(Covers information from Anderson's universe)
Spence was a security operative for the Umbrella Corporation. Assigned to live with Alice at a mansion in the Arklay Mountains, his duty was to protect the secondary entrance to the Hive. He is directly responsible for the outbreak in the Hive.
Biography
Working undercover, Spence and Alice, going by the alias "Alice", were arranged in a fake marriage in order to protect their identities and avoid suspicion. During their assignments, the two became romantically involved. At some point in 2002 Spence spied on Alice as she discussed a plan with Lisa Addison to steal samples of the T-virus from the company in order to destroy it. Believing that anti-capitalism activists would never be successful, he made his own plans to steal the virus ahead of them. Rather than show it to the press, Spence's plan was to sell it on the black market for a high price, allowing him and Alice to run away together.
On the day Alice was to begin the operation, Spence left her a note saying "All of your dreams will come true" before taking a train to the Hive. Using his security codes, Spence was able to bluff the Red Queen security AI into allowing him to steal all samples of the T-virus and its corresponding Anti-Virus. To fulfill Alice's wish for the company to be destroyed, he threw a vial of T-virus in the lab; he successfully escaped before the Red Queen sealed the laboratory upon detecting the virus' airborne presence and began killing the people inside. While he was able to take the train to the mansion, the Red Queen was able to release a nerve gas into his compartment, knocking him out and rendering him amnesiac.
Re-entering the Hive
Several hours later, Umbrella sent in its Sanitation team to investigate; taking the train, they soon found him, along with an amnesiac Alice and their courier, Matt Addison upstairs. Upon meeting the also-amnesiac Alice, the two quickly understood they were connected in some way. When the Red Queen was temporarily deactivated, the locks keeping hundreds of Undead in their rooms were released, and the team found themselves in trouble. When Alice remembered the Anti-Virus while searching for the exit, Spence regained his memories and turned on the group. Mocking Matt for his and Alice's meaningless attempt to expose Umbrella to the press, he insisted to Alice that he knew his way would make her happy. As they argued, a reanimated Doctor Anna Bolt emerged from the water and attacked Spence from behind, biting him in the neck. Spence quickly killed Anna and offered Alice one final chance to join him. After Alice's refusal, Spence abandoned the group in the lab and shot out the locking mechanism so they couldn't escape.
Spence quickly made his way back to the train where he retrieved the case containing the anti-virus and prepared to inject himself with it. Before he could, however, Spence was attacked by an Advanced Licker that had escaped and was killed. The Red Queen displayed this to the others using a security camera and a monitor in the lab.
After escaping the lab with the help of Chad Kaplan, the others found Spence's mutilated body next to the rear of the train. As the others boarded the train, Alice approached Spence's body to retrieve the T-virus and anti-virus samples. As Alice did so, Spence reanimated and went after Alice, dragging his mutilated body along the floor and grabbing her ankle. Mocking Spence's last words to her, Alice tells Spence, "I'm missing you already" and impales him in the head with a fire axe, killing Spence once more. Alice then dropped her fake wedding ring next to Spence's body.
Further notes
- In the DVD commentary for the film, it's vaguely implied that there may have been some negativity on set. In the scene where Alice killed the Undead Spence with an axe, it is briefly discussed that Milla hit James with the prop axe and he wasn't very pleased about it.
- Chad Kaplan is the only protagonist still alive alongside Alice for most of the movie who didn't witness his betrayal and interestingly enough does not make any remarks about him when he walks past Spence's corpse on the way back to the train.
- Earlier drafts for the film portray Spence's theft of the viruses differently. Whereas the final script has him intentionally release the virus to accomplish a greater scheme, Anderson's original proposed draft portrayed it as an accident.
- Also in the early drafts is Spence's jealously when he mistakes Alice and Matt for an item. This finally manifests itself in him finally abandoning the group. In the filmed version, he abandons the group when Alice breaks up with him.
- The DeCandido novelization provides the character with the surname "Parks", though this is not accepted as canon for the movie universe.
- Given the revelation that Alice was a clone created to act as a guard for the mansion, its possible Spence is a clone as well, especially since Umbrella has been shown to use clones for security tasks. Also pointing to this is that Doctor Alexander Isaacs wished for the T-virus to be released to create an apocalypse and so may have planted Spence programed for this very purpose.
Gallery
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