Azbat Suit

Azbat Suit

After Bruce Wayne was defeated and crippled by Bane, he nominated Jean Paul Valley to take up the mantle of Batman while he recovered. While initially wearing Bruce Wayne’s uniform he would eventually begin to succumb to his “programming” and replaced the suit with his own tailor-made armor with razor disks, blades and hidden weapons, becoming a more aggressive and unstable Batman known among fans as the “Azbat”. This suit debuted in Batman #500, designed by Joe Quesada and Aparo.

Bruce Wayne, after fully recovering, would utilize the suit’s sheer uncompromising size against Jean Paul Valley to defeat him and retake the Batman mantle.

Vigilante-suit

This suit was designed by Timothy Drake when he was charged by Bruce Wayne to help train Jean-Paul Valley following his dissavowment of the Order of St Dumas. Thinking that the suit was a good cross between the Azrael Uniform and the Batsuit in retrospect Drake believes that the suit was too close to that worn by the villain, Metalhead.

Batman-suit vr 2

Following Bruce Wayne's crippling, Jean-Paul was given the mantle of the Bat to assure the general public that Batman had not been defeated. Accompanied by Robin (Timothy Drake), the Boy Wonder began noting Jean-Paul was becoming increasingly aggressive and soon after whatever "partnership" the pair held as Batman and Robin was dissolved by Jean-Paul.

Batman-suit vr 2 w Modified Gloves

Falling further into "The System" programming, Jean-Paul fell into a trance soon after Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth departed for Santa Prisca to save Shondra Kinsolving and Jack Drake. When he came out of the trance Jean-Paul discovered that he had designed a new pair of armoured gauntlets that possessed razor-edge talons and wrist-mounted disc guns.

Azbat-suit vr1

No longer wishing to hold back, Jean-Paul designed a full suit of armor in preparation for his encounter with Bane. Highly durable, the suit incorporated Jean-Paul's modified gauntlets with a modified body armour. With a lighter cape (replacing the heavier cape of the original suit), the suit's collar contains a high beam signal light that can shine his own bat emblem.

Azbat-suit vr2

Following a failure to capture the villain Abbatoir, Jean-Paul modified his suit with sturdier armour, now making him virtually bullet proof. In addition, replacing the cowl with a helmet enabled him to incorporate further tech, such as access to the Batcomputer, without needing to frequently return to the Batmobile.

Azbat-suit vr3

During an encounter with the mercenaries Gunhawk and Bunny, Jean-Paul further modified his suit; cutting down the cape and incorporating a new shuriken launcher (capable of semi-automatic and full-automatic fire) and a flamethrower into his gauntlets. A magazine attached to his back plate feeds into the gun gauntlet. After being doused in jet fuel and set on fire, the suit's blue colouring became red and following a confrontation between himself and Bruce Wayne in the batcave he was forced to abandon the suit and the mantle of the Bat.

Azbat-suit vr4

After a brief stint as Azrael again, Jean-Paul's programming returned in full force and he rebuilt the Azbat armour, altering the colours of the suit to that of Azrael instead of Batman.

Gallery

Trivia

• Following his disavowment, Jean-Paul's replacement in the Order attempted to replace him as the new Azrael, however, Jean-Paul later returned to the order after his time as the Batman and defeated his replacement. Saved by Abra Kadabra, who was acting as an emissary for Neron, Jean-Paul's replacement was given a replica of Jean-Paul's AzBat-suit to cause chaos during the "Underworld Unleashed" incident.
• While the majority of the “Azbat” uniform would be lost through the ages, the suit’s gauntlets would eventually fall into the hands of Katherine Spencer who would use them in her guise as the “Manhunter”.

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