Bruce’s cold treatment of Alfred wasn’t because he didn’t care, it was because he loved him so much that it frightened him. He’s shut Alfred out because he’s afraid of losing him. It’s suddenly made clear that Bruce has been pushing Alfred away out of fear. It’s a powerful moment that Robert Pattinson knocks out of the park. This fear of ever going through any of that again. I realize now there’s something I haven’t got past. During the hospital scene, Bruce gives us some insight that explains his cold treatment of Alfred: “I never thought I’d feel fear like that again,” he says. Of course, the flip side to being a father figure is that relationships with fathers and sons can be rocky, and that’s what we see in The Batman. Now Alfred had been a part of Bruce’s life since before his parents died, changing him from a peer to family. This evolved further after Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote Batman’s history. Alfred became the sole person in Batman’s home who knew his secret and the primary person for Bruce to share information with. When Dick Grayson left Wayne Manor to attend Hudson University in Batman #217, the dynamic between the Wayne heir and his butler began to change. In 1951’s Batman #68, Bruce cruelly fired Alfred as part of a ploy to capture some criminals, but he didn’t tell the butler that the firing was fake.īruce’s relationship with Alfred improved over time, but it would still be years before he became mission control for Batman and a father figure for Bruce. In 1949’s Batman #52, the Dark Knight had Alfred take the fall for Bruce Wayne’s apparent murder and the butler was temporarily imprisoned. In 1944’s Batman #22 ,Bruce and Dick gave Alfred a hard time about his job performance and made fun of him behind his back. When Alfred first appeared in 1943’s Batman #16, Bruce barely tolerated his presence. If we didn’t have decades of media to compare this to, would Alfred and Bruce’s relationship still seem stand-offish? Plus, it’s not like there’s no precedent. Their relationship is a bit colder than usual, but then again, we’re used to seeing their intimate father/son bond and that’s not here yet. When Alfred awakens from his coma, the first thing Bruce says is, “You lied to me.” At one point, Bruce coldly tells Alfred that he isn’t his father, and in another scene, he asks Alfred why he has Wayne cufflinks if he isn’t a member of the family. There are a few moments in the movie where he almost seems cruel to Alfred. In some ways, Bruce seems to be rejecting Alfred as a father figure. This evolves as the film progresses, and by the climax Bruce has embraced hope. Alfred represents his past as Bruce Wayne, and at this point in his life, Batman is embracing vengeance and rejecting his humanity. He seems to be rejecting his life as Bruce Wayne, retreating from the public eye and avoiding meetings with businessmen. The distance between Bruce and Alfred can also be attributed to Batman’s state of mind in The Batman. Yet despite this, Alfred makes the most of his time on screen, and Serkis gives one of the most impactful performances of his live-action career. Not only is Alfred not there with Bruce on his missions-he’s barely there in the movie! Alfred appears in only a handful of scenes throughout The Batman and is completely absent for the film’s final 54 minutes. In The Batman, Alfred informs Bruce of Mayor Mitchell’s murder and is surprised to learn that Batman has already investigated the crime scene. Remember Jeremy Irons in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League? He was communicating with Batman during his patrols, always up to date on all the action. One reason is that we’re used to seeing an Alfred that operates as mission control for Batman. But there seems to be more of a distance between Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne and Andy Serkis’s Alfred Pennyworth. It’s in the Geoff Johns and Gary Frank graphic novel Batman: Earth One and in Sean Pertwee and David Mazouz’s portrayals on TV’s Gotham. So, why does Bruce and Alfred’s relationship feel so different in this movie? This version of the butler clearly takes a more tough love approach, but we’ve seen that before. It’s a very nuanced relationship, which goes on an interesting emotional arc during the course of the film. It’s clear the two love one another, but it’s easy to be taken aback by how Bruce treats Alfred. The intimacy and affection we’re used to between them is almost completely absent from Reeves and Peter Craig’s script. One of these which hasn’t been spoken about much is Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth’s relationship. Matt Reeves’ The Batmanoffers a fresh perspective on the Dark Knight, with many elements reimagined or portrayed differently than we might be accustomed to seeing.
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