Spawn (1997)

Before Marvel movies ruled the box office, Batman was the superhero every studio was trying to chase. Todd McFarlane created Spawn in 1992, and it only took Spawn five years to make it to theaters in 1997. Spawn is a marine killed in a double cross and makes a deal with the devil to come back. But like every deal the devil makes, there’s a catch. You would have to believe New Line thought Spawn would be the answer to Batman. Spawn was resonating with the 90s extreme trend in comics and had the darkness Gen-X was desperate for. However, it barely made back its budget, bringing in $60 million at the box office. Spawn’s problem is it feels low budget, even though it had a $40 million budget, and that wasn’t small at the time. It’s not even the CGI effects haven’t aged well, because they weren’t great in 1997. Compare Spawn to Jurassic Park four years earlier, and you’ll see how out of date they were even then. Michael Jai White is giving his all in the title role, and Martin Sheen is quite literally a cigar-chomping villain. On paper, Spawn should have succeeded. It was the first non-Marvel or DC character to find major fame in the 90s and was a giant seller during the big comics boom of the era. It feels like it’s another example of a studio not understanding the source material. That would be a recurring problem until Marvel and Fox took a chance on The X-Men a few years later. If Spawn were allowed to be as dark as the comic and not relied on sketchy CGI effects, then it might have been a bigger hit. Most people would be surprised there hasn’t been another attempt at bringing Spawn back to theaters during this age of comic book movies. But Marvel and DC have studios as owners, making it a lot easier to greenlight movies. Spawn, however, has been caught in legal trouble at times. Even though Mr. McFarlane left Marvel to help create Image Comics, where the creators were going to be full owners of their works, he still ended up in court over battles about some character rights. A bit of irony there. Modern superhero movies may color your views of Spawn but give it a chance. Just lower your expectations of it.