The Spirit (film)/WMG

The Golden Fleece was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.
Oh, come on! Somebody had to say it.
 * Both cases were at one time in possession of characters played by Samuel L. Jackson.

The film was a plot to scare people away from DC Comics forever.
It appears to contain the worst proportion of silliness to Darker and Edgier possible.

The film was a Xanatos Gambit in order to get new blood into reading the original The Spirit comics.
Those who went to the film would be so repulsed by how bad it is that they would go read the source material in order to see how badly the filmmakers fucked up, thus finding the books far superior by comparison. This would increase the fanbase and give writers an excuse to continue the comics well into the future. And if, by some miracle, people liked the film they would read the comics and the filmmakers make a profit.

As with Speed Racer, critics panned this movie because...
They were too arrogant to admit they loved every second of it. Conceding how awesome this movie is would destroy their precious little worlds.
 * Of all the theories on this page, this is the one that is far and away most likely to be true.

Frank Miller really didn't like Will Eisner.
And that is why he butchered Eisner's legacy so.

The Movie was made by The Octopus
Seriously, it was a good way to discredit his archenemy

Frank Miller DID make this film as a parody of himself and his style.
But couldn't market the film this way due to a lack of interest or contractual obligations. As an adaptation of The Spirit, it falls quite flat; as a scathing self-parody of Miller and his imitators, it's brilliantly funny.
 * Maybe he DID intend to make a parody but couldn't get the money to finance it without claiming that it was a "serious" movie. So that's just what he did, and then let the movie speak for itself.

The film was made for TV Tropes.
It's the reason so many Tropes are thrown in for... no reason?