Azazel is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the X-Men. A mutant with the power of teleportation, he is the father of the X-Men's Nightcrawler.

His first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #428, 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.

Fictional character biography

Azazel claims that many years ago an ancient horde of demonic humanoid mutants from biblical times called the Neyaphem were in an epic battle with a group of angelic xenophobic mutants, named the Cheyarafim. The Cheyarafim were victorious in the battle and banished the "demons" to an alternate dimension for all eternity. The Neyaphem's leader, Azazel, was the only one who was able to breach the dimensional void for brief periods of time due to his teleportation powers. His only hope to return to Earth was by impregnating women because his children are linked to his dimension.

Marvel, in comics, may refer to:

Marvel Worldwide Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company.

Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others.

Marvel counts among its characters such well-known properties as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Hulk and Ant-Man, such teams as the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans and the X-Men, and antagonists such as Doctor Doom, The Enchantress, Green Goblin, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, Thanos, Magneto and Loki. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locations that mirror real-life cities. Characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Daredevil and Dr. Strange are based in New York City, whereas the X-Men have historically been based in Salem Center, New York and Hulk's stories often have been set in the American Southwest.

MC2 (Marvel Comics 2) is an imprint from Marvel Comics whose comic books depict an alternative future timeline for the Marvel Universe. The imprint was spun off from the events of What If? #105 (February 1998), which was the first appearance of the character Spider-Girl, Spider-Man's daughter from an alternative future. This reality was designated as Earth-982.

Publication history

The MC2 Universe was conceived by writer/editor Tom DeFalco as a possible alternate future for the Marvel Universe, which is set in the present day, with the first appearances of most Marvel heroes having taken place fifteen years earlier than in main continuity. The goal of the line was to produce comic books that were more accessible to a wider audience than Marvel’s main line of books and weren't entrenched in years of continuity, which was later repeated with the Ultimate Marvel imprint. The MC2 had a distinctly old fashioned feel, with editorial and story choices reflecting late 80s/early 90s presentation and writing styles.

Azazel [ə-ˈzā-zəl], also spelled Azazael (Hebrew: עֲזָאזֵל, Azazel; Arabic: عزازيل , Azāzīl) appears in the Bible in association with the scapegoat rite. In some traditions of Judaism and Christianity, it is the name for a fallen angel. In Rabbinic Judaism it is not a name of an entity but rather means literally "for the complete removal", i.e., designating the goat to be cast out into the wilderness as opposed to the goat sacrificed "for YHWH".

Hebrew Bible

In the Bible, the term is used thrice in Leviticus 16, where two he-goats were to be sacrificed to Yahweh and one of the two was selected by lot, for Yahweh is seen as speaking through the lots. The next words are לַעֲזָאזֵל la-aza'zeyl, read either as "for absolute removal" or as "for Azazel". This goat was then cast out in the desert as part of the Day of Atonement.

In older English versions such as the King James Version the word azazeyl is translated as "as a scapegoat", however in most modern English Bible versions the word azazeyl is represented as a name in the text:

It may also refer to Azazel in popular culture:

Fiction

Comics

Azazel (2002) (Russian: Азазель) is a Russian made for TV adaptation of Boris Akunin's introductory 'Erast Fandorin' novel The Winter Queen.

Plot summary

This historical detective story features a young police inspector, Erast Fandorin. Fandorin’s adventures take place in the Russian Empire of the late 19th century, and he regularly finds himself at the center of key historical events, including development of Masonic and Revolutionary movements.

The hero is a young man, newly enlisted in the police force of the 1870s. This is a world with no forensic science, a rigid social structure and rigid proprieties, and police investigation techniques which respect the intuition of the intelligent amateur or newcomer. Fandorin is inexperienced, naive, downwardly mobile (the family fortune having evaporated), but cultured, intelligent, diligent, and desperately enthusiastic. He doesn't so much want to impress as want to succeed ... by a process of blind self-confidence and a youthful self-delusion that he is acting logically and scientifically. Fandorin is invited to investigate the suicide of a rich student. The young man has shot himself in public, but something seems strange about the suicide. Fandorin quickly exposes the murderous intrigue which has led to the death ... and opens up a can of worms which will have him crossing Europe in search of a mastermind ... or maybe even the godfathers behind a terrorist plot.