Zauriel
Real Name: Zauriel
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Former Aliases: No known former aliases
Other Current Aliases: No other known current aliases
Status
Occupation: Adventurer, Ambassador of Heaven, Spiritual Counselor, former Guardian Angel of Women's Souls
Legal Status: Angel of the Eagle Host in Heaven
Identity: Public
Marital Status: Single
Group Affiliation: formerly Justice League
Base of Operations: the Aerie
Origin
Created by the Presence as its servant
Place of Birth: Silver City
Known Relatives: presumably other Eagle Host Angels
First Appearance: JLA # 6
History
Zauriel is an angel of the Eagle Host of angels, one of the four hosts of Heaven (Eagle, Human, Bull and Lion). Since the dawn of creation, Zauriel served The Presence (i.e. God) as a guardian angel, protecting the souls of countless women, including Cleopatra, Mona Lisa, and Joan of Arc. Finally (a few years ago, by mortal reckoning), he fell in love with his then-current assignment, a woman with a boyfriend from San Francisco. At about the same time, Zauriel accidentally learned of the secret plans of the Asmodel (King-Angel of the Bull Host, the most war-loving and vicious of the hosts, and one of the generals of Heaven's armies) and a legion of Bull angels to attempt to succeed where Lucifer failed and overthrow the Presence.
In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone (finally being with his true love and escaping the wrath of Asmodel), Zauriel pleaded his case before the four King-Angels (one of which was Asmodel), telling them of his desire to abandon his position in Heaven as a guardian angel and seek his love on Earth. The King-Angels told Zauriel the story of Michael, a guardian angel from long ago who found himself in a similar situation. After leaving Heaven to meet his love, disaster struck, preventing Michael from attaining the life he sought, and he found himself alone and broken-hearted, unable to return to Heaven. Zauriel refused to listen to their reason and was granted mortality.
Upon reaching Earth, Zauriel immediately finds that a group of Bull angels followed him down, adopting temporary mortal flesh themselves granted by Asmodel himself, in an attempt to hunt him down and kill him before he could inform Heaven of their plot. Zauriel meets up with the JLA and they fight back. Zauriel's sonic scream proved especially helpful.
As Asmodel finally arrived and Superman faced him one-on-one, and Wonder Woman lead a charge towards Asmodel's Chariot (a massive starship-looking vehicle descending over the city), the League formed a plan to exploit the fact that the Bull angels had a different vibrational frequency, since they were only crossing dimensions from Heaven to Earth temporarily. Mimicking Zauriel's sonic scream, Flash (Wally West) and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) created a sonic attack that disrupted their frequencies, destroying their mortal bodies and putting a halt to their attack.
Victorious, the JLA invited Zauriel to join them, but Zauriel still wanted to meet up with his former charge. Tracking her down, Zauriel introduced himself and professed his love for her. However, before she could truly respond, Zauriel realized that Asmodel had returned, seeking revenge for his defeat. Sentenced to Hell for his transgression, Asmodel met up with the demon-king Neron and joined forces with him, doubling the size of Asmodel's army (adding Neron's demons to his original army of angels). Tracking down the previously-mentioned Michael, Zauriel sought aid. Meanwhile, Asmodel adopted the form of a child and mounted an attack on the JLA's Watchtower, resulting in the actual death of the Martian Manhunter, who was later brought back by Flash, who excited the unusual shape-shifting cells of J'onn's body.
From there, Asmodel and Neron led their forces to Heaven, and actually beat back the armies of Paradise. Slaughtering his way towards the throne-room of The Presence Himself, Asmodel finds an abandoned room instead, empty except for Zauriel himself. Confused, Asmodel demands to know where God is, and is informed by Zauriel that The Presence is, in fact, everywhere and in everything. Finally realizing that there is no true way he could ever defeat God, Asmodel turned to Neron for help, but the demon had abandoned the former King-Angel. Sentenced to Hell yet again, Asmodel became a prisoner of Neron.
After the object of Zauriel's affection decided to stick with her boyfriend, Zauriel was assigned by Heaven to be their ambassador to Earth, as a beacon of hope and reassurance. He was granted a suit of Heavenly armor and a new headquarters, the Aerie, a structure floating over Los Angeles. Accepting the JLA's offer for membership, Zauriel joined them on various missions and adventures.
Asmodel didn't stay beaten for long, and soon bonded himself with the host-less Spectre in the Day of Judgment crossover. Gaining sudden, immeasurable power, Asmodel froze Hell and returned to Earth, leading to immense destruction. The heroes of Earth united, the bulk of which went to fight Spectre directly, while a smaller detachment left for Purgatory to find a soul eligible to replace Asmodel's inside the Spectre, led by Zauriel. They found Hal Jordan.
Returning to Earth with Jordan's soul in tow, the group met up with the others and Jordan entered the Spectre, leading to an internal conflict that ultimately forced Asmodel out, establishing Jordan as the Spectre.
Zauriel's career with the JLA continued until the galactic threat known as Mageddon arrived, whose hate-mongering effect motivated Lex Luthor to join up with Prometheus, Queen Bee and General (Wade Eiling). As the Earth faced immediate destruction, both from itself and Mageddon, Luthor planted bombs on the Watchtower. As the heroes evacuated, Zauriel stayed behind to try to dismantle them. He was caught in an explosion and died.
Arriving in Heaven, Zauriel discovered that Paradise had abandoned all hope for Earth's survival and were already designing a replacement world. Zauriel begged for aid from Heaven, but is turned down. They do, however, grant him the option to return to Earth himself and stand by the mortals he loves so much. Zauriel accepts and is about to leave when countless numbers of angels volunteer to accompany him back to Earth and aid them in their struggle. Leading his army of angels, Zauriel returns and prevents the nations of the world from blowing each other to oblivion, while the JLA stops Mageddon itself.
With the Mageddon situation resolved, a number of Leaguers part ways with the JLA, Zauriel included. He later appears for a memorial, commemorating the end of the modern JLA.
Zauriel acted as a spiritual counselor or guide to other heroes. He gave advice to Hawkgirl about the future and the current status of the souls in her body. He explained the angelic nature of Supergirl. He assisted Hal Jordan during his time as the Spectre.
Infinite Crisis
Zauriel led a group of heroes in a Catholic Mass during the Crisis. In the climactic final battle, he was shot through the chest by Superboy Prime's heat vision.
However, Zauriel has subsequently reappeared. It is unknown if he recovered on his own or was resurrected.
Ralph Dibny recruited Zauriel, along with Hal Jordan, Metamorpho and Ollie Queen, to infiltrate the Cult of Conner. Ralph hoped that these four, because of their significant experience with the afterlife, would be able to judge whether the cult's goal of bodily resurrecting his dead wife was viable. The heroes found that the cult was a fraud, and broke it up; Ralph, however, disappeared in the confusion, resurfacing later.
Characteristics
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180 lbs (xxx kg)
Eyes: Red
Hair: White
Skin: White
Unusual Features: Pair of white angel wings on his back
Powers
Known Powers: Zauriel was created an Angel of the Eagle Host, thus possesses the powers unique to that particular type of angel.
Angelic Wings: Zauriel possesses winged flight, which grant him flight at incredible speeds and with a high degree of control.
Superhuman Strength
Superhuman Durability
Superhuman Agility
Superhuman Endurance
Self-Sustenance
Healing Factor.
Immortality.
Angelic Sonic Scream: The most potent of Zauriel's powers is his devastating sonic scream, which is capable of tremendous amounts of destruction. An ability that is specific to angels of the Eagle Host, Zauriel's scream is acutely attuned to the vibrational frequency that angels adopt when temporarly descending to the Earthly plane, enabling Zauriel to vaporize an angel in milliseconds. It is speculated that his scream could liquify a normal person.
Angelic Over-Mind: A less-defined property of Zauriel's angelic nature is what he refers to as his angelic over-mind, the mental connection Zauriel holds as an angel to Heaven. This connection grants Zauriel various abilities, including the ability to communicate with any type of animal and a divine connection to the flow of magic on Earth. He can also sense good and evil around him and in people.
Holy Tradition: Zauriel can invoke the beliefs of the Gnostic Christians. He can also pull what he calls the "Red Sea trick," enabling him to part a body of water in much the way Moses did.
Known Abilities: Zauriel has quite a diverse and versatile set of skills. Considering he has wielded a flaming sword since the dawn of creation as a guardian angel, Zauriel is an incredible swordsman. He also has amazing skill in flight, again considering his eternity of experience. His capabilities as a leader and a guide are impressive, as well; he has led groups into Heaven, and provided guidance for various individuals, including the present Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders. He is an expert in the ancient warfare, customs, and theologies of the Abrahamic religious traditions.
Strength Level: Strength level unknown
Miscellaneous
Equipment: Zauriel has three major pieces of equipment.
- Angelic Armor: First, there is is his suit of armor. Although built of Earthly materials, this prototype is designed by the engineers of Heaven and is blessed with magical properties that are theoretically impossible to replicate on Earth. This suit of armor greatly enhances Zauriel's physical properties, including strength, durability, foot speed, agility, flight speed and stamina. Because of the Heavenly properties of the armor, it can be assumed that no other being could don it, let alone make use of its abilities.
- The Aerie: Zauriel's second piece of equipment is his headquarters itself, the Aerie. Floating high over Los Angeles, this shining, golden tower is much like Zauriel's armor in that it is made of Earthly materials but is of Heavenly design. The technology inside is mind-blowingly advanced, making even the tech within the JLA's Watchtower seem like toys.
- Weapons: Zauriel's third piece of equipment is Michael's Sword. This sword, which is characteristic of both guardian angels depicted thus far, is directly bonded to Zauriel's will, which logically prevents anyone else from using it. Because it is controlled by Zauriel's will, the sword can cut literally anything, including otherwise intangible objects and people, and even dimensional fabric itself. Magically pumped up by teammates, Zauriel was once able to cut a hole in the dimensional barrier separating Heaven and Earth, enabling himself and his team to transverse dimensions. The fiery sword is also able to emit blasts of fire.
Transportation: No known transportation.
Notes
- No special notes.
Trivia
Recommended Readings
- JLA: Paradise Lost #1-3
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External Links