The first Spawn film was absolutely atrocious. Subpar special effects, mediocre villians, or at least villians who appeared so based on how they were presented, & a powerless "superhero" that didn't amount to anything really special. All ingredients for a disaster that the image (no pun) of a film (both solo & franchise wise) may never recover from. That however, isn't going to stop Spawn creator Todd McFarlane from trying to make his greatest creation a household name by returning to the big screen. Everyone should know by now (if they go on entertainment websites) that Todd is hopefully preparing to have Spawn make a "comeback" by scripting a new project he wants to put out. Me personally...I feel Todd should think strongly about following Marvel, & now DC's footsteps as far as linking together his franchise player with other past Image Comic series. I would absolutely love to see the original "Magnificent Seven" (not all seven though) who founded Image Comics come together once again to pull off a possibly entertaining project of great magnitude. I was actually a HUGE fan of what those guys did, & accomplished in the beginning of their self publishing careers. However, due to unfortunate circumstances (most of which were caused by those guys) I had to drop my attention from their monthly series year to year until I finally realized that keeping it focused on "The Big Two" is what truly mattered to me the most.
I still would like to see all my favorite characters from the "former" third biggest comic publisher come to life in movie form. None of these heroes have found great success (other than Spawn) that can be compared to anything the upper level publishers have put out over their longevity. I still think an "Image Cinematic Universe" would be great regardless of how people might feel initially towards something like that. All Todd would need to do is come up with HIS version of an "Iron Man" type epic to kick things off, & see where it takes the rest of the series. I know I might be over simplifying what he needs to do on his end, but all I'm saying is use both Marvel's first film, & even Nolans' style (not a lot though) of what he did to craft his vision of "The Trilogy" as blueprints to guide himself in creating his own story. What's also great about a project like this coming to fruition is the fact that tone wise all their former top characters are on the same level. What I mean by that is as far as being "kid friendly" none of these heroes were ever classified by such a title. So going R rated won't be a problem for any of these guys. So lets go McFarlane, Larsen, Liefeld, & Lee. I want to see a universal crossover series between my favorite Image characters Youngblood, Spawn, Dragon, & "The C.A.T.S.". In case you've noticed me leaving out the other key members of the "magnificent" group I purposely did so, because I was never a fan of their work...so why bother? I also know that Jim Lee has been a DC employee ever since he sold them everything he created for the Image company, but maybe due to the position he currently holds he could work out some sort of deal to have his number one franchise involved.