Lt. Colonel Albert “Al” Simmons, USMC (Ret.), was a highly trained CIA assassin, who was murdered by his employer and his former friend Chapel. When Simmons sold his soul to Malebolgia in order to return to earth to see his wife Wanda Blake again, he found he got more than he bargained for. Malebolgia used Al as the reborn Spawn, or Hellspawn, to do his bidding.
Albert Francis Simmons was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was the second of three children (Marc, Al and Richard) to Bernard Simmons, was a traveling salesman, and Esther Simmons, a devil worshipper. His grandfather, Henry Simmons, knew a Hellspawn called “Gunslinger Spawn”. Simmons was a very intelligent and physically strong officer in the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He later joined the United States Secret Service and became a highly decorated member. This led to his promotion to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In the CIA, Simmons was recruited into a special division known as the U.S. Security Group, a task force with jurisdiction in all domestic and foreign situations, commanded by CIA Director Jason Wynn.
After being murdered during a mission in Botswana by Director Wynn, Simmons is sent to Hell because of his life as an assassin. Making a deal with the devil, Simmons agrees to become a Hellspawn and serve Malebolgia if he is allowed to see his wife, Wanda, one last time. Malebolgia returns Simmons to the living realm, but with only the barest of memories, a badly burned body, and a watch dog, the Clown.
After Death and Rebirth
Spawn arrived on Earth in a daze, off-balance and disoriented. He only had vague recollections of his past and how he came to be. He knew his name was ‘Al Simmons’ and that he died, but not much more.
Occasionally receiving painful flashbacks, he began remembering making the deal with the devil to come back to see his wife, but he couldn’t remember her name. Spawn returned to a world, now alien to him, and realized he had lost five years since his death before returning.[1]
Using CIA files, he tracked down his wife’s location to find his best friend, Terry, had married Wanda and they now had a daughter named Cyan.[2]
Spawn soon ran into a fellow Hellspawn who informs him his powers are powered by Necroplasm. Once they are used up, he must return to hell.[3]
Not wanting to return to Hell, Spawn attempted to find out his new purpose in life, while using as little power as possible. Spawn was thrown into several anti-hero adventures where he took down street gangs and organized crime in New York City in brutal fashion. Finding himself thrown against Italian mobsters and eventually killing a pedophillic serial killer, Spawn found a new purpose in stopping evil.[4] This was to Malebolgia’s liking as every evil person killed was another body in his army for his future war against Heaven.
Spawn’s early battles continued to take a huge toll on him. The Mafia was furious with Spawn as they blamed him for a string of recent mob deaths actually performed by Violator. His first big test was against the cyborg mob enforcer, OvertKill which he had barely survived.[5]
Recognizing the immense threat that this new Hellspawn presented in the living realm, Heaven watched as a freelancer attempted to take him down. Spawn narrowly escaped defeat from Angela when he sent her back to heaven by turning her own Dimensional Lance against her.[6] Recognizing the power, Heaven ordered Gabrielle, the director of the Terran Affairs Headquarters, to dispatch a Redeemer to take care of him before he became too powerful. An Orbital Angel Station picked Jason Wynn to become the new Redeemer but was ultimately defeated by Spawn.[7]
Spawn began forming a close relationship with the local bums living in the Bowery Alleyways. He began calling this his new home and claimed the bums were under his protection, but also becoming his weakness in the process.
Along the way he meets up with the magician Harry Houdini, and learns about his new found magic powers. During a brief scuffle, Spawn took a bullet to the face for Terry Fitzgerald who began receiving blame for crimes against the CIA that Spawn had actually performed. Bobby the bum helped fix the wound by stitching it shut with a shoelace.[8]
On top of the CIA heat, Antonio “Tony Twist” Twistelli soon mistakenly pegs Terry as the culprit behind the Violator’s mob-targeted killing spree. He sends a rebuilt and reprogrammed OvertKill–fresh from an embarrassing defeat in a crossover–after Fitzgerald. Spawn protected his friend and eventually revealed his true identity to Terry. Only a single shot from Twitch’s gun, going through OvertKill’s ear and disrupting his programming saves the day as the mafia supersoldier heads off to find Badrock.[9]
