Because there have been eight gazillion Batman movies and the more unique you are at this point the better? Especially if you already have the entire Bat Family to begin with.
I would be 100% against that. It would be Beware the Batman all over again.
There's an argument to be made that Alfred or Gordon could be borderline useless in this shared universe Bat-Family context, and there's nothing to explore with them that Reeves isn't already exploring.
This. Ultimately, I think these should be Bat family movies first and solo Batman movies a distant, distant second. Ensemble pieces. A lot of the conventional tropes of Batman stories would be redundant in that context.
I just don’t see the point when there’s already a standard Batman franchise which heavily features all those characters running.
If you’re leaning into a Bat family, why not include Robin’s surrogate uncle (Gordon) and surrogate Grandfather (Alfred)? I want to see those characters interact with the Batfamily.
Because they don't really bring anything too interesting to the Bat-Family dynamic. And I know it's kinda sacrilegious to say that because Alfred is a beloved character for good reason, but at the same time, there's an argument to be made there may be more dramatic impact to all of the interpersonal relationships if Bruce doesn't even have Alfred to rely on anymore, and if the Bat-Family doesn't have any other father figure to fall back on.
I'm not quite sure that's the approach they're gonna take seeing how Gunn described this as a Batman and Robin movie first, that just so happens to introduce the Bat-Family, but even in that context yeah I can see an argument to be made Alfred's just redundant. Even putting Reeves stuff aside, he just feels like a character that'd clog up screentime better used for other characters.
Killing Alfred was a mistake in the comics and one that I think is on borrowed time. To hear Tom King tell it, the story had Damien seeing Alfred murdered by Bane in a cliffhanger, but the story was supposed to jump back in the next month with the reveal that Damien had been infected with Scarecrow fear gas and was seeing his worst nightmare. Alfred was never supposed to be dead. Dan Didio, who is a complete toolbox, saw the buzz that the ending generated with Alfred’s apparent death and called Tom King to lay down the order that the death had to be real. That decision ticked off Tom King as well as virtually every Batman fan alive. Everyone expected a fake out, but it turned out to be for real.
Ritchson has improved dramatically (no pun intended) in his acting but he is nowhere near the caliber of actor who should be considered for Batman. Neither is Ackles. I like Golding but I have a hard time picturing him leading a bat family or having the tortured psyche of Bruce. Page is my pick for Bond, so I’d rather him concentrate on that. And Gyllenhaal may have aged out. I’m not sure.
