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, although in story continuity, his first encounter with the Smurfs was in "The Smurfnapper" from the same book. 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.
The coloring of Azrael is different in the two main continuities he appears in. In the comic books, Azrael is an orange cat, while in the cartoon show, he is a brown cat. Also, Azrael has white eyes with black pupils in the comic books while he has yellow eyes with black pupils in the cartoon show (with the exception of the Season 1 intro sequence).
In the movie Azrael is the secondary antagonist. 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. However, in his confrontation with Smurfette, he does have a small chunk of his right ear torn off when a metal crate falls on him, pinning his ear to the floor. Azrael also shows up in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol to give chase to Grouchy during his visit by the three Smurfs of Christmas, and in The Smurfs 2 to give his master no end of grief as he kidnaps Smurfette with the intention of having her reveal the formula used for making her into a real Smurf.
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. This may have been referenced in the first movie, when Gargamel is surprised (in such an inappropriate way) to find out that Azrael is male.
- 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, its 2013 sequel, The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol and The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow.
- The film series features him as an orange tabby, more specifically an orange Domestic Shorthaired cat played by Mr. Krinkle.
- Azrael is seen as a kitten in the episode "Gargamel's Time Trip".
- 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.
- The name Azrael is derived from an Angel of Death in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism faiths. The name literally means "Whom God Helps", in an adapted form of Hebrew.