Who is AZAZEL?
AZAZEL is a demonic-looking mutant and leader of the Neyaphem, he was banished to a dimensional void due to his appearance. Becoming bitter at what he considered "Normal-looking" mutants, AZAZEL began fathering children with mutants bearing strange appearances, one of whom would become Nightcrawler, as a part of his overall plan to escape the void. His first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #428, during "The Draco" storyline. He was created by Chuck Austen and Sean Phillips.
First Appearance
AZAZEL explains to his son, Nightcrawler, how their power works.
AZAZEL claims to be the devil that is referred to by many religious texts. Stating that he comes from Biblical times, AZAZEL is part of a race of mutants who are collectively known as the Neyaphem.
They originally lived on La Isla des Demonas, an island located in the Caribbean. The Neyaphem believed the Earth was theirs to own and that humans were to be ruled over and used as slaves. However, another group of mutants known as the Cheyarafim were against this and eventually defeated and imprisoned the Neyaphem, including AZAZEL, in an alternate dimension. Ironically, this dimension, which smelled heavily of brimstone, was the one accessed by AZAZEL when using his teleportation powers.
Warren Worthington, Angel, is believed to be a descendant of these Cheyarafim. His blood who heals others burns the "Neyaphem"
AZAZEL who was still trapped in the "brimstone" dimension, and was only able to leave for brief moments. Planned his escape back to earth by impregnating women because his children would have a link to the brimstone dimension. Many years ago he started mating with women and one of these women is Mystique who at the time was married to a rich castle lord named Baron Christian Wagner. When Mystique was introduced to AZAZEL, she had an instant attraction to him. Although she was hesitant to betray Christian, she gave in to AZAZEL and they made love. Not much later, Mystique became pregnant with the mutant who will later be known as Nightcrawler.
The Revelation
AZAZEL also sired several dozen other children, who were all mysteriously called to gather and sacrifice themselves on the island known as the Isla Des Demonas. Doing this would open a portal and bring his army back to earth, allowing the demonic mutants to live in the world and find their place in it. The mutant children worked together in a zombie-like state and opened the portal to AZAZEL's dimension.
A couple more of AZAZEL's children: Abyss and Kiwi Black
Children of AZAZEL opening a portal to the "Brimstone" Dimension
However, AZAZEL was not able to free the Neyaphem because the portal had to be opened in an area where Cheyarafim blood could not be found. Archangel was present at the time and as such the portal was destroyed. AZAZEL is yet to be seen again.
Rumor has it that AZAZEL is actually a demon, or at least holds the blood of one. Mephisto has been heard to make slight reference to the leader of the Neyaphem to be much more than he seemed and had a strange set of 'ties' to mortals. So, expect Nightcrawler's Big Bad Red Daddy to pop-up anywhere soon.
LIVE MEDIA APPEARANCE
Jason Flemyng
In X-Men: First Class, AZAZEL is one of the main antagonists and a member of the Hellfire Club, alongside Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and Riptide. He appears as the assistant of Sebastian Shaw and works alongside his other allies Riptide and Emma Frost. In the film, he displays incredible teleporting abilities and swordmanship.
POWERS & ABILITIESNote: Due to the nature of comicbooks being an on-going tale, the character's powers along with his appearance, is in a constant state of flux.
Immortal: his aging process is greatly retarded and he can apparently regenerate injured or missing cells from even near-fatal injuries:
Teleportation: able to psionically transport himself, his clothing, and additional mass across inter-dimensional distances.
Paralyzation: ability to generate bolts of paralyzing energy.
Metamorph: can disguise his appearance through unknown means.
Will Bending: ability to manipulate minds giving him influence over others.
Abilities
He is also a master swordsman with a somewhat twisted code of honor and ethics.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azazel_(Marvel_Comics) : http://www.comicvine.com/azazel/29-40526/ : http://marvel.wikia.com/Azazel_(Earth-616) : http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/spotlight/showquestion.asp?faq=12&fldAuto=172 :
This is the 85th article in my Know Your CBM Character series. Any requests and suggestions for an article for this series write it down in the comment section BELOW.
Build up your GEEKCREDS by answering this:
Who is the character below? [Use the comment section to write what's the character's connection to AZAZEL]
CBM FIGHT CLUB CHALLENGE
Message to the CBM community:
To those who are making requests, check first [here] because I might have done an article on the character already. If I have not please be patient, I will get on it as soon as possible (but consider the fact that I spend hours writing one of these articles). Try to limit your request to characters that already have been adapted to live media, so that the feature will at least be relevant to the site – Comic Book Movie(though I include TV characters). Characters in Manga or Anime’, I am not particularly familiar of, I am not discounting these characters but it will probably take some time before I write a feature on them because I have to read up on these characters. Thank you for reading these articles! If there are errors on the feature article above, blame it on my age, humanity and ignorance. Just be sure to check the comment section for the corrections, any error I made will surely be pointed out and corrected by much bigger geeks (because there will always be a bigger geek out there). -This has been PollMaster inviting you to the geekside. MABUHAY CBM and Godspeed!
FOLLOW ME ON: