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.
Character
He is Gargamel's cat who is usually helpful in ferreting out hiding Smurfs for his master, though at times he tends to get in the wizard's way, resulting in Gargamel getting angry with his pet for his incompetence.
Azrael's color palette is different in the two main continuities he appears in. In the comic books, Azrael is an orange cat, while in the cartoon show, his fur is brown. He also 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 Movies
The Smurfs (2011)
In the 2011 Smurfs 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.
The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol
Azrael shows up in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol to give chase to Grouchy during his visit by the three Smurfs of Christmas.
The Smurfs 2
In The Smurfs 2, Azrael appears 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.
Smurfs: The Lost Village
In Smurfs: The Lost Village, Azrael is seen with another pet of Gargamel's: Monty the Vulture.
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.
- Suprisly in the early seasions of the old polish dub, Azrael (called Klakier in that dub) was voiced by a woman - Joanna Sokolowska (even thought he was still male)
- By coincidence, Azrael to Gargamel is like Muttley to Dastardly, as the duos were voiced by the same voice actors (Don Messick and Paul Winchell).
- His character was voiced by the late Don Messick in the cartoon show, and by Frank Welker in every production following Messick's passing.
- 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 in Season 9's "Mummy Dearest", as the Smurfs had found his distant ancestor, the cat pharaoh 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.