'Spawn' is a dark superhero film based on Todd McFarlane's comic, in which an assassin (Michael Jai White) is murdered, sent to hell, and returns as a hellspawn warrior manipulated by a demonic clown named the Violator, played with grotesque relish by John Leguizamo. Notable as one of the first Hollywood comic adaptations to headline a Black superhero, it is remembered mostly for its dated CGI and campy excess. Critically panned, it survives as a curio of 1990s comic-book cinema.