Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth)

From DC Database

Azrael

Gallery

Real Name

Jean-Paul Valley, Jr.

Current Alias

Azrael

Aliases

Batman

Identity

Secret

Alignment

Good

Affiliation

The Batman Family;
Sacred Order of St. Dumas

Universe

New Earth

Base Of Operations

Gotham City

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

6' 2"

Weight

210 lbs (95 kg)

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Blond

Status

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Vigilante

Origin

Origin

Creators

Denny O'Neil, Joe Quesada

First appearance

Last appearance

Batman:
Sword of Azrael #1

Azrael: Agent
of the Bat #100

History

Overview

Jean-Paul Valley was a member of a long line of vigilantes using who fought crime using the identity of "Azrael." Although he at first remained largely unaware of his heritage, prior to his active crimefighting career he had been conditioned with a program known as "The System." It imprinted him with fantastic martial arts information, and with other skills and abilities he would find uses for, some of which he would remain unaware of until late in his career. He made his debut in Gotham City, where he would naturally run into Batman and Robin. After initial conflict, Batman began mentoring him, and training him as a replacement in case Bruce Wayne was ever incapacitated. After Batman's back was broken by Bane during the events of "Batman: Knightfall,"^[1] Valley inherited the Batman identity, and began patrolling Gotham's streets himself. However, as most of his training had been subconsciously implanted (by the Sacred Order of St. Dumas, an overly violent sect), he grew much too violent in his role, and not only murdered some criminals such as Abbatoir, but allowed innocent civilians to perish as a result of his actions. Although Valley defeated Bane in his role as Batman, Bruce Wayne would later return after his back had healed to confront him in the Batcave. Jean-Paul was defeated, and relinquished the role of Batman back to Bruce Wayne, having learned he needed to deal with his psychological problems first. Azrael remained an active ally of Batman in Gotham City for a long time afterwards, and was a strong member of the Batman Family. He played a key role during the events of "Batman: Contagion," where he aided Robin and Catwoman in finding the antidote to a deadly strand of Ebola virus. His career was pockmarked however with frequent unresolved issues with his father, the previous Azrael.

Jean-Paul is believed to have been killed in a battle. However, the shredded and bullet-riddled remnants of his costume were all that was found.^[2]

Recommended Reading

• Batman: Sword of Azrael
• Batman: Knightfall
• Azrael: Agent of the Bat
  

Powers and Abilities

Powers

None known.

Abilities

• Conditioning from 'The System' enables Jean-Paul to unconsciously do complex tasks such as design his suits.
  

Strength level

Unknown.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: Swords, projectile blades and flamethrowers.

Notes

• As the sect that conditioned him was a largely medieval organization, other members of the Batman Family would notice that occasionally Azrael's solutions to problems would ignore easier actions he could've taken using modern technology. For example, during the events of "Contagion" where he had to deliver an antidote recipe into the quarantined Gotham City, he attempted a mad rush of the surrounding fences past the military, and did succeed; but meanwhile his accomplices simply e-mailed it to the hospitals.
  

Trivia

• The gauntlets used by Valley during his time as the Batman are now used by the Manhunter, Kate Spencer.

See Also

• Discuss Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth) on the forums
• Appearances of Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth) (Chronological)
• Appearances of Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth) (Alphabetical)
• Character Gallery: Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth)
• Quotations by Jean-Paul Valley (New Earth)

Links and References

• Azrael (comics) at Wikipedia.org
  

Footnotes

Batman Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.