Is that [Sean Pertwee]? No, thatโs [Alfred Pennyworth], AKA [N.A.]! [He] appears to be [59]. [He] has the abilities of [army training and general weapons mastery] which makes them a powerful [civilian].
Partly because I wanted to join the cool Batfam gang, and also because I love Alfred, and need an outlet for my Britishness, I have decided to pick up everyone's favourite butler. I will warn you from the outset that my knowledge of comic lore is next to none, so I am relying on everyone to fill me on stuff I need to know. My inspiration is drawn 90% from Gotham, and 10% from the Nolan movies, because who doesn't love Michael Caine? With that being said, here is Alfred's backstory, edited a little from Gotham to make it gel with wider Batman lore:
Alfred was born in Whitechapel, London. This was the London of Edward Heath, with civil unrest and strikes occurring regularly. The Pennyworth family always struggled to make ends meet. Everyone did, in those days. It was a hard life -- a tough one -- and Alfred learned that early.
As a boy, he attended grey-brick comp school. He left as soon as he could, and enlisted in the SAS at 18.
Life in the army was brutal. But it was the making of Alfred Pennyworth. He learned how to follow orders, how to be a good soldier, how to fire a gun, how to take a beating, and how to give as good as you got. As a member of 23 Special Air Service Regiment, he undertook secret missions for Her Majesty's government. Dark stuff. Stuff that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Stuff that would give your nightmare's nightmares.
He stuck it out for several years, but he knew he couldn't stick it out forever. It would be the bloody death of him. So, he left the army. But you might be able to take a bloke out of the SAS, but you can't get rid of his memories. Alfred was a wreck after he left the service. He got blackout drunk most nights, just to forget the horrors he'd seen, and when he wasn't doing that, he was picking fights with the toughest guys he could find, just to do something.
One night, he woke up in an alley covered in blood. No sodding idea how it got there. So, he went to the closest nick to turn himself in. That was where he met Thomas Wayne, the man who would set him straight and turn his life around. Thomas asked him why he was there, and Alfred replied, "stuff that I was too frightened to even think about." Rather than leave him sitting in the police station, as any sane person would, Thomas asked him to get a drink with him. Who was Alfred to turn down an offer like that? So, he didn't go to jail that night. Instead, he went to a bar with Thomas Wayne.
To cut a long story short, Thomas offered Alfred a job. Alfred's never worked out why. Maybe Thomas knew he needed a butler with something about him, working in Gotham City. Maybe he took pity on him. Whatever the reason, Alfred saw this for the good opportunity it was, and he took it. What was left for him in his home city? The army had done sod all to help him after he'd left. His parents were both dead. So, he moved to America.
He's worked for the Wayne family ever since then. It's done him good. He stood by Thomas and Martha Wayne as they tried to make Gotham a better place. He helped raised Bruce when his parents were away. In a lot of ways, he was the boy's role model. He taught him how to fight, how to defend himself, and how to strategise.
Now, Bruce is Batman and Alfred is a guardian to the children Bruce picks up from the streets. He loves them as if they're his own sons. He keeps an eye over all the antics Bruce gets up to, and offers advice where he can, whether it's taken or not.


















