Spawn is an interesting character. I will state up front that the theological concepts and doctrine in the story do NOT match my concepts, and they in no way reflect my beliefs, but they are consistent within themselves, and lend a certain religious aspect to the story that I do like. I don't necessarily care for their portrayal of angels, or for the whole "Nature is more powerful than God" thing. Basic background: Spawn is a demon (Mediator, 19). He's not a Hell-born demon, though, he's a human reincarnated into a demon body created by Malebolgia. He used to be human, specifically Lt. Col. Al Simmons, an elite commando (I would guess Army, by his uniform) seconded to the CIA for special missions. He died in the line of duty (more accurately was assassinated by one of his own), and traded his skills to the Devil (Here called Malebolgia; anybody a Dante Alighieri fan?) in exchange for the chance to live again and see his wife. There are a few problems, though. He gets resurrected 5 years after he died, so his wife has remarried . . . to his best friend . . . and they have a kid. In his kindness, Malebolgia also reanimated Simmons as he looked at the instant of death, so he's a little crispy looking; skin burnt off, charred, altogether gruesome. His instructions were to practice using his demonic powers on earth, and when the timer runs out, he will return to Hell and be a general in Hell's armies. This opportunity is only given once every 400 years (32) to the most deserving soul. Simmons was trained as a killer, and was damn good at it, so that saved Malebolgia a lot of effort. He originally appeared very different from what you see here in these images. His suit mutated (31) when he nearly lost control and gave in to the dark part of his personality, but he regained control before it took him over. His suit is kinda interesting in concept. It's a K3-MYRLU constantly-evolving neural parasite. When outfitted in it, he can walk freely in Hell without getting burned at all. There are two things about the bonding: it's for life, and it's with the central nervous system (Vindicator, 8). He figures out that his costume is an actual creature in and of itself when, after being attacked by the Anti-Spawn, he notices it bleeding, moaning, and wounded (17).
Though using his powers exhausts his powers, he needn't use them all the time. His symbiotic costume can do much of his work for him. When in contact with God, though, it goes limp (32). Here is a list, from comics only, of the things his suit has done:
PHYSICAL ABILITIES
His new and improved suit is different in many ways. While it used to be generally symmetrical, it has since become lopsided, with a massive boot on the right foot, and a huge gauntlet on the left arm. The midnight blue on his suit has since become black, and the red coloring below the giant white "M" (which remains) has been replaced by a similar black. The skull brooches on his cloak became more sinister, grew sharp fangs, and took a raised appearance, as did his buckle. His right bicep gained a chain, and his left thigh grew a ring of pockets. This occured over a period of several issues (several months?) while he was trying to regain control over his renegade suit. Even without his suit or magic, he has tremendous power. His body is made of psychoplasm, also called necroplasm, which adapts itself to thoughts and fears, and allows him to change shape (Malebolgia, 17). He changes shapes several times in the comics, sometimes major changes (into a swarm of bats), sometimes minor changes (into a man in a three-piece suit). It is a heavy material; he weighs over 400 pounds (Count, 26), nearly 500 (27), and his body has a greater density than cement (27). That doesn't seem to slow him down, though. It is also easily detected by Heavenly beings (Count, 46). They can even track just traces of the necroplasm itself. Spawn can lift a man off the ground one-handed with ease, and casually crush a hand in his grip (16). He can jab his talons through cloth, flesh, and muscle, down to the bone (21). He can throw entire filing cabinets at people and jump right through brick walls (36). His lungs don't work like ours anymore, he doesn't need a gas mask to survive in a gassed room (64). Another tribute to his strength is when beings from all over the galaxy gather to set off an atomic bomb with Spawn at ground zero. They wanted to see if it was possible to kill a demon. They figured that if you could scatter their infernal matter, you might be able to do it (19; 20). One thing that has held consistent through the whole series is that his suit and body will follow his commands. He can mentally command the cape to flow a certain way, and it will do it. He can direct his chains to fall in a specific direction, or wrap around something, and they will do it.
CONDUITS OF EVIL
One thing that Spawn has done in order to prolong his life here on beloved Earth is to gather creatures of the night. He feeds off their evil, and this apparently gives him more energy, but it cannot give him immortality. He can use any creature which does not see much light as a conduit of evil (43). His suit cape gathers a swarm of worms to act as permanent conduits of evil. He takes them back to the alleys in Rat City where he lives and the cape puts them in a huge dumpster, where they feed off the festering corpses of Spawn's latest victim, and multiply. They are creatures that live under the soil, and so never see sunlight. That makes them perfect batteries of evil for a Hell-spawn. He can also call on them to help him, as he did for both Tiffany, the angel seeking his head for a trophy so that she could get promoted, and Cy-gor, the insane cybernetic gorilla obsessed with killing Spawn. Here is a compiled list from comics of creatures under his rule and the issue in which each first appeared in:
EQUIPMENT
Spawn uses equipment occasionally because using any special powers will drain energy, thereby shortening his lifespan. Here is a list of equipment that he has used to supplement his powers and the issue in which he used each:
PERSONAL POWERS
Spawn's power is limited basically by his imagination only. Magic is about perceptions and the will's abillity to alter that perception, using energies gathered from beyond this world. Magic is like telling a lie so convincing that even the universe believes you. Spawn is a creature of magic, albeit of finite power. Here is a list of the powers that he has used in each issue:
POWER LEVEL
Finally, a listing of his power level, and the issue in which each power statement is made: