In a fun and good-hearted piece of news, it turns out that comic character Hellboy has found some time in his busy monster-fighting schedule for some heroing of a different sort.

Six year old Zachary,  a young boy undergoing treatment for leukemia, had told the Make-a-Wish foundation that his wish was to ‘meet and become Hellboy.’

Not your typical Spiderman or Iron Man request to be sure, but fx house Spectral Motion got involved. Desigining the many fantastical and beastly creatures that populated both of Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy movies–including Hellboy himself–Spectral Motion contacted the actor behind Big Red, Ron Perlman.

SM reports on their Facebook page that Perlman ‘loved the idea, and donned the makeup once more’. So, 62 yr-old Perlman went under the make-up artist’s brush again–a four hour process–to transform once more into Hellboy. He surprised a delighted Zachary, who not only got to hang out with his favorite hero, but got to experience a taste of the make-up process firsthand, as the Spectral Motion guys transformed him into a mini Hellboy.

You can see some of those pics below, and more on the Facebook page here.

Personally, I think this is a really cool thing for Perlman and company to do, and it must have come as a surprise to find a six year-old interested in a quirkier character like Hellboy. Nice to see Perlman once more in the makeup, since it seems doubtful any of us will be getting the third installment of a Hellboy series.

Good on you Spectral Motion, who did something similar for another Make-a-Wish child just a few weeks ago, giving the boy a behind-the-scenes peek at the animatronics and special effects process behind some of their creations.

In closing, here’s to Ron and Spectral Motion and specifically to the Make-a-Wish foundation, for whom this kind of thing is a daily, dedicated mission. Most importantly, well wishes and prayers to Zachary and other kids like him in such difficult sitations, who themselves have to be heroic beyond their years.