Alfred Pennyworth was the loyal butler to Bruce Wayne on Earth-Batman.
History
Alfred raised Bruce from the age of eight after his parents were murdered. When the psychic plague destroyed the world, Bruce investigated the ruins of Arkham Asylum, the centre of the storm, and discovered the secrets of the inmates' twisted sciences. Using their technology, Bruce designed a great city-machine known as the Gotham Escapement that could serve as a final bastion of sanity and civilisation. However, he knew the trauma he had suffered as a child would make him unfit to lead such a utopia and so he created a perfect duplicate of himself and split his personality between them. One of them gained all his most positive traits and became Mr. Wax, the architect and leader of the Escapement; while the other, who carried all Bruce's pain and trauma, became a brutal vigilante known as the Night. Mr. Wax would lead the Escapement by day, while the Night would prowl its streets after dark and take out his rage by killing criminals. In this way, each half of the original Bruce Wayne could achieve his own form of happiness.
The two halves were deliberately kept ignorant of each other to maintain their effectiveness but the original Bruce knew they would inevitably discover each other and go looking for answers. Alfred was tasked to remain in the ruins of the Asylum and, whenever the two came seeking the truth, to erase their memories and return them back to the city. He also regularly released one of the Asylum inmates, who were kept in cryogenic suspension, and planted evidence that they had killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, allowing the Night to hunt them down and avenge his parents over and over again.
Related
- 1 Appearances of Alfred Pennyworth (Earth-Batman)
- 3 Images featuring Alfred Pennyworth (Earth-Batman)
- Quotations by or about Alfred Pennyworth (Earth-Batman)
- Character Gallery: Alfred Pennyworth (Earth-Batman)
Footnotes