Comic book movies are going to remain Hollywood’s big thing for quite some time to come, and while most people look forward to new and unheard of material, others are looking back to right the mistakes made in adapting properties in the past. With that, there is a large audience for a reboot of Spawn, and few are more enthusiastic than Jamie Foxx, who is still eager to star in the eponymous role.
Foxx has been signed on for quite some time and is still just as committed to the film as he was at the start when he first boarded it, having this to say:
“I surprised Todd McFarlane. I said, ‘Bro, I know that one day you will do this movie, and I hope you will keep me in mind.’ What Black Panther did was let us know that it’s so necessary, and it’s the time, and Spawn is just an interesting character in itself. The heads that are being put together to bring you something special – look out.”
For those unfamiliar with the source material, the comics revolve around Al Simmons, a former marine and agent for both the Secret Service and the CIA, who was employed as a government assassin until he was betrayed and murdered on a mission. Sent to Hell for his life of violence, he accepts the choice to return to Earth as a demonic Hellspawn so he can see his wife one last time, but upon arriving is robbed of his memories.
He’s also infused with the substance of Hell itself which affords him powerful abilities, which he uses to become an antihero defender of the downtrodden while also facing agents of the underworld. His powers are decidedly finite, and once depleted his soul will be forfeited and return to Hell as part of its army.
Of course, there has already been a Spawn movie starring Michael Jai White as Al/Spawn, which was far from the success it was hoped to be due to a somewhat camp tone belying the violence maintained from the comics. It’s significant to remember that it came out in 1997, too, a year before the release of Blade paved the way for comic book movies being taken seriously and thought of as appealing to a wider audience than geeks and kids.
The world of Spawn is far greater than just Al and the villains both supernatural and human that he battles, of course, with the comics also featuring various other Hellspawns at distinct points in history along with the warrior angels who hunt them. As such, there’s great potential for a new horror franchise to be bestowed upon us, if only this first installment can actually get made.
