Russian-dubbed version of ‘Hellboy’ movie curiously swaps ‘Stalin’ with ‘Hitler’ in voiceover

The latest ‘Hellboy’ movie has made headlines in Russia after the Russian-dubbed version swapped the word ‘Stalin’ for ‘Hitler’ in an exchange between the movie’s superhero and one of its villains.

The supernatural scare-fest features Russian folklore character Baba Yaga, a deformed looking witch, who (in this interpretation) has only one eye and crawls around backwards instead of walking.

In one scene, Baba Yaga is accused by Hellboy of trying to“raise the spirit of Stalin” but Russian viewers watching the dubbed version hear“raise the spirit of Hitler” instead. It’s unclear why the former Soviet leader’s name was removed, but viewers were left perplexed by the switch.

Twitter users who saw the subtitled version of the movie in cinemas noticed something else strange, too. The word ‘Hitler’ is bleeped out, but the Nazi dictator’s name stills remains visible in the subtitles.

So far, Megogo Distribution, the company responsible for the film’s Russian release has not responded to inquiries from Russian media asking about the motivation behind the change.

It appears, however, that this is not the first time Megogo has changed some details of US films for the Russian audience. Film review website Kinopoisk noted that in the 2017 action movie The Hitman’s Bodyguard, the ruthless Belarusian dictator comes from Bosnia-Herzegovina instead.

Meanwhile, a new poll has found that Stalin’s approval rating is at a record high among Russians — although 45 percent still said his repression and crimes were unjustified.

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