Remember Spawn? In the mid-90s, Todd MacFarlane’s hero was all the rage. His comics sold millions, a cheesy awesome movie made some big bucks at the box office and HBO’s animated take on the character was gritty supernatural action at its best. And then the empire came tumbling down like a house of cards.
Spawn may not enjoy the same level of popularity that he once did, but the character is still a fascinating example of the road to hell being paved with good intentions. For years now, MacFarlane has been promising a new Spawn movie that would be closer to the HBO series than it would be the movie which starred John Leguizamo in a fat suit (YOU’VE BEEN VIOLATED GIRLY-MAN!).
Speaking to Geeking Out presenter Tiffany Smith via ComicBook.com, McFarlane spoke about his latest plans for Spawn when he was quizzed on the existence of the pseudo-sequel. “The simple answer is yes,” McFarlane said, describing the latest project as “a dark, R-rated, scary, badass sort of script”.
The world’s going to be real, except for one thing that’s going to move. You’re never going to see a dude in a rubber suit….This is going to be my Jaws shark.
In the background, there’s this thing moving around, this boogeyman. That boogeyman just happens to be something that you and I, intellectually, know is Spawn. Will he look like he did in the first movie? No. Will he have a supervillain he fights? No. He’s going to be the spectre, the ghost.
I’ve finished the script, and I’m in the process of editing. It’s 183 pages, and [producers] usually like 120. I still think it’s going to end up being about 140, because I’m putting in details for myself.
It’s kind of odd that there’s been little to no heat on Spawn making it out development hell since Marvel hit it big with the superhero genre. At the same time, Spawn isn’t a hero. Heck, he’s not even an entity but rather a malevolent survivor coerced into action as a puppet of higher powers. That’s a lot to swallow for audiences, even those familiar with the character.
But when done right, Spawn is simply haunting stuff. Do yourself a favour and go watch some of those HBO episodes that I mentioned, to get an idea of just how effective Al Simmons is at playing the boogeyman who preys on those who deserve it. Now to see if McFarlane can finally get Spawn back on the big screen. Especially with rivals such as Valiant making online plans for their characters.
Last Updated: September 20, 2016
