Here’s how I think Alfred should die. (Yes, I’m aware he’s currently dead in the comics. But I disagree with it and hope he’ll be back, so here’s how I think his death should go)
I don’t want his death to be sudden or shocking. I want it to be long, I want everyone to see it coming, to see it as an inevitability. I want him to die of “old age” (in other words, I want him to die of health complications that you usually see in people his age)
Alfred is old. He’s apparently had a very exciting and fulfilling career in MI6 before retiring to become a butler, and it’s implied he’s been working for the Wayne’s since before Bruce was born. The man is old.
But I first want him to meet his great-grandchild. I want one of the bat-kids to become a parent. My preference is Dick or Babs, but I can understand Jason or Steph having one. (Tim, Cass and Steph are all still a bit young to be adopting a kid. If they find a kid in need of parenting, they should be the cool older sibling after Bruce adopts the kid. But while Tim is in a long-term, healthy same-sex relationship, and Cass I don’t feel is at the point in her character development that she’s ready for a serious relationship, I can see Steph becoming pregnant again, and this time deciding to keep the kid instead of putting them up for adoption. I can see her deliberating it, and deciding that she now has the support network, the financial stability and maturity to be a mother. Her dad is gone, she has Bruce and the rest of the Family, and she’s older and wiser. I could see her deciding she’s ready this time, could see motherhood being a part of her grand character arc, a mirror to how she was when we first met her, but better. I’d still prefer Dick or Babs, or even Jason)
I want the good news to be mildly dimmed by Alfred’s failing health. I want him to slowly get worse, and I want the rest of the family to start worrying about life without Alfred. I want them to struggle with figuring out how they’re going to find people to do Alfred’s job (it is frankly ridiculous that he takes care of as much as he does anyway, but with his health starting to deteriorate they will need to find people to fill in for him, including in the secret Bat-stuff). And with the thought that he might soon be gone.
I want Bruce to go through all the stages of grief while Alfred is still alive, as his health gets worse and worse. I want him to struggle with the thought of losing the man who has been a father to him since Thomas Wayne died. I want him to be afraid that Alfred will die alone while he’s out being Batman. I want the audience to worry about that too, to fear that this next issue is the one where Alfred dies.
I want Bruce to be at Acceptance by the time Alfred dies peacefully in his sleep. I think the rest of the family should be at various stages of grief by that point- I think at least one should have news of Alfred’s death finally push them past Denial. (I really want that to be Jason, since he’s got a very close relationship to Alfred, but I feel like he might be too used to people dying on him, that this would be too similar to his mother’s death, for him to get stuck on denial. I feel like its more realistic to have him struggle while in Anger/Bargaining. But someone should be in that stage)
I want everyone to see Alfred’s death coming. I want to see the various characters struggle through the grief process while he’s still alive. And I want this death to be permanent. Alfred’s been there since the beginning, and he’s watched all of his grandchildren die at least once. It’s time to retire the old man. But it needs to be done right.
But I want him to meet his great-grandchild first.
