The man who killed Al Simmons (before he became the vengeful Hell-Spawn), is none other than the ruthless, amoral mercenary and Al’s former cohort, Bruce Stinson – later called “Chapel.” While he fits the mold of the overzealous, uber-murderous super-soldier, his personal connection to the titular anti-hero added to his dogged vendetta against the supernatural wraith.

Ultimately driven by jealousy over Simmons in life, his arch-enemy’s transformation into a nigh-unkillable undead from hell with superpowers only fanned the flames of that envy. To level the playing field, Chapel killed himself and was reborn as “Lord Chapel”, a horseman of the apocalypse, hell-bent on killing Spawn for good. His final appearance would be when he was separated from his “Lord” self and teamed up with Spawn to kill it. His ambiguous absence left much of the character and his rivalry unresolved.

For a time, Chapel also ran/appeared in “Youngblood”, a team of US government-sponsored superheroes before he was kicked out. He even headlined a couple of self-titled, spin-off series for a short time.

The character was voiced by Ruben Santiago-Hudson in the mature-rated 1997 HBO animated “Spawn” mini-series.

There needs to be something said for a mortal villainous super-soldier who can hold his own against the likes of Spawn. To find out why check out our Top 10 Most Powerful Black Characters in Comics.