Spawn(1997)

Submitted by Tornado Dragon

SHORT VERSION:
One night, after Spawn tells Clown that he will never lead Hell’s army, Clown turns into his Violator form and beats him down, then changes back and warns Spawn that Armageddon is taking place with or without him before saying that he is going over to Wanda’s house to rape her. After he goes, Cogliostro tends to Spawn and warns him against satisfying his desire for vengeance because that is just what the forces of Hell want him to do, and he also needs to accept that he has no place in Wanda’s world anymore. After Spawn makes it clear that he wants to kill Clown, Cogliostro instructs him on how to properly use his necroplasm armor, and afterward, Spawn heads to Terry’s and Wanda’s house. Meanwhile, Terry downloads copies of Wynn’s files on the HEAT-16 virus and its global bomb system, along with the information on Wynn’s criminal consortium, and he takes them home and emails them to a top news reporter in order to bury Wynn.

However, Wynn suddenly shows up to threaten him, Wanda, and Cyan, and then Clown appears and lets Wynn know that Spawn is on his way here. Spawn shows up at the house shortly afterward and is confronted by Wynn holding Wanda at knifepoint, and he orders him to join Hell’s army or Wanda will die. After Spawn hesitates with his answer, Wynn stabs Wanda. Spawn attacks him, but he warns Spawn that the virus will be released if his heart stops beating, and that means that Cyan will perish. After hearing this, Spawn uses his powers to safely extract the pacemaker connecting Wynn’s heartbeat to the bombs from his body, then destroys it, averting the apocalypse.

Wanda then turns into Clown and attacks Spawn, then curses him for not killing Wynn like he and Malebolgia were hoping for before bringing out the real Wanda so he can have his way with her. Thankfully, Cogliostro appears and attacks Clown, causing him to flee back to Hell, and Spawn and Cogliostro go after him. Clown becomes Violator again and fights them both, but Spawn is able to subdue him. Spawn is then confronted by an angry Malebolgia and his army of Hellspawn, but he and Cogliostro are able to escape back to Terry’s house. Just after Spawn finally accepts that his old life is gone forever, Violator suddenly attacks him again, but he uses his armor to decapitate him. Violator’s head turns back into Clown’s head, and he warns Spawn that he will pay for this, but Spawn tells him to tell Malebolgia that he’s next.

The cops and news crews come to Terry’s house, and Wynn is arrested. Spawn returns to Rat City with Cogliostro, intending to use his powers in the name of justice.

LONG VERSION:
After Wynn (Martin Sheen) narrowly escapes being murdered by Simmons/Spawn (Michael Jai White) one night, he meets up with Clown (John Leguizamo), and after voicing how angry he is over how Spawn almost took him out, he tells Clown that the HEAT-16 biological weapon is ready to go. Clown then informs him that his boss, Malebolgia, has decided to put an “insurance policy” on him to keep him from being killed before Hell can unleash the apocalypse; they are giving him a pacemaker that will connect his heartbeat to the HEAT-16 bombs that he has already had placed around the globe. Therefore, if he flatlines for any reason, the bombs will detonate and release the virus, and this should deter any attempts on his life by anyone. Wynn later undergoes the surgery to have the pacemaker attached to his heart, but he is completely unaware that Malebolgia and Clown are now counting on Spawn to murder him and thus kickstart Armageddon.

While Spawn is hanging out on top of the abandoned church shadowing “Rat City” with his dog Spaz and the homeless boy Zack (Miko Hughes), he is paid an unwelcome visit from Clown. After Spawn makes Zack leave, he tells Clown that he knows now that he was the one who told Wynn to kill him, and Clown doesn’t deny it. When Spawn asks why he was picked to lead Hell’s army, Clown explains that evil has been embedded in his DNA before he was even conceived, and ever since he was born, Hell nursed it along, and all of those assassinations missions he conducted in life were just training for what was coming. Clown then tells him that Wynn has finally gotten HEAT-16 working, and after the virus covers the planet, he will lead Hell’s army into Heaven so they can burn it down. Spawn grabs him and tells him that he can take his army and shove it, to which Clown responds by transforming into his true form, Violator, and doing battle with him (Spaz tries to help Spawn at the start of it, but his attacks have no effect whatsoever on Violator). The fight goes all the way down into Rat City, and shortly after Spawn finds Spaz’s broken collar on the ground and sees that he is nowhere in sight, Violator defeats him. Violator then transforms back into Clown and tells Spawn that Armageddon is going down with or without him, so either he will lead the army or else Wynn will be having his way with Wanda (Theresa Randle). Clown then tells him that he has decided that he wants to have his way with Wanda first, and though Spawn warns him to stay away from her, he takes off for Wanda’s, Terry’s (D.B. Sweeney), and Cyan’s (Sydni Beaudoin) house.

After he goes, Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson) appears and tends to Spawn. Spawn tells him that he is going to kill Clown, but Cogliostro replies that he still hasn’t learned, then reveals that he possesses powers not unlike Spawn’s. He then tells Spawn that both his desire to get revenge on Wynn and his desire to protect Wanda is not worth the cost of innocent lives, and though he has become Spawn, it doesn’t mean that he has to be what the forces of Hell want him to be. He warns Spawn that said forces know that anger is his weakness, and they will use it to rob him of any humanity that he has left, and he reminds him that he knew in his former life that violence only leads to more pain and suffering, no matter which side gives the orders. He lastly tells Spawn that he also needs to accept that his old life is gone forever because it’s the only way that he can be free. Spawn again states that he is going to kill Clown, but as he digs into his cache of guns, Cogliostro tells him that this is just what Hell wants him to do, and guns are useless against Clown. He then proceeds to instruct Spawn on how to use and control his necroplasm armor since it is the only weapon he has that can do any real harm. Spawn soon steals a motorcycle and heads off to Wanda’s house, but before he goes, he gives Spaz’s collar to Zack and tells him to return Spaz to him, no matter what condition he finds him in. As Spawn speeds along, he crosses paths with Clown, who is driving a tanker truck, and Clown initiates a road battle with him just to get him so wound up that he will quickly kill Wynn when he sees him and unleash HEAT-16. Spawn uses his powers to great effect and destroys the truck, but Clown escapes unharmed and tells him that he will see him at Wanda’s.

Meanwhile, Terry – who has become highly suspicious of Wynn, especially after Spawn’s earlier attack on him because Spawn said out loud that he was once Simmons and that Wynn killed him – finds and downloads Wynn’s secure files at A-6 onto a disk and takes them back home. He looks over the files on his computer and gets the full scoop on what HEAT-16 is, what it can do, and how Wynn intends to use it, along with all of the information pertaining to how Wynn has been using A-6 to run a criminal consortium (of which only those who join it will be given the vaccine to HEAT-16). He then gets in touch with news reporter Natalie Ford (Robia La Morte) and emails her copies of all of the files so she can air them on tonight’s news and bury Wynn. Unfortunately, an armed Wynn appears shortly afterward holding Wanda and Cyan hostage, and minutes later, Clown makes his arrival. He tells Wynn that Spawn is on his way here, and then he has Wynn force Terry, Wanda, and Cyan to sit in the living room.

When Spawn arrives and walks into the living room, Wynn materializes out of the fireplace along with Wanda, who is bound to some hellish holding device. As he threatens her with a knife, he orders Spawn to choose between joining Hell’s army or letting her die, and when Spawn doesn’t come up with an answer right away, he stabs her in the heart. Enraged, Spawn attacks him, but Wynn warns him that he can’t kill him because HEAT-16 will be unleashed upon the world if his heart stops beating. Spawn makes ready to do it anyway, but ends up staying his hand after Wynn points out that Cyan will be among those who will perish. Spawn thus uses his powers to first open up a spot on Wynn’s back behind his ribcage, then he safely extracts the pacemaker from his body and destroys it without detonating any of the virus’ bombs. After sealing Wynn back up and pushing him away, Spawn declares that he is through with doing Hell’s dirty work. He then goes over to tend to Wanda’s body, but she suddenly springs back to life and attacks him, then turns into Clown after sticking a hellish blade into his neck. Clown chastises him for not killing Wynn when he had the chance, then confesses to Wynn that he was just a pawn in Malebolgia’s scheme. He then declares that he is going to slaughter everyone here, and then after bringing forth the actual Wanda tied up on a chair, he adds that he will then rape her while letting Spawn watch.

Before he can do anything serious to Wanda, Cogliostro appears and slices Clown with his arm blade. Clown retreats back to Hell through the fireplace, and Cogliostro frees Wanda before taking the blade out of Spawn’s neck and warning him that Clown will be back. He then makes ready to enter the fireplace while telling Spawn that he will need his help because he may not be able to hold off Clown alone. Moments later, Clown draws Spawn and Cogliostro into Hell, and he transforms into Violator again and attacks them. After a short but intense fight that causes Cogliostro to sustain an injury, Spawn gets the better of Violator and subdues him, but he soon finds himself confronted first by the rest of the Hellspawn and then by Malebolgia himself. Malebolgia tells him that, if he won’t lead his army, he must die, then orders the army to bring him his head. Spawn uses his powers to obliterate a large number of Hellspawn, then he collects Cogliostro and returns to Earth just as the rest of the army closes in on them, though Malebolgia warns him that he will never escape him.

After arriving back in Terry’s living room, Spawn takes a long look at Terry, Wanda, and Cyan, then sits with Cogliostro and tells him that those three belong together and there is no place for him here. He then informs Cogliostro that he knows that he has been checking him out ever since he first attained this form, and Cogliostro replies that he has been looking to him to take over his duties because he feels that he has fought the war between Heaven and Hell long enough and he just isn’t as quick as he used to be. Zack then enters with Spaz, and Zack tells Spawn that he followed the dog here. Suddenly, Violator launches a surprise attack on Spawn, and he soon grabs hold of him and prepares to bite his head off. Thankfully, after Cogliostro reminds Spawn to concentrate and use his armor, Spawn creates spikes on his head and upper torso that run through Violator’s skull and jaw and keep his mouth stuck open, then he uses his chains to violently decapitate the beast. Violator’s head turns back into Clown’s head, and as his entire body melts back to Hell, he warns Spawn that he will pay for this, but Spawn tells him to tell Malebolgia that he’s next.

Later, the police, emergency services, and news crews show up at Terry’s house, and Wynn is placed under arrest while Terry gives an interview officially implicating Wynn as a power-hungry madman. We also see that Spawn had given Cyan the pendant that Wanda had given him while he was alive that contains a picture of him and her. The movie ends back at Rat City, where Cogliostro, Zack, and Spaz are seen sitting with the homeless people below while Spawn – having opted to use his powers in the name of justice – is seen perched atop a cross on the church. The narrator says that Spawn has stopped Malebolgia’s plans to destroy the Earth, and he has made his choice – for now.