What's your preferred background for Alfred?

[Tzigone]

I don't really mean when he came work for the Waynes or how close he was to either Martha or Thomas. What I'm really interested in is what professional background you prefer and timing of that (which I guess also means Alfred's age relative to Bruce's). Actor, medic, spy, etc.? What's your take?

[charliehustle415]

I don't really mean when he came work for the Waynes or how close he was to either Martha or Thomas. What I'm really interested in is what professional background you prefer and timing of that (which I guess also means Alfred's age relative to Bruce's). Actor, medic, spy, etc.? What's your take?

Actor, it differentiates him from Bruce and he can teach how make Bruce be distinct from Batman

[Mutant God]

Medic with some spy training

[SixSpeedSamurai]

The study at Wayne Manor.

[Restingvoice]

A combat medic, with hobby in theater

[Pohzee]

I don't like when they go tryhard wanking him to make him badass. It comes off a phoney and cheesy.

I also don't like him raising Bruce.

[Tzigone]

I don't like when they go tryhard wanking him to make him badass. It comes off a phoney and cheesy.

I also don't like him raising Bruce.

I prefer Alfred arriving on the scene later, myself. I have a fondness for the actor background - probably because it was the first I was exposed to. Don't mind the medic thing, but but as charliehustle415 said, actor gives him a more different skill. Especially if he arrives on the scene before Batman does the disguise thing and creates Matches Malone and the like. I don't like the idea of Bruce needing to make Bruce distinct from Batman, though. I don't think there's a reason for it, as Batman doesn't interact with the same people, and I really dislike "Brucie" and prefer a more "real" Bruce. I mean, Bruce wouldn't reveal all of himself, of course. He wouldn't reveal how dangerous he is or how extremely committed to fighting crime or how brilliant in certain fields. But he woudn't play the air-headed idiot, either.

[Valentonis]

I don't mind him being a spy. It provides a natural explanation for why he's ok with all the crazy shit that goes down in Batman's life. Just don't make him a James Bond type of deal, that's a bit much, I would prefer him to have more of a grounded, real world spy type of background.

[CPSparkles]

I like the Actor background. I like to think that all the other skills and jobs are just him fibbing and acting out a role. Dramatics

[bat39]

I don't mind him being a spy. It provides a natural explanation for why he's ok with all the crazy shit that goes down in Batman's life. Just don't make him a James Bond type of deal, that's a bit much, I would prefer him to have more of a grounded, real world spy type of background.

Agreed. To me it makes all the more sense that Bruce would grow up to become Batman if he was raised by a man who had been a military intelligence officer.

My preferred background for Alfred is a military veteran who worked mainly in intelligence during his Army career. After leaving the Army, he dabbled in theatre for a while before joining the Wayne household after the death of his father Jarvis - when Bruce was a very young child.

I see Alfred as being in his early thirties when he first comes to work for the Waynes, mid-to-late thirties at the time of the murder, and in his late forties/early fifties when Bruce starts out as Batman. I think a roughly 30 year age gap between Bruce and Alfred makes sense.

[ironman2978]

I liked the military veteran/spy origin for Alfred (especially in Earth One, BvS, Beware the Batman and Gotham’s interpretation of Alfred). He could have still have a hobby/dabbling in detective and theatre (either before going into the military or after he leaves but before he gets hired by the Wayne’s).

I feel like having the military/spy training give Bruce the beginning of what makes him Batman. He could still teach Bruce how to act in different personas and use disguises to his advantage but Earth One really sold to me the idea of someone he isn’t use to be a butler/father but had to take that role and had to because that is what Bruce needed and that is what sets the foundation of what makes Batman. Not to mention it is what helps him adapt to the crazy stuff Batman does and what Bruce needs (technician, medic, etc) which really is helpful in Bruce’s war on crime.

[Frontier]

Actor with some military/medical training.

I don't like when they go tryhard wanking him to make him badass. It comes off a phoney and cheesy.

You shouldn't need to even try that hard. Alfred is awesome even when he's not overtly a dangerous individual.

I also don't like him raising Bruce.

Somebody has to after his parents die though.

I prefer Alfred arriving on the scene later, myself. I have a fondness for the actor background - probably because it was the first I was exposed to. Don't mind the medic thing, but but as charliehustle415 said, actor gives him a more different skill. Especially if he arrives on the scene before Batman does the disguise thing and creates Matches Malone and the like. I don't like the idea of Bruce needing to make Bruce distinct from Batman, though. I don't think there's a reason for it, as Batman doesn't interact with the same people, and I really dislike "Brucie" and prefer a more "real" Bruce. I mean, Bruce wouldn't reveal all of himself, of course. He wouldn't reveal how dangerous he is or how extremely committed to fighting crime or how brilliant in certain fields. But he woudn't play the air-headed idiot, either.

I think it's very necessary if only because the double identity distinction is an important element to the mythos, and I don't think it would make sense for Bruce to not act very differently from how he is at night, whether that's his "real" self or not.

[SiegePerilous02]

Actor

Somebody has to after his parents die though.

That's what Uncle Phillip and Alice Chillton were there for originally.
And Bruce being raised by extended family is somewhat more realistic than being raised by his butler

[Frontier]

That's what Uncle Phillip and Alice Chillton were there for originally.
And Bruce being raised by extended family is somewhat more realistic than being raised by his butler

Being raised by a butler feels more Bruce Wayne to me then by an extended family.

Which is probably why Uncle Phillip and Alice Chillton never got much page-time .

[SiegePerilous02]

Being raised by a butler feels more Bruce Wayne to me then by an extended family.

Which is probably why Uncle Phillip and Alice Chillton never got much page-time .

I mean...not really? He's Bruce either way. The positive with Uncle Phillip is that it doesn't make Alfred look like the most ineffectual guardian ever. Who cares if Phillip is a bit of a fuck up?

I also think it's more interesting if Bruce has an extended family and how he interacts with them. I think it makes him more human and would provide us with more opportunities to relate to him. How does he feel about them, how close is he really to them, etc? It is a little too convenient that once Thomas and Martha are dead, he has NO uncles, aunts, cousins or grandparents around. Maybe it was done to make him more isolated and to narrow the cast down to provide more angst for Bruce? Maybe the same train of thought as John Byrne making it so the Kents were alive into Clark's adulthood since he couldn't fathom anybody losing their parents and not becoming Batman, which is a frankly bizarre train of thought.