Suit of Sorrows

History
The suit's origin is unknown, it had been in the possession of the League of Assassins for an unkonwn about of time. In the past it was worn by Bruce Wayne, it was given to him as a wedding gift by Talia al Ghul. He left it behind when he escaped the League.

When the League planned the Cataclsym, they gave Jean-Paul Valley the Suit and the name Azrael, the Fourht Horseman, meant to kill and replace Batman. When Bane, the Second Horseman, got carried away and instead of breaking the Bat, he tried to kill him, Dick Grayson took on the mantle of Batman. Feeling lost and without purpose, Azrael became a vigilante in Gotham until Dick approached him to lead the newly formed Sons of Batman.

Jean-Paul put the suit away, and for a while he lead the Sons as a vigilante group; but after a while (probably under the influence of Joseph Blackfire), the Sons became more criminal than vigilantes. Eventually, Jean-Paul decided to partner up with Michael Lane, a former member of the Sons, and now detective of the GCPD, to take out the Sons competitors in illegal activites. Jean-Paul gave Lane the Suit of Sorrows and he became the second Azrael.

Lane was later apprehended by the Bat Family; but instead of taking him to the autorities, Dick, who was again taking the Batman identity (while Bruce was missing), decided to take him to the secret prison in the Batcave 4. Dick planned to dress Luke Fox as Azrael to trick the Sons of Batman and take them down.

But before they could put their plan in place, they were approached by Talia al Ghul, who knew the whereabouts of Bruce. Talia and Dick made a deal, than probably included Dick handing over the Suit of Sorrows back to Talia.

Months later, someone new wearing the Suit of Sorrows, and calling himself Heretic started attacking the Outsiders, the Birds of Prey, and the other protectors of Gotham City and Blüdhaven, as part of what was later known as The Judas Contract.

Eventually, Heretic/Judas was revealed to be the missing Joseph Kane, who had been kidnapped and brainwhased by Talia and the League of Assassinss. After being shot by his father, Deathstroke, and faced by Dick Grayson (who took the bullet intended for Joseph), Joseph fled the League, feeling lost and withouth purpose.

After wearing the Suit for so long, Joseph had become dependant of it. He traveled to St. Roch, where he reached Dr. Violeta Campos, who discovered the Suit of Sorrows was actually made of Nth Metal. Joseph didn't stick around to find a cure for his dependce of the the Suit and fled to Corto Maltese, where he was confronted by his friend and fellow Outsider, Jack Dahl. Jack tried to capture Joseph, but in turn they were both capture by Rina Nishida and recruited into the Challengers by the Monitor.

The Monitor offered Joseph a chance to redemption and help with his withdrawal symptoms in exchange of him joining the Challengers. Joseph agreed and was assisted by his former girlfriend Candice Yacoub, who was able to take the Suit off of Joseph.

The Monitor kept the Suit and offered later to Silas Helvig, in exchange of Silas joining the Challengers. Silas is planning on returning the Suit back to Jean-Paul Valley to get more prestige in the Sons of Batman.

Links and References

 * Item Gallery: Suit of Sorrows