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The cameras roll, and our hero roars down the grimy backstreet on a Pop-artsy, two-wheeled motorcycle-turned-arsenal. Behind him, his costume's gothic cape billows with equal parts majesty and menace (at least it will in theaters, through the magic of digital tailoring). His face is little more than a moonlit motion blur, but it's easy enough to see that he's grim and determined and driven by inner demons. More striking still: He's not Batman. He's Spawn, as in ''of the devil,'' a tragic, tormented avenger from beyond the grave. And he's easily the biggest comic-book phenomenon that the mainstream hasn't gotten hip to -- yet.

The $39 million live-action Spawn movie, due in August from New Line Cinema, could go a long way toward giving this brooding subculture sensation some coveted brand-name recognition. ''I think Spawn will be cool to the right people,'' says the character's 35-year-old creator, Todd McFarlane. ''Mom might not get it, whereas she gets Batman. But the kids will get it. On some level, I think that makes it cooler.''

Hollywood executives may not entirely get creations like Spawn either, but they're willing to try. More studios and production companies than ever are turning to largely unsung superheroes in the hope of latching on to new franchises -- complete with sequels, toy lines, and fast-food promotional tie-ins. With Batman and Superman already spoken for, the movie industry has suddenly discovered comic book characters that are familiar only to collectors, viewing them as underexploited rather than unexploitable.

Given the recent successes of The Crow and The Mask, both of which successfully morphed from low-profile comics into high-profit movies, the sudden boom is no mystery. The new teen-superhero group Gen13, which consistently outsells Batman, has lassoed both live-action and video-animation deals. Warner Bros., home to Batman and Superman, has placed its bets on sister company DC Comics' comparatively obscure Steel (an armor-plated Superman spin-off who will show up this summer in a $23 million film starring hoopster thespian Shaquille O'Neal), as well as a 1993 cult fave about the Grim Reaper called Death: The High Cost of Living. Meanwhile, comic-book sales leader Marvel, bogged down for years in disputes over the film rights to its flagship character, Spider-Man, is now making its first hands-on foray into live action with a little-known hero called Blade, an obsessive vampire hunter being played by Wesley Snipes.

''It's easy to look at Spider-Man or the X-Men and say, 'Yeah, that's a slam dunk [movie],' because everybody knows them,'' says Marvel Studios CEO and president Avi Arad. ''But at the end of the day, what made Batman Batman was Tim Burton. If Blade is a good movie, it won't matter who knew or didn't know the character beforehand.''

Blade is being made by New Line, which seems to have an unmatched affinity for the comics-to-movies genre: In addition to releasing The Mask and overseeing the Snipes vehicle and Spawn, the company is developing Badrock, the story of a nerdy teen turned invincible stone monolith; Avengelyne, about a fallen female angel seeking redemption on earth; and Venom, featuring a morphing, razor-toothed monstrosity initially introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man as a new supervillain. ''Any source material may have limited appeal, whether it's novels or plays or comic books,'' admits New Line's hipster production boss, Michael De Luca, a professed comics fan who cowrote the story for the comics-to-movies dud Judge Dredd. ''But that same source material may also contain really strong stories, stories that can easily be turned into movies.''


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