(1997) Beyond life and death, this is between Heaven and Hell - a choice must be made between good and evil. Following the destruction of a British aircraft on the runway in Hong Kong, CIA special agent and trained killing machine Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) informs Director Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen) he's had enough because of the needless loss of innocent lives.

"You don't quit us, son," replies Wynn, Malebolgia's lieutenant on Earth, extracting one last operation from Simmons in exchange for his release. At a biochemical plant in North Korea, agent Jessica Priest (Melinda Clarke) ignites Simmons - "You're the dead man," pronounces Wynn: "See you in hell, Al" - dispatching him, burned to a crisp, to the final inferno.

Five years later with a fragmented memory, a new Hellspawn emerges in a neoplasmic body. "Come on, my barbequed friend," says the blue-faced, obese, campy Clown (John Leguizamo, who has the best lines throughout: "Oops. A wet one. I hope I didn't stain my underwear. Look at that. Skid marks"): "In the name of the people and things of Hell, I dub thee ... Spawn, general of Hell's armies. Arise, Your Crispness! Arise, Duke of Deep-Fried! Sultan of Sizzling! Emir of Ooey-Gooey!"

Employing fiery special effects (though limited budget allowed lapses in quality), director Mark A.Z. Dippé co-wrote the screenstory with screenwriter Alan McElroy, based on Todd McFarlane's comic book, in which the final test takes place: "If we hadn't recruited him," says the Clown who transmogrifies into the Violator, "the other side would have."

As a parting shot, Wynn had said to Simmons, "Don't worry about Wanda," referring to his girl, Wanda Blake (Theresa Randle). To Spawn, Malebolgia emphasizes the arrangement of the bargain to kill Wynn: "If you lead my army, you can see Wanda again." In his absence, Simmon's former partner Terrance Fitzgerald (D.B. Sweeney) has married Wanda; they have a child Cyan.

Somewhat like a merger of Iron Man and Spiderman, Spawn's neoplasticity transforms into an armor carapace with all sorts of weapon brought through thought into physical reality, allowing him to scale buildings, shoot out cables, and extrude a crimson cape. In his next encounter with Priest, Spawn returns the favor: "Where you're going everyday's Halloween."

Having sold his soul for wealth and power, Wynn prepares to exterminate humanity, initiating Armageddon, with his HEAT-16 bio-weapon - "Soon the whole world will be at my command" - along with having, at the Clown's insistence as a safeguard, an implant inside his heart so that if he's killed the virus bomb will be released immediately.

An ancient assassin, Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson), who also serves as narrator, attempts to convince Spawn to heed the consequences and let go of his past: "The war between Heaven and Hell depends on the choices we make, and those choices require sacrifice." Spawn replies: "All right, Yoda."

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