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| “ | I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls. From now 'til kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your entire existence... is never understanding why. | „ |
| ~ Gabriel to Catherine Henley. |
Gabriel is the main antagonist of The Prophecy film series.
He is the angel of death, vengeance, and revelation, as well as one of Heaven's elite Archangels. In the third movie, he has transitioned into a protagonist who redeems himself for his evil actions.
He was portrayed by Christopher Walken, who also played Max Zorin in A View to a Kill, Bradford Whitewood Sr. in At Close Range, Frank White in King of New York, Max Shreck in Batman Returns, Vincenzo Coccotti in True Romance, Mr. Smith in Nick of Time, Colonel Cutter in Antz, the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow, Reed Thimple in The Country Bears, Salvatore Maggio in Kangaroo Jack, Cornelius Hatcher in The Rundown, King Louie in the 2016 The Jungle Book live-action remake and Shaddam IV in Dune: Part Two.
Biography[]
The Prophecy[]
Gabriel seeks to use an evil soul to end the millennia-long stalemate in Heaven, during which no soul can meet God. He settles on the soul of Colonel Hawthorne, a recently-deceased Korean War veteran who committed war crimes. With the help of his human minion Jerry (whom he revived after he committed suicide), Gabriel travels to Arizona, where he finds Hawthorne's corpse, only to discover, to his frustration, that the soul is gone. He then tracks down the angel Simon and demands to know where the soul is; when Simon refuses to divulge the soul's whereabouts, Gabriel sets him on fire and later tears out his heart, killing him.
Gabriel learns that Simon hid Hawthorne's soul inside Mary, a young Native American girl, and tracks her down. He prepares to take Hawthorne's soul, only to be confronted by Thomas Daggett and Catherine Henley. After a brief confrontation, Gabriel is apprehended by the police, only to later escape. Since Jerry had been shot and killed by Thomas earlier, Gabriel goes to a hospital and resurrects Rachael, a terminally-ill woman, to be his new lackey.
Gabriel then tracks Thomas, Catherine, and Mary to an Indian reservation where Mary's native tribe is preparing to exorcise Hawthorne's soul from the girl. Upon arriving, he is confronted by Thomas, who forces the Archangel to reveal that he resents God because He doesn't speak to him anymore. Gabriel then makes his way into the reservation, only to be shot by Catherine. He grabs Catherine and starts to crack her skull, only to be interrupted by Thomas driving a pickup truck into the structure (killing Rachael, who attempts to stop Thomas, in the process).
Thomas grabs a tire iron and starts beating Gabriel with it until he's stopped by Lucifer, who confronts Gabriel. Gabriel tells Lucifer "This war is mine." Lucifer replies that Gabriel's war is arrogance, which makes it evil and therefore should be his (Lucifer's). Gabriel then mocks Lucifer for "sitting in your basement, sulking over your breakup with the boss" and calls him "nothing". Lucifer tells him it's time to come home, and attacks Gabriel, tearing out his heart and eating it. Gabriel's body is then dragged away by a demonic creature that accompanies Lucifer.
The Prophecy II[]
Lucifer returns Gabriel to Earth, stating that not even Hell is big enough for the both of them. Gabriel then confronts Thomas at a monastery, demanding information about a woman predicted to give birth to a Nephilim who will end the War in Heaven. When Thomas refuses to tell him anything and mocks him, Gabriel throws him across the room before setting him afire.
Gabriel later learns that Danyael, a fellow angel, is the father of the coming Nephilim. Danyael flees, leaving Gabriel to confront and then kill another angel, Raphael. Using a claim check from a dry cleaning store, he next attempts to find out the mother's identity, only to be stymied by the store owner (whom he kills) and the fact he doesn't know how to use a computer. The next night, he observes a teenage girl, Izzy, and her boyfriend Julian commit suicide by driving a car into a wall. Julian dies, but Izzy is left barely alive, so Gabriel resurrects her and promises to let her die if she helps him.
The following night, Izzy uses her skill with computers to help Gabriel find out that the Nephilim's mother is Valerie Rosales. Gabriel then goes to Valerie's house and waits for her to come home (killing her grandmother in the process). When Valerie arrives, Gabriel corners her and prepares to kill both her and her unborn child, only to be confronted by Danyael. The two angels fight, and Gabriel manages to wound Danyael long enough to get away. Gabriel and Izzy (who's behind the wheel) pursue Valerie in a car, eventually cornering her in an alley. Gabriel urges Izzy to run Valerie down, but Valerie jumps out the way, the car hits a wall, and Gabriel is left unconscious.
Sometime later, Gabriel, having regained consciousness, kills a police officer who was questioning him about the crashed car in the alley, takes his police scanner and gun; and finds Izzy at a small restaurant. He questions her about the police scanner and the gun, the latter of which Izzy picks up and uses to shoot herself in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Gabriel then forces Izzy to go along with his plans, taking her hand and causing it to burn while stating he doesn't have to explain himself to her.
The police scanner picks up an unauthorized entry at a nearby church, so Gabriel drags Izzy along with him there. Izzy waits outside the church, while Gabriel enters the church. In the nave, he taunts Valerie (who hides from him) about her unborn baby, telling her how humans and angels mixing doesn't work. When Valerie attempts to attack him with a candlestick, Gabriel gets the jump on her, subdues her, and drags her out of the church, only to be met with police officers. Izzy hands him the gun, causing Gabriel to be shot multiple times by the police while Danyael rescues Valerie.
Gabriel's body is taken to a morgue, where a coroner takes his coat and begins examining his body, only to find Gabriel has regained consciousness. Next, Gabriel, having taken back his coat and presumably killed the coroner, enters an interrogation room to retrieve Izzy, killing a detective as he goes and then retrieving an ancient book that he looks through as he and Izzy are leaving the police station. Gabriel then announces he and Izzy are going to Eden.
Later, Gabriel and Izzy arrive at the gates of Eden, and Gabriel asks to speak with the Archangel Michael. Michael comes down and contemptuously compares Gabriel to Lucifer. Gabriel then angrily asserts everything he's done has been for his fellow angels and says he wants everything to go back to the way things were when God loved the angels best. Michael urges Gabriel to submit or he will face a harsher punishment than any of them has ever known. Gabriel, however, is unmoved, and Michael grants him access to Eden.
As he makes his way into Eden, Gabriel is confronted by Danyael, and the two angels battle each other. Gabriel taunts Danyael for being in love with Valerie before killing Danyael, tearing out his heart. He then resumes his search for Valerie and accidentally kills Izzy. Gabriel and Valerie finally cross paths, and after a brief chase, Valerie asks Gabriel if God still speaks to him, to which he answers, "Not lately." Valerie then suggests the reason Gabriel hasn't heard from God is that he doesn't listen, and then tells the angel she can hear God speaking to her. Gabriel asks what God is telling her, and Valerie replies, "Jump," leaving Gabriel stunned enough for Valerie to take hold of him and jump off. Gabriel ends up impaled while Valerie is unharmed. Moments later, Michael turns Gabriel into a human, stating he has become what he hates most.
Five years later, Gabriel is seen living on the street as a hobo, saying "The phone's gonna ring, and he's gonna pick up."
The Prophecy III: The Ascent[]
Twenty years after the events of the second film, Gabriel is still living as a homeless person. Having changed his views on humanity due to his time as one, Gabriel works to protect Valerie's son Danyael from angels who are after him. At the end of the movie, after Danyael kills Puriel, Gabriel is forgiven and restored to his status as an angel. Before flying off to Heaven, Gabriel uses his restored powers to heal the fatal injuries of Danyael's girlfriend.
Personality[]
Gabriel wished to win the heavenly war against Lucifer and his hellish minions, and he was greatly angered by God for His inaction and silence about the stalemate in the war against Hell, and by the remaining angels for their blind obedience to God and their lack of free will. Thus, he decided to take matters into his own hands, even if he had to betray His creator and the rest of his creation. He was very narcissistic and never reconsidered his mission even once (until his redemption, that is). He always thought that the end justifies the means, however insane they are.
Speaking about God's creations, Gabriel loathed humanity and killed many people for sometimes no reason thorough the ages, proudly boasting that he murdered newborns in front of their mothers; he also didn't think much of his minions, killing them when they outlived their usefulness and torturing them when they failed him, as seen when he burned Izzy's hand after her suicide attempt. By the second installment, his hatred of humans worsened, to the point that he was willing to compromise the birth of a Nephilim prophesized to bring prosperity to Heaven, simply because he was part human, showing how hypocritical he was. He also brutally tortured and murdered any angel who stood against him with no second thought. His favorite methods of execution included beatings his victims to death and setting them on fire.
Also, despite sadistically tormenting beings that couldn't harm him, he was no coward, fighting powerful beings such as angels if he had to and even laughing at Lucifer's face. He also didn't flinch when Archangel Michael threatened him to suffer a "harsh punishment" for his various crimes and rebellion.
Since he didn't care much about "down here", Gabriel would've gladly caused the biblical Apocalypse and destroyed the whole Earth (if not the whole universe) just to achieve the war. Given his very sadistic nature and genocidal intends, Lucifer remarked that Gabriel was no better than him. Gabriel was also once again very hypocritical given that he criticized Lucifer for his obsession with God and the Heavens, while Gabriel himself constantly thought about God, and wanted to take over Heaven as a way to overthrow God and make Him suffer for his inaction.
Deep down, Gabriel was very insecure and wished that God renewed His interest in His angels and loved them as He did when He created them, which also explains why he hated humanity so much as Gabriel thought that God preferred them over the angels. This also highlights his supremacist mindset, believing angels to be superior to mortals because of their powers, infinite lifespan, and wisdom. He was greatly wronged anytime his mission or even loyalty towards God and the Heavens was put in question.
After spending twenty years as a human as punishment for his various misdeeds, Gabriel completely changed and became much humbler, nicer, and (quite literally) more human. Instead of desiring humanity's destruction, Gabriel sought to protect them and earned redemption for his actions, by looking over Danyael, the Nephilim that he failed to murder in the previous installment. As Danyael's girlfriend lay dying, Gabriel did his best to comfort her, unable to do anything else in his powerless state. Upon earning his powers back, he was kind enough to heal her injuries and save her.
Powers and Abilities[]
Gabriel was an immensely powerful archangel who possessed an impressive array of powers, given his celestial origins:
- Nigh-Omnipotence: Gabriel is an archangel of immense power. He has, as he boasted, turned cities to salt and ripped the souls of humans from their bodies.
- Immortality: Gabriel was present at the creation of the universe.
- Superhuman Strength: Gabriel is noticeably physically stronger than most humans; he casually overpowers any mortal adversary that opposes him.
- Superhuman Agility: Gabriel has an unnatural balance.
- Healing Factor: Gabriel, like all angels, has the power to spontaneously regenerate his body from any injury. Wounds from most objects, even bullets, heal in seconds without causing him any lasting discomfort. He can only be killed by having his heart ripped out.
- Cosmic Awareness: While not omniscient, Gabriel has immediate knowledge of certain things.
- Supernatural Perception: By licking the remains of his own blood, Gabriel was able to identify and find Simon.
- Perception Alteration: Gabriel can make people see and hear things that are not really there.
- Resurrection: As the angel of death, Gabriel can call back the souls of the recently deceased to their bodies and return them to life. He can grant them a form of immortality by refusing to let them die until they fulfill their obligations to him.
- Healing: Gabriel can heal a person's wounds, even fatal ones. After regaining his powers, he was able to heal Danyael's girlfriend of her fatal injuries.
- Pyrokinesis: Gabriel can set fire to objects and people with only a thought.
- Flight: Gabriel can fly with his wings.
- Shapeshifting: Gabriel can transform into a flock of luminous white doves. Like all angels, he hides his wings with this ability.
- Sedation: He can put humans to sleep just by touching their foreheads.
Trivia[]
- In the first Prophecy film, Gabriel is seen showing schoolchildren how to blow a trumpet. In The Ascent, he is seen blowing a horn in tune with a radio. Both instances are allusions to how Gabriel is reputed to be the angel who will sound the horn that will signal the Rapture.