Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: Harry Wright and Mo Buck
Based on Image Comics characters
Cast: Idris Elba, Jackie Earle Hayley, Jason Isaacs, Sean Penn, Kerry Washington, Eric Stonestreet, Stephen Merchant, Stanley Tucci, Michael K. Williams, Wood Harris, Minka Kelly, Michael Chiklis
Plot: Spawn (Idris Elba) stands on top of a skyscraper in New York City. He seems confused, looking at his body and his arms. He knew he died and returned, but he can’t recall the reasons why he’s back on Earth again. He also remembers being tricked by someone, but he can’t remember what the deal was and who he did it with.
Five years ago, Al Simmons (Idris Elba), a CIA agent, is at the military base, saying goodbye to his wife, Wanda Blake (Kerry Washington). He’s leaving on a mission in the jungle of Botswana and he’ll be gone for a long time. They embrace and Simmons boards the plane. On board, he sees his superior, Jason Wynn (Sean Penn) and two of his colleagues, Bruce Stinson (Wood Harris) and Jessica Priest (Minka Kelly) He’ll mostly be working with these three. Simmons never liked Wynn, but he never told him. Simmons looks back one last time and waves his wife goodbye. The plane takes off.
Two NYPD officers, Sam Burke (Eric Stonestreet) and Max “Twitch” Williams (Stephen Merchant) are eating donuts straight from the boxes. An unlikely duo, the two of them work great together. They are sitting in their car, near a crime scene. They exit their car and go in an alley. A mobster was killed, one of the many who were also killed in the last few days. They look at the victim, who’s lying on his stomach. Burke is absolutely sure he died because he was thrown through a window, but Twitch says he didn’t. Burke says he did and Twitch says he didn’t. Burke stops looking at the broken window and looks at the victim again. Twitch turned it around and there’s a huge hole in his chest. His heart is gone too. Every mobster who died in the last few days also have their hearts missing.
Simmons is in Wynn’s office in Botswana. They’re constantly arguing since arriving there. Simmons doesn’t agree with Wynn’ decisions and leadership. He’s constantly ordered to kill innocent people, while Wynn claims it’s for their greater good, something that doesn’t quite make sense in Simmons’ mind. He leaves in a hurry and goes back to his room. He grabs a satellite phone and calls his wife. They discuss about how much they miss each other. During this time, Wynn meets with Bruce Stinson in his office. He looks outside to check if someone might hear them and locks the door. He tells Stinson that he wants him to kill Simmons and make it look like an accident.
At the Windgate Institution, Billy Kinkaid (Stanley Tucci) is read his rights and he claims to be a cured man. His good behaviour got him out of jail. He smiles thinking that he hasn’t really changed and still thinks he will kill small children once he gets out. He killed 29 children by luring them to his ice cream truck. Sam Burke and Twitch Williams are waiting for Kinkaid to exit the Institution. They hear him singing about ice cream and they realise he hasn’t reformed at all. They drive away to the NYPD station as Kinkaid walks away smiling.
Al Simmons is walking in the Botswanan jungle with Stinson, who looks pretty agitated and Jessica Priest. Stinson looks around him nervously. They encounter a small group of resistance fighters and engage in a combat with them. They manage to kill them all, but Stinson forgot to kill Simmons in the battle. He looks around and when he sees no one, he jumps on Simmons, pinning him to the ground. Simmons asks him what the hell he’s doing and Stinson answers that Wynn told him to kill Simmons because he had enough of him constantly arguing about everything he did. Jessica arrives and sees Stinson with his gun in Simmons’ face. She tells him to stop moving and points him with her gun. Stinson acts quickly and shots Priest in the head. Simmons gets agitated, but Stinson can remain in control. Simmons tells Stinson that he will tell everyone about what he just did. But don’t worry, Stinson says, people will think it’s an accident. He shoots Simmons in the head, leaving him alone. Stinson starts shooting around foolishly and runs back to camp screaming that they were attacked. Simmons dies alone in the jungle, with Jessica Priest lying, dead, next to him.
Simmons wakes up and everything around him is dark. He asks if someone is around, but noboby answers, he only hears the echo of his voice. Someone snaps their fingers and a small flame lights up. Soon enough, the walls, who are extremely high, catch fire. You can barely see the ceiling, who’s also on fire. A path appears in front of Simmons and he follows it. He arrives in a room. There’s a humongous throne with an enormous beast sitting on it. He greets Simmons. His name is Malebolgia (Jason Isaacs). He says he’s a demon and Simmons is in hell, because he was an assassin on Earth and that’s what he deserves. Desperate, Simmons is completely shocked to find out that he will never see his wife again. Malebolgia tells him that he has an offer for him, something that would allow him to see his wife again, returning on Earth, in other words. Simmons asks what deal is, he’s suspicious about making a deal with a devil. Malebolgia tells Simmons that in order to go back to Earth and see his wife again, he needs to sell his soul to the Devil and become a Hellspawn for the rest of his days and serve Malebolgia, helping him forming an army in the Armageddon. It’s with a heavy heart that Simmons accepts the deal, desperate to see his wife once again.
Spawn jumps down the skyscraper and lands in an alley. He takes off his glove and sees that his body is badly burned. He hears a woman screaming and runs in this direction. She’s assaulted by a mobster. Spawn grabs the man and pulls his heart of his body. The woman is in shock and grabs Spawn. She can feel his pain.
Twitch Williams and Sam Burke followed Billy Kinkaid to a warehouse, where they saw him park his ice cream truck. What they don’t know is that he just kidnapped a little girl and he intends on torturing her and killing her after. He missed the thrill of killing so much. They’re waiting for the go-ahead from their boss to breach inside, eating donuts. Spawn gets inside the warehouse from a back door. He locates Kinkaid, who’s hurting the little girl. He pins Kinkaid against the wall and pulls his heart out, throwing it through a window in a river. The heart floats and Spawn runs away. Williams and Burke enter the room and can’t believe what they’re seeing.
The Clown (Jackie Earle Haley) is walking on a rooftop. He hears a woman screaming and jumps down. In the air, he transforms into his alter-ego, The Violator. He grabs a mobster with his tiny claws and tears his body in half. Horrified, the woman runs away. The Violator jumps on top of a building and he changes back into The Clown. We see Malebolgia, who’s watching The Clown from below and tells him he’s doing a great job.
Spawn remembered the name of his old significant other, Wanda Blake and that he worked for the CIA before the incident that saw him become what he is today. He entered the Central Intelligence Agency building from the rooftop. He thinks what he’s doing is an invasion of privacy, but he just want to see her again for one last time. He’s walking in the corridors and he hears a woman screaming. He breaks into an office to see a man sexually assaulting a secretary. He grabs him by the throat and pins him against the wall, warning him to keep it in his pants. He gets out, grabs the file on Wanda Blake and runs away in the night.
Sam and Twitch are sitting in their NYPD office eating donuts. They have a pile of cases accumulating on their desk about criminals being decapitated and had their heart pulled from their body. They don’t know what to do and they start to get frustrated by all of this. The phone rings and Twitch answers. Somebody else was found with no heart. They curse and leave their office.
The Clown is standing on a rooftop, watching the police officers, Sam and Twitch from below, who are trying to understand what happened the poor guy who was savagely killed in the alley. He starts laughing. Malebolgia appears in front of him and tells him that Spawn is failing at his task and he’s letting criminals get away. He says to The Clown that he’s at the top of a church a couple of blocks away.
Spawn is sitting at the top of a church, reading Wanda’s file. He finds out that she’s still living in the same house that they used to live in and he decides that he will visit her tomorrow. He stops reading for a moment after he sees a clown waving at him from a nearby rooftop. He moves forward to make sure he’s really seeing this and when he looks again, the clown disappeared. He hears people screaming nearby and decides to go see what’s happening. He witnesses several gang members robbing and assaulting a group of friends in a dark alley. He follows them as they try to get away and jumps down in a corner, scaring the bejesus out of them. He grabs something attached to his belt and throws it in their direction and a huge green explosion ensues. All of the victims are badly burned and Spawn runs away as he hears the police cars approaching.
The Clown located a group of mobsters robbing a store downtown. He knocks on the window, still in his clown form with balloons in his hand. They tell him to go away and he transforms into the Violator. The gang start to freak out and they try to run away, but their boss, Gino, doesn’t want them too. The Violator pins Gino to the wall and he brutally kills every single one of his thugs. Gino begs him to keep him alive, but the Violator isn’t having any of it and he pulls the heart of of Gino’s chest. The Violator switches back to its clown form and he walks away, laughing.
Sam and Twitch are investigating the burned victims and can’t come up with any explanations as of why they were so badly disfigured. Sam is starting to lose his cool and he completely snaps when they receive the call about people who were brutally killed during a robbery. Twitch tries to calm down Sam by telling him that at least he’s killing criminals, but it just amplifies Sam’s anger.
Spawn reads Wanda’s file once again and can’t believe how his former wife is beautiful. He has a flashback where he was happy with his wife, Wanda, eating at a restaurant with his best friend, Terry Fitzgerald (Michael K. Williams) and his girlfriend, a double date. His thought is interrupted by someone tapping on his shoulder. Spawn turns around and sees the Clown. He tells Spawn that he’s a Hellspawn too and he was tasked by Malebolgia to help him build an army by killing people on Earth. He says he’s Spawn’s guardian and he must help him achieve his job. Spawn dismisses him and tells him that a clown can’t do that. He’s about to go away when the Clown tells him to wait. He transforms into the Violator and Spawn, afraid, runs away.
The following day, Spawn is observing a house from a good distance. He takes out the file on his former wife Wanda and checks if the address is good. He jumps down from the rooftop and after making sure nobody’s looking at him, he crosses the street and arrives at Wanda’s house. He peeks through a window and sees Wanda. He’s so happy his heart is filled with joy. He uses his power to transform himself in his human form. He’s human, sure, but doesn’t look like what Simmons used to look like. He knocks on the door and he sees Wanda in the kitchen, his eyes are brought down and he sees a little girl opened the door. Spawn faints.
Sam and Twitch are following a lead in the heart-man case. Several people have spotted Spawn and a Clown recently. Sam can’t believe that a clown could have done something like this and Twitch replies that he’s afraid of clowns and that it’s a great disguise. They agree it’s a great lead to follow, but they don’t know where to start.
Spawn wakes up and Wanda is standing beside him. She doesn’t recognize him. He also sees his best friend Terry. Spawn asks them who they are and he finds out Wanda married Terry after Al died and together they had a daughter named Cyan. Spawn is secretly really sad and tells them that he was sorry that he bothered them and he goes away. He runs in the streets in his human form and goes in an alley, sits down and cries. He slowly switches back to his Spawn form. He starts to walk away. The Clown arrives and admits to Spawn that he’s been following him. The Clown threatens him again. Spawn tells him to back off, but his foe transforms into The Violator and starts to attack Spawn. He takes advantage of the element of surprise and rips the heart out of Spawn’s chest. He walks away, laughing that Malebolgia’s human is already dead. Spawn gets back up behind him and tells the Violator that he isn’t human anymore. He has a green substance dripping from his chest and the wound slowly closes.
Wanda is daydreaming about Al Simmons, her former lover. She’s distracted by Terry and she admits to him that she can’t stop thinking about Al. Terry supports her, telling her that it’s normal and he still loves her.
The Violator is now battling Spawn on a rooftop. They try to kill each other with their Necroplasm, the green substance that powers them. Violator is surprised to see Spawn’s powers, he thought he was weaker than that. He’s able to tear off one of Spawn’s arm and he threatens to kill him for good. Spawn is able to fight back and pushes Violator away. They stare at each other and when they start attacking each other again, they’re interrupted by Malebolgia. He restores Spawn’s lost arm and tells them that they’re his minions in his battle against Heaven. Their goal is to cause man to do wrong and Spawn will stop and kill them, so they can be in Malebolgia’s growing army in Hell. Malebolgia punishes the Violator by locking him in Clown form for his unscheduled killing spree that caused crime lords from doing anything for a while. Malebolgia uses his powers to propel Spawn and the Clown far away and sends them flying. Spawn brutally lands in an alley in the middle of a homeless people camp. He doesn’t move for a while, but he opens his eyes.
Post-credits scene : We see a huge creature who looks like a cross between a man and a cyborg being moved by men in Italy. His right eye opens, it’s a bright red light. Someone presents him to the other people who ask who it is they’re transporting, it’s Overt-Kill (Michael Chiklis)
