Alfred Pennyworth
62 years ago - Alfred Pennyworth is born in London, the son of Jarvis Pennyworth, the valet & butler of the Wayne family in Gotham City. He grows up alongside Thomas Wayne, regularly traveling back and forth between the two cities.
44 years ago - 18-year-old Alfred Pennyworth enlists in the English Army.
42 years ago - 20-year-old Alfred Pennyworth completes his specialized training and is selected as the field medic for an elite British special forces team.
41 years ago - 21-year-old Alfred Pennyworth returns to the States on leave to attend the wedding of Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane.
36 years ago - 26-year-old Alfred Pennyworth finishes his tour of duty & becomes an actor on the London stage.
33 years ago - 29-year-old Alfred Pennyworth receives word that his father Jarvis Pennyworth is dying. He returns to Wayne manor and meets Thomas & Martha Wayne's son Bruce Wayne. He helps him outsmart a bully, and decides to stay for him.
31 years ago - 31-year-old Alfred Pennyworth becomes Bruce's legal guardian after Thomas & Martha Wayne are killed. He recognizes Bruce's psychosis and tries to channel it into something healthy.
25 years ago - 37-year-old Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's only connection to the outside world while he travels the world. Alfred will sometimes travel to meet him, maintaining the illusion that he is in boarding school.
15 years ago - 47-year-old Alfred Pennyworth becomes Bruce Wayne's valet & medic as he becomes Batman.
14 years ago - 48-year-old Alfred Pennyworth becomes a surrogate father to Dick Grayson when Bruce Wayne takes him in.
12 years ago - 50-year-old Alfred Pennyworth is confronted by Leslie Thompkins when she learns that Bruce Wayne is Batman, accusing him of allowing it to happen.
5 years ago - 57-year-old Alfred Pennyworth is instrumental in convincing Bruce Wayne to take on Tim Drake as Robin.
4 years ago - 58-year-old Alfred Pennyworth assists Bruce Wayne in his search for O-Sensei to accelerate the healing of his broken back. When Bruce finds Sandra Wu to retrain his body Alfred tenders his resignation, unable to watch him continue to torture himself.
3 years ago - 59-year-old Alfred Pennyworth is sought out by Dick Grayson, and convinced to return to Bruce Wayne. He is stalked by Victor Zsasz during No Man's Land, but manages to fend him off until he is saved by Cassandra Cain.
Alfred isn't the first loyal-manservant-to-the-hero supporting character... It's so common it's practically a trope unto itself. Still, even if that's the case, he's claimed the role so thoroughly that the trope might as well be named after him. Any time any hero has a loyal servant, confidant, or advisor, the comparison is immediately drawn to Alfred.
Because he's so fundamental a part of the foundational bedrock that the Batman Mythology stands on, there really is precious little we need to update about him... but interestingly there's also a surprisingly small amount of historical content that you'd consider relevant. Trying to figure out why was a fun mystery.
Because he's so fundamental a part of the foundational bedrock that the Batman Mythology stands on, there really is precious little we need to update about him... but interestingly there's also a surprisingly small amount of historical content that you'd consider relevant. Trying to figure out why was a fun mystery.
Alfred Pennyworth's Comic HistoryAlfred was a very early addition to Batman's story, debuting in Batman #16 in 1940, only a year after Batman himself debuted. This original take on Alfred was a portly, comedic character who arrived at Wayne Manor with the careers of Batman and Robin already well in progress. He explained that he was the son of the old Wayne family butler Jarvis, but had left the 'family calling' to be an actor in the music halls, but who had promised his father on his deathbed that he would return to America and serve the Waynes. He fancied himself a detective, and while he was certainly bumbling he did manage to discover their secret identity, and by the end of the issue ingratiated himself to Bruce & Dick, and became their butler and confidant.
This old origin definitely dips into some old ideas (the family calling is to be servants? A lone butler takes care of a big empty mansion by himself?) but it gave us a beloved part of the larger Batman lore, and I think we've all just allowed the concept of a butler to evolve into what we all understand Alfred to be. |
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Alfred was finally given a last name in 1945, but that last name was Beagle. The name Pennyworth didn't happen until 1969. Other than that, the character remained a remarkably stable presence in the Batman mythology. When the Post- Crisis story Batman: Year One reframed a lot of Batman's origins, Alfred only became MORE important. He had now been the Wayne Family butler since Bruce's childhood, and even was primarily responsible for RAISING him after the death of his parents. He's become this vital figure in the mythos, a father figure and beloved mentor to the entire extended Bat Family.
Alfred has become so central to Batman's lore over the years that he has really never needed to have his story PROGRESS in any meaningful way. He's certainly had some stories of his own, but the good ones are more just adventures happening within the normal status quo. The stories that seem to really try to shake things up (he's died a few times, had amnesia, become a villain, had at least two estranged children that I'm aware of) don't ever seem to sit all that well, because they're a misuse of the character. It can of course be argued that big sweeping changes to the bedrock of Batman's story are a core part of keeping his story fresh. It ultimately comes down to what you think the role of a supporting character is. Personally, we believe that their role is to maintain the environment that best allows the central story to happen, and in Alfred's case, you don't do that by changing him. His job isn't to carry the narrative. He's literally the most supportive support character ever. Let him do that. |
Our Alfred StoryBecause Alfred's role is so clearly defined, and because we really believe that any major changes to it are just doomed to be retconned away later, our goal when writing his timeline is really to just make sure he's present for all the major parts of the Bat Family's story... but he does present one pretty interesting challenge in at least one aspect of his timeline, and that's in trying to actually fit all the stuff he's supposed to do in there. We know he needs to have enough experience in the British Special Forces as a field medic to be able to operate as Bruce's surgeon. We know he needs to have spent enough time on the London Stage to be considered an accomplished actor. That part isn't so hard. The problem comes from the idea that the Wayne's chose him to be the guardian of their son. This means he must have developed a strong relationship with them, and given that our Batman is in his late thirties, that doesn't give you a lot of time to work it in there.
The solution, oddly enough, was in the much older Alfred Beagle origin, suggesting that Alfred's father was the Wayne family butler before him. Alfred GREW UP with Thomas Wayne. Rather than a deathbed promise to his dad? Alfred took over the position... for Bruce. It's a simple change, but I think it frames the story of Batman's greatest ally really eloquently. |
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