Bruce Stinson, afterwards known as Chapel, was a buddy unlike any other. Ironically, it was only with the planning and execution of his closest buddy Al Simmons’ murder that he fell out of his position. Spawn, the dark vigilante, was born as a result of the occurrence.
Except for the fact that he was born in an Illinois jail, nothing is known about Stinson’s life before his position at the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America. He grew raised in a world of smoking, torturing, and philandering, making him the ideal spiteful, criminal-minded sidekick and mastermind behind Simmons’ murder.
What Stinson clearly didn’t foresee was himself being a lacklustre match for the resurrected Spawn. His ex-colleague became more powerful, and that realisation drove Stinson to death by suicide but not for reasons that you may think.
Also, if you are assuming things ended there – you couldn’t be further away from the truth. We’ll tell you exactly why!
CHAPEL: Origins Explored
It is quite rightly said that Spawn is the “anti-est” of all antiheroes to ever exist. Chapel’s striking mark of identification – his warpaintskull – did not remain that way for long. The transition into permanence happened when Spawn burnt his skin away and the skull beneath it all showed up. How you may wonder? Well, let’s dive into it.
Chapel debuted as Bruce Stinson – a black-ops soldier – in ‘Youngblood’, the Image Comics series. He was presented as a CIA Agent whohad a chance to work alongside Al Simmons for ‘Operation Knightstrike’. Stinson learnt more about Simmons, the assassin par excellence, and became a friend to him. However, under the orders of his corrupt boss Jason Wynn, Stinson murdered his best friend, who he came to believe to be a spy. Wynn was simply at odds with Simmons and needed him out of the way. Simmons was reborn as the Spawn we know of today.
Along with the plot of his tale, the chapel was made the subject of several chemical injections.Assumingthe powers and abilities of superhumans following that incident, he also ended up contracting HIV. Chapel never knew that this disease could be activated in him at his superiors’ willwith the help of a special serum. The fact that one of the superiors in question was Wynn himself, who once also turned against Chapel for a while, attempting to eliminate him with the help of his old foe Giger. All Chapel had done was to decline a task from Wynn.
After committing Simmons’ murder, Stinsonhappened to join a team of superheroes whowere called Youngblood. Let us complete the circle for you here – the skull story. As it so happened, Spawn at one point remembered how his once bestfriend actually murdered him. Not the one to forgive, he went on a hunt for Chapel. Spawn then carved out Chapel’s skin on his face in the shape of a skull; something Chapel later got himself a skull-shaped bonegraft for. He continued working with Youngblood for quite a while after.
Being a part of adventures like confronting invaders from other dimensions when they inundated ‘John Prophet’, a religious icon, gave him a boost. At one point, Chapel was dismissed from service of the Youngblood and he decided to gain an insight into Simmons’ rebirth as Spawn, a ‘Hellspawn’ as he knew him to be. In due course, Chapeldiscovered that Hell was home to demons from all across the cosmos, where the Hellspawn served as officers under Malebolgia, Hell’s commander-supreme.
Hellspawns were filled with a dark force known as ‘neoplasm’, making them immensely powerful albeit within the limits of Hell. Curious if he would be able to assume similar powers, Chapel died by suicide. But instead of becoming a Hellspawn, he awakened as Lord Chapel, a ‘Horseman of Apocalypse’. He now served a new mistress, Calcifer. When he was separated from this monster, Chapel transformed into a lady named Gazer, only to be changed back into a man and left feeling empty.
In the arc for his character, he was even brought forth as the field commander for Bloodstrike – a covert Superhuman team engaged by the U.S. government for their services. Recently, Chapel actually appeared next to Spawn to battle Lord Chapel, his half-sinister doppelganger.
CHAPEL: Jess Chapel in Todd McFarlane’s ‘Spawn’
In 1997, HBO came up with the ‘Spawn’ series created by Todd McFarlane. The character was named Jess Chapel and was voiced by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. He remained the best friend of Al Simmons and an ex-soldier. Much like in the comics, he was shown in the show as having a large build. A skull painted on his face and donning military clothing while “on duty”, his casual attire comprised of a leather jacket, blue jeans, a pair of gloves, and boots. Most other details – like the presence of Jason Wynn, Chapel’s job at the Central Intelligence Agency, etc. – were kept the same as the comics had described. Herein too, he killed Simmons and showed his antagonistic colors and layers; quite admittedly with artistic excellence on display.
In the first season, Chapelacted as a supporting antagonist, then a secondary antagonist in the first part of the second season. In the third and final season, he had a minor role. Admittedly, the first season is mostly him being quiet and emotionless. In one instance though, Chapel was shown to have a flashback to when he was serving his country in a warzone.
That is the maximum emotion we saw out of him in that season, as he apologized to the hundreds of people, he had killed without remorse back then. The second season is probably his best human expression where he regretted killing Simmons and refused to believe that Spawn was in fact, Simmons. Chapel did go quite crazy and attempted to kill himself over the realization of his wrongful hand, first,in the betrayal, then in the brutal murder of Simmons.
Chapel’s introduction in the series is at a strip club, where he was drinking and watching the strippers. When he got a call from his boss Wynn, he decided to speak to him in private and went ahead to the bathroom, where Wynn gave him instructions for a task to be done the next day. As Chapel was about to step out of the club with a stripper in tow, someone attacked him with a knife. Chapel soon overpowered his attacker with a knife he had on him, cutting off the attacker’s fingers altogether. As Chapel ended up in bed with the woman, he left the club with, he had the “flashback” we spoke of earlier.
Later at the headquarters of the CIA, Wynn expressed his concerns over the breaking-in that had happened at their storehouse of weapons and turned to Chapel out of sheer frustration. Several weapons were reported missing and Wynn was not pleased. The season proceeds with several rounds of mystery – interactions post murders, Wynn being a complete moron (fully in character, we must admit!), and a hunt for the missing weapons.
At the beginning of Season 2, Wynn sold arms to both sides of a war with Chapel cackling by his side. Chapel did try to question Wynn, only to be shut down by an order to find the gun fragments along Bowery Alleyways before they could be traced back to them. Chapel went about the task in a very Chapel way – ruthless and unmoved by the plight of innocent lives. He open-fired on the homeless, asking them to hand over his boss’ guns.
First threatening to kill them all if they did not cooperate or give away any information they had, he then captured and tortured one of them. Spawn appeared therein, and slowly approached Chapel. Chapel was unfazed, and he spat on Spawn refusing to acknowledge the cape of the now-superhero. As they battled it out, Spawn too had flashbacks to the time when he and Chapel had trained together for their jobs at the CIA.
The realization that Spawn is his old friend Al Simmons hits Chapel like a truck. He tried to use a rocket launcher and blow up the area in which Spawn was standing. Believing he had destroyed Spawn, Chapel lit a cigarette to counter the horrifying thoughts of his deeds just then.
Spawn wasn’t dead though, and he attacked Chapel soon after. As he emerged from the shadows, and Chapel came across him again, Chapel decided to die by suicide. He failed at his attempt and pleaded with Spawn to help him, but Spawn decided to let him live and bear the brunt of his emotions. Chapel’s emotions truly unraveled as he walked away from the scene, wishing death upon himself because he knew that would be better than the sheer volume of thoughts that were about to haunt him forever.
Needless to say, Chapel soon started to lose his mind. When he was apprehended and taken to the police station for questioning, he panicked and hit one of the police officers on duty. Chapel then admitted in an emotional tirade that he was responsible for Al Simmons’ murder and that he would be “dragged back to Hell”.
CHAPEL: What Makes Him So Powerful?
Morals and ethics weren’t quite Chapel’s cup of tea, ever. He was evil, merciless, and a quiet but devilish maniac. The “Everything is fair in war” part of the popular catchphrase was his holy book, overall.
As a CIA agent and ex-military person, Chapel had extensive military training including martial arts. He was adept at using guns and swords, making him a daunting opponent on any given day. His hand-to-hand combat skills were also quite developed, and he was quite the marksman too. He knew how to torture, and to top it off he had immense strength that he used to his advantage all the time. Chapel was highly intelligent and a true tactician, knowing how to use several gadgets running on advanced technology. His only weakness was known to be the HIV he was deliberately infected with when he was being given other superpowers.
CHAPEL: Closing In
Before Image Comics made Spawn out of one Al Simmons, he had a kill count high enough to be considered borderline greedy in those terms, and his soul had reached a point of no return to purity. Hell had its doors wide open, with no security for his arrival at that point itself. But fate had worse plans for him – he was betrayed by who he considered a friend – that in itself was punishment enough.
A deformed zombie, a whole demon – that is Spawn, yes. Coming down to the edgy factor of comic books, it is so opined that his position is unrivaled except for the creatures in his own “Rogues’ Gallery”. The edge is sophisticated and the guys are tough, as they are known to be some of the most heartless crooks and revolting characters to have been sketched. Chapel was one of the “jewels” of this crowning glory.
Most frequently seen in comic titles ‘Spawn’ and ‘Youngblood’, Chapel did, however, also have a couple of self-titled, short-lived series. Eric Stephenson and Brian Witten wrote the second ‘Chapel’ series, which was published in 1995 and included Calvin Irving’s art. In the live-action film on ‘Spawn’, Chapel was missing in action but Jessica Priest seemed to have replaced him. The comicseries he has been a part of may not have gained popularity or favours from readers because of a loosely-tied plot, but the character stood out and deserves appreciation. Whether as the main antagonist or a sidecharacter, he has always been the one to leave a mark. We can only hope to see him written into stories that are more appreciated and with stronger writing.