Would you trust us if we told you that a spirit had the ability to resurrect someone who had died? Living in an ectoplasmic form, as fascinating as it may sound, is not easy. Johann Kraus is a guy who once had a body, but his life quickly altered. He possesses the ability to communicate with the dead. In truth, he can conduct necromancy to some level.
We understand what you are thinking. Why is this character not mentioned more often? So, in this movie, we take you on Johann Kraus’s journey from a little boy with psychic talents to an ectoplasmic hero who is exactly what we need. So, without further ado, let us jump right into the film and learn more about his background.
Johann Kraus in Hellboy 2: the Golden army
Johann Kraus appeared in the film Hellboy 2: The Golden Army which was released in 2008. Unlike in the comics, in the film, his surname Kraus is spelled with a double “s.” His character was portrayed on screen by the British actor’s John Alexander and James Dodd, while his voice was performed by Seth MacFarlane. Let us take a quick recap of the events of the film.
It begins with a flashback to Hellboy’s teenage years where his father, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, tells him a legend about a war between humans and the people of the mystical realm. The leader of the magical elfin race known as King Balor created a group of 4900 magical mechanical soldiers whom he called the Golden Army. He then received a crown that allowed him or anyone else of the royal blood to rule over the Golden Army.
The army mercilessly attacked the humans, but it resulted in King Balor being consumed with guilt, for his actions. As a result, he decided to make a truce with the humans and broke his crown into three parts, giving one piece to the humans as a peace offering. But King Balor’s son, Prince Nuada did not agree with this settlement, so he was exiled. Now, in the present-day time, we actually see Prince Nuada preparing for his return as he manages to steal the fragment of the golden crown from the humans. It also results in the deaths of many people.
The organization where Hellboy works, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, or BPRD for short, investigates this theft and they are completely unaware of Prince Nuada. Other members of Hellboy’s team are Liz Sherman, his girlfriend who is a pyrokinetic, Abe Sapien, who is a humanoid amphibious man, and Agent Tom Manning, who is the director of the BPRD.
However, Hellboy’s constant impulsive actions get the Bureau in trouble many times because he lets himself be exposed to the public. As a result of this, the government assigns a new team leader to them and that is when we meet Johann Krauss for the first time. Krauss is the chief of the Ectoplasmic Research branch of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense in Washington, D.C. He has been sent to the headquarters of the Bureau to take charge of the team and lead the investigation.
Johann Krauss is always seen in a containment suit shaped like a man to contain his ectoplasmic form. Apparently, Hellboy’s father, who was also the former head of the BPRD, designed this suit for him. He tells Abe and Liz that he lost his body possibly during an attempt to reclaim his dead wife. He is also seen carrying his wedding ring with him to this day.
Now, while inspecting the deaths of all those people, Krauss manages to temporarily bring a dead creature called the tooth fairy back to life to find out about the events that had occurred. It turns out that he can also speak the creature’s language and is able to translate it for his team. Apparently, there is a place called the Troll Market that is a sanctuary for magical creatures.
The team arrives at the place with Johann’s help who possesses unique time-dilation spectacles that allow them to see past the illusions created by magical beings. In the meantime, Prince Nuada in his attempt to disrupt the peace between his kind and the humans ends up killing his father and stealing the second fragment of the golden crown. The third and final piece is in possession of his twin sister, Princess Nuala who immediately escapes.
Now, upon reaching the Troll Market, the team stumbles upon Princess Nuala who came to the library to get hold of the map left by her father. This map shows the location of the Golden Army. The team decides to take her back to the bureau but Johann does not seem to agree with them purely because of the dangers that it might lead to. Johann’s suspicions are proven correct as it turns out that Nuala and Nuada share a psychic link.
And because she is now aware of the location of the bureau, Nuada can attack them at any minute. During this time Johann asks Hellboy to follow the orders and tells him that his biggest weakness is his temper. Johann is an excellent judge of character and he can see right through Hellboy. He mentions that Johann would definitely win if the two were to ever end up in a fight. After hearing this, Hellboy attacks him, and Johann uses his ectoplasmic energy to smash Hellboy before leaving him alone.
At this point, it is clear that Hellboy does not like Johann Krauss whereas both Abe and Liz see him as a knowledgeable and great leader. Soon after, Nuada attacks the BPRD, abducts Nuala, and steals the map as well. However, unable to find the third crown piece, he tempts the team by asking them to bring it to the location and stab Hellboy with an enchanted spear.
So, Krauss orders them to go after Nuada without Hellboy but Liz accuses him of not having a heart. This reminds Krauss of the love he once felt for his wife and how she was taken away from him. So, he has a change of heart and he ends up joining Liz and Abe on an unauthorized mission to Northern Ireland, which is the location of the Golden Army.
After restoring Hellboy to health, they meet Prince Nuada who brings back the entire 4900 soldiers of the Golden Army to life. During the battle, while Hellboy confronts Nuada in a one-on-one fight, Krauss takes control of one of the Golden Soldiers and uses it to fight the others until it is slashed in half by another soldier. The battle eventually comes to an end with the death of both Nuada and Nuala. The film ends with the rest of the team including Krauss resigning from the BPRD.
Director Guillermo del Toro made a comment expressing his views on Johann Krauss’ character in Hellboy 2, saying that he created the character to portray a realistic figure that showcases the perfect and ideal bureaucrat since he lacks a face and a body. We also see in the film that he is able to leave his containment suit for a good amount of time before he completely dissipates.
While he is in his ectoplasmic form, he is able to manipulate objects physically. We see this when he beats up Hellboy pretty nicely in the locker room by controlling the locker doors. Outside of his containment suit, he looks like a ghostly humanoid figure. Hellboy 2: the Golden Army certainly depicted Krauss’ character with a lot of depth. Del Toro’s reflection of Kraus’ character is clear from the moment we meet him in the film. It is definitely a great watch for people who enjoy an epic, creature-filled, and action-packed movie.
Tracing his origins through some major story arcs
Johann Kraus was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1946. He was not always aware that he had certain powers, but he started to notice his psychic abilities around the age of ten. He could see ghosts but could not communicate with them. This thought would often frustrate him as he felt useless. After he got older, he wanted to help the ghosts using his powers, so he started studying spiritualism under an old German occultist called Anneliese Stiener.
He dove deeper into this new world but soon realized that his intentions and thought process did not match with the crowd. Unlike him, they did not see ghosts as people. Eventually, he left Stiener’s mentorship and studied in his own way. Soon he was able to teach himself how to communicate with the ghosts. Once he achieved this goal, he wanted more. So, he mastered the ability to bring his ectoplasmic form out of his body and into the living world. Kraus started a small business in Munich in 1971, where he became a recognized medium.
This journey soon taught Johann self-control. One time, he made the mistake of falling in love with his client’s dead wife. He started using the man in order to summon the woman so that Kraus could spend more time with her. But obviously, this could not last for long. So, he eventually decided to move to Heidelberg where he could build himself with a clean slate.
However, in February 2002, his life changed completely. So, in a warehouse in Chengdou, China, the Chinese government kept several occult items they had confiscated. One day, it was robbed and without realizing it, the thief accidentally opened a small Jade figurine and a huge wave of psychic energy came out. This resulted in the deaths of everyone who was within a hundred miles of that area.
Now, at the same time, in Heidelberg, Kraus was conducting a séance for a family. Out of nowhere, the ghost of a Chinese boy who died in the Chengdou tragedy reached out to him for help. Before Kraus could do anything, he sensed a surge of shockwave coming from the spirit of the boy. It passed through Kraus and killed that entire family. This was the incident that became the turning point in his life as that shockwave shattered his body entirely.
This was also when the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense entered his life. Kraus was able to survive because he was in his ectoplasmic form. When the BPRD reached the location, Dr. Izar Hoffman, who was a psychic himself, was able to see Kraus and speak to him. He tried to recruit Kraus, but he was consumed by guilt due to the death of the family. So, instead, he chose to dissipate.
He soon met a man’s spirit in the town’s cemetery who claimed to know someone who was going to bring him back to life. Kraus followed the man and realized that it was actually a demon who lured spirits in by giving them the assurance of life and devoured their souls. But Johann could not do anything since he was a spirit himself. It made him feel extremely powerless and defeated.
He wanted to be able to help the spirits and he knew that joining the BPRD was the solution to this. So, he decided to reach out to them. Initially, they kept his ectoplasmic form in a transparent tank until they could build something more permanent. Soon after, he was once again able to freely move, as if possessing a human body, when he received the containment suit. He went on to help the Bureau with a lot of their quests as his powers grew further. He also soon replaced Hellboy’s position in the Bureau.
What are his special powers?
Johann Kraus is a skilled and experienced entity who is capable of communicating with spirits as well as projecting his own ectoplasmic form from the limitations of his body. Initially, Johann was only able to speak to the dead, but after losing his body, he became more robust. He was then able to temporarily give life to the dead and allow them to speak with the living.
Another fantastic thing about his powers is that he is able to sense souls after they leave a body. This lets him figure out whether someone is actually dead or just pretending to be so. He has no need for eating, drinking, sleeping, or technically even breathing because he does not have a body. With the help of his containment suit, he is also able to withstand extreme weather conditions.
Just like in the film, Johann’s character in the comic books has also shown evidence of body possession powers. Basically, he is able to control anybody that does not have a soul. In fact, one time, when his suit was damaged, he briefly possessed the body of a dead dog. Apart from all these supernatural skills, Kraus is also a pretty intelligent being with outstanding interpersonal and organizational skills who is liked by everyone.
He is also capable of speaking fluent German and a little rusty Japanese. However, he does have one weakness: his containment suit. Kraus’ ectoplasmic form risks vanishing entirely if he is left without a host body or his containment suit for an extended period of time.
Johann Kraus’ character was created by Mike Mignola, and we are certainly thankful to Dark Horse Comics for introducing him to us. One can easily say that despite the lack of a human figure, he possesses a heart, and it is reflected in the way he chooses to help his allies. It would definitely be quite exciting if we got to see a standalone movie based on this epic character and his unique stories.
Well, guys, that is all for today; we have come to the end of another origin video with Marvelous Videos. We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!