[2] Alfred is depicted as Batman's loyal and tireless butler, legal guardian, best friend, aide-de-camp, and surrogate father figure following the murders of his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne.

A vital part of the Batman mythos, Alfred was nominated for the Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Supporting Male Character in 1994.

In non-comics media, the character has been portrayed in live-action and voiced by actors William Austin, Eric Wilton, Michael Gough, Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons, Douglas Hodge, and Andy Serkis on film, and by Alan Napier, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Ian Abercrombie, David McCallum, and Sean Pertwee on television, among others.

A young version of Pertwee's Alfred, played by Jack Bannon, is depicted before he became the butler to the Wayne family in the television series Pennyworth.

[Comics 2] Alfred was originally conceived as a comedic foil for Batman and Robin; he spoke with a Cockney accent, and simply arrived on Wayne Manor's doorstep to announce that he was beginning his duties.

He is helpful to the duo, following them to a theater where they had been captured, bound, and gagged by a criminal gang, and rescues them after Batman attracts his attention by knocking a rope down before the crooks return.

His attempt at regeneration resulted in a dramatic change: Alfred awoke from his apparent death with pasty white skin with circular markings, superhuman powers, including telekinesis, and a desire to destroy Batman and Robin.

He did not physically appear in the comics until Detective #356, when he is bathed again in the rays of the regeneration machine during a struggle with Batman, and returns to normal, with no memory of his time as a supervillain.

In the Post-Crisis comics continuity, Alfred has been the Wayne family butler all of Bruce's life and had helped his master establish his superhero career from the beginning.

Alfred later helps Bruce raise his adopted wards Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake, all of whom also become his crimefighting partner, Robin.

He is also highly respected by Batman's fellow superheroes, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the original Teen Titans.

In the Knightfall story arc, Alfred watches helplessly as Batman slowly crumbles under the pressure of fighting every escaped criminal in Arkham Asylum, who were set free by Bane.

Alfred even uses hand-to-hand combat in a rare one-panel fight sequence between him and a pair of slavers that ends with his rescue by Batman.

After the event of Final Crisis, when Batman is apparently killed in action, Alfred finds himself with the task of raising Bruce's biological son Damian with Grayson.

After discovering that the original Batman was actually lost in time after his battle with Darkseid, Alfred immediately seeks clues to his whereabouts.

[Comics 5] During Batman: Eternal, Alfred is reunited with his long-absent daughter, Julia Pennyworth, an agent of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, when Batman finds her in Hong Kong and takes her back to Wayne Manor for medical treatment after she is stabbed with a samurai sword through the chest by a Chinese gang boss she was hunting.

However, after Alfred is attacked by Hush and infected with a fear toxin,[16] she discovers the Batcave and takes on her father's role to coordinate the Bat-Family's efforts against their foes.

[17] Alfred is briefly transferred to Arkham Asylum before it is attacked as part of the conspiracy, but he manages to survive the explosion and trick Bane into helping him reach an emergency cave Batman had installed under Arkham, the cave's defenses knocking Bane out and allowing Alfred to call for help.

[volume & issue needed] Following the death of Bruce Wayne, Julia says that with current medical technology, they can have Alfred's hand reattached without any complications.

Bruce's original plan was for the machine to be used to create a series of clones of himself that could be programmed to continue his mission, but although the process failed because simulations confirmed that the human mind could not handle Batman's trauma, Bruce comes through the process by having Alfred take him to the point of brain-death and then download his memories onto his blank brain.

When asked, Alfred reveals his secret; years earlier, he had hired a hitman to kill the Joker after the villain murdered Jason Todd and disabled Barbara Gordon.

[Comics 6] This name was subsequently given to an alternative version of the character from the world of Earth-Two, and Pennyworth became Alfred's accepted surname in the mainstream continuity.

[Comics 9] A highly intelligent and resourceful man, Alfred runs the day-to-day operations of Wayne Manor and maintains much of the equipment of the Batcave beneath it.

[Comics 13] In Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Alfred is a tougher individual with a different backstory.

In the sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the Batcave computer has been programmed with an artificial intelligence named and apparently patterned after Alfred, to the point that it refers to Bruce as "Sir".

In DCeased, Alfred became the newest host for The Spectre as he was the last survivor of the Bat Family after a plague claimed most of the heroes.

This version is a former member of the Royal Marines who lost his right leg while saving Thomas Wayne during a battle in the Middle East and was given a prosthetic replacement by him.

[26] An alternate universe version of Alfred Pennyworth from Earth-3 who is the leader of the Secret Society appears in the "Trinity War" event.

In this alternate reality, Nightwing ends an ongoing feud between superpowered beings by activating a device that de-powers 90 percent of the super powered population.

When Bruce is killed during the feud, Alfred inherits his estate and moves to Arizona, while allowing Dick Grayson and his son Jake to stay in Wayne Manor.