Todd McFarlane on Bringing Spawn to Call of Duty and the Character's Long Video Game History

21.09.2023 - 19:33 / ign.com / Todd Macfarlane

While Todd McFarlane waits out the writers and actors’ strikes so he can finally regain momentum on his Spawn film, his signature character is joining one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. Activision has just revealed Spawn will be appearing in Call of Duty's Season 6 battle pass as part of the game's annual The Haunting event.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone players who purchase the Season 6 pass will immediately unlock a new playable Operator in Al Simmons, Spawn’s Mortal World identity. Spawn will also a "more tactical" skin at the start of the battle pass, with another skin unlocking at tier 100.

For a more scorched Spawn, there's a "burned Spawn" skin in the pass as well, in addition to other new skins depicting his various friends and foes. Check them out in the screenshots and descriptions below.

Burned Spawn (Al Simmons Skin) - Prior to his transformation into Spawn, Al Simmons was deceived and burned alive. This shrouded figure is one of many forms Spawn takes.

Creepy Clown (Fender Skin) - A hell-born half-demon of considerable power and deviancy, the arch-villain Violator has taken the form of a rotund clown to anger Spawn.

Violator (König Skin) -Closer to the true form, the cruel and arrogant Violator brings “death on two legs” in the form of a grotesquely headed Operator to further infuriate Spawn.

Disruptor (Horangi Skin) - Masquerading as a businessman and responsible for the death and transformation of Al Simmons, Disruptor is known by many names and is feared as a crime lord.

Soul Crusher (Vega Skin) - A mysterious rival of Spawn’s, Soul Crusher is an enigmatic figure, using noxious gasses to asphyxiate his victims into submission.

Nikto Spawn (Nikto Skin) - Operator Nikto favors a similar tactical look and impressive mask getup and takes it to the next level with this Spawn homage.

Spawn is no stranger to video games, having starred in his own titles dating back to 1995 and Spawn: The Video Game for SNES and also appearances in Mortal Kombat and Soulcalibur II. But joining the iconic Call of Duty license was something that McFarlane admits caught him by surprise. When asked how the deal was made in an interview with IGN, McFarlane says that “I crawled to their home office on my hands and knees and I begged and said I was going to go on a starvation strike and they said they had already sent an email.”

Jokes aside, the comic book creator and toy mogul says what actually happened is that Activision reached out about collaborating with Todd McFarlane Productions about bringing their headliner into the Call of Duty world. “I guess you'll have to ask them why Spawn made it on their list but they gave me a phone call,” he recalls. “I'd worked with Activision and some