Cosmic powers are gathering on the edges of eternity as dark forces conspire in secret; the immortal war between Heaven and Hell is imminent. Trumpets will be sounded and seals will be shattered as Armageddon dawns bleakly against a blood-red horizon. The general of the Devil’s armies is summoned back into action as we await the highly anticipated Spawn reboot. That’s right, Spawn is coming back with a vengeance!

Spawn promises to be much darker and more violent – just as he always was meant to be. The damned are not permitted even a moment’s relief and there is no rest for the wicked, especially among the Devil’s elect.

During this year’s Comic Con, Todd McFarlane broke the silence and assured fans there would be a reboot to his legendary comic-book demon. For more information on the initial announcement please click here.

Over the years we heard rumors of a new Spawn movie brewing in the blackest pits of Hollywood, but year after year they remained nothing beyond that – just rumors. It’s so good to say those rumors are finally coming true and our faith in Spawn is being rewarded.

Sadly for many modern audiences when they think of Spawn they can’t rid their minds of the 90’s film and all that god-awful CG puking across the screen. I am first to admit we really deserved something much better, but also I can’t deny the movie holds special place in my heart.

But there is so much more to the Hellspawn, Al Simmons. So sit back and get ready for another dark adventure. It’s time we explored the humid depths of Rat City once again and discover why we should be out of our minds over the upcoming Spawn reboot. So buckle up, readers. Your good ol’ pal Manic is taking you straight to Hell as we look at nine reasons to be excited about a new Spawn film!

9 -Todd McFarlane

The fact that he’s excited over this project should satisfy fans. He was never happy with the ultimate outcome of his anti-hero’s film endeavors in the first place. He always preferred the HBO animated films over the big-budget motion picture. McFarlane has said that he always wanted Spawn to be R-rated and done right.

As of now Spawn is slated for an R-rating, so we should all be expecting some of the comic’s more violent encounters to burst across theaters.

Todd McFarlane was the name that sold comics in the 90’s. His vision was much darker and his art was far more stylized than anything else seen at the time. His work at Marvel gave the company a much needed boost in sales during that decade. To this day McFarlane’s Spider-Man is my favorite take on the web-head. If you’ve not read Spider-Man Torment I strongly recommend it!

McFarlane was highly responsible for the character Venom, who became an immediate fan favorite among readers. McFarlane is also a reason why I’m not entirely impressed with the current Marvel movie franchise. He gave us a gritty and savage New York where Spidey had to battle the forces of tremendous evil! Peter Parker was allowed to grow up – he had a wife and the American dream to worry about. And leeching into that tranquil dream, McFarlane introduced drooling and feral beasts all hell-bent on destroying everything Spider-Man loved. McFarlane dominated the comic book industry and we couldn’t get enough!

Unhappy with Marvel, McFarlane finally left to open his own company. Together with fellow artists – Jim Lee being among them – Image Comics was formed, and out of Image rose a hero straight from Hell! Spawn crushed its sales and became the most prominent independent comic book of the day!

Already proving himself to be a creative genius and an unequaled artist, if given creative freedom to launch the kind of movie he would want, McFarlane could create the new standard for dark-comic cinema through Spawn.

8 – The Global Market

Not at all content to remain frozen on the comic pages, McFarlane always knew his character would be huge. And so he was. McFarlane Toys allowed fans to bring home characters from the comics and place them on their shelves to show off. McFarlane Toys would also produce its impressive Movie Maniacs line giving fans a chance to bring home Freddy, Jason, and Jaws to name just a few! A new criteria of figurines was established thanks to McFarlane’s entrepreneur vision.

As already mentioned, Spawn has been both a feature-film as well as an animated trilogy thanks to HBO. The animated features are the best way to become acquainted with the series and to familiarize yourself with the epic saga if you’re not already a fan.

And just in case you’re a fellow metal-head you can’t go wrong with the masterful concept album Dark Saga! Released by ICED EARTH, Dark Saga tells the story of Spawn as a dark metal epic. ICED EARTH being one of my top 3 favorite Metal bands out there, Dark Saga is my favorite album they’ve released.

7 – Sam and Twitch

I love these guys. They are the Laurel and Hardy of the comics. The thin man and the fat guy, the loud mouth and the quiet fella. They are perfectly miss-matched and add to the best part – the human part – of the dark lore.

Sam and Twitch are two detectives investigating the odd murders in and around Rat City – the inner alleyways of New York. Through these two guys we gradually learn of a massive cabal across the globe, one that conspires against the good of humanity and is in league with the Devil himself.

Sam and Twitch are in way over their heads and if it were not for Spawn, their heads would both have ended up on a silver platter no doubt. From mafia connections to sickening cover-ups of child murder, these two pals uncover what no one wanted to be revealed. The world is corrupt, and it’s a corruption that starts in their own house – the NYPD. Their chief is into some bad stuff with friends in all the wrong (or right) places. It’s a detective story straight out of the Inferno and I hope to see these fellas in the new movie!

6 – The Devil Malebolgia

The biggest injustice made in the 90’s movie was the portrayal of the Devil. Malebolgia is the puppet master, the cruel overlord who hoards his treasure of souls until the day he can unleash them against the Gates of Heaven.

He is a fleshy monstrosity. A deviant manipulator who double-crosses any and all in order to further his own Stygian agendas. When souls are sold for offerings of wealth and promises of power, he is the Devil who you would bargain with.

He has mastered the craft of half-truths, and when Al Simmons newly landed in the shallows of the Abyss, Malebolgia greeted him and played upon Simmons’s fragile humanity. “Serve me, and I will allow you to see your wife again,” the forked tongue slurred. Al agreed, thus becoming the newest Hellspawn. And true to his word, the Devil let Spawn return back to Earth to see his wife again. Only thing was, five years had passed and Wanda had remarried herself to Spawn’s old best friend, thus breaking whatever hope he still clung to.

5 – Clown/The Violator

Already covering him in my Clowns article, there is still plenty to say about this filthy mess of existence. Short, fat, and reveling in putrescence, this is the demon known most commonly as Clown.

He kicks puppies when he feels good. He violates and destroys all he touches. Violence is not mandatory for him, it’s just good-old fashioned fun. And no one is safe from his carnage.

He is Hellborn and feels like he should be the rightful general of Malebolgia’s armies. He is one of five demon brothers – Phlebiac Brothers – and even they found him too despicable to put up with. So they kicked him out of Hell.

When you’re such a bastard that you get yourself kicked out of Hell, you know you have issues. This is Clown.

Though he is fat and short, these are only a façade to his true persona. When vexed enough, Clown sheds his mortal disguise and reveals the grotesque beast he truly is underneath – The Violator.

A demonic power almost too much for even Spawn to contend with.

4 – Angela

Oh sure! As though fighting the Devil and demons were not enough, Heaven has to send down their very best as well. Heaven’s best would be Angela, the beautiful angelic spawn-slayer. She has one purpose – kill each and every Hellspawn in existence.

What I love about her and Spawn’s interactions is the gradual trust that eventually develops between them. Some may call it romance, and I like that. But I see it more as a mutual respect between two lost souls – two struggling warriors – both caught betwixt infinite powers that are pulling the fabrics of Creation apart. These two start off by battling each other to shreds, but then become allies in hopes of saving the World from falling apart.

Due to her alliance with Spawn – one that takes her down into the steaming pits of Hell to battle the ancient Devil himself – she is cast off from her brethren who see her as a whore of the demon. She becomes a renegade angel and is looked down upon among her own kind.

Spawn tells Heaven she was too good for any of them and no one dares challenge him. Angela was the only being able to hold her own against Simmons.

3 – Kid Killer Kincaid

Without a doubt ,his is the darkest addition to the Spawn legacy. He is not a devil, and neither is he a hell-spawned demon. He is a sick fuck who drives around in an ice cream truck and lures little children into his wagon of torture and death.

He proves that the most disgusting monsters among us are the human variant. He is a disgusting and deplorable character (rightly so too!!!) but he is oddly necessary to the lore. It also drives home a philosophy I love so much from a masterfully told story. One that reminds us that perhaps not all demons are bad, not every angel wears a straight halo, and people can just be terrible.

Kincaid adds a far more frightening tone to a well-told horror story.

2 – It’s a Love Story

Yup, that’s right. It’s a romance that just happens to have Hell and a lot (and I mean A LOT) of violence in it.

Al Simmons just wanted to be with the woman he loved. That’s all. He didn’t lose his soul. He sold it. And he didn’t sell it for wealth, power, or an hour of Hollywood fame. He sold his soul to see her face again.

That’s beautiful!

1 – Finally, Spawn Kicked Satan’s Ass

In the SATAN SAGA WARS we get to finally see Spawn go to the core of Hell and challenge Satan right from his infernal throne.

And it’s just as awesome as it should be!

Hell screwed up when they orchestrated Wanda’s untimely death. She was killed by a rioting mob, and that would be a mistake Satan would soon come to regret once Simmons got word of it. But by this time in the comics, Al Simmons was no longer Spawn – that power had been handed over to another, and Simmons had crucified himself hoping to be forgotten for the rest of time.

In his isolation though, God appeared to Simmons in the form of a dog and told Al that Wanda had been killed and was now held prisoner by Satan. To say Simmons was pissed is an understatement. Simmons wasn’t having any of that. He resumed the Spawn mantle and took up a divine sword then stormed down the infernal reaches of the Abyss, into the reeking depths of the lowest regions in Hell just to kick Satan’s red ass once and for all.

No demon and no devil was safe from him. In one instance Spawn confronts a whole region of demons who block his way from their Dark Master. As it’s written in the story: “Before he’s finished one of them…and only one of them…will deliver his final message. A single, simple sentence that will make Satan shudder upon hearing it.”

What then follows is nothing short of 17 pages of ectoplasmic gore being sprayed and splattered in every way you can imagine as Spawn slashes his way through the demonic hordes until only one demon remains – true to his promise. And what’s the message this lone survivor is to deliver to the Prince of Darkness?

“Tell Satan I’m here!”

The actual fight between Spawn and Satan is great. I can’t give too much of it away, because it’s very much worth your time to read.

Whether we will see any of these elements in the upcoming reboot is still to be discovered. In the meantime it’s not a bad idea to brush up on some Spawn comics as we wait.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this countdown of reasons why we’re excited to know a new Spawn movie is in the works. What are your favorite aspects of the demonic saga? Let us know in the comments below.