He is the first character to assume the identity of Azrael, a member of a group of assassins who were created by the Order of St. Dumas to bring justice to Gotham City.

In the DC Universe, Jean-Paul Valley Jr. is a member of a long family line of assassin-enforcers of the Order of St. Dumas, which was once a faction of the Knights Templar and as a child, was artificially raised and brainwashed by the Order through a method only known as "The System", causing him to develop split personality between his Jean-Paul identity and Azrael, the latter personality more violent and dangerous; believing itself to be an incarnation of the actual angel Azrael.

Quesada spoke on the design process of the character "When I received the assignment I went that very same day to a military bookstore here in NYC called Sky Books, heck I don't even know if they're still around?

Jean-Paul Valley, a university graduate student of computer science in Gotham City, is unaware that he is the latest in a line of assassin-enforcers for "The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas", a sinister religious secret society.

He worked with Alfred Pennyworth to find Leah after he had captured Bruce Wayne, using the Batman costume to kill the other Order members.

Valley worked with Alfred, demonstrating a detective's intuition in tracking Leah's movements and later risking himself to rescue Bruce despite his traditional mission of vengeance.

[10] Valley is given a job as a security guard at WayneTech headquarters, and also becomes an apprentice crimefighter alongside Batman and Robin, learning basic detective work.

Valley plays a pivotal role in the Knightfall story arc (1993–1994), in which he stands in as Batman after Bruce Wayne is defeated and paralyzed at the hands of Bane.

He decides that Bruce's tactics as Batman are obsolete and believes that he must fight criminals on their terms which makes him far more brutal and merciless, often even showing little regard for innocent bystanders.

With his back repaired thanks to the sacrifice of psychic healer Doctor Shondra Kinsolving, and his fighting instincts rehabilitated after lessons with Lady Shiva, Wayne goes after Valley to reclaim his identity.

With the help of Ra's al Ghul, Valley discovers that he is a genetically engineered test tube baby, and his genes have been spliced with those of animals.

Batman, who feels responsible for Valley, especially after realizing that he gave him very little training and support, decides to give Azrael missions to carry out as a test to prove himself.

Senators (one of which tries to plead to Congress for the funds to rebuild Gotham City after its devastating earthquake) that Batman begins to fully trust him again.

Before those events, Batman sent Azrael after Nicholas Scratch, who was planning to kill another Senator who also wanted federal money to save Gotham City.

Azrael helps Batman maintain a chaotic Gotham City, often with the assistance of the new Batgirl and protects Leslie Thompkins' medical clinic inside of No Man's Land.

After foiling Scratch's plan of framing him for murder, Azrael returns to his original costume and battles hallucinations that represent both his father and St. Dumas himself.

In the "Deus Ex Machina" storyline, one of Valley's former associates, Nomoz, appears to him on the verge of death and the team takes him to the Belfry to treat the injured creature.

He is defeated due to the timely intervention of Zatanna and is placed in a different suit with a new guiding AI based on Batman's best personality traits to counter Ascalon's influence.

Using a similar tactic, Batwing and Azrael would battle Ascalon once more to upload the same AI into the robotic entity, Nomoz sacrificing himself in the process.

With the Batman AI uploaded into Ascalon, Zatanna appears with a magical artifact, the Sphere of Gnosis, able to answer the questions of those who wield it.

[18] Feeling as though he has lost sight of his mission and yearning to escape the teachings of St. Dumas, Jean-Paul works in hospice during the day and protects the streets as Azrael during the night.

Believing this is a sign of the Apocalypse Azrael tracks down the last known location of the gangster, only to find a doctor synthesizing a resin from the Lazarus Pit.

Post-Flashpoint, Azrael also possesses limited empathic abilities, able to induce painful visions to others via touch, which is often used to leave his foes in a catatonic state.

[24][22][23] His combat skills make him competent enough to either match or defeat opponents such as Bane, Deathstroke, Batman,[25] Batwoman,[16] and Cassandra Cain.

[16] Azrael does, however, possess several weaknesses: due to the mental conditioning from The System, Valley is only able to access his powers while suited up and his normal personality is suppressed for a more violent one.

Originally, the Azrael costume worn by Jean-Paul Valley was considered of a red and gold Kevlar armor resistant to bullets.

He sometimes carries a flaming sword, and also uses two retractable daggers hidden in the gauntlets of his costume that can be charged with thermal energy to increase their destructive power.

[10] His Post-Flashpoint costume is consistent with his original pre-Flashpoint version although instead of being Kevlar, it is a special suit stylized after a medieval crusader called the "Suit of Sorrows", a special armor with an advanced AI (called Ascalon) that pinpoints the weakness within an opponent and enhances his original Azrael personality, making him a more dangerous fighter.

After the events of Deus Ex Machina, Valley has a new AI built based on Batman's best personality attributes, enabling him to battle against the dogma of St. Dumas without compromising his mental state.