Albert "Al" Francis Simmons was born in Detroit, Michigan as the second of three brothers (Marc, Al and Richard) to Esther and Bernard Simmons. Simmons was a very gifted officer of the United States Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He later joined the United States Secret Service, which led to his transfer to the Central Intelligence Agency. In the CIA, Simmons was recruited by Director Jason Wynn into a special top-secret covert ops division known as the U.S. Security Group, an elite task force with jurisdiction in all domestic and foreign situations.
Jason Wynn (the director of the CIA) and Simmons began to butt heads more often and Simmons planned to resign.
Simmons was murdered during a mission in Botswana for the USSG's Operation Knightstrike by fellow mercenary Bruce Stinson (aka Chapel) at the order of Director Wynn. Simmons was sent to Hell because of his life as an assassin. After arranging a deal with the being known as Malebolgia, Simmons agrees to become a Hellspawn in exchange for being allowed to see his wife Wanda Blake one last time.
Spawn was played by Michael Jai White in the 1997 live action Spawn movie while in the Spawn HBO animated series, he is voiced by Keith David.
