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Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley) is a fictional character from DC Comics. He first appeared in the first issue of the miniseries Batman: Sword of Azrael (1992, by Dennis O'Neil), and appeared as a supporting character in various Batman-related titles, before gaining his own self-titled series (also by O'Neil).
Jean-Paul Valley, a university student in Gotham City, was unware that he was the latest in a line of assassin-enforcers for the Order of St. 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. Jean-Paul only learned of this on the death of his predecessor (his father), 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). He did not take to the role, and sought to overcome his conditioning and reclaim his life.
The character played a pivotal role in the epic "Broken Bat" story arc (1993 - 1994), in which Jean-Paul Valley stood in as Batman after Bruce Wayne was defeated and crippled at the hands of Bane. 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, and refused to recognize Robin as his partner. Upon his return to fitness, Bruce Wayne was forced to fight the technologically-enhanced Valley to reclaim his identity. Jean-Paul, disgraced, left Gotham and became Azrael once more.
As Azrael, Jean-Paul 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 Jean Paul's mind, and at times seemed to be driving him insane. The subsequent Azrael series, chronicling Jean-Paul Valley's battles against the Order of St. Dumas, ran for 100 issues between 1995 and 2003. Towards the end of the series' run, it was retitled to Azrael: Agent of the Bat in an attempt to boost sales by tying the series in with the rest of the Batman mythos, although this ploy ultimately failed. Azrael was apparently killed in the series' final issue.
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