History Sandbox / MonsterSpawn

''Franchise/{{Spawn}}'' is an incredibly dark comic from UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, but still has [[CompleteMonster several monsters who stand out]].

** [[AmbitionIsEvil CIA Director Jason Wynn]] is a power-hungry man in league with the forces of Hell. Believing they will allow him to [[TakeOverTheWorld rule Earth]], Wynn tricks agents into killing innocents and has Simmons murdered in a dirty mission, setting up an explosion that kills thousands of innocent villagers. Killing millions to perfect his bioweapon, [[SyntheticPlague Heat-16]], Wynn is convinced to attach himself to the weapon's switch, threatening to wipe out the world if it doesn't submit to his rule. When the revived Simmons tries to kill him, Wynn takes his family hostage, including Simmons' young daughter.

* [[Film/Spawn1997 1997 live-action film]]: [[MonsterClown Clown]]/[[OneWingedAngel Violator]] is as monstrous as his comic counterpart. The chief lieutenant of the devil [[GreaterScopeVillain Malebolgia]], who sent him to Earth to start Armageddon, he's a revolting demon who gets off on violence and depravity, even at the expense of his allies. He makes a deal with black ops security chief Jason Wynn by offering him dominion of the world in exchange for creating a bioweapon that would kill most of humanity, after first having it tested on thousands of people. Malebolgia can then use the souls of the dead as his army to invade and destroy Heaven. Clown initially orders the death of Al Simmons/Spawn at Wynn's hands, recruiting Simmons after his return to Earth to lead Hell's army. He convinces Wynn to [[DeadMansSwitch attach the virus to his heart rate]] after letting Spawn kill Wynn's top assassin, Jessica Priest, then manipulates Spawn into killing Wynn to release the virus. When this fails, the frustrated Clown tries to rape Spawn's ex-fiancée Wanda in front of Spawn while [[ForcedToWatch forcing him to watch]], and promises that he'll slaughter the rest of Wanda's family—including her new husband Terry and their [[WouldHurtAChild 4-year old daughter Cyan]]—when he's done.

[[folder: Examples]]

[[folder: Examples]]

[[folder: Examples]]

[[AC:Crossovers]]
[[folder: Examples]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Curse of the Spawn}}'' issues #1-4 & ''[[ComicBook/SpawnBloodAndSalvation Blood and Salvation]]'', written by Alan McElroy:

%% NOTE: Due to the controversial nature of this trope, any changes (additions, removals, edits) should be discussed here or here.

** [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Phlegethonyarre]] is an Archon of Hell's Twelfth Level and ruler of Hell in the far future, who possesses a strong hatred toward God and religion. At one point capturing the soul of the troubled Daniel Llano, to turn him into his own personal Hellspawn and brainwash him into leading his army to Earth, Phlegethonyarre laid waste to the planet, reducing humanity and all living things to a very small number, and has his demons torture and slaughter anyone they find or transform them into monstrous Nightmares. Turning Earth into an [[HellOnEarth unholy wasteland]], Phlegethonyarre desires to [[KillAllHumans erase humanity from the face of the Earth]], simply as spite against God and faith.
** [[SinisterMinister Anti-Pope]] is a [[TheDragon second-in-command]] of Phlegethonyarre's army, who organized the torture and slaughter of humanity. Creating his own city of Nu-Vatican, Anti-Pope tortures and transforms countless people into demonic zombie slaves in his chambers, while [[{{Sadist}} watching with joy]] at the suffering of humanity. Having his generals capture and turn many [[WouldHurtAChild children]] into monsters, Anti-Pope turns humanity's leader Abel into his servant, simply so he could capture the nephew of Daniel Llano, the current Hellspawn, and lure him into his tower made of human bones, so that his top general Abaddon could force Spawn into a SadisticChoice. After the death of Abaddon and part of his forces, Anti-Pope summons the horrifying Mumblers in his last attempt of wiping out the remains of humanity.

* ''[[ComicBook/SpawnGodslayer Godslayer]]'' issues #1-4--"The Winter King" arc: Urshrek, the Winter King, is a tyrannical god and ruler of the land of Uhmber who keeps the land in EndlessWinter. The only way the people can keep themselves alive is to worship him and give him {{human sacrifice}}s to satiate his hunger. One man dissents, as he was the father of one of Urshrek's sacrificed meals. Urshrek turns him into a [[AndIMustScream living skeleton that begs for death]]. After the Godslayer, Elyar, gives Urshrek a minor wound, the king devours him. Inside, Elyar discovers that Urshrek [[SoulEating devours the souls]] of his own sacrifices, keeping them as [[LivingBattery living batteries]] to fuel his powers. Worst of all, Urshrek is revealed to be Jorren the Summer King, and the promise of summer is a lie. Urshrek forces thousands of innocent people to continue to worship and performing human sacrifices to him under the pretense that he will one day give them better lives. He even admits to himself that he has no intention of ending the endless winter. Once the Godslayer defeats him, Urshrek then self-destructs as a last resort, setting off explosion which buried an entire country in snow and ice.
* ''[[ComicBook/TheAdventuresOfSpawn The Adventures of Spawn]]'', written by Jonathan Goff: {{Mammon}}, as reimagined in this LighterAndSofter work, is a powerful demon lord from the [[DarkIsEvil Forces of Darkness]], who constantly tries to bring chaos and destruction to the universe. Gathering his own [[LegionOfDoom team of villains]], Mammon created a plan to open the Gates of Limbo and release his master Malebolgia upon the cosmos. To this end he has Overtkill destroy a museum full of people; the Amazon Tiffany assassinate the whole angelic Council of Light; and Cy-Gor attack Al Simmons, aka Spawn X, and his family. Getting his hands on the Awakening Stone, Mammon plans to [[OmnicidalManiac end all life on Earth]] and tries to painfully strip Al Simmons from his symbiotic costume.

%% NOTE: Due to the controversial nature of this trope, any changes (additions, removals, edits) should be discussed [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=6vic3f9h1cy5qivsenw8llok here]].

* ''[[ComicBook/CurseOfTheSpawn Curse of the Spawn]]'' issues #1-4 & ''[[ComicBook/SpawnBloodAndSalvation Blood and Salvation]]'', written by Alan McElroy:

* [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] game: [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Malebolgia]], the demon who created Spawn, is once again presented as one of Spawn's most insidious foes. Malebolgia [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] an [[FallenAngel Angel]] with rumors of a weapon capable of destroying him. The Angel, quickly earning the name "The Mad One" among his peers, kidnaps 13 children and steals their souls, creating an orb of purity that is capable of destroying Malebolgia, but its use [[WouldHurtAChild will cost the children their lives]]. The Mad One opens a portal to Hell to confront Malebolgia. After Spawn defeats the Mad One in an effort to save the children, Malebolgia takes the orb, revealing that he manipulated the Mad One so he would bring him innocent souls. Malebolgia then bonds the souls to his neural parasites and creates a giant demon called the New Breed, which he sends to Earth to [[SoulEating feast on innocent souls]].
* Music/IcedEarth's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piuKH9JbTeo Dark Saga]]" & "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8HPqm8MKQw The Last Laugh]]": [[BigBad Malebolgia]], the self-proclaimed "destroyer of the light", is the demon who is responsible for creating ComicBook/{{Spawn}}. Making a {{deal|With The Devil}} with the deceased CIA soldier Al Simmons, Malebolgia rigged the deal, resulting in Al's soul becoming corrupted and tormented, becoming the present Spawn. It was soon revealed that Malebolgia tries to manipulate Spawn for his own bidding in order to [[KillAllHumans destroy mankind]] and [[RageAgainstTheHeavens the heavens]].

* ''[[ComicBook/MedievalSpawnWitchblade Medieval Spawn/Witchblade]]'' (1996), written by Creator/GarthEnnis: [[BigBad Lord Cardinale]] is a medieval wielder of "ComicBook/TheDarkness", and definitely the vilest. Using his power to take over a large chunk of territory, Cardinale rules like an EvilOverlord. After Matthew Royale told him about the power of Elven artifacts, Cardinale eagerly invaded the Elven homeland of Faerie, massacring thousands of Elves and destroying their homes. When the current wielder of Witchblade and Spawn were close to defeating him, he decided to power himself up by absorbing all Darkness essence from--in effect killing--all his servants, including his lover.
* ''[[ComicBook/MedievalSpawnAndWitchblade Medieval Spawn and Witchblade]]'' (2018), written by Brian Haberlin & Brian Holguin: [[BigBad The Trinity]] is a being from another dimension who managed to find his way to Earth. Splitting itself into three forms of the Mother, the Daughter, and the Unholy Spirit, The Trinity used its "Daughter" form to seduce both King Valon and his friend Leith and then convinced Leith to kill Valon. Revealing its true form to Leith, leading to him [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]] and becoming Hellspawn, the Trinity began corrupting the lands, spreading the Blight and sending its monsters to attack and kill innocent people. Using its "Mother" form to kidnap the women of the tribe, which rebelled against her with newly arrived Spawn, it painfully killed them and tried to [[WouldHurtAChild kill a little girl]], who was the current wielder of Witchblade. Later trying to corrupt the wielder of Witchblade to its side, the Trinity attempted to consume the Earth by merging it with the Nightmare Realm.

* ''[[ComicBook/SpawnBloodFeud Blood Feud]]'': John [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Sansker]] is an ancient [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who [[HunterOfMonsters hunts other monsters]] he deems [[TheSocialDarwinist inferior]] and as competition. Making himself known by torturing The Curse into giving him false information about Spawn, Sansker robs a blood bank; commits a series of mass murders in an apartment; pins the massacres on Spawn and turns everyone against him from the homeless people he protects to his CIA contacts; makes several attempts to kill him while {{gaslighting}} him into thinking that his costume is behind the killings. As Sam and Twitch catch onto Sansker, he brutally beats Twitch nearly to death and stuffs him in a locker and kills the cops accompanying Sam. Confronted by a newly invigorated Spawn, he expresses his goal to claim the title of leader of the vampires and take over Hong Kong, subjugating humanity to become cattle before he flees, satisfied with having destroyed Spawn's reputation.
* ''[[ComicBook/CurseOfTheSpawn Curse of the Spawn]]'' issues #1-4 & ''[[ComicBook/SpawnBloodAndSalvation Blood and Salvation]]'':

* ''[[ComicBook/SpawnGodslayer Godslayer]]'': Urshrek, the Winter King, is a tyrannical god and ruler of the land of Uhmber who keeps the land in EndlessWinter. The only way the people can keep themselves alive is to worship him and give him {{human sacrifice}}s to satiate his hunger. One man dissents, as he was the father of one of Urshrek's sacrificed meals. Urshrek turns him into a [[AndIMustScream living skeleton that begs for death]]. After the Godslayer, Elyar, gives Urshrek a minor wound, the king devours him. Inside, Elyar discovers that Urshrek [[SoulEating devours the souls]] of his own sacrifices, keeping them as [[LivingBattery living batteries]] to fuel his powers. Worst of all, Urshrek is revealed to be Jorren the Summer King, and the promise of summer is a lie. Urshrek forces thousands of innocent people to continue to worship and performing human sacrifices to him under the pretense that he will one day give them better lives. He even admits to himself that he has no intention of ending the endless winter. Once the Godslayer defeats him, Urshrek then self-destructs as a last resort, setting off explosion which buried an entire country in snow and ice.
* ''[[ComicBook/TheAdventuresOfSpawn The Adventures of Spawn]]'': {{Mammon}}, as reimagined in this LighterAndSofter work, is a powerful demon lord from the [[DarkIsEvil Forces of Darkness]], who constantly tries to bring chaos and destruction to the universe. Gathering his own [[LegionOfDoom team of villains]], Mammon created a plan to open the Gates of Limbo and release his master Malebolgia upon the cosmos. To this end he has Overtkill destroy a museum full of people; the Amazon Tiffany assassinate the whole angelic Council of Light; and Cy-Gor attack Al Simmons, aka Spawn X, and his family. Getting his hands on the Awakening Stone, Mammon plans to [[OmnicidalManiac end all life on Earth]] and tries to painfully strip Al Simmons from his symbiotic costume.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}[=/=]Spawn: War Devil'', by Doug Moench, Creator/ChuckDixon, Alan Grant, & Klaus Janson: [[BigBad Croatoan]] is an [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious demon]] in service to Satan who murders then assumes the identity of corporate leader Simon Vesper--supposedly killed by Spawn--for his own ambitions. Responsible for damning 100 lives of a [[UsefulNotes/TheLostColonyOfRoanoke Roanoke colony]] to Hell centuries ago, Croatoan attempts to do the same to one-hundred thousand more lives across [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham City]], slaughtering his own human proxy before cutting out the power all across Gotham and arising the dead to slaughter as they will across Gotham. Croatoan's ultimate intention is to lead in the apocalypse using the souls of those he's damned as his army, all for his own corner of Hell to rule over as reward.
* ''Medieval Spawn/ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' (1996, by Creator/GarthEnnis et al.): [[BigBad Lord Cardinale]] is a medieval wielder of "ComicBook/TheDarkness", and definitely the vilest. Using his power to take over a large chunk of territory, Cardinale rules like an EvilOverlord. After Matthew Royale told him about the power of Elven artifacts, Cardinale eagerly invaded the Elven homeland of Faerie, massacring thousands of Elves and destroying their homes. When the current wielder of Witchblade and Spawn were close to defeating him, he decided to power himself up by absorbing all Darkness essence from--in effect killing--all his servants, including his lover.
* ''Medieval Spawn and ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' (2018, written by Brian Haberlin & Brian Holguin): [[BigBad The Trinity]] is a being from another dimension who managed to find his way to Earth. Splitting itself into three forms of the Mother, the Daughter, and the Unholy Spirit, The Trinity used its "Daughter" form to seduce both King Valon and his friend Leith and then convinced Leith to kill Valon. Revealing its true form to Leith, leading to him [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]] and becoming Hellspawn, the Trinity began corrupting the lands, spreading the Blight and sending its monsters to attack and kill innocent people. Using its "Mother" form to kidnap the women of the tribe, which rebelled against her with newly arrived Spawn, it painfully killed them and tried to [[WouldHurtAChild kill a little girl]], who was the current wielder of Witchblade. Later trying to corrupt the wielder of Witchblade to its side, the Trinity attempted to consume the Earth by merging it with the Nightmare Realm.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clown_2.jpg]]

-->--'''God''', to Angela, about '''Malebolgia''', ''Curse of the Spawn'' #10

[[AC:[[ComicBook/{{Spawn}} Comic Books]]]]

* Pre-Resurrection: [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks God and Satan]] are two sons of the Mother of Creation, who started their petty war against each other as soon as they were given their own planet to rule. Creating Angels and Demons to serve as foot soldiers in their war, God and Satan had them slaughter each other in an endless conflict. Eventually God created humanity as one of the resources for his war, but Satan gave humanity free will, resulting in God and Satan using humanity's souls instead, with both Heaven and Hell capturing any soul for themselves after each human died, no matter if person was evil or good. When the Mother of Creation removed them from their Seats of Power and trapped them in the bodies of Blake's twins to teach them humility, God and Satan almost immediately started to show off their destructive nature by messing with Wanda's mind several times and at one point trying to kill their own adoptive family. Regaining their memories, God and Satan resume their war, with God summoning thousands of souls of good people to forcefully transform them into his soldiers and Satan unleashing the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse upon the world, resulting in the deaths of billions. In the end, God and Satan's war resulted in the whole Earth being devoid of life, forcing Spawn to teleport to another dimension to recreate Earth and resurrect the billions of people who dies in their conflict, hoping that without God and Satan, a new Earth would have a better future.

* ''Blood Feud'': John [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Sansker]] is an ancient [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who [[HunterOfMonsters hunts other monsters]] he deems [[TheSocialDarwinist inferior]] and as competition. Making himself known by torturing The Curse into giving him false information about Spawn, Sansker robs a blood bank; commits a series of mass murders in an apartment; pins the massacres on Spawn and turns everyone against him from the homeless people he protects to his CIA contacts; makes several attempts to kill him while {{gaslighting}} him into thinking that his costume is behind the killings. As Sam and Twitch catch onto Sansker, he brutally beats Twitch nearly to death and stuffs him in a locker and kills the cops accompanying Sam. Confronted by a newly invigorated Spawn, he expresses his goal to claim the title of leader of the vampires and take over Hong Kong, subjugating humanity to become cattle before he flees, satisfied with having destroyed Spawn's reputation.
* ''Curse of the Spawn'' issues #1-4 & ''Blood and Salvation'':

* ''Godslayer'': Urshrek, the Winter King, is a tyrannical god and ruler of the land of Uhmber who keeps the land in EndlessWinter. The only way the people can keep themselves alive is to worship him and give him {{human sacrifice}}s to satiate his hunger. One man dissents, as he was the father of one of Urshrek's sacrificed meals. Urshrek turns him into a [[AndIMustScream living skeleton that begs for death]]. After the Godslayer, Elyar, gives Urshrek a minor wound, the king devours him. Inside, Elyar discovers that Urshrek [[SoulEating devours the souls]] of his own sacrifices, keeping them as [[LivingBattery living batteries]] to fuel his powers. Worst of all, Urshrek is revealed to be Jorren the Summer King, and the promise of summer is a lie. Urshrek forces thousands of innocent people to continue to worship and performing human sacrifices to him under the pretense that he will one day give them better lives. He even admits to himself that he has no intention of ending the endless winter. Once the Godslayer defeats him, Urshrek then self-destructs as a last resort, setting off explosion which buried an entire country in snow and ice.

* ''The Adventures of Spawn'': {{Mammon}}, as reimagined in this LighterAndSofter work, is a powerful demon lord from the [[DarkIsEvil Forces of Darkness]], who constantly tries to bring chaos and destruction to the universe. Gathering his own [[LegionOfDoom team of villains]], Mammon created a plan to open the Gates of Limbo and release his master Malebolgia upon the cosmos. To this end he has Overtkill destroy a museum full of people; the Amazon Tiffany assassinate the whole angelic Council of Light; and Cy-Gor attack Al Simmons, aka Spawn X, and his family. Getting his hands on the Awakening Stone, Mammon plans to [[OmnicidalManiac end all life on Earth]] and tries to painfully strip Al Simmons from his symbiotic costume.
* ''The Dark Ages''' issue #22 ("The Seeding"): [[CardCarryingVillain Yagher Dien]] is a Hellspawn meant to become Covenant's successor. [[MisanthropeSupreme Despising humanity]] from birth and reveling in evil for its own sake, Yagher Dien [[SiblingMurder killed his own brother]] just so he could have more food for himself at the table. Later in life, Yagher Dien made a career out of raping, murdering, and stealing, eventually coming to rule over an Irish village where he [[EvilOverlord ruled as a despot]], killing thousands of villagers. After his brutal death at the hands of the villagers he reigned over, Yagher Dien became Malebolgia's perfect soldier, seeking to be released by Covenant to [[HellOnEarth turn the world into a wasteland]].

[[AC:Other Media (by release date)]]