Jeremy Renner Was Offered The Role of Hellboy in Guillermo Del Toro's Film

Before Guillermo del Toro cast Ron Perlman in the role of Hellboy, the part was Jeremy Renner’s for the taking if he wanted it. The Marvel actor was originally supposed to be cast as Hellboy! This would have been years before Renner went on to star in The Hurt Locker, which is the move that launched his career to the next level.

So why did the actor ultimately end up passing on the part? While talking to EW, he explained that he just couldn’t figure out how to connect to the character:

“I was just reading the script and [thinking] like, ‘I don’t get this…’ I just couldn’t connect to it. I said, ‘I can’t find a way in [to this character], I don’t know what I’d be doing,’ so I had to say no.”

Yeah, there’d be no point in doing it if you knew you would be able to bring the character to life in a proper way. Ultimately, I think it was good for everyone that he passed. Ron Perlman came in and played the character perfectly and Renner went on to become a huge star playing other awesome characters in movies. Renner goes on to say that he has no regrets for passing on the role:

“There’s zero regrets, zero. Most of the time it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m glad I didn’t do it,’ and it made sense to me. Not just Hellboy or whatever it was, and I’m not saying that it’s a good or bad movie, it’s not about that… I just wouldn’t have fit there.”

But, I still can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if Renner did end up playing Hellboy. Do you think he would have been able to pull it off or or you glad he passed on it so Ron Perlman could step in?