Spawn’s Monolith Reveal Just Transformed the Franchise Forever
Spawn is renowned for its depiction of the battle between Heaven and Hell, but a new character has taken the franchise to greater heights. Monolith, introduced in Spawn #313, has transformed the Spawn Universe by revealing the existence of extraterrestrial life.
In The Scorched #17 by Sean Lewis and Stephen Segovia, Monolith discloses his extraterrestrial roots. He warns the Scorched team of the imminent threat of the “Planet Eaters,” cosmic entities that destroyed his home planet. Monolith tells the other Hellspawn of the Scorched, “They will feed, just as they did to my planet,” before explaining that he is on Earth to fight the Eaters and avenge his fallen world.
Monolith Expands the Spawn Universe to the Stars
This revelation is a game-changer for the Spawn universe. While the franchise has previously hinted at the existence of extraterrestrial life, confirming that Monolith is an alien opens up a new direction for Spawn and his universe of characters to explore. The Spawn universe is already vast, encompassing not only the realms of Heaven and Hell but also other pantheons of gods from various world mythologies. The character of Monolith and the threat of the Planet Eaters allow the horror superhero franchise to delve into science fiction, with Earth being just one of many battlefronts rather than the ultimate battleground of Heaven vs. Hell.
Monolith was introduced in Spawn #313but The Scorched #17 (from Sean Lewis and Stephen Segovia) is where Monolith reveals his extraterrestrial origins. The issue finds Monolith warning the Scorched team of the coming threat of the “Planet Eaters” – the cosmic entities that destroyed his homeworld. “They will feed, just as they did to my planet,” Monolith tells the other Hellspawn of the Scorched, before explaining he’s on Earth to fight the Eaters and get revenge for his fallen world.
Monolith Expands Spawn’s Universe to the Stars
It’s a pretty game-changing revelation for the greater Spawn universe. The franchise has danced around the idea of extraterrestrial life before, but by confirming that Monolith is in fact an alien, that opens up a whole new direction for Spawn and his universe of characters to explore. That universe is already huge, encapsulating not just the realms of Heaven and Hell, but also other pantheons of gods from various world mythologies. The character of Monolith and the threat of the Planet Eaters allows the horror superhero franchise to move more into the realm of science fiction, making Earth not the ultimate battlefront of Heaven vs Hell, but just one of many.
Does Monolith Have Any Connection to Alien Spawn?
While Monolith is the first confirmed alien Hellspawn, there was previously an action figure in the 1990s Spawn line of action figures. Released in Spawn Series 6 in 1996, “Alien Spawn” never appeared in any other Spawn media. The only information about him is what was written on the back of his toy packaging, with a file card that describes him as “the chief warrior from the Planet Keosp,” who then saved that planet from ultimate destruction after receiving the powers of a Hellspawn. Alien Spawn does seem to share some commonalities with Monolith. Both Hellspawn are hulking figures, looking far more monstrous than Al Simmons or any of his Earth-bound kin. However, Alien Spawn is even more inhuman in appearance, covered in various tubes shaped like bones and making use of a “mine-slinging catapult” in battle. However, given that Hellspawn can change their appearance on a whim (see Gunslinger Spawn’s new look), it’s possible that Monolith could be a revamped version of Alien Spawn, especially with this new revelation.
Despite its scope, the Spawn franchise has generally portrayed its heroes as fighting the major conflict of the series. However, if there are many alien worlds with their own Hellspawn, then this universe is infinitely more vast than it originally seemed. Only future issues will reveal how integral alien life is to the Spawn canon, but as recent comics expand the franchise’s focus, Monolith’s origin reveal makes it clear that there’s still so much to explore in this iconic world of aliens, demons, and now aliens.
