Alfred Beagle (Earth-Two)

Alfred Beagle was born as the son of Jarvis Beagle, a retired military agent who had proved to be less than apt as his father though a competent military officer.^{[citation needed]} Following the service of the First World War, Beagle followed the deathbed request of his father who used to be a butler for the Wayne family. Alfred sought out Wayne to fulfill his father's last request and upon arriving to Gotham City, Alfred introduced himself to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson at Wayne Manor and insisted on becoming their butler.^[1]

Originally the pair did not want to jeopardize their secret identities with a servant in the house, they did not reject him outright. However as fate would have it, Beagle stumbled onto the Batcave and deduced his master's secret identities. Alfred would later rescue the dynamic duo from a trap and aided them to capture the criminals responsible. Alfred's sense of responsibility and his knowledge of their secret identities convinced Bruce Wayne that he could be depended on to keep their secrets and manage the day to day operations of Wayne Manor. Since then, Alfred became Bruce Wayne's butler and Batman's assistant.^[1]

On his role, Alfred would always think about Bruce and Dick's well-being, often suggesting them to take a well-deserved rest.^[2]

Batman and Robin

Alfred assisted the dynamic duo on several occasions; some of the most notable ones being the capture of the Robber Baron^[3] his assistance on capturing the criminals Tweedledum and Tweedledee^[4] as well as a large criminal gang^[5] and his help uncovering the fraud organized by George Grayson.^[6] However, Alfred's assistance was always accidental and more often than not, he had to be saved by the dynamic duo.^[7]

File:Alfred Beagle 02.jpg

Trusted Butler

As he became part of Batman and Robin's adventures, Alfred decided to get in shape and start exercising. Bruce noticed Alfred's hard work and allowed him to go on vacation. Alfred spent his vacation on a health resort, where he worked extremely hard to become a more fit person. Upon his return to Gotham, Alfred had lost weight and was no longer stout, but instead he was a slender and thin man and he also grew a fine line of mustache.^[8]

With his new appearance, Alfred was once asked to play the role of an important British Lord, who didn't want to be recognized in public. Using his acting background, Alfred played the role perfectly, but he attracted the attention of some criminals, who were after the real Lord. Batman and Robin saved Alfred from harm and captured the criminal gang.^[9]

File:Alfred Beagle 03.jpg

Alfred's New Look

Shortly after, Alfred fell in love with a woman called Belinda and he tried to court her by revealing his connections to Batman. As a prove, Alfred disguised as Batman and tried to win Belinda's heart. However, Belinda was actually Catwoman and Alfred fell for her trap. He was rescued by the real Batman and Robin and after Catwoman's gang was captured, Alfred punished her himself, leaving her unable to sit for a short time.^[10]

Following his desire to become a detective, Alfred actively participated on some of Batman's cases and he also started honing his skills whenever he got the opportunity. However, his meddling in minor criminal activities and his deliberate investigations often placed him in trouble, but he always managed to overcome the odds by sheer luck.^[10]^[11] Sometime Alfred's attempts at real investigation were a complete success, but despite capturing the criminals entirely by himself, his employers still doubted of the veracity of his feats.^[12]

Later, Batman was summoned to England to solve a case and Alfred was more than happy to visit his homeland. Alfred's presence proved to be an inconvenience at first, after he was captured by some criminals, but later he redeemed himself by saving Batman from a certain death.^[13] Some time later, Alfred helped stage the apparent death of Bruce Wayne, but unfortunately he was blamed for the murder. Alfred was sent to prison, but thanks to Batman's efforts, his name was cleared and he was exonerated.^[14]

Alfred was suddenly fired by Bruce Wayne and with no place to go, Alfred went to the place of a man called Willie Willis, not knowing that Willis was a wanted criminal. When Willis asked Alfred to tell if he was Batman's butler, Alfred stuck to the truth and didn't reveal his connection. Willis was later captured by Batman and Alfred was hired again.^[15]

One time, Alfred was cleaning the Batcave when he decided to try one of the Batsuits and he was accidentally struck in the head, which caused a temporal amnesia in him. When he recovered, he thought he was Batman and started acting as such. Bruce and Dick allowed this impersonation to prevent further damage to his memory. Posing as Batman, Alfred solved a few cases, always with the help of Bruce and Dick. During an undercover mission, in which Alfred's role was that of a butler, he was struck in the head once again and his memory was finally restored.^[16]

Alfred's dedication and reliability and amount of dedicated army field medic and intelligence skills have proven invaluable to Wayne and Grayson and the later expanded members of the Batman Family including Selina Kyle Wayne and Helena Wayne. Following Bruce Wayne's death and that of his wife, and the departure of Helena Wayne and Dick Grayson, Alfred remained as caretaker of Wayne Manor and the Batcave beneath well into his old age.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Acting: Alfred used to be an actor in the music halls until his father asked him to become the Wayne Family's butler.^[1]
Mechanical Aptitude: Alfred built a plane named Sky Sled all on his own.^[15]
Mimicry: Alfred is capable of impersonating Bruce Wayne using his unique voice talent.^[17]

Notes

This version of Alfred Beagle, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
Evidence suggests that Alfred was created by the writers of the 1943 Batman serial; Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker and Harry Fraser, and that DC Comics assigned Don Cameron to write the first Alfred story to introduce the character to the comics in "Batman #16"; which was published earlier than the serial's airing.^[18] This is why the original character was a robust, clean shaved man; although the series' version was always intended to be thin and with a slim mustache.
Beagle was replaced by the more popular "Pennyworth" incarnation of the character after William Austin portrayed "Alfred the Butler" in the 1943 Batman serial. Alfred was redesigned to match the popular character actor as a slight, thin mustached man. Later stories, however, confirmed that the Earth-Two Alfred was indeed still Beagle, despite now resembling the slimmer Pennyworth version.
Theoretically with his very existence erased after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, this version of Alfred briefly replaced the mainstream Alfred Pennyworth and visited the new reality Bruce Wayne during the time-disturbances of Zero Hour.^[19]
Alfred's popularity after the Batman serial also allowed him to be featured on his own short stories in the Batman comics starting in Batman #22 until Batman #36, skipping #33 and #35.

Alfred Beagle (Earth-Two)

Contents

History

Batman and Robin

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Notes

Related

Footnotes

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