  Despite their paucity, massive hot stars are real cosmic engines of
fundamental importance in shaping our Universe, from its very early stages up
to its current appearance. Understanding the physics of massive stars is then a
key issue for many relevant astrophysical phenomena. Probing the massive
stellar population of nearby galaxies by means of quantitative spectroscopy
allows us to unveil a wealth of information that will aid our current
understanding of stellar and galaxy evolution. In addition, blue luminous stars
can be used as standard candles for extragalactic distances up to 10 Mpc. In
this contribution, we present a brief overview of recent steps we have
undertaken in this exciting research field.
