Pennyworth Series Will Offer Insight on Where Batman's Personality Comes From

Epix's upcoming Batman-related prequel series Pennyworth may be set to tell the story of Batman's iconic butler long before he started caring for a young Bruce Wayne, but the story laid out in the series will show fans a lot more than just the path Alfred took that ultimately led him to become Batman's batman. The series will also give viewers an insight on the things that make the hero the character that he is.

During the Pennyworth panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, executive producer Bruno Heller explained it's through seeing Bruce's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, that fans may recognize parts of the Dark Knight's personality.

"Thomas represents the righteous detective part of Batman, Marth represents the fearless 'screw it we're gonna do this' side," Heller said.

In Pennyworth, a young Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon), fresh out of his military service, starting an independent security company. In this new business, he crosses paths with Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge), who needs his assistance. It ends up being the foundation for a bond so strong that leads to Alfred ultimate coming to raise Tomas and Martha's son, Bruce, when they are killed years later.

Bannon himself weighed in on how the show reveals elements of Batman's ultimate personality through Thomas and Martha, but he put a much finer point on things.

"The reason Batman is so screwed up is that his parents are opposites," Bannon said.

Pennyworth won't deal with the introduction of Bruce, though. It's set entirely in 1960s London and tells more of a classic spy story than a comic book origin.

In fact, executive producers Danny Cannon and Bruno Heller, who also helped bring Gotham to life, have likened their new series to James Bond and Harry Palmer films.

"I went back and watched Michael Caine's Harry Palmer movies, and the first couple of James Bond movies, because going back to that Cold War kind of story telling I liked going back into this period because all of our Berlin movies and Russian espionage movies, it was like the British version of westerns." Cannon told us earlier this year. "Like there was a wild west quality to the Cold War. Because after the war was done, we knew that there was a nuclear bomb, and we were capable of terrible things, but the spying and the style in which it was done, and the dignity with which it was done, and the charm with which it was done I thought all reminded me of what Bruno had been talking about. So going back to those movies and watching what was good about Michael Caine back there was he didn't hide his accent. And the fact that Harry Palmer was very unpopular, but he just got the job done. Because he called everything as it was. His feet were firmly placed in the ground, he'd look people in the eye and I really appreciated that, James Bond, same thing too."

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