Expert assassin Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) returns from the dead as the superhuman Spawn after being ruthlessly betrayed by his boss Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen), director of a corrupt secret agency known as A-6. In Hell, Simmons bargains with the Devil, Malebolgia, who agrees to set him free to return to earth and see his wife before he has to return to Hell and lead it's army against Heaven. Simmons returns only to find he's disfigured by hellfire, and even if his wife could recognise him, five years have passed and she's now married to his best friend. Tormented by the Malebolgia's sadistic henchman, The Clown (John Leguizamo), Simmons eventually finds himself mentored by the mysterious Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson), who teaches spawn how to control his hellspawned powers and fight the ultimate evil on earth when the infernal Violator makes a deal with Wynn to overtake the world with a virus.