Azrael is one of the main characters of the Smurfs comic books and the Smurfs cartoon show. In the comic books, he first appeared in the story "The Flying Smurf" which was part of The Black Smurfs comic book album. In the cartoon show, he has appeared up until Season 8. He is Gargamel's cat who usually is helpful in ferreting out hiding Smurfs for his master, though at times he tends to get in the way of his master, resulting in Gargamel getting angry with his pet for his incompetence.
In the movie Azrael is an orange tabby. Azrael has gotten his revenge on Gargamel for abusing him and twice throwing him into unknown places. He does this by saying, "Are you dead?" in cat language after Gargamel is hit by a bus. Azrael also shows up in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol to give chase to Grouchy during his visit by the three Smurfs of Christmas.
Trivia
- Azrael was originally female in the comic books, but was changed to a male in the cartoon show and returned as a male in later comics.
- By coincidence, Azrael to Gargamel is like Muttley to Dastardly, since they were all done by the same voice actors.
- His character was voiced by the late Don Messick in the cartoon show and by Frank Welker in the 2011 Smurfs movie.
- Though appearing as a loyal pet to Gargamel, he actually got tired of Gargamel and turned against him. However, the new Smurf movie features him again working for Gargamel and still loyal.
- The new movie features him as an orange tabby, more specifically an orange Domestic Shorthaired cat.
- As a sort of continuity nod, Chlorhydris in "My Smurfy Valentine" had found that Azrael was a cat that descended from royalty -- which turned out to be true as the Smurfs had found his distant ancestor, the cat pharoah Azra, in ancient Egypt.