In February 1993 a New BAT-MAN appeared on the seen. He could not have been more different to the original Bruce Wayne. He looked different, was more violent and proved to be a little bit unstable too. Not saying that Bruce was always not also suffering from a few loose Bats in the Belfry himself.
Bruce Wayne aka The BAT-MAN had met Jean -Paul Valley aka the Hero Azrael and believed he would make a good replacement to himself if at any time Bruce could not continue his costumed war against crime as The BATMAN.
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| BAT-MAN Mark 2, the New Improved Version. |
Bruce took Azrael under his wing and began retraining him as a possible replacement, however when Batman had his back broken in a battle with the Drug Crazed villain Bain, Azrael with the blessing of Bruce took up the mantle of BAT-MAN
Wearing a new version of his Azrael Battle Suit, which now took on a more BAT-MAN look, Jean Paul Valley replaced Bruce as the new hero of Gotham City.
At first it was difficult for many to realise that the new looked Armoured Bat-Man was not the original, as it was implied that BAT-MAN had just upped his overall look and costume. Many heroes close to BATMAN realised that this was a NEW HERO on the Block, not the original. BUT as this New Batman had the backing of the original he was accepted.
However, what Bruce had not taken into account that Jean - Paul had some mental issues, that over time grew and the New Bat-man became sometimes too violent and would at times endanger Innocent people in his quest to capture the bad Guys.
Although Valley appeared to be doing a good job of cleaning up the Crime of Gotham, it was quickly brought to the attention of Bruce Wayne that the New Batman's methods were both violent and irresponsible. His actions had caused the death of one or more of the criminal element who he engaged.
The New Bat-man would take his revenge on Bain for his crippling of the original capped crusader, but this was mainly down to the hi-tech BAT-ARMOUR the hero wore, not skill. Soon Jean -Paul began to believe he was superior to Bruce and his BATMAN and decided that he no longer needed Bruce's teaching or help being Bat-man, as he believed he was born to be The BATMAN. The real and one and only Batman !. Jean Paul started to spend all of his time in costume and began to believed that he was the only one ever who deserved to be called BATMAN. He told Bruce that he was never fit to even ever called himself by that title. Whilst Jean - Paul worn his Batman mask, he was Bat-man. To remove it would mean he was just plan old Jean - Paul Valley..... so why did he want to be someone that was not The BATMAN.
During this time Bruce had recovered from his injuries he had received from Bain, and decided that if he wanted to stop Jean Paul from destroying his Batman legacy it was him, and only him that could ever take the BATMAN title away from his deranged replacement.
Although Jean-Paul, in his mentally-altered state, believed himself to be a superior Batman, and a logical permanent successor, after Wayne's recovery, he was forcibly ejected from the position through physical combat when he refused to relinquish it. He was defeated when tricked into removing his Armour's helmet, after which the dominant personality of Jean-Paul Valley, the shy Gotham University student, came through. Feeling shamed, Valley returned to his identity as Azrael and sought to redeem himself in Batman's eyes.
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| Bruce becomes the one true BAT-MAN again. Although Bruce would forgive Jean-Paul for nearly destroying nearly every thing GOOD he had had achieved as the Dark Knight, he would make sure that he kept an eye on his former pupil to ensure that Azrael did not again over set the mark as a Hero again. More Bat Family Next Time Until Then ENJOY ! |
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