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Azrael Bio:
Jean-Paul Valley, a university student in Gotham City, is unaware that he is 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 is a test tube baby, and his genes have been spliced with those of animals. For most of his life, he has been brainwashed with "The System", a deep level of psychological conditioning. Valley only learns of this upon the death of his father, who was also his predecessor, at which time his conditioning is activated and he is called upon to take up the mantle of Azrael. When he is sent by the Order to kill a weapons dealer, a rogue member of the Order who had turned against the others and killed his father, he crosses paths with Batman, who was investigating the death of Valley's father after the damage he had caused following his attack. While working with Alfred to find the weapons dealer after he has captured Bruce Wayne, using the Batman costume to kill the other Order members in an attempt to create further confusion, he is shown the error of his ways and he decides to fight alongside Batman against the criminals of Gotham, rejecting his "birthright" and seeking Batman's help in breaking his conditioning to forge his own destiny. His name isn't revealed until the end of the story, at which point he claims it was his father's name too. However a later storyline in his solo series stated his father's name to be Ludovic Valley.[1]
"Knightfall":
Detective Comics #667 (1993). Art by Kelley Jones.
Main article: Batman: Knightfall
Valley plays a pivotal role in the "Knightfall" story arc (1992–1994), in which he stands in as Batman after Bruce Wayne is defeated and paralyzed at the hands of Bane. Against Bruce Wayne's orders, Valley fights and defeats Bane, wearing an enhanced battle-armour he designed and built under the influence of the System. His performance as Batman is influenced by his Azrael conditioning; he grows increasingly violent, allowing the mass murderer Abattoir to fall to his death, thereby also allowing one of Abattoir's still-living victims to die. Valley also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner. In addition to the mental problems, Valley also expresses a desire to be as good as Bruce Wayne was at being Batman, though by the time Abbatoir dies, he rejects this decision. Valley is also shown to prefer the action side of being Batman and finds detective work to be boring. As a result, he makes mistakes, particularly regarding Catwoman.
Although Valley disobeys his orders, Wayne is impressed enough to let him remain as Batman, but when Robin tells him of Abattoir's death, he resolves to reclaim the Batman mantle. His back repaired thanks to the sacrifice of Doctor Shondra Kinsolving, Wayne seeks training from his enemy, the deadly assassin Lady Shiva. As part of the training, Shiva unleashes one assassin after another on Wayne, having framed him for the murder of their master, until he is forced to break his vow never to kill, wishing to make Wayne the same as her and thus make him a worthy opponent at some future date. Wayne does actually appear to kill one of these assassins and, satisfied, Shiva calls off the attacks; the "killing" later turns out to be a bluff.
Wayne then goes after the technologically-enhanced Valley to reclaim his identity. After a prolonged battle on Gotham Bridge, when Azrael, using his own Batman suit, easily mops the floor with Nightwing- he had briefly believed Wayne to be dead after he attempted to use the sabotaged Batmobile. He is defeated when Wayne tricks him into removing his armor by confronting him in a confined tunnel and exposing him to sunlight, forcing him to finally realize that Wayne is the true Batman. Valley, disgraced, leaves Gotham and becomes Azrael once more.
Other versions:
Valley is not the only Azrael in the DC Universe. Valley's father was the previous Azrael. A Chinese man, supposedly given the same training as Valley, and an identical costume, is briefly under the control of the Order. Also, the position of the order's enforcer has been passed on since medieval times.
Earlier on in the Azrael series, another man is supposedly selected and trained in the same way as Valley and the Chinese Azrael to be Valley's replacement. He is defeated by Valley and supposedly falls to his death, only to resurface in Gotham at one point wearing one of Valley's 'Batman' armors and engaging in underground fights.
Powers and abilities:
The source of Azrael's abilities is a post-hypnotic training regimen known as The System. The details of The System are never fully explained, but it is understood that training begins before birth and includes genetic modification, prenatal electric shock, and the use of apes as surrogate mothers. The end result is a human being who is inhumanly strong and fast and has a raging split personality triggered by the donning of the Azrael costume. The split personality is apparently coached to believe it is an actual Biblical angel of vengeance. His weapons include wrist-mounted swords which ignite flames and can also be launched from the gauntlets. Azrael also dons a bullet- and flame-proof armor.
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 and genetic tampering have 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, in that they are only super strong or super fast while in costume. However, towards the end of his life Jean-Paul was able to manifest these abilities while in his normal personality.
Azrael is also an expert with computers. When he was first introduced in Batman: Sword of Azrael #1, it was revealed that Jean-Paul was studying computer programming in college.
Jean Paul is also trained as a detective when he was with Batman's team.
Equipment:
Azrael's original costume consists of special red and gold armor. After becoming an "Agent of the Bat", he dons silver and black armor with a red cape and a stylized red bat symbol on the chest. Later on, he dons red armor with golden gauntlets, boots, shoulder pads and a blue cape. He sometimes carries a flaming sword, and also uses two retractable daggers hidden in the gauntlets of his costume. On page 71 of the updated edition of Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight, Scott Beatty implied that Azrael's changing costumes were reflections of the changes in Azrael's life from an agent of St. Dumas to an agent of the Batman to his own man. The Azrael entry in The DC Comics Encyclopedia confirms this.
