On the subject of why Todd McFarlane expects his movie, an R-rated Spawn remake, or reboot, will not be like Deadpool or Logan, it’s easy to say that he sounds kind of like an arrogant elitist that can’t imagine why anyone else’s work should be considered that great. I mean really, here’s a quote:
“It’s funny in Hollywood, if you say you want to do an R-rated movie, they go like “Oh like Deadpool or Logan?” For me, no. To me, Deadpool was the PG-13 action movie, it just had some naked butts and a couple of f-bombs. Other than that, I thought it was the same PG-13 formula.”
PG-13 formula? Um, no, respectfully, no. McFarlane struck gold back in 1992 when he came out with the character of Al Simmons, aka Spawn. I’ll even admit that I was into the character for a while until the story just kind of silly and didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He hung out in an alleyway with bums that he protected, he fought against the agents of Malebolge as well as heavenly creatures that wanted to eradicate him. Spawn wasn’t much of a hero really, he was a guy imbued with hellish powers that took care of himself and those he held near and dear to his demonic heart. In other words he was kind of the guy that just did what he felt was right in the moment and otherwise didn’t care about the rest of the world unless it came barging into his domain.
I can even recall that he was getting his butt kicked once by Batman until he uncorked his power and sent Batman packing. Of course other heroes have had issues with Batman so that’s kind of forgivable. But McFarlane openly trashing Deadpool and Logan in favor of saying that his new Spawn movie is going to be something messed up and just disturbing is a bit egotistic really. The first Spawn film was a train wreck, so it’s not like they have much in the way of a bar to reach on the reboot. It’d be like stepping over a minor speed bump in an effort to do something far greater. What I think he’s forgetting about the other films he mentioned though is the essence of each character.
Deadpool has hardly ever been a serious character, as he’s always cracking wise and always treating life like it’s one big gag. Even in the face of impending doom he’s bound to snap out a one-liner even as he’s drilling some guy with a bullet or a katana. Oh yeah, in case McFarlane forgot, there was a lot, I mean a LOT of violence in Deadpool and Logan. It wasn’t a bloodbath like Tarantino movie, but it was enough to get that R rating along with the language and the content. Logan was always serious, but he had a moral code that he followed despite his desire to be alone most times. Unlike Spawn, both heroes were far more active in the world outside their humble little abodes, and were often more prone to action than Spawn has ever been.
So hopefully this new Spawn will be miles above the original, but right now it seems that McFarlane needs to remind himself to not badmouth films that have already proven their worth.
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