Batman's Butler Alfred Once Became a Supervillain (Yes, Really)
When a comic book fan hears the word butler, one person immediately jumps to mind; Bruce Wayne's ever-faithful butler and father figure, Alfred Pennyworth. Despite his undying loyalty to the Wayne family, this compassionate caretaker actually once turned his back on Bruce and Gotham as he served a different master. Believe it or not, Detective Comics #356 had Alfred in the role of the supervillain.
After the murder of Martha and Thomas Wayne, Alfred stepped in to take care of a young Bruce and serve as his legal guardian. Although he spent most of his life working for the Waynes and raising Bruce, Alfred lived quite an interesting life beforehand. Before serving the Wayne family, Alfred spent time as a classically trained actor in Britain. Aside from his artistic side, Alfred's past experience also shows he packs a punch as he also previously served as a Special Operations Executive operative, making him for more lethal than your typical butler. While he is technically a servant of Bruce, he serves more as a father figure and best friend, always there to take care of Bruce when dealing with the hardships that come along with being Batman. His dry wit and sarcastic humor always provide comic relief in the otherwise dark world of Batman, but when it is time to get serious, Alfred is no laughing matter.
So how exactly does the man who took care of the caped crusader switch over to the side of evil? When two coffins arrive at the Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne, and Dick Grayson open them to a surprise. They discover the coffins contain robotic wax copies of themselves in their super suits, and the wax copies rise up to tell them that they will each die within the hour. Bruce and Dick immediately change into their Batman and Robin outfits in order to set out to solve the mystery of who sent the robots, frightened even further by the fact the culprit seems fully aware of their secret identities. Upon catching up with the delivery truck, the duo quickly discovers the drivers to be members of the Grasshopper Gang, and a group of thugs they battled with last time they encountered the supervillain known as The Outsider. Once the gang is defeated, Batman and Robin rush back to the Batcave to test the fingerprints they just found, only to discover a shocking truth. The Outsider's fingerprints are a perfect match to Alfred's, a man the two recently buried.
The comic shifts to a flashback, returning to the fateful day Alfred died and revisiting his funeral. It is in this flashback that it is revealed that Alfred wasn't quite as dead as everyone thought. It turns out that scientist Brandon Crawford discovers Alfred is simply in a deep coma and takes him back to his lab to try and revive him. Unfortunately, the revival goes terribly wrong, and the radiation blasts that are meant to save Alfred end up transforming him into the villain The Outsider. This mutation ultimately leads to this evil version of Alfred trying to kill Batman and Robin, bringing us back to where the comic left off.
Batman and Robin bust into The Outsider's lair, but time is not on their side. The clock is ticking, and the two of them are slowly morphing into coffins (yes, they seriously are literally turning into coffins by the second). Luckily, the two of them are able to overcome The Outsider, and, by bombarding him with the very same radiation that transformed him, Batman and Robin are able to return Alfred back to his normal self. The dynamic duo nurse Alfred back to health, but they decide to not tell Alfred what happened as they are afraid the thought of him being evil and trying to kill those he loved would just be too much for him.
So while it is short-lived, Alfred did technically try to once kill the very same man he raised from childhood. Regardless of this quick tussle, Bruce's faith in Alfred is never diminished, allowing Alfred to carry on as the Batcave butler everyone has come to know and love.
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