Hellboy 3

It is usually to humankind‘s advantage that the flame of hope is not easily extinguished. When the pursuit of a lofty ideal grows difficult, the unshakable bedrock of hope has provided the righteous with strength and fortitude. But hope can also be a heartbreaker, constantly teasing us with the faint chance of achieving an impossible dream. Up until today, fans were able to cling to the possibility of a third installment of Guillermo Del Toro‘s Hellboy franchise, however remote. But the director took to Twitter earlier today to deliver the sad news that we may now finally abandon hope — it ain’t happening.

For a while there, it seemed like the only sure things in life were death, taxes, and Ron Perlman talking up the possibility of a Hellboy 3. Even just scrolling back through our own archives, you can find multiple attempts by Perlman to either talk up the chances of a sequel or get fans to pitch in on the project. Even after Guillermo Del Toro went dark on the subject, Perlman continued to hold out hope that another film would get made.

Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy was a modest financial success, but it did well enough on home video to warrant a sequel (albeit at a different studio). Unfortunately, the superior Hellboy II: The Golden Army opened the week before The Dark Knight swept the summer of 2008 off its feet and totally dominated the superhero movie conversation. The second movie adventure of Mike Mignola’s wisecracking demon-turned-superhero did okay, but a third movie never materialized a part three looks unlikely to this day. Just don’t tell that to Ron Perlman, who is dead-set on making this series a trilogy and took to social media to enlist fan support.

Seems like every few months we get teased with the possibility of sequels to beloved films -- stuff like 'Hellboy 3' or a new 'Blade Runner.' While some of these films may or may not ever happen, a new art exhibit explores the idea of sequels that will probably never exist, including sequels to 'Fight Club' and 'The Rocketeer.' Sure, franchise fatigue is real and it's a problem, but this artwork sure does make these sequels seem mighty attractive.

In the month or so that follows San Diego Comic-Con, things can get a little hazy. Stories can fall away, and there's some serious catching up that comes after the fervor and madness. Case in point: When Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment released its extremely vague movie schedule last week, I speculated that one of the dozen or so movies set for release could be a Justice League Dark movie directed (or at least produced) by Guillermo Del Toro. It's a project del Toro has been talking about for a couple years. Now it seems like all but a done deal, if Del Toro's Comic-Con interview with IGN is much of an indication.