10 Terrible Mistakes That Almost Ruined Batman For Everyone

6. Alfred Was Killed Off

Without Alfred, who for some reason was presented as Batman's mother, father and sort-of spurned lover ("it's me or the job, Bats,") Chris Nolan's franchise would have lacked emotional heart. The same could perhaps be said of Batman & Robin, since Alfred's illness is what drives part of the narrative, but then that film should mostly just be struck from the Bat-records entirely.

But life without Alfred was actually a reality for a while back in the 60s. After Julius Schwartz reinvented the property and sales picked up in 1964, writers combined to give Alfred the heroic death many thought Nolan would give him - specifically saving Batman and Robin from a falling boulder that killed him in Detective #328 (June 1964.) And not only that, he was pulling a sweet skid on a motorbike at the time. Hero.

The retcon came some two years later, when it was revealed that Alfred has been revived (in Detective #356) by Brandon Crawford, which turned him into an unlikely member of Batman's rogue's gallery. 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.

Calling himself The Outsider, he indirectly battled the Dynamic Duo on a number of occasions, using others as his puppets €“ the Grasshopper Gang in Detective #334, Zatanna in Detective #336, and even the Batmobile itself in Detective #340 €“ and generally only appeared as a mocking voice over the radio.

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. His time as the Outsider is collected in Showcase Presents: Batman Volumes 1 and 2.