During Batman's recent "City of Bane" arc, the story's titular villain killed Alfred Pennyworth by breaking his neck. Writer Tom King has now revealed DC encouraged him to kill Bruce Wayne's beloved butler and father figure.
While appearing as a guest on Word Balloon with John Siuntres, King was asked about the choice to kill Alfred and whether he got push back when it came to ending the hero's life. "I got the opposite of push back. I got push forward. I sort of had this cliffhanger where Alfred, at the end, was gonna, could perish. And I put it in the script, like, of course we'll figure this out later and he's not dead. And DC's like, 'No, why isn't he? Why's he not dead?' And I'm like, 'Well, because he's Alfred and he has to live forever because he's a fantastic character.' And they're like, 'No no no no, he's dead.'"
King took over on DC's main Batman book in 2016 at the start of the publisher's Rebirth era. His run came to an end with Issue #85, though he's set to pen a 12-issue miniseries called Batman/Catwoman, which will be illustrated by Clay Mann. That book releases later this year.
Batman #89, by James Tynion IV and Guillem March, releases Feb. 19.