Death of the Family ENDING Speculation

[jmresp]

By this theory, how long has Alfred been acting as the Joker? They have been seen together.

[DrSimonHurt]

Alfred is at Arkham.

Let's make a random theory...

I think the story ends with the Joker KO'd and undergoing emergency surgery to give him a donor face. He will wake up with a new face that isn't bleached white and it will do something weird to his psychosis.

And it's all paid for by Bruce Wayne.

[Fuji]

All through Court of Owls and Death of the Family, Alfred has felt "off". I assumed through CoO that it was to make the reader question whether or not Alfred was in on the Court. I think that what's going to happen is that Synder is again retelling a classic Batman tale in a new way. I believe that Alfred is wearing Joker's face. He has become the villain again like he did before. He knows who they all are. He above everyone else wants Bruce stronger and better. He could get into the house and kidnap "himself". At the end of the last issue, Batman thinks he will stare into Joker's eyes until he sees love. The "Death" will be when its revealed that "Joker" is Alfred. The secret that Bruce is keeping from the family is that Bruce knows that Alfred has had mental breaks and became a villain before and Bruce knew about it and didn't lock Alfred in Arkham. He didn't tell the others what Alfred is capable of.

Just my take.

Wow. I'm impressed. I wouldn't mind this at all.

[Eckhart]

Hey guys! Long time reader, first time poster.

I've joined the site specifically to comment on this Joker/Alfred theory, because I think it's 100% true. I've been a Batman fan since I was 2 years old (I'm 26 now), and after being the fanatic that I am, I've pretty much reached this same conclusion on my own, separately.

First of all, consider this (some of these points have already been given):

- I firmly believe that the "Joker" in Death of the Family is NOT THE Joker. Someone else is wearing his face. I'm 100% convinced. There has been zero reason given as to why Joker cut off his own face, so we are waiting for that specific explanation. Why he cut his own face off is a mystery yet to be solved. Secondly, if you notice these alternate covers, the Joker's "Mask" face is worn on top of everyone's face like a mask (i.e., Batman is wearing Joker's face, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc.). Everyone in the Bat-Family is wearing his face on these covers except for Alfred.

- There are two Jokers in a deck of playing cards.

- Alfred has a background in acting. We know he studied Shakespeare, and had a part in Macbeth.
- Joker can't stop referring to Shakespearean archetypes, referring to himself as Batman's "Court Jester".

- The Joker is tall, skinny, and lanky.
- Alfred is tall, skinny, and lanky.

I am 100% convinced that Batman will kill The Joker in front of the entire family, only to discover that "The Joker" is actually Alfred, thus, Batman kills Alfred. The REAL Joker reveals himself in Arkham, and The REAL Joker's plot was to make Batman kill Alfred - thus, "killing" the entire family.

I'd put money on this.

[Barresi]

I'd put money on this.

Hopefully, not much.

[Eckhart]

Hahaha, we shall see.

[Fuji]

Hey Eckhart, thing about the future.

[Mr. Holmes]

It's not completely far fetch'd given Gaiman's Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader, but I can't see Snyder getting away with that kind of character assassination. It's a theory I think is cool and could make sense in a logical way, but not practically.

[tylenoljones]

The Joker as Alfred thing makes no sense. Alfred can break the necks of half the GCPD now?

Having said that, I've been saying for months that the Joker will likely slap his face on someone else in order to fake his death, or to goad a member of the bat-family into killing him.

I see no reason why the Joker couldn't cut off Alfred's face, put his own face there instead, and get Bruce or Jason riled up enough to kill "The Joker".

But Alfred being behind any of this or having ill intentions towards Bruce or anyone else just ain't gonna happen.

[Darkspellmaster]

I highly doubt this idea of Alfred being the joker.

First regarding the covers, if you notice it's only those that were a cape, Alfred, for all intents and purposes, is supporting cast. This means while he can get involved in the stories he's not the meat and potatos of it. So the fact that he's not on the cover is about the same as the fact Harper Row isn't and neither is Dr. Lesile. It just means that Alfred isn't a cape. Also given that were getting this story and Alfred's not off in other stories I would think that it's the Joker, he's nuts, there's no reall need to think "Oh it's the butler".

-There are also four queens, four kings, four jacks, and four of every other set of cards. Jokers normally come in packs doubled for various games you need to play with two jokers. Also one is usually used as a topper card with the name of the company on there.

-Dick has a background in it too via the circus, Jason pulled off being dead, there are several other actor villians and heros that exist. He studied shakespeare because he was going to go into acting. Clay face could be said of the same thing.
-One Court Jester was not part of the Shakespeare idea, two, it's because they are trying to show the Joker as "smart". He's refenced them before.

-Elongate Man is tall skinny and lanky
-Plastic Man is tall skinny and lanky
-This doesn't mean that Ralph is O'Brian.

I hope you're not putting a lot on this because the likely hood of this happening is very very small and would be suicide for the batman franchise as a whole.

[OregonBat]

Obviously we will find out tomorrow but the cover of Batman 16 seems to show pretty clearly that the Joker is in the cave. And maybe it's the power of suggestion but the Joker looks awfully butler-esque standing there.

[Batman9]

Damian is Morrison's baby and not be killed by Snyder. If Snyder kills him, I can see Grant and Scott having a bitter rivalry

[Shimarenda]

After Death of the Family, be prepared for "Return of the Outsider!"

[drreneninja]

I think this story ends exactly like my avatar: everyone's dead, and Joker is sitting around listening to his favorite record, enjoying a nice glace of wine and a smoke in his favorite chair. Seriously, EVERYONE dies. Batman, Alfred, the whole Bat Family, the Justice League, the Justice League of America, the Justice League Dark, the Justice League International. Hell, if a character belong to any group with the words "Justice" or "League" in the title, they're dead. After killing all the DC characters, Joker jumps ship and kills all the Avengers and X-Men! EVERYBODY DIES!!!

[Vil_Dee]

Morrison's baby blah blah blah, I still think Damian is the most likely candidate. I don't know if Joker even views Alfred in the same light as the rest of the batfamily as he is a servant, just like Joker is viewing himself. But in Joker's mind Damian is the only one that he actually has to kill. All the others have technically already left Bats to do their own thing and with the right motivation they could sever ties with him completely. But Damian is his son and his responsibility, he can't just tell him to f off (though I wish he would) and Damian isn't going to quit him either. It would fit in with the allusions to Peter Pan. Wendy grows up and stops going out with Peter after she gets married and has kids. Damian can be pinpointed as the ultimate reason that Joker feels he is loosing Batman.

Also the future solicitations involving Damian (or better yet no Damian) seem suspicious. Batman being in a glass case of emotion after an unspeakable tragedy which threatens his humanity makes a lot more sense if it's Damian that dies, than Alfred. Damian would be able keep him anchored if he lost Alfred, but even Alfred couldn't do much if Batman lost his own son.