Lt. Colonel Albert "Al" Simmons, USMC (Ret.), was a highly trained CIA assassin, who was murdered by his employer and his former friend Chapel (fellow CIA assassin Jessica Priest was confirmed in King Spawn #5 to be Al's true killer). 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.