Apparently, Killing Off Alfred Was DC's Decision Not Tom King's

[Agent Z]

While appearing as a guest on Word Balloon with John Siuntres, King was asked about the choice to kill Alfred and whether he got push back when it came to ending the hero's life. "I got the opposite of push back. I got push forward. I sort of had this cliffhanger where Alfred, at the end, was gonna, could perish. And I put it in the script, like, of course we'll figure this out later and he's not dead. And DC's like, 'No, why isn't he? Why's he not dead?' And I'm like, 'Well, because he's Alfred and he has to live forever because he's a fantastic character.' And they're like, 'No no no no, he's dead.'"

https://www.cbr.com/tom-king-didnt-w...red-batman-dc/

[Phoenyxx1481]

I'm not sure why this is coming out as news now. I thought it was said months ago that Alfred staying dead was DC's call and not Kings. (Maybe it was more of a rumor and speculation back then based on in story clues and previous interviews?)

[Nite-Wing]

Alfred was always kinda boring to me Luscious Fox is a much better character and someone who always isn't against Bruce being Batman
Julia Pennyworth is cool too
If DC lets this stick then they have my confidence all the way

[Frontier]

I guess DC must have been in the planning stages of 5G back then, to the point where they would approve taking out major characters like this.

Alfred was always kinda boring to me Luscious Fox is a much better character and someone who always isn't against Bruce being Batman
Julia Pennyworth is cool too
If DC lets this stick then they have my confidence all the way

I think Alfred's issue with Bruce being Batman makes for a more interesting and nuanced dynamic then if he was just all-for it, but that's just me.

Not that I don't like Lucius, but he doesn't really have much of a developed dynamic with Bruce in the comics on the level of Alfred.

[Bat-Meal]

IMO his death wasn't shocking, his daughter's apparent indifference is the shocking part. Does Julia Pennyworth even know?

[Zaresh]

IMO his death wasn't shocking, his daughter's apparent indifference is the shocking part. Does Julia Pennyworth even know?

The actual question would be, do most of the the writers remember Julia? Because I think that's actually the problem: they don't so they don't show her reacting. It's sad how they're cutting out even well known supporting cast. A year and half Leslie, now Alfred...

[Gotham citizen]

IMO his death wasn't shocking, his daughter's apparent indifference is the shocking part. Does Julia Pennyworth even know?

I don't think it isn't shocking, because in this moment she is bringing the Alfred's corpse in one of the Lazarus pits to resurrect him.

Oh my God: I was making a joke, but the story of a daughter who face a long difficult and dangerous journey to resurrect her father, can actually work!

[David Walton]

I guess DC must have been in the planning stages of 5G back then, to the point where they would approve taking out major characters like this.

I think Alfred's issue with Bruce being Batman makes for a more interesting and nuanced dynamic then if he was just all-for it, but that's just me.

Not that I don't like Lucius, but he doesn't really have much of a developed dynamic with Bruce in the comics on the level of Alfred.

Alfred is comparable to a parent whose child has chosen military or police service. He's very proud and he recognizes the important work that Bruce does, but he'd prefer Bruce have a more normal and much safer life, as any parent would. King expressed that beautifully in the Father's Day story from Annual #3, I think?

At any rate I think Alfred is pretty irreplaceable. There's only so much mileage you can get out of the vacuum his absence leaves, but there's no simply no substitute for Alfred's dry wit. I imagine that every writer who gets their hands on Batman wants to do Alfred one-liners.

[Tzigone]

I'm not sure why this is coming out as news now. I thought it was said months ago that Alfred staying dead was DC's call and not Kings. (Maybe it was more of a rumor and speculation back then based on in story clues and previous interviews?)

I thought that it was specifically stated back then that making Alfred really long-term dead was DC's reaction to the enormous fan reaction the death brought. My response then and now is "meh" - because I don't think it's sticking long-term. Also don't care about Luke as Batman, and don't want to see the father/son dynamic repeated with his headquarters guy, even if I did. Not that I expect the dynamic to work the same way, really, since hopefully they'd be at least somewhat emotionally healthier.

And Alfred's death really has nothing at all to do with why I dislike King's run. As I'm not reading the comic anymore, I often forget it even happened. If it lasts three years, maybe then I'll care enough to go back and read this era of stories.

Though, without Alfred's death being intended to be (semi)permanent, what was that change that was supposed to change Batman for 15 years that King was working on?

FTR, I don't have the Alfred-love that's so widespread in the community, though I do generally like him. I don't prefer the parental relationship though, and lately have been thinking of the particular relationship between him and modern Bruce sort of negatively (mostly in terms of the changes in Batman himself - the dynamic is a consequence, not a cause). And I've never been interested in Julia and kind of wish she didn't exist. Moreso when he raises Bruce. More her role and connection that's my issue, not characterization.

[DanMad1977]

Alfred is to Bruce what Aunt May is to Peter Parker. Both should be long dead. It got stale years ago. Both characters can thrive better without them...even when Alfred does not feel like a dead weight like Aunt May.

[Ansa]

The problem really wasn't that Alfred died, I was kinda suspecting it would happen because all the Robins had already died at some point (in some cases fake died, but it counts) and killing an important character is very common for final arcs.
It's the execution that didn't work for me, even when we reached the very end of King's run.
And if Alfred hadn't really died then we would just have another pointless shock value cliffhanger at our hands, which King already had enough of in his run and especially in City of Bane. So not much better really.

[Digifiend]

True. Dick faked his death when he joined Spyral, Jason's is one of the most famous comic book deaths of all time, and of course he eventually got resurrected, Tim was mistaken for dead in Joker's Last Laugh, and Damian was once killed and resurrected as well.

[HsssH]

I call BS. King was the one who suggested it for his story, therefore it was his idea the same as Dick Grayson's amnesia. The fact that the editorial insisted that his story choices have some lasting consequences instead of the hollow one he was writing doesn't mean that it was not King's idea. It just means that someone said "Make it meaningful, Tom. Give Bruce a real reason to be upset as no adult will swallow a grown man over 30 being that upset over an ex dumping him again."

This is called playing the PR machine to try and get readers to forgive his story choices bby passing the blame.

I kinda have to agree with this, if he didn't want to kill him then he shouldn't have suggested it in the first place.

[Badou]

Does anyone care about this death? I can't even muster up the drive to feel upset or angry at DC for it. I can't even get upset that the awful Ric Grayson situation spilled into this and we don't get a proper Dick Grayson reaction to his death. All death in comics now just feel pointless when we know they will be back, probably within a year. I mean I get they are doing this to charge for some "special issue" that some people will go out and buy, but they probably mainly wanted to remove him so Lucius Fox could be the Alfred to Luke's Batman in 5G.

When Alfred comes back I wonder what will happen to his memorial statue, haha.

I call BS. King was the one who suggested it for his story, therefore it was his idea the same as Dick Grayson's amnesia. The fact that the editorial insisted that his story choices have some lasting consequences instead of the hollow one he was writing doesn't mean that it was not King's idea. It just means that someone said "Make it meaningful, Tom. Give Bruce a real reason to be upset as no adult will swallow a grown man over 30 being that upset over an ex dumping him again."

This is called playing the PR machine to try and get readers to forgive his story choices bby passing the blame.

I have to agree with this as well.

[Fergus]

Honestly i don't care. I hope he bloody stays dead.Alfred's shady as hell and going by King's Batman senile to boot.

The internet doesn't seem to mind so why King is still rattling I have no idea. Missing the spotlight or something Thomas?