Comic-Con: Watch the first trailer for Hulu’s hellish Marvel adaptation Helstrom

Marvel.

Thanks to the dominance of the blockbuster scene, that name has come to be a stamp of instant quality and success for many folks around the world. So when Hulu recently revealed the first details for their upcoming comic book adaptation and it was just titled Helstrom instead of “Marvel’s Helstrom” as it was originally planned to be called, some people got a little worried. I am “some people”.

The last live-action production from Jeph Loeb’s now-defunct Marvel TV division (all future TV projects now fall under Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige’s purview and are set in the MCU), Helstrom takes its inspiration from Daimon Hellstrom who is the literal son of Satan in the comics. Hulu has changed things up dramatically though as was made very clear when the Disney-owned streamer dropped the first pics last week and it looked very… generic. Instead of a red-haired half-demon with a pentagram on his chest wielding a flaming pitchfork, there were just a bunch of gloomy-looking people dressed in bland outfits moping about in their rooms.

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But this weekend past during the show’s first Comic-Con@Home panel, showrunner Paul Zbyszewski – joined by cast members Tom Austen, Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel, Robert Wisdom, Ariana Guerra, June Carryl, and Alain Uy – debuted the upcoming series’ first trailer and it luckily looks like it won’t be ditching the supernatural devil angle completely. I think. Also, Helstrom (notice the single “l”) now has a sister. Check it out below.

That looks… okay, I guess. It’s definitely not enough for me to form a proper opinion yet, but it does hint at a very toned down and way more grounded series compared to the source material. And it appears that being more realistic is something that the show is definitely aiming for, even reflecting real-world situations as Zbyszewski explained.

Given the events that are happening in the real world today, I think it would be remiss of us, and irresponsible not to address some of the things that are going on. Especially because our show is about good and evil, and right and wrong, and the trauma of our past. We’re supposed to be doing a show that is a horror story, but it’s not real horror. Real horror is eight minutes and forty-six seconds.

You can check out the full 40-minute panel below.

The 10-episode first season of Helstrom is scheduled to debut on Hulu on 16 October 2020.

Last Updated: July 27, 2020