Liz Sherman

Elizabeth Sherman is a fictional character appearing in the Hellboy comic book series created by Mike Mignola. In the Hellboy film franchise, the character is portrayed by actress Selma Blair.

Fictional character history

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, on April 15, 1962, Liz has a normal childhood until her pyrokinetic abilities begin to manifest at age ten. Raised Catholic,^[1] Liz feels that the fires are a result of her sins, and for a short time manages to keep them under control by a combination of prayer and force of will. However, in July 1973, at age eleven, she loses control. The resulting eruption destroys a city block and takes the lives of her parents, brother, and pet dog. Liz's last uncontrolled manifestation takes place on July 4, 1984.^[2]

After being juggled between extended family members following the death of her parents, Liz is taken in by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense in May 1974, where she learns to control her power to some degree. In 1980, she becomes a full agent. She is often teamed with Hellboy and Abe Sapien. Her childhood trauma leaves her bitter and she comes and goes from the Bureau. During the events of the story arc Wake the Devil, while searching for Giurescu's body, Liz leads a group composed of herself, Bud Waller, and Leach to the Ruins of Czege Castle. By accident, Liz's group comes across a chamber containing the homunculus that is later named Roger. Upon inspecting Roger, Liz inadvertently transfers her pyrokinesis into the homunculus. He comes to life and kills Bud before running off. Liz enters a coma as she is taken to Wauer Institute in Tirgoviste. The loss of her powers is causing her body to fail. She is saved when Hellboy finds Roger, who, plagued by guilt concerning the accident, returns her powers.^[3]

To learn how to better control her pyrokinesis, Liz lives with a society of monks in the Agartha Temple in the Ural Mountains before resuming active duty in the Bureau after Hellboy quits. As a result of her time amongst the monks, Liz now has complete control over fire: she can produce small flames to light her way, erupt in a furious explosion of fire to destroy anything around her, and manipulate fire into shapes and designs. Her powers are magnified by an ancient object revealed to her in a dream by the mysterious Memnan Saa. This dramatic increase in her powers allows her to burn the towering Katha-Hem entity to dust.

Even after defeating Katha-Hem, Liz continues to be plagued by horrible visions and mysterious dreams featuring Memnan Saa; as a result, Liz loses sleep and becomes more irritable and less reliable. The dreams come to a height during the Killing Ground story arc, where Saa takes advantage of Ben Daimio's transformation to fully possess Liz and drive her into a coma until the ghost of Lobster Johnson appears and freed her.

Liz is kidnapped by Memnan Saa and the rest of her team tracks her down. Saa is killed, but claims that, using Liz's pyrokinetic power, he'd be able to prevent the upcoming apocalypse. Following this, in a mission to the underworld, Saa's ghost intercepts Liz and shows her a vision of the future: the apocalypse successful. Under the guidance of a mysterious aged man, she unleashes her full pyrokinetic powers, incinerating the Hollow Earth - and wipes out a combined frog/Hyperborean army gathered by the Black Flame. This ends the threat of these menaces for good but causes devastation across Earth. At first it seemed as if her powers were completely gone, and she leaves the Bureau as Ogdru Hem awaken across the world and usher in the apocalypse.

Eventually her powers returned, more powerful than ever. She returned to active duty with the B.P.R.D. to take on the malefic forces of the Black Flame and the awakening Ogdru Hem.

Relationship with Hellboy

In the Hellboy film series Liz has a romantic relationship with Hellboy, becoming pregnant with his twin children. However, in the comic books Liz and Hellboy are only friends.

In other media

• Liz Sherman was played by Selma Blair in the film adaptation of the Hellboy comics. Blair reprised her role in the film's sequel and two straight-to-DVD animated Hellboy films. In the second live-action film, she is revealed to be pregnant with Hellboy's twin children after being scanned by Abe Sapien.
• Liz was one of the first four Hellboy Comic action figures produced in 2005 by Mezco Toyz.^[4] She appeared with Hellboy, Lobster Johnson, and Herman von Klempt and Kriegaffe #10.

References