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Hello everyone!
And welcome back to the MajestiComic channel.
As you'll know from our past videos, we spend most of our time profiling comic book
superheroes.
We tell you all about their origin stories and what made them into who they are, and
we tell you about all of the great deeds they have done, and about all of the epic battles
they have fought.
Today, though, we want to show you something different.
We want to show you another side to heroism, to prove that there is more to being a hero
than having a cape and superpowers.
Last week we told you Batman's origin story.
We told you how he trained himself to be at his absolute peak both mentally and physically,
so that he could save his hometown and avenge his parents' deaths.
But what about the man behind that man?
What about the man who raised young Bruce Wayne when his parents, Thomas and Martha,
were killed in that mugging?
What about the man who helps Bruce heal after a fight, and takes care of his home and his
ward, Dick Greyson when he has to fight crime?
In a lot of ways, that man is even more important.
Some even call him "Batman's batman."
Batman couldn't do the things he does without the help of his confidant, friend, and guardian,
so it is time that we show him some love too.
Although Alfred Thaddeous Crane Pennyworth is often thought of as being just "Batman's
butler," he actually has a surprisingly in-depth and impressive backstory that has
changed often over the course of DC Comics.
It all began way back in 1943, when Alfred made his first appearance in Batman, issue
number 16.
Created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson, the first version of Alfred the
butler was not one that most of us would recognize today.
In fact, he wasn't even a butler at all!
Instead, he was a pudgy, goofy, bumbling, wannabe detective who was constantly getting
in Batman and Robin's way when they were trying to solve crimes.
This is a far cry from the Alfred most of us know, because the Alfred we're familiar
with is tall, thin, proper, and highly sophisticated.
So what happened?
How did Alfred go from being a joke and an annoyance to someone who is essential to the
Batman family?
As we have mentioned in both of our videos on Batman, the Caped Crusader's look and
personality often changed as a result of how he was portrayed on television or on film.
The same thing happened with Alfred.
In 1943, there was a fifteen-episode Batman serial that played in theaters in the U.S.
A serial is like a short series, in this case filmed in black and white, that plays in a
movie theater, and adds on a new episode each week.
In this particular serial, the man who played Alfred was tall, thin, dignified, and British.
In the interest of continuity across their media, DC decided to change Alfred's look
to reflect that of the one on the big screen.
They sent poor, fat, bumbling Alfred to a health spa, gave him a mustache, and made
him a more respectable, fancier character.
Alfred's appearance, though, isn't the only thing that is surprisingly inconsistent
throughout the run of the Batman comic.
Take, for instance, his origin story.
While it is not uncommon for characters to have more than one origin story due to all
the DC reboots and crises, Alfred's varied stories make it a lot harder to pin down just
when exactly he came into Bruce Wayne's life.
In last week's video, we told you that Alfred had been with Bruce Wayne's family already
at the time of Thomas and Martha's deaths, and that he then became Bruce's legal guardian.
This is actually just one of the two versions of his backstory, though.
This is the post-crisis version, meaning that it is the version introduced after the events
of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries from 1985 and 86.
In the pre-crisis version, Alfred was a retired British Intelligence agent whose father had
made him promise to serve the Wayne family as their butler after his death.
Desperate to carry out his father's wishes, Alfred begged Bruce Wayne and his ward, Dick
Greyson, to let him be their butler.
Since they were already carrying out their secret missions as Batman and Robin at this
point, they neither needed not wanted a butler – a butler would just be one more person
they had to hide their secret identities from, and this one would be in the house, breathing
down their necks all the time!
When they saw how much it meant to Alfred, though, they couldn't say no.
So, Alfred became the butler at Wayne manor, and all seemed to be right in the world...
until later that night.
Sometime after midnight, Alfred was awakened by a low, painful moaning sound.
Worried, Alfred followed the moaning to a secret staircase, at the end of which he discovered
the Batcave.
Inside, Batman appeared to be seriously wounded, and was not wearing his mask, revealing his
identity as Bruce Wayne.
Regardless of the shock he must have felt at finding out that Bruce and Dick were actually
the Dark Knight and his Boy Wonder, he patched up Bruce and took such great care of him that
he convinced Bruce that he was capable of keeping their very large, very dangerous secret.
After that, Alfred became the third member of the Batman team, providing support and
medical care, not to mention cooking meals and shooing away anyone who would try to pry
into their business.
This version of Alfred continued on for several years, throughout both the Gold and Silver
Age of Comics (we'll tell you more about them in future videos).
Unfortunately, though, for some reason, his presence seemed to lend credence to the public
suspicion that Batman was homosexual.
While in today's society, this might not have been such a big deal, in the sixties
it was blamed for the dip DC was seeing in its Batman comics sales.
So, in an attempt to make Batman seem less gay, they decided to kill off one of the two
most important men in his life and his home.
Alfred died a hero's death, however.
While Batman and Robin were out of town, Alfred had to try to solve a crime on his own, and
ended up getting trapped.
Batman and Robin soon came back and fell into the same trap, and during their escape from
a dangerous construction site, Alfred pushed them both out of the way of a falling boulder.
The boulder crushed Alfred, and the comic introduced a new, older female chaperone named
Aunt Harriet for Bruce and Dick in order to crush any suspicion of their homosexuality.
Luckily, though, this wasn't the end of Alfred Pennyworth.
There are several different tweaks to the post-crisis narrative of Alfred's life,
but perhaps the most preferred version is the one in which Alfred comes to work for
the Wayne family when Bruce is a young child.
Bruce admires this butler and wants to be like him, even going so far as to try to imitate
his British accent.
In this version of the story, though, Alfred had once been an actor on the British stage,
and it is there where he longs to return.
Like in the previous story, he promised his dying father that he would look after the
Waynes, but in this version, he begins to grow restless as a butler.
Luckily for Bruce, though, all he needs is a sense of purpose.
One day little Bruce comes home from school and tells Alfred that he has been being bullied.
Alfred, who had had one foot out the door, stops focusing on his own plans and takes
Bruce under his wing.
He teaches him how to use strategy to fight the bully instead of brute force, and after
Bruce is successful, he begs Alfred to stay on with the family, and Alfred happily agrees.
In this version too, Alfred was an ex-member of British Intelligence, which makes him a
strong and capable protector for Bruce when his parents die, and Alfred becomes his legal
guardian.
Alfred is able to raise the boy in his own home, and he is even able to help raise Dick
Greyson when Bruce adopts him as his ward years later.
Alfred is like a father to Bruce and a grandfather to Dick and all of the other Robins and Batgirls
that eventually come under his care, which is why he is such a vitally important character
in the DC Universe.
Without Alfred, Bruce Wayne may have never become Batman – he may never even have survived
his childhood!
And all of the various young wards that came under Bruce's care would surely have been
a lot worse off with just cold, brooding, distant Bruce Wayne to care for them.
They all need Alfred to support them and care for them, which means that, in his own way,
Alfred is every bit as heroic as any costumed hero in the comic book universe.
What are your thoughts on Alfred Pennyworth?
Do you think of him as a hero too, or do you just see him as a minor character, or as the
help?
Let us know what you think in the comments section!
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You can also keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and on our website at www.majesticomic.com.
Thanks for watching!
Until next time.
Bye!
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