Bartleby (portrayed by Ben Affleck) is one of the main characters of the Kevin Smith film Dogma. Formerly a Grigori, he was the best friend of the angel of death Loki. Following the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Loki had become disgruntled and unsatisfied with his job of slaughter and Bartleby, after getting Loki very drunk, convinced him to tell God that he was quitting. This resulted in the two angels being cast out of Heaven, forbidden to ever return. They were then sent to Earth where they remained in the area that would become Wisconsin, USA in modern times.
History[]
In the late 20th century, Loki and Bartleby discovered that a church in New Jersey was celebrating its centennial anniversary with a plenary indulgence, meaning that anyone who passed through the church's gates would be absolved of all their sins. This provided a loophole in Catholic dogma that the angels could exploit: if they entered the church and were absolved of their sins, their exile would be automatically overturned and they could return to Heaven. What they weren't aware of was that by returning to Heaven, they would prove that God was fallible and thus destroy all of creation. It was, in fact, the demon Azrael who had made the angels aware of this loophole and he had planned for them to return to Heaven and negate all of existence, all so that he would not have to go back to Hell.
On their way to New Jersey, Loki and Bartleby had an accidental encounter with the Last Scion Bethany Sloane and the thirteenth apostle Rufus on a train. Rufus attempted to warn the two angels of the consequences of their re-entry, but Bartleby was unwilling to listen. Silent Bob was able to throw the two angels off the train, but Bartleby wasn't about to be deterred now. Twisted by resentment and rage, Bartleby believed that God had sent the Last Scion after them out of spite. He was determined to reach the church and re-enter Heaven, not just to return home, but to take revenge against God.
Death[]
After Loki and Bartleby arrived in New Jersey, they crashed the church centennial celebration and uncased their angelic wings. Bartleby went on a killing spree, knowing that the Last Scion and her allies would be coming and so he waited for them to arrive before entering the church. When they did arrive, Bartleby killed the now-mortal Loki and fought against Jay, Rufus and Serendipity whilst Bethany and Silent Bob fled towards the hospital where God's mortal vessel was being held on life-support.
During the fight, Jay shot at Bartleby with a sub-machine gun, shooting off his wings and rendering him mortal. Bartleby ran for the church and threw open its doors, only to find God and the Metatron standing on the other side. Bartleby fell to his knees in awe and wept as God embraced him. God decided to allow Bartleby and Loki to return to Heaven with Her permission and Bartleby thanked Her. God then used Her true voice to destroy Bartleby's mortal shell, causing his head to explode.