Paleontologists who excavated the fossil skull of the horned beast from a steep cliff in Canada had a hell of time chipping the 600-pound (270-kilogram) specimen from the hard rock—hence its pet name.

Only after freeing the fossil did the crew discover the moniker's pop culture connection.

"There are these really stubby horns over the eyes that match up with the comic book character Hellboy," says study leader Caleb Brown, a paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada.

Though it had much smaller horns on its brow than its iconic cousin, the newfound dinosaur boasted a sizable horn on its snout and a fabulous frill on its head. (Also see "New Big-Nosed Horned Dinosaur