Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

ALFRED PENNYWORTH
Created By: Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson
First Appearance: Batman #16 (April 1943)
Role: The Butler, Deadpan Snarker, Former Bad-Ass
Mental Problems: Addiction (to biting Dry English Wit)
Voice Actor: Ephraim Zimbalist, Jr.
First Episode: "On Leather Wings"
Group Affiliations: The Gotham City Police Department
Finest Moment: The quote above.
PL 2 (72)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Government Spy) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Actor) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Butler) 7 (+10)
Insight 4 (+8)
Investigation 5 (+9)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Stealth 5 (+5)
Treatment 5 (+8)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Offense:
Unarmed +3 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +0, Fortitude +1, Will +7

Complications:
Relationship (Master Bruce)- Alfred has raised young Bruce Wayne since he was only a boy- his devotion to Batman is absolute, and his greatest ambition is for Bruce's happiness.
Responsibility (Former Spy)- A retired Spy, Alfred has many potential enemies, and knows some dangerous things.

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (72)

Alfred- The Ultimate Supporting Player:
-Alfred is one of the unsung heroes of the Bat-verse, especially the cartoon series, where his dry wit and good-natured ribbing of Batman was a much-needed sense of comic relief to a vastly grim show. In the comics, he proved so important to the mythos that when they killed him off alongside most of the "silly" stuff being written out (Batwoman, Bat-Mite, etc.), he was promptly resurrected! The Pre-Crisis Alfred eventually developed into the stoic, ideal butler at Wayne Manor- he was a retired actor and intelligence agent who took the job as the deathbed wish of his father, carrying on the family tradition of serving the Wayne family. Bruce & Dick were like "gee, we don't really want a butler" because it complicated their secret identities, but they didn't have the heart to give him the boot. The manner in which he discovered his masters' secret identity was changed in 1957 to him discovering them behind a hidden panel when Batman was wounded. In 1964, they killed him off- he died saving the Dynamic Duo from a falling boulder, but was resurrected by a scientist and made into this pasty-white superhuman with telekinesis and a deep hatred of Batman & Robin. He fought the Duo for a year or two as "The Outsider" until he is again bathed in the rays of the "Regeneration Machine" and returned to normal. He was first named "Pennyworth" in 1969, and met a long-lost daughter named Julia Remarque, who disappeared Post-Crisis.

Post-Crisis & Modern Alfred:
-Post-Crisis Alfred has many changes made- his death and resurrection were written out, as was his daughter, and he has now been the Wayne family valet for all of Bruce's life- in fact, he raised Bruce more or less by himself when Thomas & Martha Wayne were shot. As such, he is not just a dutiful servant, but a beloved father figure. He thus waits for "Master Bruce" to return home after years training abroad, and later takes a similar role with new wards Dick, Jason & Tim. He even has the respect of major heroes like Superman. Various arcs put a strain on his relationship with Batman- he tenders his resignation when a crippled Bruce, injured by Bane, insists on putting his health in jeopardy again- Dick has to convince him to come back. When Batman is killed, Alfred grieves as a father, and receives a message from Bruce telling him the (as always) unspoken thing between them- Bruce considers him a father, too. Alfred thus helps out Dick as the new "Batman" and Damian Wayne as a new "Robin".

Alfred as a Whole:
-Honestly, it's pretty amazing how important a mere butler is to the Bat-mythos- there's a reason every single good Bat-story in the cartoons, movies & such all feature him heavily- he's good for exposition and he fits in as one of very few "elders" that Batman authentically respects. In a way, he's Bruce's sole grip on the real world- a character who's known him since he was a child, and as such acts as authority and assistant all at once. He was kind of forgettable in the '60s show and '90s movies, but Michael Caine did a good job in the Nolan-verse ones. The best one, of course, is the Batman: TAS version, which gave him MUCH more sarcastic wit- he was actually by far the show's funniest character. Every time Bruce gets too grim, rude, or short with people, Alfred's there to pierce his stuffed shirt (pointing out stuff like "I diapered your bottom!").

-Watching a show like Downton Abbey reveals a LOT of astonishing things about Alfred- the running of a large house is actually a VERY big job, and the estate typically needs dozens and dozens of people working on every aspect of it to prevent it from falling into disrepair- you need maids, a butler/majordomo, a kitchen staff, gardeners and lawncare people, etc. Even assuming that Bruce Wayne leads a much less lavish lifestyle than his contemporaries, Alfred is doing the job of at least a DOZEN PEOPLE- he's almost constantly seen doing kitchenwork, gardening, dusting, home repair, etc. It's clearly unrealistic, but one of those things we just accept, lest you wonder how the 17 people living in Wayne Manor manage to not discover Bruce's identity. Also, Alfred (who was not given the "Pennyworth" surname in the comics until more than twenty years after his debut) is a curious case of a stoic English butler going by his FIRST name.

Alfred's Abilities:
-Comics Alfred is actually a decent fighter, just out of his depth against any serious menace- he's a former spy and actor with a lot of interpersonal skills, as well as a talent for battlefield medicine.

[Skavenger]

Alfred brings an interesting dynamic to the Batman-verse. On the one hand, he's the replacement father figure for a child who had his entire sense of "family" destroyed. Batman has, over the years, been shown to be trying to rebuild a family for himself, and one of the first he got was a butler who forced his way in and demanded a job (which is...kind of bad-ass?), but either way he got that father figure back, except this time it's an employee who he can order to let him stay up past his bedtime.

But it makes sense that as Batman evolved, so does everybody else in his universe. Commissioner Gordon is slightly less flexible since he's rooted in the police force, but Alfred, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, Lucius Fox, Vicki Vale, even Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and the rest of the Bat-members have all evolved alongside this centerpiece of an entire division of DC Comics. And when your figure is the caregiver for someone who runs out getting shot at, your duties also change from just polishing giant pennies in caves and making sure the carpets don't have blood stains. It's how you get Michael Caine talking about his days in the SAS, or the Batman: The Animated Series having worked in the British Secret Service, because Batman went from masked adventurer who sometimes has to dress up in a rainbow costume or take on space aliens trying to infiltrate Gotham City to a gritty urban vigilante who sometimes gets shot or gets his back broken by luchadors.

Alfred is another character that's hard to screw up, but by golly if the Earth One series didn't try its hardest. I hated those books about as much as someone could without starting a video series and actively burning them after ranting about them for a while.

[Irishbro123]

Loving how your bringing some love to the DC side of comics recently I'm really looking forward to using theses in a campaign but I'm also hoping you bring love to the more modern bat family members like Duke Thomas

[Ken]

Jason will require a new one, though (I only touched on his young incarnation).

Jason, can you show us on the Batman action figure where Jab touched you?

[Jabroniville]

Loving how your bringing some love to the DC side of comics recently I'm really looking forward to using theses in a campaign but I'm also hoping you bring love to the more modern bat family members like Duke Thomas

Hey, welcome to the comments section! I actually was planning on skipping every New 52 thing since I can't make sense of their stories, but since you asked, I can include this guy (looks like a sidekick/partner of sorts for Nightwing?) to the list.

[catsi563]

interestingly enough I adore alfred as acharacter . the idea of him doing the work of 20 people though isnt as farfetched at least today as it might have been.

a molly maids style clean up crew comes in once a month on a sunday gives the place a hose down with alfred careful supervisison assuring they dont find anything.
ground keepers are a dime a dozen and come once a month or so to trim the hedges and mow the lawn
food can be bought online and delivered to the door, then along with quick bake meals alfred whose generally only cooking for 2 can have meals prepared quickly.
lastly the taking care of the bat cave and equipment probably takes up the majority of his time and thats more focused work. some of which might be helped by Lucius or any simialr character that makes the gear

all in all its still a lot of work but given the mans organizational skills i imagine hes pretty efficient about it

[Arcae]

I knew that Alfred started out as a buffoon, but I had no idea about this silly-ass 'turned into a supervillain like he's a Spider-Man character' thing. Tough now I'm kinda sad the Brave and the Bold didn't adapt this.

[Jabroniville]

I knew that Alfred started out as a buffoon, but I had no idea about this silly-ass 'turned into a supervillain like he's a Spider-Man character' thing. Tough now I'm kinda sad the Brave and the Bold didn't adapt this.

Yeah, you find the weirdest twists when researching these guys on Wikipedia. That whole span where he's dead and then reappears as this chalky-white deformed muscleman is like "... WHAT?". And that was when the book was trying to get more SERIOUS! I guess they saw the whole "butler" thing as a goofy relic the way they did Batwoman & Bat-Mite or something, but it did feel more like the kind of thing Marvel did around that time.

[Davies]

Yeah, you find the weirdest twists when researching these guys on Wikipedia. That whole span where he's dead and then reappears as this chalky-white deformed muscleman is like "... WHAT?". And that was when the book was trying to get more SERIOUS! I guess they saw the whole "butler" thing as a goofy relic the way they did Batwoman & Bat-Mite or something, but it did feel more like the kind of thing Marvel did around that time.

This period was also when they introduced Aunt Harriet, and there's a theory they were trying to address the perceived implications of three guys living together without any women in the picture, if you know what I mean. Anyway, the Outsider made a few appearances after he was used to resurrect Alfred, and the New52 brought him back again as the Alfred of Earth-3.

[Jabroniville]

PENNY PLUNDERER (Joe Coyne)
Created By: Bill Finger & Bob Kane
First Appearance: World's Finest Comics #30 (1947)
Role: Forgotten Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-The Penny Plunderer was a small-time Batman Rogue from the '40s who committed crimes based around pennies- in fact, it was HE who was responsible for the giant penny seen as a backdrop in the Batcave. However, he was since retconned out of comics, and now it's established that the penny was part of a Two-Face caper. He only shows up in gag-panels and "New 52" stuff these days.

[Ken]

PENNY PLUNDERER (Joe Coyne)
Created By: Bill Finger & Bob Kane
First Appearance: World's Finest Comics #30 (1947)
Role: Forgotten Villain

-The Penny Plunderer was a small-time Batman Rogue from the '40s who committed crimes based around pennies- in fact, it was HE who was responsible for the giant penny seen as a backdrop in the Batcave. However, he was since retconned out of comics, and now it's established that the penny was part of a Two-Face caper. He only shows up in gag-panels and "New 52" stuff these days.

Not forgotten by me. I read a reprint of the 1947 story in a Batman comic from the early 1970s (around issue 256 or 257, IIRC).

Two-Face's coin is a silver dollar, not a penny; though I do recall a giant half-dollar showing up in "Two-Face Strikes Again", Batman #81, 1954. This was Harvey's last appearance until after Dick went off at Hudson University.

[Ken]

However, the same year he debuted, the character was played in a movie serial by William Austin, a trim actor with a thin mustache, and DC editorial made an edict that Alfred needed to look like his cinematic version, and so... lol, Alfred visited a health resort and simply returned all "Hey look at me now!" sporting Austin's appearance!

The same kind of thinking is actually responsible for Alfred's resurrection.

It's unclear if DC intended the Outsider to be Alfred at the beginning. But the decision for Alfred to return to life came from the fact that Dozier and company were including Alfred on the TV show. If Alfred was on the TV, then he'd better be in the comics, too.

This used to happen A LOT. George Taylor, the Daily Star, and an unnamed office boy became Perry White, the Daily Planet, and Jimmy Olsen, after the "Adventures of Superman" radio show began. And Billy Batson's friend Whitey Murphy showed up in Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures because he'd been introduced in "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" film serial.

[Ares]

One of my favorite Alfred lines was from the Batman: Mask of the Phantasm film:

*on a TV in the Batcave, Arthur Reeves is speaking to the press*

Reeves: "What kind of city are we running when we depend on the support of a potential madman!"

Alfred: *turns the TV off and walks to Bruce, who is sitting at the Bat Computer* "What rot, sir! Why you’re the very model of sanity. Oh by the way, I pressed your tights and put away your exploding gas balls."

Bruce: *glances at Alfred with a wry smile* "Thank you, Alfred."

[Ares]

And though I bow to no one in my admiration of the world famous Elongated Man, I have to disagree that he's a better detective. Ralph usually lagged a few seconds behind Batman in making deductions when they worked together. Plus the Bat has a much wider range of methods of detection. Ralph and Sue don't have Batman & Robin's forensic skills, Ralph hasn't cultivated a network of informants (understandable, given his travels), and Ralph isn't the master of disguise Batman is.

I have to agree. Even with detective heroes like Ralph, the Question, the Martian Manhunter and Tim Drake around, one of Batman's tag lines is literally "The World's Greatest Detective". More than anything, that should be his claim to fame. Which isn't to say that Ralph isn't an amazing detective, he just isn't driven to the same level that Bruce is because . . . well, for him, being a detective is more like a fun job he gets to do with his smoking hot wife. He's still the best detective the League has whenever Bruce isn't around, however.

With regards to the Riddler, to my mind, Batman uses the Riddler's clues because, well, he's Batman. He's not really interested in matching wits with the Riddler, he just wants to put the Riddler away as quickly as possible. So if the Riddler wants to self-sabotage himself, Batman will use every advantage at his disposal to put the Riddler behind bars. And to be clear, I do think Bruce could solve the Riddler's crimes without the riddle aids, it's just much more expedient for him to use the clues the Riddler gives him.

But I'd really like to see Eddie Nigma go up against the stretchable sleuth. Ares, you feel up to writing that issue?

While that sounds like fun, I don't consider myself much of a mystery writer, so it'd be a bit outside of my wheelhouse. Especially since I'd want to do both Ralph and Edward justice by showing the former as a skilled detective and the latter as a genius criminal, which means actually coming up with a clever crime, clever clues, etc.

Though an idea does occur to me.

Basically, Ralph and Sue come across some Riddler scheme, and Sue calls up Bruce, asking to let Ralph handle this one as a favor. Bruce agrees, interested in seeing how this plays out (and because most of the Leaguers have a hard time saying no to Sue). It turns out the Riddler recently referred to Ralph as "a second rate Plastic Man with third rate detective skills", which Ralph took as a challenge.

So Ralph shows up alone to the scene of the Riddler's crime . . . and doesn't even notice the riddle. Instead, he uses normal detective work to come to the right conclusion anyway.

The Riddler (who is watching this via a remote camera) is INFURIATED at this. So for his next crime, he leaves a bigger, more obvious clue . . . and Ralph somehow misses it as well, but once again comes to the right conclusions through normal detective work. This frustrates the Riddler even more, who leaves a bigger, even more obvious clue. This trend continues until the Riddler is writing his riddles in the sky via a jet-powered question mark shaped flying craft in nearly mile long letters.

So when an exhausted Riddler returns to his lair . . . only to find Ralph and Sue there waiting for him. See, while Ralph was playing the distraction, Sue was keeping tabs on the Riddler, eventually following him back to his hideout and giving the location to Ralph, who snuck in while the Riddler was sky writing.

While the Riddler is still reeling from this, Ralph then lists off the riddles Nigma had left at the previous crimes, and reveals that he used them to double check his own conclusions, having correctly deduced their meaning. The Riddler, having realized his mistake in underestimating Ralph and completely ignoring Sue, has a good laugh about being played, takes back what he said earlier, and surrenders without a fight.

Later, when Bruce has Ralph and Sue over to tea, Bruce applauds them for that tactic, though Ralph admits it only worked because the Riddler underestimated him. It won't work twice, and isn't something Bruce could have ever used. Bruce then offers to let them spend the night, albeit in a room on the far side of the manor, as he knows how much their enjoy their "post mystery solved" celebrations. Ralph and Sue just make eyes at each other before sharing a kiss.

Meanwhile in prison, the Riddler ads Ralph and Sue to his list of worthy opponents and starts thinking of his next scheme, wondering how far he can stretch the rubber detective before he snaps.

[Irishbro123]

Loving how your bringing some love to the DC side of comics recently I'm really looking forward to using theses in a campaign but I'm also hoping you bring love to the more modern bat family members like Duke Thomas

Hey, welcome to the comments section! I actually was planning on skipping every New 52 thing since I can't make sense of their stories, but since you asked, I can include this guy (looks like a sidekick/partner of sorts for Nightwing?) to the list.

Thanks for the warm welcome. But from what I know about the character hes one of the newest members and the only metahuman he has his own base and bike because his the only member of the bat family who operates during the day hes bike and suit can turn invisible and when he was training he said he didn't want to be another Robin