Alfred Pennyworth (Absolute Universe)

Alfred Pennyworth is a special agent employed by an unidentified British organization, tasked with the collection of information and the neutralization of designated targets. He was sent to Gotham City to investigate the Party Animal Gang, causing him to clash with the city's new young vigilante Batman.

History

Alfred was on the trail of a billionaire serial killer known as The Joker in Singapore when the organization abruptly pulled him out and reassigned him to Gotham City, which was being terrorised by a gang of violent nihilists known as The Party Animals. His handlers told him to surveil and gather information on the Party Animals but not engage. They also informed him that a mysterious vigilante was operating in town, and that he had the greenlight to take that man out if necessary. When he arrived in Gotham, Alfred attempted to reach out to his estranged daughter Julia Pennyworth, who resided in the city, but she did not take his call. On his first night in the city, his motorcycle was stolen.

Alfred later staked out a town meeting held by Mayor Gordon about the threat of the Party Animals. He saw the terrorists approaching and asked for permission to engage and try to stop them, as their attack would kill dozens of innocent people, but his superiors ordered him to simply hold and observe. He saw the vigilante, Batman, swoop in and fight the Party Animals. His handlers ordered him to take Batman out as he was disrupting intelligence gathering, but Alfred held back, claiming that he did not have a clear line of fire. He watched Batman fight off the numerically superior force, impressed by his abilities. Eventually the Party Animals fled, directly into an explosive trap which Batman had laid exactly where Alfred would have put it. His handlers ordered him directly to attack Batman, but when he went down to ground level Batman easily knocked him down, disarmed him and escaped with Alfred's prized custom automatic shotgun.

Alfred quickly deduced that Batman was a construction worker named Bruce Wayne and the next day tailed him through the city. Just as he was about to kill Bruce in front of his mother, he got a text from Julia telling him to never contact her again, and decided not to.

That night, Alfred trailed Bruce to his headquarters in the empty top floor of a skyscraper and told him he was shutting him down. Bruce pulled out Alfred's shotgun and Alfred confidently predicted that Bruce was not going to shoot him, as Bruce had never killed anyone, but in fact Bruce shot him right in the face. This did not kill him, however, as Bruce had modified the gun to be non-lethal. Bruce drove off the top of the building on Alfred's motorcycle, revealing that he had known Alfred was following him since he came to Gotham, and glided away to safety on the "wings" of his cape.^[1]

Over the next three weeks, Batman waged a one-man war on the Party Animals. Alfred surreptitiously helped him by secretly instituting counter-surveillance for Batman that prevented the Party Animals or GCPD from tracking him. He justified this to his superiors, and himself, by claiming that prolonging the fight between Batman and the Party Animals allowed him to gather the data he needed more quickly. By observing Batman, Alfred discovered that he had many underground stash houses throughout the city. He was also surprised that Batman kept up his fight continuously rather than withdrawing to regroup as would be typical. Eventually Alfred's superiors ordered him to drop the counter-surveillance and let the Party Animals take Batman out, as he had become too volatile of a factor, and Alfred reluctantly complied. The Party Animals quickly found and assaulted Bruce's skyscraper base, but to Alfred's surprise Bruce was ready for them and had set an explosive trap that destroyed the upper levels of the tower and left it in the shape of Batman's cowl with gouts of flame for eyes.

Alfred learned that Bruce was walking into a trap set by the Party Animals at mayoral candidate Hamilton Hill's campaign headquarters. Alfred went to the building containing the campaign office, where Batman also had one of his boltholes at the bottom of an elevator shaft. He broke in and waited for Batman to arrive. When Batman retreated to the "cave", fleeing from a gang of Party Animals, Alfred asked Bruce to hear him out, telling him that the Party Animals were more than they appeared and they could help each other. Batman begrudgingly agreed and Alfred said they first needed to get out of there. He asked Batman if he had a car nearby and Batman replied "You're standing in it". He pressed down on a gas pedal and the "room" they were standing in accelerated forwards, sending Alfred flying and revealing that it was actually the cockpit of a huge armoured vehicle. The Batmobile smashed through the wall of the building, scattering the police cars surrounding it.^[2]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Espionage^[1]
Firearms^[1]
Investigation^[1]
Military Protocol: Alfred served in the United Kingdom Special Forces before becoming a spy.^[2]
Surveillance^[2]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Utility Belt

Transportation

Motorcycle (Formerly)

Weapons

DC-34 Automatic Shotgun: One of only three in the world, it was Alfred's prize weapon until Bruce "ruined" it by modifying it to be non-lethal.^[1]

Notes

Alfred Pennyworth was created by Don C. Cameron and Bob Kane, first appearing in Batman #16. However, the Absolute Universe version of Alfred Pennyworth first appeared in Absolute Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.

Alfred Pennyworth (Absolute Universe)

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