This Has Been An Awful Week For Batman’s Alfred Pennyworth

Few characters are as beloved as Alfred Pennyworth, but this week has been pretty awful for the beloved butler.

Spoilers incoming for several DC Comics issues, including Batman: The Murder Machine and Nightwing: The New Order #2, so if you haven’t read those issues yet, you’ve been warned.

While Bruce gets all the attention, Batman’s vigilantism would not be near as effective without the help of his longtime friend Alfred. Alfred took care of Bruce throughout his younger years and continued doing so as Bruce morphed into the costumed crime-fighter he is today.

Sure, his job became more emergency medic and impromptu flier of the Batwing than actual butler, but he’s adapted to those changes quite well over the years. That’s what makes this week such a depressing one for Mr. Pennyworth, in more ways than one. Again, major spoilers incoming.

To get things started, let’s take Batman: The Murder Machine #1. The one-shot is part of several releases spotlighting the various Nightmare Batmen of the Dark Multiverse, brought together by the machinations of Barbatos.

This particular one-shot reveals the history of the Cyborg Batman, and it’s pretty brutal. Somehow a cadre of Batman’s rogues, including names like Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, and Bane, find out that Bruce Wayne is connected to Batman. They infiltrate Wayne Manor and capture Alfred, where they proceed to brutally beat him as they interrogate him.

Alfred being the consummate professional never gives anything up on Batman or Bruce Wayne, and they make him pay for it.

That’s when Bane lifts him in the air and breaks him across his knee, re-enacting exactly what he did to Bruce Wayne during the “Knightfall” storyline. Alfred’s body can’t take the pressure though, and he falls broken to the floor.

Hit the next slide to see how Alfred inspires the Cyborg Batman!

The Alfred Protocol

Even at Alfred’s wake, Batman watches the video of his death constantly, The whole league is in attendance, including Cyborg, of which Batman asks a favor. 

It turns out that Batman was working on what he calls the Alfred Protocol, an artificial intelligence that he based off Alfred’s brain scans. He never finished it, but he pleads with Victor to help him do so.

Well, as most things with artificial intelligence go, this backfires in a huge way. Cyborg does manage to get it up and running, but it takes its mission statement a bit too literal. The Alfred Protocol wants to protect Bruce at any cost, and so it starts creating multiple versions of itself.

What do all those Alfreds do you ask? Well, they start killing Batman’s villains one by one. It takes out all of Arkham Asylum, as well as those who were there at the real Alfred’s death, including Bane.

Suffice it to say, it gets even worse from there, but for that, you’ll have to read the issue. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only bad thing to happen to Alfred this week, so hit the next slide to see what another future holds.

Nightwing: The New Order #2

As seen in Nightwing: The New Order #1, Alfred is a bit older these days, but no less full of spirit and wisdom. While Alfred and Dick disagree over Dick’s actions to depower the populace, as well as that whole stasis chamber thing (don’t get us started), he is still a beloved member of the family.

Dick tells Alfred that Jake has manifested powers, powers he takes from his mother. By the way, his mother is revealed to be Starfire, who Dick also depowered along with the rest of the heroes. Yeah, not exactly something they prepared for in their vows.

With this new revelation, Dick and Alfred contemplate what to do about Jake’s powers, when the house is infiltrated by a squad of Nightwing’s troopers. His son’s powers were leaked to the squad after the hospital visit it seems, and so they have come to take him into custody.

Dick walks up the stairs to a standoff, with his officer, Brady, holding a gun to Alfred, who is standing in front of Jake with a baseball bat. Dick asks Brady to put the gun away and for Alfred to stand down, but Alfred is having none of it.

“I’m sorry Master Richard, but too many people standing down is how we got here in the first place,” Alfred says as he raises the bat. Brady fires his gun, shooting Alfred in the chest, killing him right in front of Jake.

So yeah, it’s been a rough week for Alfred, but in both cases, fans have and will get a glimpse of just how much Alfred means to the Batman mythos, and why he is so important.

Batman: The Murder Machine #1 and Nightwing: The New Order #2 are in comic shops now.