Francis Allen Doyle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Angel.

Doyle never knew his father or anyone on that side of his family, and his own demonic genes didn't physically manifest themselves until he was 21 years old.

At that time, Doyle was a third grade teacher and a soup kitchen volunteer married to a woman named Harriet.

Doyle hid behind the flimsy veneer of a ne'er-do-well hustler and con artist, seemingly more interested in where his next drink was coming from than helping others.

Despite Doyle's reluctance to discuss his past, Angel and Cordelia learn about him when Harriet returns to his life, wanting a divorce so she can marry an Ano-Movic demon named Richard Howard Straley, though she ultimately calls off the engagement after learning that obtaining the blessing of the Straley clan would require Richard to kill Doyle by eating his brain.

While trying to successfully deactivate the Beacon, the radiation from the weapon killed Doyle by literally vaporizing his entire body into dust and ash.

In doing so, Doyle fulfills the Listers' prophecy of the "Promised One," the bringer purported to save them from the Scourge in the last days of the 20th century.

"[1] Whedon considered killing off Doyle early on from the opening episodes: "That was always a plan, and clearly that character didn't mesh.

"[2] At the TCA Writers Guild of America West party in 2000, supervising producer David Fury stated, "Joss has bandied about, 'I love the idea of putting a character in the main credits as one of the stars of the show and then kill him right off the bat.'

"[3] In an interview in Dreamwatch #118, David Fury discussed plans for Doyle to return to the show, perhaps in the role of a "big bad."

Having learned of his son's death, Doyle's father – a full Brachen demon called Axtius, possessing sufficient strength to even go head-to-head with Angel in a fight – sends several demons to attack Harry, sending her to the hospital, and subsequently attempts to kill Angel, blaming him for his son's 'foolish attempt to save a pack of pitiful half-breeds'.