Azazel (Marvel Comics)

Azazel is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chuck Austen and Sean Philips, Azazel first appeared in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #428 (August 2003). He belongs to the subspecies of humans named mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities, and to the species of humanoid magical beings named demons, who are born with supernatural powers. He is the father of the X-Men's Kiwi Black and Nightcrawler.

Jason Flemyng played the character in the film '' X-Men: First Class''.

Publication history

Azazel's first appearance was in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #428 (August 2003) during "The Draco" storyline, written by Chuck Austen. The character's name comes from Azazel, an angel from the Book of Enoch mentioned first at chapter 8 verse 1. His origin story was presented in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #433 (2004).

Fictional character biography

Azazel is said to be one of the oldest mutants, belonging to an ancient group of demonic-looking mutants called the Neyaphem. He stated that he once rivaled Mephisto for the title of "Satan." Eventually, the Neyaphem were banished to the Brimstone Dimension by another group of angelic-looking mutants known as the Cheyarafim. Azazel was seen to be convinced that Warren Worthington III was one of the members of the group. Throughout, Azazel has been known to make demonic deals with several humans, including the family of Monet St. Croix.

Modern Age

Their leader, Azazel, was the only one who was able to breach the dimensional void and return to Earth for brief periods of time due to his teleportation powers. His only hope to return to Earth permanently was by impregnating women, as his children were linked to his dimension and he could use them to create a stable gateway between dimensions. About twenty years ago, Azazel began mating with women who had strange appearances, at least with looks and abilities other women didn't have. He had met Mystique in Germany, when she was married to a rich castle lord named Baron Christian Wagner. With Christian unable to give her children, Mystique was introduced to Azazel, whom Christian knew as a business partner. Mystique had secretly been taking lovers to produce an heir to Count Wagner. Mystique fell in love with Azazel and became pregnant with Nightcrawler.While she was hesitant to betray Christian because of their marriage, she killed Christian because he suspected her betrayal. After Mystique left to look for Azazel who was nowhere to be found. It was later known that Azazel was taking care of business involving the Cheyarafim, and had to leave, knowing that Mystique would find some way to live. However, she didn't have much time to formulate a plan, as the angry villagers soon found out about Christian's murder and came after her and the demonic-looking baby. In order to save her own life, she shape-shifted into one of the villagers and dropped Nightcrawler over the cliff, saying that she had pushed the woman off as well. With her own life saved, she ran away. Mystique was the only woman that Azazel sought to have relations with besides simple procreation. Later, thinking Mystique to be dead, Azazel sired several dozen other children.

Brimstone Dimension Opening

They were all mysteriously called to gather and sacrifice themselves on the island known as the Isla Des Demonas to open a portal and bring his army to Earth, with the goal of destroying both the Cheyarafim and what Azazel called "normal mutants", mutants whose bodies did not show signs of their mutation, and who were not seen as monsters and demons. In addition to Nightcrawler, another son of Azazel's was the Genoshan called Abyss. The children of Azazel all joined each other in a zombie-like state and opened a portal to his dimension. A group of X-Men had followed Kurt to see where he was going, and jumped into the portal once it had opened. Once inside, Azazel took great pleasure in toying with the team, having them believe that he was actually Satan. In the end, the X-Men defeated Azazel and his army and banished him to an unknown oblivion. The X-Men, including Nightcrawler, were able to escape, along with two other children of Azazel: Abyss and Kiwi Black.

Return

Azazel's whereabouts were unknown for several years, but he resurfaced in this dimension, accompanied by a few Azazel-like Bamfs, revealing himself to be the master of Calcabrina, former ally of Frankenstein's Monster, and banned from all realms of Hell.

Weapon X-Force

Confronted by a shape-shifted Mystique, a disguise he easily saw through, Azazel was asked to join Mystique to the realm of Hell to fight the newly resurrected William Stryker who had become demonic. Weapon X-Force being close in perimeter allowed Sabertooth to grow agitated with the lack of progression towards the mission's goal, had the team reveal themselves to attack Azazel with the plan to force teleport them to the realm of Hell Stryker resided in. Azazel quickly overpowered the team and obliged the request because of the ties Mystique had with Sabertooth. In order to send them to Hell, the Weapon X-Force were killed by Azazel as they were sinners designated for eternal damnation prior. Due to Weapon X-Force's regenerative healing, Azazel kept the team in suspended animation with the use of his teleportation abilities. Frozen in time, the team's souls were able to be transported to Hell to complete the mission and Azazel was to unfreeze them to return them to their individual bodies once they were revived with their healing factors.

House of X

Azazel was eventually welcomed to the new mutant island of Krakoa, created by Xavier, Magneto, and Moira X. He entered through the teleportation gateway alongside other villainous and fractious mutants, who had been invited to join the nation in order to heal mutantdom and start over as a whole species together.

Powers and abilities

Azazel is an immortal mutant. He has proven to be able to transport himself and others through great distances. He is able to project bolts of paralyzing energy, manipulate the mind of others, and change his appearance. Azazel also demonstrated he can cast magic spells.

Reception

Accolades

* In 2017, ''WhatCulture'' ranked Azazel 10th in their "10 Most Evil X-Men Villains" list.
* In 2018, ''CBR.com'' ranked Azazel 29th in their "Age Of Apocalypse: The 30 Strongest Characters In Marvel's Coolest Alternate World" list.
* In 2019, ''CBR.com'' ranked Azazel 9th in their "X-Men: The 5 Deadliest Members Of The Hellfire Club (& The 5 Weakest)" list.
* In 2020, ''CBR.com'' ranked Azazel 7th in their "10 Most Powerful Comic Book Villains With Demonic Origins" list.

Other versions

''Age of Apocalypse''

In the "Age of Apocalypse" reality, Azazel first appears as a member of the Clan Akkaba. Weapon Omega appointed Azazel his Minister of Death and made him his right-hand man.

''Marvel Zombies''

In the patchwork planet known as Battle world that debuted in ''Secret Wars'', a zombified version of Azazel is shown to exist in the Deadlands, a Battle world domain outside God Emperor Doom's jurisdiction that represents the remnants of Earth-2149 and goes by the name of Red Terror.

In other media

Films

* Actor Jason Flemyng plays Azazel in '' X-Men: First Class''. In the film, Azazel is a member of the Hellfire Club, alongside Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and Riptide. He is the assistant of Sebastian Shaw and works alongside his other allies Riptide and Emma Frost. He displays incredible teleporting abilities, similar to that displayed by Nightcrawler in the film '' X2'' but ranging over a much greater distance, and hand-to-hand combat skills, assisted by a short sword and a sharp tail on which he impales his victims. He is of Russian origin, speaking with a Russian accent and at times using Russian phrases, such as "nyet" and "comrade". At the film's climax, he engages Beast in a brutal fight until Beast finally knocks him out, and following the death of Shaw and paralysis of Xavier, Azazel joins Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants.
* In the sequel '' X-Men: Days of Future Past'', it is revealed that Azazel is among the mutants experimented on and killed by Bolivar Trask. In viral marketing, it is mentioned that he and Angel Salvadore were killed by Project Wideawake members.Hunt, James (May 23, 2014)
"11 questions about X-Men Days of Future Past answered"
Den of Geek! According to ''Dark Phoenix'' director Simon Kinberg, the Azazel of the film series was the father of Mystique, whereas in the comics he was her lover and the two of them are the parents of Nightcrawler.

References

External links

Azazel
at Marvel.com

Uncannyxmen.net Character Profile on Azazel
*

{{X-Men characters

Characters created by Chuck Austen
Comics characters introduced in 2003
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional murderers
Fictional Russian people
Fictional swordfighters in comics
Marvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters
Marvel Comics characters who can teleport
Marvel Comics characters who have mental powers
Marvel Comics characters with accelerated healing
Marvel Comics demons
Marvel Comics film characters
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics supervillains
Fiction about purgatory