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Alfred Pennyworth
Pennyalf
Biographical Information
Alias Alfred
Butler
Relatives
Born
Died
Affiliation British Armed Forces
Wayne Family
Batman Family
Justice League
Physical Description
Species Human
Gender Male
Hair Grey
Eyes Brown
Behind the Scenes
Portrayed By Jeremy Irons
Andy Serkis
First Appearance Guide to the Caped Crusader/Guide to the Man of Steel: Movie Flip Book


"That's how it starts. The Fever. The rage. The feeling of powerlessness that turns good men cruel."
—Alfred to Bruce Wayne

Alfred Crane Pennyworth is the Wayne Family's Bodyguard, a position that he has held for many years. When a mugger murdered Thomas and Martha Wayne, Alfred was placed as the legal guardian to their son Bruce. When Bruce grew up and began a quest to single-handedly rid his city of crime and corruption as the fearsome vigilante "Batman", Alfred readily assisted him in this one-man war on crime.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Alfred was born in England, in the middle of the 20th century.

Alfred grew up into military service in the British Armed Forces and became apart of the SAS, the British special forces where he received training in several areas such as weapons, intelligence gathering, medicine and piloting all sorts of vehicles and aircraft.

Alfred's service ended when he was honorably discharged from the military.

Wayne Family Service[]

At some point, he moved to the United States of America, and became the Bodyguard to Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, billionaires from Gotham City. Sometime later, they had their only child, Bruce, whom Alfred would come to mentor.

Batman v Superman 48

Thomas and Martha's funeral.

In 1981, the Waynes were murdered by a mugger, whilst taking Bruce to see a showing of "The Mark of Zorro" at the Aragon Theatre. Alfred was placed as the legal guardian to Bruce. The young boy's anger at the death of his parents and the blame he placed on himself was apparent to see, and he proclaimed that he would rid Gotham of the criminal and the corrupt, and asked Alfred for his help. Alfred became Bruce's legal guardian and the rest of The Wayne's personal servants left their service so only Alfred remained to take care of Bruce.

Creating the Batman[]

Staying true to his word, Bruce secretly dedicated his life to ridding Gotham of criminals and keeping everybody safe. Using Alfred's extensive knowledge of military weapons, vehicles, and intelligence from his previous life in the British Armed Forces, Bruce and Alfred began to create custom built vehicles and suits that Bruce would use as "the Batman". Over 20 years, Alfred assisted Bruce in fighting crime against the harsh criminals of Gotham such as the Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc and Deadshot. Together, they built the Batmobile, Batwing, Batsuits and a whole assortment of gadgets over years of trial and error.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice[]

Bruce's war with Superman[]

Alfred assisted Bruce in tracking down a person called the 'White Portuguese', who Bruce said was planning on bringing a dirty bomb into Gotham City. After Bruce tracked down Cesar Santos, a low-level Trafficker to no avail, Bruce got the name of Anatoli Knyazev who operated out of the Port of Gotham. Alfred showed Bruce the front page of the Gotham Gazette, saying that Bruce was changing. Bruce denied that anything had changed but Alfred pointed to the fact that the world was very much changed now with the appearance of Superman and that even good men turn cruel.

Bruce tracked Knyazev to a fight club and cloned his phone before going through his call logs. Alfred came to the Glasshouse the following morning as Bruce awoke with a random girl in his bed. Alfred went through Bruce's post to find a letter from Alexander Luthor, Jr. inviting Bruce to a party at the Metropolis Library. Bruce said that Knyazev is working with Luthor and Alfred insisted that Bruce get the information as Bruce Wayne, not Batman.

Alfred drew up the schematics of the Library and where to find the mainframe where they can hack LexCorp Industries systems, guiding Bruce through an earpiece. As the hacker took a few minutes, Alfred told Bruce to go enjoy the party and wait.

Bruce had his hacker stolen by the mysterious Diana, but she later handed it him back after realizing it was military grade encrypted. Bruce found the White Portuguese in Luthor's files, and as Alfred was working on the damaged Batmobile, could see Bruce was lying. Questioning what the White Portuguese really was, Bruce revealed his real plan; to steal a large piece of Kryptonite that Luthor had found which he would use to kill Superman. Alfred argued that Superman wasn't their enemy, but Bruce argued back saying that even good guys turn evil, referencing their history with Gotham's villains.

Loyal as ever, Alfred still worked with Bruce as the latter was going to kill Superman, while he did not trust his master's judgment. Bruce's speech of his ancestors being involved in hunting animals also attributed to the manner of which he wanted to kill Superman, thus his creation of the Kryptonite Spear, which only made Alfred acknowledge how far Bruce had fallen into cruelty, saying "So falls the House of Wayne".

As Batman dueled Superman in Gotham, Alfred listened in on the comms. As Superman revealed to Batman that Luthor planned for the two to fight and try to kill each other, Alfred started tracking Knyazev who was holding Superman's Human mother Martha Kent hostage. Alfred tracked Knyazev to a warehouse in the Port of Gotham and informed Batman who left to find Martha.

As Batman took out the guards with the Batwing, Batman left the remote control flying to Alfred from the Batcave as he entered the warehouse to take out the guards inside.

Justice League[]

Assembling the Justice League[]

After Bruce Wayne defeated a burglar and a parademon, the parademon exploded and Alfred watched in surprise. He and Bruce then uncovered a pattern signifying the mother boxes. Bruce then told Alfred to prepare a jet for Iceland realizing it was time to assemble the team.

After Arthur Curry/Aquaman refused Bruce's offer, he and Alfred got back on the jet and headed back to Gotham City. While on the jet, they began to go over the other members for the team like Barry Allen, Diana, and Victor Stone discussing their character backgrounds and powers, while Alfred also makes a joke about Bruce's interest in Diana's skillset much to his disdain. Alfred also proclaims that he misses the old days where he and Bruce would take down normal criminals like Penguin, and being able to recognize the world and Bruce remarks by saying, "I don't have to recognize it, I just have to save it."

While Bruce was working on the Flying Fox, he and Alfred were testing different types of sounds to see which one alerted the parademon from the rooftop. Bruce then heard an alarming sound and recognized it as the sound that affected the parademon, so Alfred decided to rig the suit with that alarm so that they would be ready in case of another parademon attack.

When Diana was reviewing footage of Victor Stone, Alfred told her that footage always gets a little twitchy which then led to Victor speaking on the Batcomputer. Diana then convinced Victor to meet with her, while Alfred jokingly remarks, "Looks like you have a date tonight."

Appearance[]

Batman v Superman 17

Alfred, in his later years

Alfred is a rather tall and clean-shaven man in his late middle age, with short grey hair, brown eyes, horn-rimmed glasses, and a rather prim facial expression. He speaks in the sophisticated RP (received pronunciation) British accent.

Abilities[]

While Alfred may have no superhuman powers or abilities, he is extraordinarily competent in all of the fields necessary to help maintain Batman's life - from ordinary housekeeping and cooking to mechanical maintenance and computer operation. Alfred continuously upgrades and builds gadgetry with Bruce to better his performance as Batman. He also proved to be a competent medic and lab assistant. Alfred's background in intelligence also makes him a skilled analyst, investigator, and spy. Alfred is quite observant, trying to convince Bruce that Superman is not their enemy. He has operated as Batman's computer operator, communications officer, mission specialist, and personal doctor and surgeon.

Personality[]

A non-traditional English butler and bodyguard, Alfred always keeps a stiff upper lip, even under the extraordinary circumstances imposed by his master's secret identity. No matter what the situation, Alfred always responds with resolve, equanimity, and good humor.

Though he and Bruce do occasionally quarrel, Alfred's loyalty remains absolute. Partially this could be explained by his continued loyalty to Thomas Wayne, and a traditional sense of duty to one's master. At the same time, Alfred finds ways to express his pride in Bruce, and his belief in the cause he is fighting for as the fearsome vigilante "Batman".


Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the seventh live-action iteration of this character.
  • While different to most portrayals of how Alfred is classically perceived, this iteration of the character is more based on Geoff Johns' Earth One version of the character.
  • Before Irons was cast, former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton was rumored to be in talks for the role of Alfred.
  • The tie-in companion novel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Crossfire reveals that Alfred's middle name is Crane.

External Links[]

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Batman universe
Media Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | The Batman
Characters Bruce Wayne/The Batman | Alfred Pennyworth | Dick Grayson/Nightwing | Barbara Gordon/Batgirl | James Gordon | Lucius Fox | Thomas Wayne | Martha Wayne | Jason Todd/Robin | Clark Kent/Superman | Diana/Wonder Woman
Enemies Joker | Harley Quinn | Killer Croc | Deadshot | Penguin | Lex Luthor | Deathstroke | Catwoman | Poison Ivy | Jonny Frost | Cesar Santos | Anatoli Knyazev | Joe Chill | Doctor Aesop | Firefly | Black Mask | Victor Zsasz
Miscellaneous Gotham City | Batcave | Arkham Asylum | Wayne Manor | Batmobile | Batsuits | Wayne Enterprises | Bat-Signal | Gotham City Police Department | Aragon Theatre | Batman film series | Ace Chemicals | Glasshouse | Batwing | Wayne Family | Blackgate Penitentiary | Batman Family | Joker's Gang | Wayne Hangar
DC Extended Universe
Media Aquaman: Aquaman | Untitled Aquaman film
Batman: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | The Batman
Birds of Prey : Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn)
Cyborg: Cyborg
Flash: The Flash: Flashpoint
Green Lantern: Green Lantern Corps
Justice League: Justice League | Untitled Justice League film
Justice League Dark: Justice League Dark
New Gods: The New Gods
Shazam: Shazam | Black Adam
Superman: Man of Steel | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Untitled Superman film
Villains: Suicide Squad | Suicide Squad 2 | Gotham City Sirens | Harley Quinn vs The Joker
Wonder Woman:
Wonder Woman | Wonder Woman 1984
Super-heroes Superman | Batman | Wonder Woman | Flash | Aquaman | Cyborg | Shazam | Robin | Hal Jordan | John Stewart | John Constantine | Zatanna | Jason Blood | Etrigan | Swamp Thing | Deadman | Nightwing | Batgirl | Black Canary | Huntress
Characters Lois Lane | Alfred Pennyworth | Perry White | Amanda Waller | Mera | Iris West | James Gordon | Jonathan Kent | Martha Kent | Jor-El | Lara Lor-Van | Steven Lombard | General Swanwick | Emil Hamilton | Nathan Hardy | Steven Trevor | Rick Flag | Thomas Wayne | Jenny Jurwich | Katana | Lucius Fox | Nuidis Vulko | Hippolyta | Antiope | Renee Montoya | Cassandra Cain
Enemies Lex Luthor | Joker | Darkseid | General Zod | Steppenwolf | Black Adam | Harley Quinn | Faora-Ul | Doomsday | Deadshot | Captain Boomerang | Enchantress | Killer Croc | Parademons | Mercy Graves | Slipknot | El Diablo | Penguin | Catwoman | Poison Ivy | Ocean Master | Black Manta | Cheetah | Black Mask | Victor Zsasz
Miscellaneous Metropolis | Gotham City | Oa | Daily Planet | LexCorp Industries | Guardians of the Universe | Batcave | Wayne Enterprises | Batmobile | Green Lantern Corps | Smallville | Themyscira | Krypton | Earth | Timeline | Easter Eggs | Atlantis | Xebel | S.T.A.R. Labs | Justice League | Task Force X | Speed Force | Alien | Human | Arkham Asylum | Belle Reve | Midway City | Central City | Ferris Air | A.R.G.U.S. | Mother Box | Apokolips | New Genesis | Rock of Eternity | Star City
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