Spawn (2012 film)

Spawn is a 2012 film based on the comic book character, created by Todd McFarlane, of the same name. The film stars Idris Elba as Al Simmons, a CIA operative who is killed and sent to Hell, and makes a deal with a demon to return to Earth, but in the form of a powerful Hellspawn, or Spawn. The film has no continuity relation to the 1997 movie of the same name, and it is a reboot.

Plot
The film begins with a pre-credits scene, which shows biblical/prophecy-like images while the Narrator explains the backstory of the film. The Narrator says: "Before there was time, before humanity, there was only One. The One without name, or gender. The One spawned two children, the Creator, and his brother, named Satan. The Creator created Earth and humanity, who soon began calling him God, their word for All-Powerful, and worshiped him, as his slaves. Jealous, Satan gave humans free will, which included the ability to defy God, and kill. As more and more humans died, they were transported to Satan's kingdom of Hell, where they were his slaves. God made it that humans who were killed unfairly were transported to his own kingdom of Heaven. Satan decided to eventually take control of Heaven, and began making his slaves into an army, expanding Hell. Satan commissioned 8 powerful Demons to govern the areas of Hell, the most powerful being Malebolgia, who was charged with creating the slave who would kill evil humans to add to the army of Hell, and bring about Armageddon, the Hellspawn."

Then, the opening credits roll. Then, we see Al Simmons, former U.S. Marine, now USSG (United States Security Group) operative and assassin, under the employ of his commander, Jason Wynn. Al has a wife, Wanda, in America, and keeps in touch with his best friend Terry Fitzgerald. Eventually, Al refuses to kill a man accused of being a serial killer, due to lack of evidence, and belief that the government shouldn't get involved in domestic crimes. Al and Jason Wynn get in a fight over this, which ends with Al winning and Wynn holding a gun to his head. Wynn lets him go, but is humiliated, and calls his best assassin, Jessica Priest to kill him. Jessica Priest attacks Al, and he puts up a fight and wins. But, Jessica surprises him and kills him with a grenade, badly burning his corpse's head in the process.

Al wakes up in Hell. He is confused and scared, and the powerful, large Demon, Malebolgia "welcomes" him to Hell, when Al says "What the-?", Malebolgia answers him by saying "-Hell?", revealing where he is. Al begs him to let him see his wife, Wanda, again. And, Malebolgia takes him up on his offer. Malebolgia summons a symbiotic Demon-organism which bonds with Al, turning it into the latest Hellspawn. His symbiotic costume morphs into a black and white 'costume' with Maleblogia's 'M' emblem on the chest. It also generates spikes, chains, and a charred red cape reminiscent of that of Satan's. Al now has limited control over the deadly green Necroplasm as well.

Al, now the Hellspawn, is transported to Earth in his new form, and ends up in America in the middle of night. Still confused and frightened, the new Hellspawn keeps to the shadows. He slowly realizes that somehow five years have pased since his death. He goes to Wanda's house, but is afraid to go inside because of his new appearance. Sticking to the shadows, Al realizes that Wanda is now married to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald, and they have a daughter, Cyan. Al is angered and accidentally unleashes a burst of Necroplasm energy, but when Wanda looks out her window, there's nothing there. We see Al in an alleyway, hiding from sight. He tries to retract his symbiotic costume, but his face is still badly burned and charred from the grenade that killed him. He lets his 'costume' cover his body again, and is approached by an old apparent bum called Cogliostro, a.k.a. Cog. Cog appears to know more about Al's situation than he does, telling him that he is part of a group of Hellspawn who's mission is to kill evil men to send them to Hell, expanding the armies of Hell, nicknamed the Spawn.

Before the mysterious Cog can explain more, they are confronted by a short, fat, gray-haired, red eyed, creepy man with blue facepaint, called the Clown. The Clown tells Al that he was sent by Malebolgia to make sure that he is completing his mission as a Spawn. Cog tells Al to beware of the Clown, but the latter simply knocks him unconscious, and attacks Al. Al easily defeats him using his new found Spawn powers, but the Clown then seems to undergo metamorphosis, transforming into his true form: a Demon from Hell, called the Violator. Despite Al being a Spawn, Violator uses his superior size and strength to defeat him. Violator is about to kill Al, when, in a blinding burst of fire, Malebolgia appears. He and Violator fight, but Malebolgia defeats him, and uses his Hellish powers to trap Violator in his human, Clown form. Malebolgia teleports back to Hell, and a the Clown reluctantly teleports away.

Eventually, Cog tells Al that he himself was once a Spawn, and he renounced Hell long ago. He also tells Al that everytime he uses his Necroplasm powers, he gets one 'tick' closer to losing his power and going back to Hell forever. Cog has one 'tick' left, out of 9999, and that one fraction of power has kept him alive for many years. With this new information and his mission clear, Al is now called Spawn.

Spawn is shown attacking many gangsters and murderers, killing them all, deflecting their bullets, and sometimes using his powers. When bullets hit him, they disintegrate, or bounce off his symbiotic costume. Spawn also has the ability to take any weapon, and charge it full of Necroplasm, making it capable of firing the same green energy (guns), or make it more powerful and durable (knives and other bladed weapons).

After this montage, two police detectives, Sam Burke, and Twitch Williams, are seen in the police station, talking about the urban legend called "the Spawn". Sam doesn't believe it, but Twitch admits he thinks it's real. Sam decides to focus on the real parts of their job, such as tracking down Mafia boss Antonio Twistelli. Twistelli, under the alias Tony Twist, has been trying to bring the Mafia back to the buisness of murder and drugs from the 1940's, instead of just extortion, sometimes killing his enemies himself.

In a building at the heart of Twist's crime empire, the Mafia boss meets with a man in his office. The mysterious man's face is hidden by shadows, but he says he can help Twist. When Twist asks his name, the man steps out of the shadows, revealing none other than Jason Wynn, Al Simmons former government employer. Wynn is now one of the most powerful men in the world, and he is a weapons dealer. He wants to use Tony Twist's Mafia to farther his own personal means. When Twist says he's never heard of him, Wynn's assassin, Jessica Priest, kills one of Twist's bodyguards, as an act of intimidation. Wynn says that he can help defeat Twist's mysterious new enemy, the Spawn.

Meanwhile, Spawn has become the hero of the local city bums, by killing gangsters and mobsters. One clumsy bum (played by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane as a cameo) asks to try on Spawn's mask, but it nearly strangles him.

In Hell, The Clown returns to his master, Malebolgia, and asks him to allow him to turn into his Violator form. Eventually, Malebolgia agrees, on one condition, Violator will not go on another killing spree without Spawn involved. The Clown smiles evilly and returns to Earth.

On Earth, detectives Sam and Twitch are tracking down serial killer Billy Kincaid. Spawn eventually finds Kincaid, but realizes that he was the man he refused to kill while he was alive, due to lack of evidence. But, Spawn finds that Kincaid is targeting a senator's young daughter. Spawn stops Kincaid and frees the girl, and the next thing we see is Kincaid's bloody corpse hanging in detectives Sam and Twitch's office, with a sign on it that says: "Boys screamed and girls screamed, so I made him scream...and scream...and scream". Spawn discoveres that Kincaid was being used by Tony Twist to blackmail the senator whose daughter he attacked.

Rumors of the Spawn have also reached the home of Wanda and Terry Fitzgerald, who have went out to a dinner to talk about the supposed Spawn away from their young daughter Cyan. The restaurant they are at also happens to be part of the Mobs' extortion scheme, and Tony Twist goes there often, including this night. Spawn decides to storm the restaurant and attack Twist, but Cog tells him it would be a bad idea because of all the innocent people, and despite it being nighttime, there is too much light in the restaurant, and Spawn eill be seen. But, Spawn decides to do it anyway. Spawn breaks through the roof of the restaurant, and lands in the middle of the room. He runs at Tony Twist, kills his guards, and picks up Twist by the neck. He is about to kill him, when the Clown shows up, with two machine guns. He shoots at Spawn, which does nothing. Spawn puts Twist down, and runs at the Clown, but he turns into the Violator and almost kills Spawn. But, Spawn picks up the Clown's machine guns, charges them with Necroplasm, and shoots at him, almost killing him. Angry, the Violator teleports away.

Then, Spawn slowly stands up, with everyone in the restaurant staring in awe at him, including Wanda. A crowd of people has also formed outside, staring in disbelief at Spawn. People are also videotaping him just standing there, in the middle of the destroyed restaurant. The rumor has been revealed to be true, the Spawn is real. Cog stands on a distant rooftop, seemingly invisible to everyone, staring in disapproval at the situation. Spawn uses his powers to teleport onto the same rooftop. But, how he almost defeated the Violator gave Spawn an idea. A montage is shown showing Spawn killing more gangsters and mobsters, and everytime taking their guns, until Spawn is shown holding multiple machine guns, with guns in holsters strapped to him, and bandoleers across his chest, all charged with Necroplasm.

Spawn decides to go after Tony Twist and the Clown, but, once again, Cog tells him it's a bad idea. Spawn ignores him and goes after them, hiding in the shadows and hidden by the night. He goes to the small, building at the heart of Twist's criminal empire, and kills the guards and goes inside. He uses his Necroplasm guns to fight his way to Twist's office.

There, he discovers that Jason Wynn is working with Twist, and so is the Clown. Wynn's assassin, Jessica Priest, who had previously killed Al Simmons five years ago, attacks Spawn. Their battle takes them outside, and despite it being the middle of the night, many people are watching them. Jessica Priest throws a grenade at Spawn (again), but he catches it, charges it with Necroplasm, and throws it back, killing Priest in a huge, blinding, green explosion of Necroplasm energy.

Next, Spawn kills Tony Twist by charging his body with Necroplasm, which slowly disintegrates him.

Spawn drops his weapons, returning them to normal, and engages Wynn in hand to hand combat. Wynn almost wins because of his experience, but Spawn's strength allows him to defeat him. Before Spawn can kill him, he is attacked by the Clown, who soon turns into the Violator.

Their battle takes takes them outside, again, with Spawn getting the upper hand, when the Violator throws Spawn into an alleyway. Spawn's symbiotic costume retracts, and he is Al Simmons again. The alley is a patch Earth that is Heaven's domain, and Hellish powers don't work there, called the Deadzone. Al is powerless. Staying out of the Deadzone, the Violator turns back into the Clown, pulls out his gun, and shoots Al in the face, breaking open his already scarred face, and leaves Al to die. Thinking Spawn defeated, the Clown goes on a celebratory rampage and terrorizes the crowd of people watching, killing some of them. It is a dark time for Spawn.

Some news reporters catch the Clown on camera, and see Al laying in the alley, bleeding from his face, but they do not know he is the Spawn. Seeing this on TV, Wanda wants to go help her former husband, although she has no idea how he is still alive, as she was at his military funeral. She remembers the funeral, and how Terry was there for her. But, she didn't want to go through that again, so she drives downtown, in the middle of the night, without telling Terry, or their daughter, Cyan.

Apon arriving downtown, Wanda runs through the chaos the Clown has caused and finally finds Al bleeding in the alley with his face cut open. She desperately stitches Al's face together with her shoelace, but it seems he is going to die. She tries to revive him using CPR, and, more or less, it works, and she realizes that they are kissing. Wanda then leaves to return to Terry and comfort Cyan, amidst the widespread chaos, after helping Al out of the alley, still not knowing he is Spawn.

After Wanda is near her home, Al allows his symbiotic costume to cover him again. He is Spawn once more.

Spawn then confronts the Clown, who is suprised to see him alive. After the Clown turns into the Violator again, a final battle ensues, amidst the chaos. The Violator unleashes his full demonic power, and nearly kills Spawn again, but Spawn uses combinations of stabbing him with his spiked gauntlets, choking him with his demonic chains, Necroplasm guns, sheer Necroplasm energy, or pure hand to hand combat to wear the Violator down until finally he unleashes a huge burst of Necroplasm energy which sacrifices a large portion of his 9999 'ticks' of life he has left which Cog told him about, almost defeating the Violator. Spawn finishes him off with a few hand to hand combat moves, which he learned while in the Marine Corps, killing the Violator. He then says "I'll see you in Hell..." before the Violator's body is teleported back to Hell. The chaos is now over. Spawn has won. The city has won.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of surviving people stand around Spawn, in the dead of night, in the middle of the street. But, this time, they are not angry, or as frightened. They cheer for him. They cheer even after Spawn teleports away, to deal with Jason Wynn.

When Wynn tries to escape, he is confronted by Spawn, who tells him that he wont kill him because his corruption has now been revealed to hundreds of witnesses. Wynn tries to escape, but is arrested by detectives Sam and Twitch. Spawn looks at Cog, who smiles, and nods in approval at him. Spawn then teleports away.

Spawn end up outside the home of Wanda and Terry. A frightened Wanda is shocked when Spawn gives her the shoelace she used to stitch Al's face back together. She looks down at the shoelace in disbelief, but when she looks up, Spawn is gone. She clutches the shoelace tightly, and she now knows that Al is the Spawn.

Spawn is then shown standing on a building, looking down at the city. We then see him leap off the building, down to the dimly-lit streets, presumably to stop some criminal he saw, and to protect the streets from evil.

Then, the first set of credits roll. Then, we see one last scene: the serial killer whom Spawn killed during the movie, Billy Kincaid, ends up in Hell the same way Al did. And, like Al, he begins to say "What the-", and Malebolgia says "-Hell?", and laughs evilly, which makes Kincaid beg him to let him go. Malebolgia makes him the same deal he made Al, to become the next Hellspawn. And, Kincaid is bonded to his own symbiotic costume in a blinding flash of Necroplasm energy.

Then, after the rest of the end credits roll, the film ends.

Cast
MAIN CAST

Idris Elba as Al Simmons/Spawn

Gabrielle Union as Wanda Blake

Richard Dysart as Cogliostro aka Cog

Terrence C. Carson as Terry Fitzgerald

Michael Madsen as Detective Sam Burke

Sam Rockwell as Detective Maximilion Steven Percival Williams III aka Twitch

VILLAINS

Wayne Knight/CGI as the Clown/the Violator

Vincent Pastore as Antonio Twistelli aka Tony Twist

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Jason Wynn

CGI and John Hurt as the voice of Malebolgia

Lena Headey as Jessica Priest

Ethan Suplee as Billy Kincaid

Reception
The film was announced at Comic-Con 2010, to the joy of Spawn fans, and it was released in July 2012. Reviews of the film were mostly good, and it was thought to be a combination of Batman and Ghost Rider.

Possible Sequel
Because of the mid-credits scene, a sequel was hinted at, and this was possibly confirmed by the film's writer, and it would possibly feature Spawn returning to Hell to battle Billy Kincaid as in the comics.

Trivia

 * The clumsy bum who tried on Spawn's mask is played by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and his scene was based on a scene from the comics.


 * Cogliostro was played by Richard Dysart, who actually voiced the character in the HBO animated series Todd McFarlane's Spawn.


 * The film is based on the first six issues of the Spawn comic book.


 * In the original Spawn movie in 1997, Jessica Priest made her first appearance, as she was not an original character in the comics.

People that resemble this group can be seen when Kincaid arrives in Hell in the movie, in the far background with other slaves and Demons.
 * In the comics, Billy Kincaid was given a "tour" of Hell when he arrived, along with a group of other people.