Azrael (comics)
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Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley) is a fictional character from DC Comics. He appeared originally in the 1992-1993 four-issue limited series Batman: Sword of Azrael, created by Dennis O'Neil and Joe Quesada, and later as a supporting character in various Batman-related titles, before gaining his own self-titled series (also by O'Neil). He shares the name Azrael with a Teen Titans character introduced years earlier, making him the second Azrael in the DC Universe.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] The Sword of Azrael
Jean-Paul Valley, a university student in Gotham City, was unaware that he was the latest in a line of assassin-enforcers for "The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas", a sinister secret society, and had received training and mental conditioning to prepare him for his role since before he was born. He was a test tube baby, and his genes had been spliced with those of animals prior to birth. Furthermore, for most of his pre-university life he had been brainwashed with "The System", a deep level of psychological conditioning. Valley only learned of this upon the death of his father, who was also his predecessor, at which time his conditioning was activated and he was called upon to take up the mantle of Azrael (named for the angel of death). When he was sent by the Order to kill a weapons dealer his path crossed with Batman, he was shown the error of his ways, and he decided to fight with Batman against the criminals of Gotham, rejecting his "birthright" and seeking Batman's help in breaking his conditioning to forge a new destiny of his own choice.
[edit] Knightfall
Valley played a pivotal role in the epic "Knightfall" story arc (1992 - 1994), in which he stood in as Batman after Bruce Wayne was defeated and paralyzed at the hands of Bane. Against Bruce Wayne's orders, Valley fought and defeated Bane, but his performance as Batman was influenced by his Azrael conditioning; he grew increasingly violent, allowing the villain known as Abattoir to fall to his death, thereby also allowing one of Abattoir's still-living victims to die. Valley also refused to recognize Robin as his partner. Upon his return to fitness, Wayne was forced to fight the technologically-enhanced Valley to reclaim his identity. After a prolonged battle on Gotham Bridge, when Azrael nearly killed Nightwing, he was defeated when Wayne tricked Valley into removing the bat-armour, forcing him to finally realise that Wayne was the true Batman. Valley, disgraced, left Gotham and became Azrael once more.
[edit] Costumes
[edit] Batman
During Jean-Paul's tenure as Batman, he made various changes from the original design. The costumes are as follows:
The Original- Jean-Paul started out with a traditional Batman costume as was usually worn by Bruce Wayne. According to Robin, it is a costume designed to fit him, even though he appeared to be roughly the same height and build as Wayne, having all the gadgets previously included in other costumes.
New Gauntlets- Following his battle with both Scarecrow and Anarky, Jean-Paul soon designed a new set of gauntlets following Bruce and Alfred's departure. Unable to find the hunchback inventor Harold to build them, Jean-Paul built them himself. The fingertips are razor sharp, able to cut through many things (though it seems that it couldn't get through the cape of Bruce Wayne's Batman costume) and is equipped with, at the very least, a shuriken launcher and a grappling hook and line.
First New Bat Costume- When his first encounter with Bane as Batman was disastrous, Jean-Paul redesigned the costume completely. The cowl was now a full face mask, the boots were gone, the legs of the pants had three blades on their sides, and an extra utility belt was added. The chest now sported a large metal plate with a miniature Bat Signal built inside. The cape was streamlined to enable Jean-Paul to glide through the air. This was the costume he wore when he defeated Bane and stayed until his battle with The Corrosive Man.
Second New Bat Costume- Following his battle with The Corrosive Man, the first costume was damaged greatly. The full face mask was replaced with a helmeted mask and the chest plate was modified so that the Bat Insignia was now on the chestplate and not inside the Signal. This costume lasted until his final battle with Abbatoir.
Final New Bat Costume- Following his battle with (and death of) Abbatoir, Jean-Paul made one last, though greatly noticeable, change to the costume. The cape was replaced by a set of six blades that could come together and act like a shield. The shuriken launcher was upgraded to add in two new speeds, "Automatic" and the deadly "Rapid Fire". Also added was a flamethrower, which, with everything added in, made the Bat Costume closer to Azrael than Batman, even more so when the armor caught fire in battle with Bruce Wayne.
Of all the Bat Costume ideas Jean-Paul used, only a few were used by Bruce Wayne upon his return to cape and cowl. The only ones shown in the comics again were the six blades on the legs, and these were discarded soon after.
[edit] Azrael
As Azrael, Valley wore a costume in blood-red and gold coloring. He sometimes carried a flaming sword, but also used two retractable daggers hidden in the gauntlets of his costume. He unlocked his superhuman skills by tapping into "The System", which placed a serious strain on his mind, and at times seemed to be driving him insane.
[edit] Agent of the Bat
The subsequent Azrael series, chronicling Valley's battles against the Order of St. Dumas, ran for 100 issues between 1995 and 2003.
Starting with issue #47, it was retitled Azrael: Agent of the Bat in an attempt to boost sales by tying the series in with the rest of the Batman mythos, including Azrael as part of the team of Batman, Robin, and the new Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), and also changed his costume considerably for a time, although this ploy ultimately failed. Azrael returned to his original costume and battled supposed hallucinations that were supposed to represent both his father, and the creator of the order which spawned him, St. Dumas.
Toward the end of the series, Azrael was supposedly having supernatural occurrences somehow influencing his life, sometimes seeming to be miracles. This however, was never legitimately explained. He also seemed to be on the verge of physiological self-destruction and yet survived longer than it was presumed he should have been able to.
Azrael was killed in the series' final issue, being riddled with bullets while battling archenemies Nicholas Scratch and Carlton Lehah. However, his body was apparently never recovered, which could mean that at some point he may well return, as most characters in comic books are notorious for never staying 'dead'.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The source of Azrael's powers is a post-hypnotic training regimen known only as The System. The details of the system are unknown, but it is known that training begins before birth and includes genetic modification in addition to post-hypnotic suggestion. The end result is a human being who is superhumanly strong and fast and has a split personality triggered by the donning of the Azrael costume. The split personality is apparently coached to believe it is an actual biblical angel.
It is implied towards the middle of the series that all Azraels have been imparted with some form of The System, but that the training regimen and genetic modification has been updated and changed significantly in the Order's 500 year history. The System also somehow separates an Azrael's civilian identity from his powers, they are only super strong or super fast while in costume.
[edit] Previous Azraels
Valley was also not the only Azrael. A Chinese man, supposedly given the same training as Valley, and an identical costume, was briefly under the control of a former member of the Order of St. Dumas. Earlier on in the Azrael series, another man, presumably either American or European in ethnicity, was supposedly selected and trained in the same way as Valley and the Chinese Azrael, to be Valley's replacement. He was defeated by Azrael, and supposedly fell to his death, only to resurface in Gotham at one point wearing one of Valley's 'Batman' armors and engaging in underground fights. The exact whereabouts of this man are unknown.
