The One Batman Storyline That Ben Aldridge Wants To See In Pennyworth - Exclusive
Pop culture has brought comic book fans countless "Batman" comics, animated projects, live-action movies, and TV shows set in the DC Gotham-based universe. Of course, all of that content gives projects like "Pennyworth" a plethora of material to draw storylines from or inspire new ones that haven't yet been tackled in the "Batman" sphere.
Sure, we've seen Thomas Wayne die more than a few times onscreen, but we've seen so little from his actual life. "Pennyworth" has changed that with Ben Aldridge's performance as Thomas, and there's a significant opportunity to pull some plotlines or references from the various iterations of Thomas. Well, Aldridge is on the same page, with a list of his own bucket list items for his character.
"Pennyworth" invited Looper to the New York Comic Con press room, where Ben Aldridge discussed which Thomas Wayne storylines from the "Batman" universe that he would like to see on "Pennyworth."
Aldridge's biggest Batman bucket list item
While we haven't seen a significant amount of Thomas Wayne either onscreen or in the comics, there have been glimpses of the Wayne patriarch in flashback form and even "Batman" stories set in Batman's adult world where Batman discovers new things about his parents' lives long after their deaths.
On whether or not there are any Thomas-centric storylines like that from the comics or live-screen adaptations that Aldridge wants "Pennyworth" to touch on, he said, "I have been trying to pitch 'Flashpoint,' as in me being Batman. They're not going to do it. Also, I think in one of the comics, there's a scene where Thomas goes to a fancy-dress party dressed as a bat, which I thought could be cool. It's way too on the nose."
But hey, you never know. Bruno Heller and John Stephens got away with quite a bit on "Gotham," so maybe we could see something like that at the end of the series.
"What I like about what we do is we are looking at the personality traits of Martha, Thomas, and Alfred that come together to raise Bruce, basically. You've got the radical vigilante maverick of Martha — the heart for justice," Aldridge added. "Then you've got this moral, scrupulous, intelligent, neurotic father in Thomas. We're always looking ahead to what it becomes."
New episodes of "Pennyworth" stream Thursdays on HBO Max.