Finally, Alfred Pennyworth stans mobilize to show support for Batman’s butler

Sometimes we’re all lucky enough to see a spontaneous outpouring of love and admiration for someone on the internet. Today, just a few months shy of the character’s 80th anniversary, fans showed up on Twitter to shout out Batman’s longtime gentleman servant/butler/surrogate dad, Alfred Pennyworth, one of the Batman franchise’s biggest lynchpins.

Twitter user theSnyderKnight got things rolling with a post celebrating the four most recent actors who have portrayed the Batman’s “batman” on the big screen; Michael Gough, Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons, and Andy Serkis, Pennyworth in the original four films in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the Christopher Nolan reboot, the DCEU aka the Snyderverse films, and the most recent 2022 reboot, respectively.

Online fans began answering the original post with praise for the character and salutes to his many different portrayals, from the original Golden Age comic books, to his many television appearances, and his several animated versions over the years. A follow-up post touted actors such as Gotham‘s Sean Pertwee, William Austin, the first actor to portray Alfred onscreen, and Alan Napier, who played him in the classic campy 1960s Batman television program.

He also saluted the many animated versions of Pennyworth, particularly the quintessential version from Batman: The Animated Series played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Unsurprisingly, many fans chose to single out their favorite actor to inhabit the role:

While some established a ranking system (and the fact that there really aren’t any bad Alfreds).

We find it hard to pick a favorite. But we do have to agree with user @ConniWayne (presumably no relation).