But it made me think that the problem with these stories is they just see Jean-Paul/Azrael as a nemesis of Bruce Wayne's Batman or a lesser member of the "Bat-Family." And they make him a religious nut, which in the 90s only happened after he was exposed to Scarecrow's fear gas--and they needed a poison pill to justify Bruce Wayne returning. Before that and in his own series, Jean-Paul Valley was not a religious nut; he was actually kind of a socially awkward dork.
In general, I don't think modern writers take the character himself seriously as a real person. As I like to do, I challenged myself to find a better way. So of course I came up with a trilogy that could be comics or movies or both. And adding to the challenge, we're going to do it without Batman or any of that. We're going to use 1 Batman villain, but it's one who is linked to Azrael, so I think that's OK.
And, hey, it'll make a good lead-in to my A to Z Challenge. Let us begin with part 1!
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It begins with a rich guy in a penthouse on the phone. A voice tells him to return what he's stolen or face the consequences. When he refuses, a window shatters and in flies a man in red armor with a flaming sword! He says the man, Carlton LeHah, has stolen from the Order of St. Dumas and now will meet the justice of Azrael! Except LeHah is ready and shoots Azrael with a gun using armor-piercing bullets. Azrael barely escapes through the window.
Cut to Jean-Paul Valley waking from a nightmare in his dorm at Gotham University--or wherever. The nightmare is vague snippets of him being trained to use a sword and stuff. He wakes in a cold sweat and decides to go for a jog to clear his head. Suddenly he's grabbed by someone. He manages to escape only to find himself facing his father! His father wearing red armor that has several holes and is splattered with blood.
His father tells him it's his time to take up the Azrael mantle and that he must kill Carlton LeHah for the Order of St. Dumas. Jean-Paul doesn't want to, but since his father is dying, he reluctantly agrees. Then his father dies. Jean-Paul takes the armor to hide it and then buries his father somewhere.
The next day he does some research, but there's not much on an Order of St. Dumas. There is more on Carlton LeHah, whom Interpol suspects of smuggling weapons into several war zones around the world. LeHah just so happens to live not that far away, but when Jean-Paul recons the place, he sees a lot of bodyguards. How is he supposed to get in there? He has some flashes of training like in his dream and retreats to go back to his dorm.
There's a woman waiting for him inside! She calls herself Sister Lilha and is part of the Order of St. Dumas. She's there to take him to Switzerland for his training. Jean-Paul reluctantly agrees to go with her. On the flight, she only gives some cryptic answers about the Order and what she does for them. Eventually they get to Switzerland and go up into the mountains to some remote chalet.
There, Jean-Paul meets a weird dwarf called Nomoz who begins his training. And what Jean-Paul realizes is this is the origin of his dreams--or nightmares. He remembers training in this place as a little boy. And then he remembers someone helping him to escape the Order: a woman who looks sort of like him that he realizes was his mother. She was wounded in the escape and died while he was taken in by some cops in Zurich or wherever. But now he's returned!
Soon Jean-Paul finds that old training kicking in, making him a total badass. He also cleans and repairs his father's armor, maybe putting a few new touches on it. With some computer skills he already had, he finds LeHah is on his country estate in England, which no doubt has a ton of guards and stuff.
Sister Lilha takes him to England on the jet. During the trip, he asks her about why she stays with the Order and she says she believes in their mission or whatever. He floats the idea that after LeHah is dead they could both leave the Order and start over somewhere, but she is cool to that idea.
Jean-Paul stakes out the estate and then puts on the Azrael armor to storm the place. Things don't go great, but Azrael's training keeps Jean-Paul in one piece. But LeHah escapes! Worse, his people have captured Sister Lilha!
LeHah sets a meeting on an oil rig he owns in the North Sea. It's obviously a trap, but Jean-Paul has to go or Sister Lilha will die and his father's killer will remain free. So he goes there and uses some of his cunning to get on the rig. There's a big showdown with LeHah and his goons using armor-piercing bullets and rocket launchers and stuff. Jean-Paul is wounded but not too badly.
In the end he saves Sister Lilha but doesn't kill LeHah because he doesn't really want to be Azrael. LeHah repays him by of course trying to kill him and then Sister Lilha kills him with a gun. Jean-Paul asks her again to leave the Order with him, but she refuses. And she tells him that the Order will call upon him again--whether he likes it or not.
Jean-Paul goes back to Gotham (or wherever) and when he hears a scream, he gets out the Azrael armor to go fight some crime.
In a cookie scene, we see an old, scary prison on the island of Santa Prisca. A wall explodes while sirens sound and spotlights wave around. A couple of smaller guys wriggle out, followed by a big guy in a Mexican wrestler mask with some tubes hooked up to him. It's Bane! And some indication that he's going to Gotham.
(I told you I'd use 1 Batman villain!)
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