Azrael is the name of several fictional superheroes in the DC Comics universe. They are a group of assassins who were created by The Order of St. Dumas to "enforce God's Will." The name is taken from the name for the traditional Angel of Death.

Biography

Jean-Paul Valley
Jean-Paul Valley, a university graduate student of computer science 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 religious secret society. 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, also investigating the death of Valley's father. He works with Alfred Pennyworth to find the weapons dealer after he has captured Bruce Wayne, using the Batman costume to kill the other Order members. As Valley works with Alfred, demonstrating a detective's intuition in tracking Lehah's movements and later risking himself to rescue Bruce despite his traditional mission of vengeance, he is shown the error of his ways and 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 is not revealed to Alfred and Bruce 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.

Valley is given a job as a security guard at WayneTech headquarters, and also becomes an apprentice crimefighter alongside Batman and Robin, learning basic detective work.



Valley plays a pivotal role in the "Knightfall" story arc (1993–1994), in which he stands in as Batman after Bruce Wayne is defeated and paralyzed at the hands of Bane. He decides that Bruce's tactics as Batman are obsolete and believes that he must fight criminals on their terms which makes him far more brutal and merciless, often even showing little regard for innocent bystanders. Against Bruce Wayne's orders, Valley fights and defeats Bane, wearing enhanced battle-armor he designed and built under the influence of the System after he was narrowly defeated by Bane in their first confrontation. His performance as Batman is influenced by his Azrael conditioning. He grows increasingly violent and delusional, allowing the mass murderer Abattoir to fall to his death, thereby also allowing one of Abattoir's still-living hostages to die. Valley also has control problems with Tim Drake's partnership, which climax when Valley almost strangles him to death and bans him from the Batcave. He seals off the Batcave from Wayne Manor and the Drake property, and eschews working with Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham police. Valley also suffers from continuous hallucinations of both his father and St. Dumas who tell him that he is the real Batman and that he must avenge his father's death.

Initially, Wayne is impressed enough with Valley's results to let him remain as Batman, but when Drake tells Wayne of Abattoir's death, he resolves to reclaim the Batman mantle. With his back repaired thanks to the sacrifice of Doctor Shondra Kinsolving, and his fighting instincts rehabilitated after lessons with Lady Shiva, Wayne goes after Valley to reclaim his identity. After a prolonged battle, stretching from a mobster's penthouse to Gotham Bridge before culminating in a final showdown in the Batcave. Bruce tricks Valley into removing his armor, excluding his helmet (with night-vision lenses engaged), and then exposes him to bright sunlight - the shock snaps Valley out of his delusional state. He apologizes and asks for his forgiveness, which Bruce accepts, recognizing his own role in Valley's descent into madness during his time as Batman, but tells him to leave immediately. Valley subsequently departs Wayne Manor after acknowledging Bruce Wayne as the true Batman.

Valley lives among the homeless population of Gotham for several weeks, befriending an alcoholic former psychiatrist named Brian.

Valley is sought out by Bruce Wayne who feels responsible for his mental breakdown after attaining and losing the mantle of Batman. Bruce grants him a small fortune in money, information on the Order of St. Dumas' whereabouts and resources to explore his origins. Along with Brian, he discovers the evil conspiracies within the order of St. Dumas, and they help a nun named Sister Lilhy escape. With the help of Ra's al Ghul he discovers that he is a genetically engineered test tube baby, and his genes have been spliced with those of animals.

He returns to Gotham for several crossover events, including Underworld Unleashed, Contagion, Legacy, and Cataclysm. He also discovers that his father's killer, Carlton LeHah, is still alive. Valley attempts to regain Batman's trust after the events of KnightsEnd. Batman, who feels responsible for Valley, especially after realizing that he gave him very little training and support decides to give Azrael missions to carry out to test him and prove himself. The first of these missions is to defeat a resurfaced Bane, but it is not until Azrael saves the lives of a group of U.S. senators (one of which tries to plead to congress for the funds to rebuild Gotham City after its devastating earthquake) that Batman begins to fully trust him again. Prior to those events, Batman sent Azrael after Nicholas Scratch who was planning to kill another senator who wanted the federal money to save Gotham City. While pursuing Scratch, Azrael was framed for the senator's murder after he was strangled to death moments before Azrael arrived to save him.

After being framed, Azrael is given a new costume designed by Batman and uses it for a time, especially during the "No Man's Land" storyarc. Azrael helps Batman maintain a chaotic Gotham City, often with the assistance of the new Batgirl and protects Leslie Thompkins' medical clinic inside of No Man's Land. After foiling Scratch's plan of framing him for murder Azrael returns to his original costume and battles supposed hallucinations that are supposed to represent both his father and St. Dumas himself. Toward the end of the series, Azrael is plagued by apparently supernatural occurrences in the form of possible miracles.

Azrael is seemingly killed in the series' final issue, shot with two specially-coated bullets while battling Scratch and LeHah. Scratch was arrested, and LeHah falls into the river with Azrael. However, Azrael's body is never recovered. His death went unconfirmed for several years. In Booster Gold (vol. 2) #10, a note can be seen written on time traveler Rip Hunter's chalk board reading "Jean-Paul Valley Lives!". In the following issue, another note says "Azrael comes and goes." Azrael appears in Blackest Night #4 (October 2009) as an undead member of the Black Lantern Corps; although at first it had not been confirmed whether it was Jean-Paul Valley or another Azrael (such as Ludovic Valley, who died in Gotham City). However, it was later revealed, in the index section of the Blackest Night tabloid vol.1, that it was in fact Jean-Paul.

Jean-Paul Valley makes a cameo at Batman's funeral service in Neil Gaiman's 2009 story, Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, a story which is metaphysical in nature.


Michael Lane
In 2009, a mini-series titled Azrael: Death's Dark Knight was produced as a tie-in to the Battle for the Cowl crossover event, with a later regular series.

The new Azrael is the Third "Ghost of Batman" to undergo Doctor Hurt's experiments; an ex-cop named Michael Washington Lane. He is approached by the Order of Purity to reclaim the mantle of Azrael after the Order's latest Azrael went mad and killed an undercover police officer. On his first night as Azrael he fights Talia al Ghul with her team of mercenaries led by Merlyn and later encounters Nightwing. After convincing Nightwing that he was not responsible for the murdered police officer, Nightwing persuades Talia to allow Michael to keep the Suit of Sorrows. In Batman And The Outsiders (vol. 2) #14, the character is displayed as a charming man who undergoes various purification rituals, overseen by the Order of Purity.

Ra's al Ghul later attempts to manipulate Lane into destroying Gotham by having him commit suicide and be subsequently resurrected by the Suit, which was dipped in a Lazarus Pit. Lane worked with metahuman Crusader to 'judge' Batman, Catwoman and Red Robin for their past 'sins'- including the fate of Selina's sister, Robin not showing due reverence when he destroyed a church window to save hostages, and Dick letting another circus performer get assaulted because he was jealous- and to determine if Gotham should be saved. Although Lane is manipulated into perceiving the Bat-Family as having failed his tests Batman convinces Lane to use his swords to test himself, revealing Ra's' plan in time for Lane to stop the planned destruction of new metahuman Fireball. Ra's' plan was for Azrael to detonate Fireball and make it appear as though Gotham had been destroyed by terrorists, inciting a wave of violence that would cleanse Earth and allow Ra's to take control.


The New 52
Azrael has recently appeared in "The New 52" (a reboot of the DC Comics universe). The Michael Lane version of the character was originally featured in Batwoman issue #2 as a cameo, which was written before the relaunch but published after, however the art was edited in order to remove him. Regardless, Michael Lane appeared in issue #10 of Batman, Inc. His absence from Batman's organization is explained by his choosing seclusion and daily prayer as a way of repenting for all that he did as a tool of Ra's Al Ghul and Doctor Hurt, believing himself to hold an important role in the apocalypse.