Punch Line and Overture, in that it can be fired like a rocket arm and that it can be attached to an enemy to self-destruct when charged, although it’s not as effective as those Devil Breakers
Gerbera GP01: Basically Gerbera, but with a different coat of paint
Monkey Business: Basically Helter Skelter, only this one is made of bananas!

Consumables

Vital Star: A set of alchemy produced healing items, which have small, medium, and large variations. Small Vital Stars heal about a quarter of Nero’s health, medium heal half of Nero’s health, and large fully restores Nero’s health. Nero can carry up to 30 of these

Devil Star: Devil Stars are the Vital Star equivalent for Nero’s Devil Trigger. These only come in small and large variations that restore the Devil Trigger. Small restores about a half of Nero’s Devil Trigger, while large restores it completely. Nero can only carry up to 10

Gold Orb: In the unlikely event Nero falls in battle, he can use a gold orb to completely restore his health and Devil Trigger. Nero can carry up to three of these, which should be more than enough to get the job done. In addition, Gold Orbs are stated to “recall lost souls” which indicates they are a true form of resurrection

Miscellaneous Items

Holy Water: With this item, Nero can throw what’s basically a giant grenade, attacking anyone on the screen with a huge flash of light. It’s likely a holy element…because come on. Nero can hold up to 5.

Sephirothic Fruit: Upon absorbing it from the demon Echidna, Nero would gain the ability to wither away trees that were blocking his path.

Aegis Shield: After absorbing the energy from Credo’s shield, this item would grant Nero the ability Hold, which basically lets him use other enemies as meat shields.

Key of Cronus: Nero can use this item to slow down time within a specific area, so long as it’s used in a Chrono Slicer. So he can’t really pop this as a second time slow basically.

Red Orbs: Though normally useful to buy upgrades in the game, Nero can also use this as a second option to cheat death and revive himself. The more red orbs he spends, the more health he returns with.

Abilities

Hybrid Human-Demon Physiology

Being part of the same bloodline as the Legendary Dark Knight, Sparda has its benefits as Nero has been shown to be directly comparable to both Dante and Vergil in terms of physiology. Dante for example has shown great adaptation such as when he previously could barely hold a sword, but a few seconds later was able to renew his strength. Nero himself is an excellent example of this because he previously could not even touch Urizen, but after a whole month of training by killing demons, Nero was able to show immense improvement, being the first one to properly land a hit on Urizen himself. In their first meeting, Dante makes the comment that Nero improved mid-fight against him.

The Sons of Sparda are stubborn boys shown numerous times throughout the series. The Devil Sword Sparda requires great willpower to hold (V himself thought Nero could wield it). This makes sense since Arkham transformed into a blob when he was trying to hold its weaker form, the Force Edge. Vergil himself has shown this stubbornness as he was able to resist mind control from Mundus, despite being corrupted (until he finally relented when Mundus gave him his part of the amulet).

Demons in general have shown they can feed off despair and human blood and devil power can refill in general whether inflicting or getting damaged themselves. That being said, what makes the Sons of Sparda so strong is the power of love and righteousness, being the main reason why Sparda and his heritage were able to stop Mundus. The power of love y’all!

Sparda’s kin have shown impressive stamina as well, such as when Dante and Urizen fought for a whole day. While it is assumed Urizen was toying with Dante, it’s not so clear cut as he was still actively fighting Dante during the whole fight, Dante himself was taking the fight seriously and Urizen NEEDED to sit down to absorb power the entire time from the tree. This overall makes it an impressive stamina feat. Dante and Vergil also fought for 39 days straight at the end of Devil May Cry 5, both only needing 35 seconds of rest before being able to fight again. Supported again in the novel with how he only needs to catch his breath to start recovering demonic energy.

The Sons of Sparda have also been shown to breathe underwater (in the most annoying first person under water controls ever) and breathe in space without issue. They also have non-physical interaction, such as when Dante can attack demons like the Soul Eater that are intangible normally or how Dante separated a demon possessing a woman’s body without harming the host. Side material even gives Dante the ability to “crush souls into oblivion” with his blows. It’s also possible human and demon hybrids could live for hundreds of years without passing away, shown by Matier though this is speculation as none of the Sons of Sparda have reached that age yet.

Demonic Energy

Being part demon allows Nero to use Devil May Cry’s powerful universal energy system that is Demonic Energy. It’s been used in the series since the very beginning, allowing them to raise their power, speed and durability in a fight. Nero’s used in various ways such as charging his guns up with explosive energy and devastating energy beam attacks like Maximum Bet. His Uncle Dante is an excellent user of demonic energy like when he powers up his strikes with his sword Rebellion and the dual handguns for more power and accuracy. The Sons of Sparda can use this energy in all sorts of ways such as creating a platform that lets them double jump with Air Hike, amping a motorcycle to go even faster somehow, unleash devastating summoned swords of energy, move faster, increase the size of the Devil Bringer and of course pull their Devil Triggers. Activating Devil Trigger in particular can actually restore demonic energy in the body, letting the boys catch a second wind of sorts during combat.

Should be noted despite the Sparda’s kin vast demonic energy reserves, it is not infinite. Reflexes and speed can get slower while being drained of it. Thankfully, thanks to the power of resolve and a powerful human spirit, it can amplify demonic power even more, Nero showing this when fighting Vergil at the end of Devil May Cry 5, with it constantly being refueled.

It should be noted that though demonic energy is called magic a couple times in the series, demons like Baphomet do seem to imply a difference between the two, though it’s not super elaborated on. Demonic energy is used for incredibly potent space cutting like the Judgement Cut End and Dante’s Quicksilver ability to slow down time, showing it’s used for the series hax as well. Side material like Peak of Combat more explicitly show that Nero has spatial hax without the need for Yamato, shooting at and shattering a rift in space using Blue Rose alongside Dante and Vergil using Ebony and Ivory. Dante has also simply created rifts into the Demon World, albeit it’s vague how he does it.

Regeneration

If there’s anything the Devil May Cry boys are known for, it’s their crazy regeneration. While they’re usually fast enough to avoid taking damage straight up, should the worst happen, they can regenerate pretty much any wound (even their clothes are still okay…somehow!) Dante has shown the Sons of Sparda can take multiple impalements to their body, bullets to the head and even stabs to the heart, body parts I’m pretty sure most people need. Heck, even when Vergil was exhausted after a long night and fight with Dante, he was able to “stay together” after Dante sliced right through him.

Nero himself has shown just how crazy the Sparda family’s regeneration really is, such as when he died in Devil May Cry 4. No really, it’s confirmed he died when he was stabbed by Agnus, but Yamato awakening his demonic power within brought him back to life. Nero has also regrown his arm in seconds after reawakening his demonic power and pulling his Devil Trigger. Most famously is when he was captured and had his entire body melted by the Savior with other sources saying it dissipated into mist. Nero lost his sense of being/entire body, but once Nero got Yamato again, this let him separate himself from the Savior, which let him reform his body from his memories after reawakening his demonic powers. Nero previously had his demonic power turned off with the Yamato and he was still fused with the Savior, explaining why he couldn’t regenerate before. Heck, it’s explained before Nero needed Yamato to tap into his demonic power, but now he can just do it on his own, he can just regenerate on his own too without the need of Yamato. Other demons have shown they can regenerate from their soul too. Nero’s able to regenerate from nothing with barely any stamina drop and this was when he was young and inexperienced too, so it’s possible it’s even better now. It should be noted it is possible to wear down the regeneration (like when Dante knocked out cold for a month after his fight with Urizen), but hey the fact that Nero can survive full body regeneration at least once or twice without losing stamina is crazy.

Vergil has shown it’s possible for demons to come back from being dead after his body and soul were completely destroyed when he was Nelo Angelo. However, it should be noted Vergil was of course corrupted by Mundus and after his death, it took a long time for him to come back, making likely body and soul regeneration destruction combat inapplicable.

Supernatural Senses

While Nero can already tell if a demonic presence is nearby thanks to his Devil Bringer, he’s been shown to be able to sense when danger approaches too such as when he noticed Artemis from behind even though it didn’t make a noise or when a Bianco Angelo knight approached him. Nero can also focus to figure out where his next objective is should he get lost. Sharing the Sparda bloodline, Nero’s likely similar to his uncle Dante, such as like when he knew when a phone was going to ring before it happened, maneuvering and dancing around demons, explosions and gunfire by sensing where they would be and shoot Beryl’s bullets out of the air by telegraphing them. He’s also been able to instinctively avoid traps even while weakened and able to locate targets, figuring out whatever is going on.

The Son of Sparda has also been shown to have increased smell, able to sense the power level/capabilities of his opponents with just a glance and accurately gauge the individual power of every demon in Shadow’s army in the 2nd novel. Even weaker characters like V are able to detect power levels relative to others. Dante has also famously used his senses to predict Chen’s moves even though Chen had infinite combat knowledge and could literally see the future, including Dante’s own moves. Needless to say, the Sons of Sparda are rarely caught off guard.

Sword Techniques

With the Red Queen in hand, Nero knows a good amount of sword techniques to take out demonic foes

Streak: A rushing attack that covers a lot of range and sweeps up surrounding enemies
High-Roller: Nero’s attack where he swings his sword upwards to send his opponent into the air for some aerial combos
Roulette Spin: A mid-air attack where Nero spins the Red Queen to send the enemy flying higher, all while gaining some altitude
Split: A mid-air slash that slams the enemies back down to earth
Calibur: The mid-air version of streak, where Nero rushes forth to deliver a good blow
Shuffle: After dodging an enemy’s attack, Nero can counterattack by rushing forward with a powerful blow
Payline: A mid-air diving attack that strikes an enemy’s weak point and has good armor to shrug off their attacks
Hard Way: A grounded version of Payline where Nero strikes an enemy’s weak point while shrugging off their attacks
Exceed: By revving the Red Queen’s handle like a motorcycle, Nero can use the sword’s flammable fuel injection system to enhance the power of its attacks and the range, it can charge up to three levels
Double Down: Using the Exceed system, Nero can strike the ground below with a fiery impact to deal a devastating amount of damage
MAX-Act: Right after an attack, Nero can rev up the Exceed system to instant level 3 with precise timing

Demonic Abilities

(real shame Teppen EoS’d, the art was cool)

Nero’s combat prowess extends beyond him using guns and swords to take out demons. Coupled with his demonic heritage, Nero is able to use a variety of abilities to maneuver around the battlefield and deal damage

Table Hopper: Nero evades an enemy attack by slightly moving his whole body, allowing for an easy counterattack
Rainbow: Nero runs towards his enemy to deliver a devastating dropkick that rattles an enemy to their core
Enemy Step: While in mid-air, Nero hops off the head of an enemy for an easy double jump
Air Hike: While in mid-air, Nero creates a magical rune under his feet to perform a double jump
Flap Top: Essentially, it’s a second Air Hike, but Nero can also glide to slow his decent
Kick Jump: Another double jump where Nero jumps off a wall
Recovery Provocation: A secret taunt of Nero’s where he chews on some bubble gum, which gradually restores his health if uninterrupted

Resistances

While Nero has shown some of these resistances himself, he’ll also scale to Dante and Vergil as they share the same family blood and have similar physiology.

Extreme Pain: Nero was able to keep fighting Urizen to finally land a hit despite all the hits he had taken. His uncle Dante was able to use his sheer willpower to move despite being in extreme pain as a teenager.
Extreme Heat: Nero has been able to get near the demon Berial without issue and Dante himself has even sat on his tail. Berial can vaporize people by just being near him. Dante has also withstood Ifrit (the weapon)’s flames when it was trying to kill him, which can melt Frosts, despite reaching temperatures beyond absolute zero.
Absolute Zero: Dante can survive hits from the Frost even though they attack at absolute zero temperature.
Spatial Manipulation: Both Nero and Dante have survived space cutting from Vergil’s Yamato that can cut the very fabric of space-time itself.
Mind Manipulation: Though V was put in a hallucination world by Malphas’ stones, it has no effect on Nero. Vergil has also resisted Mundus’ mind control and he only finally succumbed because he was given his half of the amulet. He’s even broken past a weaker demon’s illusion as well.
Transmutation: Dante has gotten impaled by the Qliphoth roots without transmuting or petrifying which turns normal humans into pollen for the big tree.
Deconstruction/Matter Manipulation: In DMC2 novel, the Beastheads can assimilate humans into magical energy and transmute their matter and soul to stone. Dante is fine against them.
Life Force Absorption: Dante was able to activate Devil Trigger to save himself from Alice sucking Dante’s life away and he does the same against Nevan.
Soul Manipulation: The Soul Eater…well, eats souls and Dante can withstand them and even break out with his Devil Trigger. Vergil’s soul was once invaded and attacked directly by the Nightwahter demon, yet it could not break it.
Power Nullification: Dante was able to get a resistance to Chen’s special magical nullifying gel after a while. Beelzebub’s blue vomit can nullify Dante’s ranged weapons but Dante can Devil Trigger and counter the maggots.
Fear Manipulation: Beryl froze in fear, unable to move in Void Mundus’ void, but Dante can move just fine and doesn’t care.
Poison: Demons such as the Hell Greed can generate pools of poison that Demon Hunters can shrug off.
Time Manipulation (Debatable): As Nelo Angelo, Vergil would gain a resistance to the Bangle of Time’s time stop ability. While one could argue it’s because of Vergil’s willpower since the JP description says you need that, it’s contradicted by Nightmare resisting it, but it clearly stated to have no willpower. It also acts more like a traditional time stop rather than a weird spirit BFR, so taking the JP description as law is questionable (especially since demon bosses that resist the Bangle of Time like Griffon and Phantom don’t have strong willpower statements). Vergil also does not care about Ragtime’s time bubbles. Additionally, in Nero’s side story for Peak of Combat, he finds himself sent to the Hellfilth’s dimension where time is frozen by a Geryon, comparing it as if the entire realm was experiencing something akin to Ragtime. He is able to function and fight normally here and later defeats this realm’s Geryon with ease.
Holy Manipulation: The Sons of Sparda are unaffected by Holy Water or holy spears by the Fallen.

Forms

Yamato Devil Trigger

In Devil May Cry 4, Nero would gain this form of Devil Trigger where he summons a ghost like entity behind him (holy shit is that a JoJo reference???). The blue demon entity behind Nero is actually his soul manifested. Though it requires Yamato since that’s how he first awakened it, Nero would rely on it for quite some time through his adventures. It increases his stats and healing factor, making him a fierce foe indeed. Nero can activate Devil Trigger whenever he wants, launching foes upwards upon activating. His Buster attacks will also have more fierce power, emphasized by the animation. He will also gain the moves Showdown, Maximum Bet and Summoned Swords…which we’ll explain in a bit. Nero likely cannot use this form anymore as Vergil has stolen Yamato back from Nero, but it doesn’t matter since…

True Devil Trigger

Awakening into his true devil upon finding the inner resolve to stop the sons of Sparda from killing each other, Nero would form this without the need of Yamato. It’s similar to Dante and Vergil’s Devil Triggers, increasing his speed, attack and defense with a faster healing factor. Dante’s Devil Trigger in particular has let him break out of attacks like maggots that attach to him and prevented him from using his guns. Nero has shown to use his Devil Trigger to let him fly at fast speeds but he would gain the ability to triple jump with the Flap Top ability. In terms of a multiplier, the safest we can reliably apply to Nero is two times, though some English guides claim to increase speed by tenfold should the Quick Heart be equipped. Due to the contentious nature of multipliers, we will NOT be relying on it in the verdict.

Upon awakening it, Nero’s demonic energy will automatically refill constantly, likely because he’s under a heightened emotion. Makes sense as Dante himself has used his own Devil Trigger to replenish his demonic energy. Nero can also form a spectral version of Yamato, likely letting him access the same spatial manipulation abilities (especially since these are the exact same moves from DMC4’s Devil Trigger that required Yamato). The Devil Trigger’s full timeframe is a bit tricky to lock down. Recently, the Netflix show has shown for it to last at least 8 minutes (the only reason it went away was because Dante and Vergil’s power was being drained.) The timeframe is possibly longer, but 8 minutes is usually all Nero needs to finish off his foes. He really did pull his devil trigger…

Summoned Swords: This lets Nero summon demonic blades of energy to fire at his foes. When he unleashes his charged show, multiple blades will appear at once to overwhelm his foes. It’s stated to be able to pierce foes through force of will.
Maximum Bet: Place your bets because Nero’s going all in as he unleashes two giant sword slashes (with potential spatial manipulation looking at the effect more closely) as a huge sword beam blows through his foes like a powerful wind.
Showdown: Summoning a spectral form of Yamato, Nero unleashes a heavy amount of fierce and powerful slashes, heavily damaging his enemies. It’s confirmed to slice through space, making it an incredibly powerful durability negation should it hit.

Feats

Overall

Served as a Holy Knight for the Order of the Sword
…Before finding out they were corrupt and ending them
Has his own branch of the devil hunting business, Devil May Cry
Ended the Sons of Sparda conflict without killing either of them
Has an honestly pretty wholesome relationship with his partner, Kyrie
The first actual person to land a hit on Urizen
Beat the deadweight allegations
Defeated Echidna, Bael, Berial, Sanctus, Agnus and Credo in DMC4
Defeated Giligamesh, Artemis, Goliath and Malphas in DMC5
Defeated Vergil, his father
Sole protector of the human world at the moment

Power

As seen above, tossed the large demon Goliath through a building, causing it to collapse
His dropkick sends Dante flying a surprisingly high distance
Pushes a giant sword with his legs
Tosses said giant sword again against Dante
Punches Dante to the ground, causing an impact
Matches Berial’s sword with his own with ease
Lifts and tosses Berial to the ground
Kills the demon Bael by sending him flying with a punch
DDTs Vergil while he’s in Sin Devil Trigger
Stopped both Dante and Vergil in their Sin Devil Trigger forms while they were trying to kill each other
Crushed the Savior’s head, sending it back to hell! (5.3 tons of TNT)
- The Savior can also kick REALLY hard for it’s size (4.24 Kilotons of TNT)

Speed

Durability

Survived getting the Yamato tossed into his chest by his father and tossed it back right at him
His Devil Bringer helps block Dante’s stinger with great force
Completely unfazed by a truck falling on him
Crashes into a wall, more pissed off than anything else
Hops off a crumbling platform with V and unfazed
Survives a punch from the Savior
Gets shocked by slashing a Blitz but keeps fighting
Shrugs off getting jumped by several Angelo knights
Gets back up after a slap from Urizen

Scaling

Nero by the end of the series was a match for Dante and Vergil, stopping both of them from killing each other. On top of that, he was the first one to properly land a hit on Urizen, something not even Dante at the time could accomplish. This places him safely above most of the following feats especially by the end of Devil May Cry 5. From fodder demons to the dreaded Demon Kings, Nero’s got it covered.

Note: We’re aware that the old Nero vs Hellboy blog has a rather infamous “debunk” section of universal Devil May Cry (that we no longer agree with), but instead of doing more long before the verdicts, we’ll keep things concise and brief in the scaling section themselves. If you wish to see a more detailed breakdown about those feats, we do recommend reading our Galacta Knight vs Vergil blog (though any stances that have changed since then will be noted in the scaling and verdict itself).

Sons of Sparda

Nero has defeated his father, Vergil, at the end of Devil May Cry 5 and even stopped the two brothers in the Sin Devil Trigger forms while they were trying to kill each other. While it is possible to argue Vergil was worn down from his previous fight with Dante, Vergil claims he can still fight and acknowledges his defeat against Nero and Nero wasn’t trying to kill Vergil anyway (and it’d be ridiculous to claim Vergil got a million times weaker when he fought Nero), so he scales to the Son of Sparda’s feats.

The brothers fought in a rainstorm, briefly creating an open space with their slashes (Mach 17- 1002)
Dante deflected Mundus’particle beam (confirmed light multiple times) and the storyboards show that Dante was meant to react to it. (0.11c)
- Trish can react and push Dante out of the way of an earlier particle beam as well. (1.54c)
Dante flew a long distance in Mundus’ created universe in a short amount of time (31.7 – 48.6 times FTL) (More in Before the Verdict)
Dante can dodge lasers from Nefasturris which have statements of being beams of light, don’t explode, burn on contact and move in straight lines. (1.29c)
Dante’s Cavaliere crushes stars for fuel (Star)
Vergil can blitzNero’s Petal Ray, which are described as penetrating beams of light that use a composite reflector
- Measuring how fast Vergil travels relative to it (11.9c)
- Measuring the in-tandem slashes he makes compared to the ray (156.97c)
Vergil when he was Urizen had gotten the Qliphoth tree so large, it can be seen from space. It has spread throughout the whole Earth and the fruit is stated to be more dense than the tree, so Urizen eating it means he scales just fine (82.78 Teratons of TNT)
Dante survived Void Mundus’ death point blank, which caused the void to explode which was the collective energy of the fused Human-Demon world (Low Multi)
In his clash with a Demon King, Vergil shattered the equilibrium of the entire Grey Realm and the residual energy of that clash created spatial rifts that reached into the Human World

Demons

Nero has defeated all sorts of demons from Berial, Goliath, Echidna, Malphas and so much more. From being able to match Dante and Vergil means he scales to the demons they defeated to, letting Nero safely scale above the following feats.

Cerberus froze the front gate to the giant tower, Temen-Ni-Gru (48.6 Tons of TNT)
The Nightmare Beta can fire beams of light with reflective and penetrating abilities. Demons like Shadow can move faster than them. (3.36c)
Berial can wrap mountains up in flames (1.1 Kilotons of TNT)
Echidna created a storm in her boss fight (6 – 9.6 Megatons of TNT)
The Beastheads shook the world in the novel. Likely literal since Dante is describing it as the “end of the world” (1 Teraton of TNT (assuming just the planet, though it is possible it could refer to the universe))
Nightmare has been stated a couple times they have the power to destroy the Demon World (Universal)

Demon Kings

From Mundus to Argosax to Abigail, the Demon Kings were some of the toughest demons around…until Dante defeated them all. Since Nero scales to Dante, he should be in a similar range if not higher than these feats. To add more proof, Nero was the first character to properly land a hit on Urizen, a feat that not even Dante (pre-Sin Devil Trigger unlocked) was able to accomplish. Defeating his father Vergil by the end of Devil May Cry 5 solidifies Nero being able to scale to Devil May Cry’s high end feats.

Mundus once turned the Earth into a second Demon world before Sparda intervened (Planet)
Mundus created a universe in a short amount of time (proof it’s creation here) (Universal) (389.68 Billion – 389.3 Quadrillion times FTL) (Speed debatable; more in Before the Verdict)
- It is NOT an illusion as it is intended to be a real space, it’s called Demon Emperor’s Space. It is NOT the Demon World as they were already in it and when Dante leaves the area after defeating Mundus, it’s stated he returned to the old world. It is also called a realm beyond human knowledge, Hideki Kamiya named him Mundus for its magnificent imagery and it is infinitely expanding much like our own universe.
Mundus’ defeat nearly collapsed the demon world (Dante has to seal him to stop it). Would also include the Mirror world which has its own dimension and reality. (Universal – Low Multi)
In the DMC2 novel, Void Mundus’ death caused a merged version of the human and demon world to explode and collapse. Void Mundus exists in an alternate timeline where he succeeded in his goals of merging the two worlds together and is the Heart of the Demon World and the Nexus of its energies. Basically, he merged with the universe in this timeline. (Low Multi)
Argosax was going to merge the Human and Demon worlds together had Dante not stopped them (Low Multi)
- Arsosax is said to have the power and abilities of every demon and can rival Mundus’ power
Abigail dispersed a large amount of clouds (1.12 – 7 Gigatons of TNT)

Weaknesses

(Source)

Nero may be one of the strongest characters in Devil May Cry now, but he’s not unbeatable, case in point his defeats against Dante, Urizen and Sanctus. The latter of which exploited Nero’s love for Kyrie, taking advantage of his desire to protect his loved ones. He’s also a hot head sometimes, rushing into danger (though he has gotten better about this with age). Nero’s regeneration also, while incredibly impressive, can’t go on forever and be overtaxed. While the Sons of Sparda can recover their stamina fast, they can still tire out against an equal opponent, potentially getting weaker. Finally, Nero’s Devil Breakers are somewhat fragile, being able to be destroyed with a good clean hit should an opponent catch him off guard and are limited in number (though Nero’s able to take good care of them…usually.)

Hellboy

Background

“Don’t mess with me, lady. I’ve been drinking with skeletons.”

Real name: Anung Un Rama, Urush Un Rama (Destroyer of Worlds, Creator of Worlds)
Age: Over 80 years old (400 chronologically)
Human/Demon Hybrid
Height: 210cm or 6’11’’
Occupation: B.P.R.D. agent
Likes: Pancakes, Liz, smoking, Pinocchio, late night TV shows especially Survivor (no, really)
Dislikes: His dad, his destiny, nazis, drugs…sometimes (he’s quit and relapsed smoking multiple times)

The year was 1944, near the end of the second world war. The Nazi party was on the brink of defeat and were looking for a miracle. So to find that miracle, they would turn their eyes to Rasputin the Sorcerer for help. So on one brink night the Nazi’s would set up a ceremony in hopes of finding anything to help tip the tides of the war to their favor. With Rasputin waving his hands it was only one lightning strike before the party saw the miracle they obtained was not one of the ordinary caliber. Instead of an atomic weapon or blessing from the gods, a little red boy in red would appear instead with an arm that no one even thought a thing his size could carry. But before the party could do anything with it, the Bureau Paranormal Research of Defence would show up and snatch up anything the party left behind, and one Professor Trevor Bruttenholm would find the demon boy that came from hell. While others were afraid of it, Trevor saw nothing but a child that needed guidance and thus chose to raise the boy as his own and would give him the name Hellboy!

After being picked up Hellboy would be raised in a B.P.R.D. base in Mexico where he would be treated like the kid of Trevor and be trained under their forces to take on demons! See the B.P.R.D. aren’t your average secret organization, instead of taking on terrorists or bank robbers, they take on the supernatural by stopping any demonic threats be it demonic dogs, vengeful ghosts, or even mythical creatures like the Babayaga! Thus with their training Hellboy would become very well acquainted with it and soon would be sent out in the front lines taking on these world ending demons with nothing more than a pistol and his right hand of doom. And soon even the whole world would find out about his accomplishments and become B.P.R.D.’s poster child as the best paranormal investigator there ever was. But under all these missions were something Hellboy could not avoid, as it felt with every mission more and more demons were gunning to end Hellboy’s life, soon every demon they came across would talk about him bringing the end of the world with his power, as if they were scared of his very presence, but it would be soon that he would find out why.

After coming back from a mission, Hellboy would meet with The Professor himself, but their talk was cut short as soon a frog monster would kill his father figure. This murder case would drag them to Cavendish hall where the question as to who killed The Professor would be revealed to be Rasputin, the same person who brought Hellboy to Earth. This was all because Rasputin set a trap to reveal the truth of Hellboy, that his birth was no accident, but instead his birth signified that the end was coming, as he was the bringing of chaos, the one to end their world to start anew! Rightfully though, Hellboy wasn’t a fan and would defeat Rasputin and kill him once again. But the incident still stuck with him and soon he would question who he even was in the first place. It also didn’t help that the B.R.P.D. was not very kind to people like Hellboy, as upon one mission he would be given the order to kill his friend Roger The Homunculas if anything got too bad with him. He felt he had no place at the organization anymore, he himself didn’t even know who he was, and so Hellboy would leave the B.R.P.D. on a quest of self discovery.

Through his solo adventures Hellboy would still come across more and more demons trying to kill him, he had no understanding why, that was until he would finally discover the truth. Hellboy’s birth was a bit of a mess, his mother, Sarah Hughes, was once a witch that sold her soul to a demon, but not just any demon. No, she would sell it to one of the most powerful demons, Azzael, the Duke of Hell! And through this wish the two would become married and bound together for the rest of her life. But for one last ditch effort she would try to ask God for forgiveness for her sins and save her soul right on her death bed and Azzael was not having any of that. So that very same night Azzael would drag Sarah to hell and burn her body so she could give birth to Hellboy, or as his real name Amung Un Rama. Along with his birth Azzael would cut off his son’s right hand and replace it with the Right Hand Of Doom, which was meant to act as a key to unlock the prison of the abyss and release Ogdru Jahad to bring the apocalypse.

So there it was, the truth of his birth. Hellboy’s whole life was meant for one thing and that was to destroy the world he was raised in, to kill the people he called friends, with the only reason he didn’t was because he was sent away after demons found out what Azzael did and trapped him for eternity. It didn’t help that Hellboy would notice he did have the rage of a devil inside him, that if he blacked out he would awaken back to a bloody battlefield that he caused. But this truth would not sway him at all, Hellboy would actually deny his true purpose and deny the demons what they wanted. If Hellboy was gonna be given a destiny, it would be one he chose for himself. But his path would be put to the test as the blood queen Nimue would be awoken again! Her plan was to become an avatar for Ogdru Jahad and destroy the world she hated for good. But before he could face her, Hellboy would learn one more tiny thing about his past.

See his mother was not just some ordinary girl, she was actually the descendent of King Arthur! After defeating Nimue the first time he would go to have a daughter…who had another daughter, and that daughter had another daughter, and so on and so forth. That was until Sarah who as we know sold her soul and got pregnant with Azzael’s that gave birth to Hellboy, making him the next descendent of the bloodline, but also the King of England! Because of this bloodline, Hellboy would acquire Excalibur itself. But once again, Hellboy questioned his purpose. Everytime Hellboy used a blade, it was a similar thing to him blacking out, he would become the demon who would bring chaos. So once again, he threw away his purpose, opting out to fight the blood queen on his own terms, an act that would set his death in motion. So Hellboy would do battle with the blood queen, who would turn herself into a dragon avatar for Ogdru Jagad, and fight the biggest battles of their lives. It was a hard one, but ultimately with the help of Alice, a girl who Hellboy loved and was helping him, would give him a blade that would finally kill the dragon and send Ogdru Jagad back to the Abyss. All seemed well…until Nimue’s ghost ripped Hellboy’s heart out killing him…whoops.

Hellboy was dead and for his afterlife he would be sent to hell, his birth place. But even for Hell standards, the underworld was not doing the best. This was because Satan was asleep for hundreds of years, not waking up and taking rule of his kingdom. That was not the only strange thing Hellboy found, he would also find his old wife he married in Mexico, a demon who would whisper to her old husband that he must kill Satan in his sleep. But Hellboy would refuse, or so he thought. As after that day Hell would go out of control, with people looking to rule it more and more, until there was nothing left. Hell would have no flame, no ruler, or in fact, barely any demons at all, that was because Hellboy destroyed it. Be it because he blacked out or blocked the memory, Hellboy would kill Satan, he would accept his demon heritage, and he would become The Prince of Hell! With his new power, Hellboy would kill any hierarchy the underworld would have and soon destroy the flame of Hell itself. He would finally fulfill his purpose, bringing the end of the world, but it just wasn’t the world the demons had hoped for. Now that everything was said and done, Hellboy would accept the reality he was given, and wander the lifeless Hell he created…until he was resurrected but that’s another time. But be this as a tale to any demon that would dare try and bring hell on earth, that once you see a hornless half demon half man being with a mean right hand, you’d better start running before you encounter the one and only Hellboy!

Experience & Skill

Referred to as the World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator, Hellboy has a lot of experience taking down baddies in more ways than just punching. He’s been in the BPRD since 1952, when he was given honorary human status. He has hunted things of monstrous births and evil intentions, had stood between reality and the things that hungered to rip holes in its fabric. He had battled folklore’s worst abominations, killed offspring spawn by human madness. After nearly a century, it has become routine. Basically, Hellboy has gone through “a hell of a lot of coats” from getting burned. Big Red can take on hordes of enemies on his own and come out on top, take on an undead army on his own before being overrun by them, and can fight this teleporting vampire lady all god damn day before he gets interrupted. So safe to say crowds won’t do much against him.

He’s skilled at wrestling, even leading to him becoming a popular star in Mexico, and close quarters combat. Naturally gifted soldiers get bested by him. Adding on to this is his fun knowledge on nerve junctions. And while he uses guns a lot more, having shot at demons while on a moving aircraft, blasting tiny tooth fairies out of the air, targeting and shooting Wink’s hand before he can pummel Abe, and working to improve his aim, he was always more natural when using a blade. This is best exemplified in the movies, where Prince Nuada, who has years of swordfighting practice and is a master at it, falls for a weakened Hellboy’s feints, who even anticipates Nuada’s swings after timing them and snaps his spear in half despite the prince being faster. In their rematch, the experience gap is outright acknowledged, yet Hellboy defeats him in an extended sword fight, parrying blows meant for his heart, getting killing blow opportunities, and finally grabs and disarms Nuada. He also tends to be quite creative in battle. He improvises to great effect, as shown when he grabbed an office chair and used it like a club, used the environment to his advantage to take down Anubis, stole one of the arms off a skeleton monster to smack a bat monster, and even in his dreams, improvises using a wooden ship part and a fishing spear to kill foes. He’s willing to go even crazier with it, straight up taking a sword from a zombie soldier to attack him with it, stealing and breaking Kroenen’s sword by taking it out of his grip, and shoving his fist forward to squeeze a grenade until it detonates.

And being a detective, he likes to use that big Cambion brain to solve problems. He can tell when someone’s lying, like when he quickly realizes seemingly nice people who invited him inside their temple are actually demons. Upon seeing them headless, Hellboy dumps their bodies in the lake so their floating heads are helpless against him. Being unable to punch an ectoplasmic monkey leads to him figuring out the strategy for beating it. In general, he prefers opponents he can get his hands on over ghosts. His upbringing under Bruttenholm informed this somewhat, as he was taught fluency in the Lumerian language from a young age, has read at least some of the Bible (leading to him testing a sculpture of Moloch for blood), and true to his rebellious nature, taught Abe Sapien how to hot wire a truck!

Not everything requires big brains though, as he’ll also interrupt a sleeping spell in the middle of its invocation by a sorcerer by just knocking out the sorcerer with his hand and deliberately breaking Obsidian Danse sorcerer’s hands to prevent them from spellcasting. On the other hand, complex magic is in his wheelhouse, carving a line through a magic emblem on a foe’s skin to disrupt its magic. Lastly, Hellboy seems pretty knowledgeable on ships, setting sail solo on one, making a flag, and recognizing the fact that a 19th century style ship is inauthentic based on having no sails.

Equipment

Right Hand of Doom

Upon his birth, Hellboy’s father, Azzel would cut his son’s right hand and replace it with the Right Hand of Doom! The origin of this hand is actually quite interesting as it came from the beings called The Watchers, specifically The Watcher named Anum, who is the creator of Ogru Jahad. Throughout the years more and more humans tried learning the details of this arm but came to no avail as not even scientists could crack the code for it. Hellboy’s journey with it began when as a boy, he used the Right Hand as a matchbox to light cigarettes.

When it comes to actual combat Hellboy is actually versatile with it, using it as a shield against other weapons or as a dangerous melee weapon that sends demons away with a single punch. It’s so tough that even as a child, a knife will break upon contact. This carries over to adulthood, where he deliberately blocks sharp weapons like axes, blades, and swords so they shatter against it. This extends to powerful artifacts like the Hunping, a powerful artifact which releases a bunch of souls, Ualac’s fire infused sword, and the sword of Blackbeard himself. The neat thing the arm does have that helps Hellboy is that any damage done to the arm Hellboy himself will not feel at all. Hellboy’s been bitten a bunch on the Hand and no effect is done on it. This arm also isn’t actually made of stone, despite looking like it, just something with similar attributes and arcane characteristics. It’s also stated that if Hellboy dies with the Right Hand still attached, “his death will bleed into it and poison it against” whoever killed him. Even when severed, it will reattach itself to the investigator once it notices his presence.

Guns/The Samaritan

If there’s anything Hellboy loves to use, it’s his numerous handguns, able to pack heat with them. The most iconic is the one known as The Samaritan (seen above), but there’s a slight common misconception. It’s actually a movie exclusive weapon and Hellboy’s guns in the comics are mostly unnamed ones. Still, it’s an iconic weapon for Hellboy, so we figured it was right to include. It’s a revolver with four chambers with a muzzle velocity of 1775 feet per second. The bullets in the Samaritan are custom made by Hellboy himself. The bullets contain holy water, clove leaf, silver shavings, and white oak, and are larger than regular rounds. He also carries tracking bullets for the gun, but it’s less that they home in on his target and rather they drip green blood, so Hellboy can follow its trail. The bullets pack a punch too, piercing through golden soldier armor and punching through numerous columns and a demon. This ammunition comes in nine different types for specialized uses during missions, including explosive rounds and holy shrapnel.

In the comics, Hellboy carries several other unnamed handguns. The most well known is a single pistol break-action pistol known given to him by the Torch of Liberty. Despite being a single shot, it’s a powerful one. He also has a custom .50-caliber handgun/rifle that could drop a rhino, a flare gun, a gun with explosive bullets that splits apart a tree branch and owns a special blowdart gun that disperses magic in anything or anyone it hits with its blowdart. Hellboy also has special bullets with a cleat material filled with a blowing blue liquid that’s the blood of an incubus, which is useful for succubus since them and incubus’s bloods don’t mix (yes, we really know how oddly specific this is).

Excalibur

Because of his heritage, Hellboy is part of the same bloodline as King Arthur, allowing him to wield Excalibur! While on paper the blade might seem like a more fancy standard sword, it actually has some nice abilities, such as being able to damage Nimue the Blood Queen, who normally would not be harmed by normal mortal weaponry, but with Excalibur is able to be sliced up into pieces. Along with his Prince Of Hell form (More on that later) Hellboy is also able to create gateways from hell that allows demons to venture onto earth, but also allows him to throw people into Hell such as in the 2019 movie where he did the same thing to defeat Nimue! It’s also able to supposedly raise an army for him to lead…but he’s never used it that way and in fact rejected them, so this part isn’t really applicable for him in battle. The last thing of note from the blade is the possibility that it allowed Hellboy to heal much faster than normal as after he suffers a spear to the chest Hellboy was able to heal much quickly then he normally would.

Crown of the Apocalypse

And upon his brow is set a crown of flame. This ancient demonic crown is normally invisible on Hellboy’s head, but is revealed when his true potential as the harbinger of the apocalypse is realized. It even causes his normally filed horns to regrow. The demon Ualac stole the crown to harness its power for himself, with the Crown seemingly clearing his mind and making him wiser. This attempt was unsuccessful as he was imprisoned once more upon being defeated by Hellboy. Hellboy renounced it and it was taken by Astaroth, though Hellboy has transformed since then showing the transformation is more innate.

Big Baby

In Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Hellboy would use this quite frankly impractical oversized, Gatling gun-like shotgun that really shouldn’t work… but it does and it carries six rounds. Instead of firing normal shotgun rounds though, it fires powerful explosives that Hellboy used to take down a huge tree kaiju. Because of its ridiculous (…but cool) design, Hellboy can use it with his oversized arm as well.

Sword of Storms

In the animated movie, Hellboy would use the Sword of Storms for a considerable amount of time. While it looks like a normal katana, it also was inscribed with words of enchantment. This lets the sword seal away demons with a good strike. In the lore, it let a samurai contend with the demons Lightning and Thunder. Upon picking up the katana, Hellboy was transported to a different dimension that the sword itself created (more on this later) and he only got out after breaking the sword himself. Breaking the sword does free the demons trapped inside…but later on, Hellboy after a long fight is able to stab them again with the broken pieces, so the sealing properties oddly still work.

Note: It’s unclear if he kept the sword after this movie (especially since it’s broken now…), but we’re listing it just to be comprehensive.

Grenades & Explosives

Some people get work phones or work laptops, but B.P.R.D. has work grenades. These are standard issue for operatives on the field like Hellboy, usually in the form of Vulcan grenades. There are various yields these kinds of grenades can reach, but some of the most dangerous are the Vulcan 40 and 50, which are powerful enough to blow the top off a mountain. The movies even introduce the Vulcan 60. Naturally, he doesn’t just carry regular grenades, but different types should the need arise. Hellboy’s had concussion grenades, magnesium flare charges, thermite charges, and flashbangs.

Vasilisa’s Gifts

Vasilisa gave Hellboy two of her prized possessions. While they may seem like ordinary items, they’re way more potent than you think. To describe them:

With Vasilisa’s Comb, Hellboy can toss it to grow an entire forest of trees in an instant. The trees can trap foes and pierce them. Hellboy likely does not need to toss the thing to use it as in Injustice 2, he can sorta just use it normally to summon a singular tree to trap foes.
Vasilisa’s Handkerchief on the other hand floods a mountain base with water instantly, so you can imagine the AOE for this. In Injustice 2, he can use it normally that brings forth a quick small rush of water that can trip foes.

Mjollnir

No, not the one from Marvel before you get too starry eyed.

After the mysterious resurrection of the king of Frost Giants known as Thrym – previously slain by Thor in ancient times – the weapon of choice for the god of thunder had resurfaced on earth. While no mortal man was able to wield it, when Hellboy began to investigate and inspect the warhammer, the spirit of Thor awoke within the hammer (as well as a serpentine pendent Hellboy also acquired during), allowing Hellboy himself to wield the mighty weapon to bring down Thrym once and for all, at the cost of it being permanently stuck to his right hand during.

As you may expect, Mjollnir is monstrously strong, being able to obliterate lesser demons in a single strike or blast apart large masses of concrete with a single swing. With the spirit of the Thunder God within influencing Hellboy, it led him to even being able to smash apart the toughest of Giants from Norse times; including the most powerful of them all known as Hraesvelg, or even Thor’s own sister Hyndla. Giants aside, he was also able to use the hammer to kill the likes of Garm, an elephant-sized wolf beast, and break the bones of Thrym himself.

Of course, he can also channel lightning with Mjollnir, summoning it from the sky and either blasting it at his enemies, or even sending it through the earth itself to stagger and fry anyone caught in its path. Even the most deadly of giants can be brought under by a single zap from this weapon in Hellboy’s hand.

As well as this, it seems the pendant and warhammer also may provide Hellboy with further resistance to extreme cold and heat, as he both broke out of being frozen, and also withstood the heat of Logi; a nine-foot tall monster made out of fire.

That said though, wielding a weapon of the gods has its downsides too. With the warrior spirit of Thor still inside the hammer, and for a time this would either completely overtake Hellboy’s personality, or even drive him mad at points, at one time leading Hellboy to nearly killing Abe. Not to mention the hammer is stuck to his hand while in use, leaving him a bit more limited with what his right hand can do. Lastly, the serpentine pendant around Hellboy’s neck seems to serve as an anchor for Thor’s spirit, and once his spirit leaves, Mjollnir can’t be wielded anymore.

In the end, Thor’s spirit and Hellboy are able to come together to triumph over and kill Thrym, allowing Thor’s spirit to leave in peace. Hellboy would relinquish Mjollnir to some dwarves that were closely tied to the legends, but it is said that perhaps one day Thor’s spirit may return to his warhammer, and perhaps one day Hellboy may need to wield the power of the God of Thunder once more. (So of course, this being “standard” for Hellboy is questionable, but we figured it was worth mentioning).

Charms & Talismans

Fitting with spending a lot of time with priests, Hellboy has gathered several charms throughout the years that help him fight demonic creatures. Either kept in his utility belt or coat, he regularly keeps charms, talismans, a rosary blessed by a Pope, and various wards against evil on his person. Because of this, he basically has an unending supply of wacky, magical artifacts for any kind of situation, such as:

Agrippa’s Charm: A coin that Hellboy received meant to ward off demonic animals. Hellboy used it to bash said demonic animal, likely boosting his power against it. It seems to reduce its size too when it was giant.
Aksobhya the Immovable’s Skull: A skull Hellboy has that nullifies incoming magic spells and nearby spellcasting.
Ashes of Zaza Katsikis: These ashes are an item Hellboy uses as a tracker since the smoke it produces drifts towards the nearest source of magic.
Communal Binding Bell: A bell charm that Hellboy can use to help facilitate a communing ritual to speak with a witch’s corpse while keeping her mystically bound, but it and the binding spell can be broken if dropped.
Whittier Coin: A charm that was used to protect against demonic spirits.
Molohmi’s Bell: Another bell that’s meant to ward off evil spirits (because he doesn’t have enough of those). Though in the Injustice 2 video game, it can be used to revive Hellboy from falling in battle.
Saint Malachy’s Amulet: A metallic amulet from the movies that can commune with the dead and corpses.
Saint Mungo’s Dead Bells: A bell that helps Hellboy determine the nature of a supernatural threat with its light.
Saint Patrick’s Index Finger: Hellboy owns an index finger bone from Saint Patrick he can crush that undoes shapeshifters back to their original form when inhaled, even when they’re shifted into a swarm of beings.
Broom’s Rosary: This charm was given by Hellboy’s late father, Professor Broom. It mainly just gives Hellboy the ability to hurt demonic creatures.
Arbutus: Once lit, this ancient Greek plant explodes ectoplasmic creatures in no time.
Silver Button: Taken from the coat bishop Zrinyi was wearing when he fought the Carpathian goat. Hellboy flings it at Moloch’s eye, causing him to burst into flames and end up transforming.

Magic Shovel

After Reverend Watts infused a demonic bone gift from the Crooked Man with holy energy into a shovel, he gave it to Hellboy. Red used it to one shot the Crooked Man, though it was destroyed as a result.

Invisibility Flower

This is a special flower that makes Hellboy, well, invisible to most people and demons. He was able to walk past giants without them noticing but it doesn’t seem to make him soundproof. He also sort of just gave up using it once it looked like he was about to be found out, so…