Batman ’89: 6 reasons it’s more comic-accurate than you think

Credit

: Warner Brothers; from

Batman

(1989)

2. Alfred

Of course, you can’t have a Batman movie without Bruce Wayne’s confidant, surrogate father, and butler extraordinaire, Alfred Pennyworth. And although he may not have the mustache, Michael Gough is, far and away, the closest to a comic book accurate version of Alfred that’s ever been on the big screen, and not just because he’s also British.

Nothing against either Michael Caine or Jeremy Irons, but Gough has the ideal voice for Alfred. He speaks as someone who’s from the upper-classes and has a first-class education. He also sounds like someone who’s had years of experience and, most importantly of all, behaves like an aged parent. Take a look at the scene in which Bruce returns home after Joker’s attack on the courthouse steps. Not only does Gough match Bruce’s sarcasm with dry wit, he also offers Bruce some gentle, fatherly advice about Vicki while also remaining completely loyal to Bruce’s crime fighting crusade.

Even Alfred’s seemingly baffling decision to bring Vicki into the Batcave is arguably in character. As much as he supports Bruce, he also doesn’t want to see him so consumed by being Batman to the point of not having a somewhat normal life. Furthermore, in the earlier scene where he’s putting away the bat costume, he tells Bruce the following:

"“I have no wish to spend my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends. Or their sons.”"

If that doesn’t sound like someone being concerned for somebody whom they see as their own child, I don’t know what does. No wonder that Gough’s Alfred remained such a permanent fixture over the course of the first four Batman movies.