 In 1944, aided by the German Nazis  military and scientific departments researching the occult, the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin spent five years building a huge machine, a dimensional portal device on an island off the coast of Scotland, which he intends to use to bring about the destruction of Earth by awakening the Ogdru Jahad The Seven monstrous Gods of Chaos, entities which have been imprisoned and asleep since an undisclosed time! Rasputin s magical abilities alone can t sustain the power which the portal requires to remain open, which is why he uses the device to amplify and enhance his abilities. As his time to open the portal nears, he turns his attentions to his servant Ilsa von Haupstein, a member of the Nazi party, and grants her long life, youth and beauty along with the will to serve only him. Also in his employ is the ultra-silent assassin Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, who seemingly can t be killed. Kroenen has been decorated by Adolf Hitler for his work as the Nazis  top assassin, and leads the Thule Occult Society, the Nazis s occult research division, and has been aiding in the construction of the portal. However, the United States has sent forces of their own, along with a young doctor, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in terms of magic and sorcery. After deploying on the island, they watch in silence as Rasputin activates the portal and announces that "what [he] is about to do, can never be undone." After establishing the portal leading to the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin is vulnerable because he can t simply disengage the link. At this point, fighting breaks out between the Nazi and American soldiers. In the midst of the battle, Bruttenholm manages to toss a grenade at the portal; trying to save his master, Kroenen goes after it and becomes impaled by rebar after the grenade detonates. With the device damaged, Rasputin s life force is drawn through the portal and he disappears through to the other side, seemingly dead! Saving the creature from being shot to death by the other soldiers, Bruttenholm coaxes the mysterious red demon creature into his arms with a candy bar, and later on that morning, the soldiers all make that mysterious red demon creature into their official mascot and give it the nickname "Hellboy." Sixty years later, a young FBI agent named John Myers is sent from Quantico, Virginia to a building in Newark, New Jersey which is identified as Squeaky Clean Waste Management Services. And Hellboy has to defend the city, battling the Sammaels through alleys, streets, and the subway, while trying to protect his friends from each attack. He is eventually pushed over the edge when Rasputin has Kroenen kill Professor Bruttenholm, who grasps onto a rosary as he dies!