4. Alfred Will Be Badly Hurt Or Killed
Where is Alfred? When last we saw him he was about to be bludgeoned with a hammer by Joker who, if we believe him, has also burned the butler eyes with ammonia. Its a little disconcerting that weve not seen him since, especially with just one issue to go. Alfred may already be gravely injured, but could Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo really kill off Bruces loyal friend and father figure? Itd be a bold, divisive move but definitely one befitting a big Joker story arc. So is it Alfreds head being served up on a platter? It would destroy Bruce and the family, but if Joker does kill Alfred then he must know that Bruce is Batman and want to hurt him personally. Does Joker know? Does he even care who Batman really is? If history is anything to go by, no. As an aside, whatever grisly morsel is being served up on Jokers platter shocked Two Face, Riddler and Penguin so a) it must be pretty bad and b) its probably not Alfreds head as they wouldnt really know who it was. Given that were less than 18 months into the New 52 reboot, I say no Alfred will not be killed off, unless theyre planning some kind of Lazarus Pit style deus ex machina plot device.