Every Character Who Killed Bruce Wayne’s Parents In Batman Movies & TV Shows

By this stage, seeing Bruce Wayne’s parents die has become a well-worn cinematic trope in and of itself. Like poor old Uncle Ben in the “Spider-Man” movies, Thomas and Martha Wayne have now perished in front of our eyes dozens of times, and that’s to say nothing of the various comic book versions of their untimely demise.

It comes as a byproduct of the fact that Batman represents one of the most rich and infinitely reinventable characters in all fiction. Comic writers and film and TV directors have all had a go at iterating on the classic tale of Bruce Wayne’s transformation from privileged son of Gotham aristocrats to a “weird figure of the dark,” as his alter-ego was dubbed in 1939’s “Detective Comics” #33. Almost 10 years after that story was first told, Batman’s origin was revisited in 1948’s “Batman” #47, which established mugger Joe Chill as the Waynes’ killer. But subsequent retellings have swapped out Chill for multiple other characters.

Since these foundational comic book origin stories, we’ve had two Batman serials, a live-action TV show, eight-live action Batman movies, five DC Extended Universe movies that feature the Dark Knight, and dozens of animated series and films that feature Bruce Wayne/Batman — and that’s to say nothing of the shows and films that feature him as part of an ensemble or as a tertiary character.

When you take in the scope of this character’s prevalence in pop culture, then, it’s not all that surprising that we’ve seen his origin story retold so many times that there are literal supercuts of all the Waynes’ death scenes in cinema history. Even with these grim yet helpful little reminders, though, it’s become a little tough to remember just how many times we’ve seen the Waynes gunned down in that fateful alley, and, more importantly, who’s been responsible for the act. Throughout the Dark Knight’s onscreen saga, multiple characters from the Batman mythos have pulled the trigger on Thomas and Martha. With that in mind, here’s a guide to everyone that has killed Bruce Wayne’s parents in Batman movies and TV shows.

Adam West’s tenure as Batman has become both beloved and infamous. An entire generation grew up on his light-hearted take on the Caped Crusader, without which the character arguably wouldn’t have endured as the pop culture mainstay he is. But the series is also notorious for making Batman into somewhat of a joke — a dancing, wise-cracking, shark-punching vigilante who just can’t seem to get rid of a bomb. The campiness of the 1960s TV series and the spin-off movie is well-established at this point, which, for those who haven’t seen either, might make it seem as though the show would eschew Batman’s tragic origin in favor of a more family-friendly genesis.

But that’s not exactly the case. While the “Batman” series stops short of recreating the actual murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, the fateful event is referenced in the very first episode of the show. 1966’s “Hi Diddle Riddle” opens with Bruce Wayne speaking to a group of property developers looking for his investment in their anti-crime centers. Just prior to Alfred (Alan Napier) interrupting him, Bruce tells the group, “Perhaps if there’d been anti-crime centers of the type you now propose when my own parents were murdered by dastardly criminals…” This is the one and only reference to the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne in the TV show, which means we never actually find out who was responsible for their murder in the Adam West Batman universe. Interestingly enough, though, Bruce’s use of the plural “criminals” suggests multiple people were behind the killing.

1989’s “Batman” not only made Tim Burton a box office hero, the film also restored Batman’s standing as a dark avenger in the minds of the public. Warner Bros. took a gamble on the movie, giving Burton the reins to a $35 million production (not an insignificant figure at the time) off the back of 1988’s “Beetlejuice.” But the director proved the naysayers wrong, delivering a dark yet alluring blockbuster that featured a particularly captivating Michael Keaton brooding his way through production designer Anton Furst’s industrial Art Deco nightmare town.

With “Batman,” Burton and his team introduced entirely original aspects to the Batman mythos, from the now legendary rubber suit to the aforementioned Gotham City, re-envisioned as a town where, to quote the director by way of Furst, “hell erupted through the pavement and kept on going.” Burton and screenwriter Sam Hamm also took creative liberties with Batman’s origin story, rewriting the character’s history by having Jack Napier gun down the Waynes.

Who is Jack Napier? In the movie, he’s none other than the Joker himself. Flashbacks throughout “Batman” show the full incident, with a young Bruce (Charles Roskilly) and his parents (David Baxt and Sharon Holm) leaving the Monarch theater — the first time the theater was named — only to be accosted by a sharply dressed mugger (Hugo E. Blick) in an alley, who asks them, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” It’s this verbal calling card that leads Bruce to deduce that it was actually the Joker who killed his parents, prior to his transformation from wise guy Jack Napier into the Clown Prince of Crime. Keaton also famously spoiled this twist during a “Late Night with David Letterman” appearance.

Not only was this the first time Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed on-screen in live action, Burton’s version of the Waynes’ murder also introduced the idea that their killer was joined by another of his criminal cohorts, who can be heard yelling “Jack, let’s go!” after Napier guns down the couple.

Fox’s “Gotham” gave us a silly and zany take on Batman’s hometown that still managed to work at times. The show was a prequel series, beginning when Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) is still a child and James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) is a young detective with the Gotham City Police Department. The first episode starts with Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova) witnessing the death of the Waynes (Grayson McCouch and Brette Taylor) at the hands of a masked assailant.

Following the murder, 12-year-old Bruce is comforted by Gordon, both of whom would actually go on to solve the murder in this particular incarnation of the Batman story. Around two years after the Waynes’ murder, Bruce identifies Patrick “Matches” Malone as the killer. It transpires that Malone was a hired gun, brought in by “The Philosopher” (aka Dr. Hugo Strange) to kill Thomas due to his opposition to Strange’s questionable human experiments. Later, it’s revealed that Strange was working under the directive of the Court of Owls and Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Assassins, making this one of the most absurdly complex examples of the Wayne murders in Batman history.

Malone himself was a version of the character Matches Malone, who was created by Dennis O’Neil and Irv Novick. First appearing in 1972’s “Batman” #242, the comic book version of the character was a well-known gangster who managed to kill himself after a bullet meant for Batman ricochets and hits him instead. In “Gotham,” Malone was portrayed by Danny Schoch in the pilot, before the character was recast for his later appearance, with Michael Bowen stepping into the role.

“Joker” is yet another film that doesn’t shy away from depicting the Wayne’s brutal alleyway demise. But despite showing the incident in all its tragic detail, we don’t actually know who killed the Waynes in Todd Phillips’ Joker-verse.

After Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck stirs an uprising against the one-percenters of Gotham, anarchy floods the city streets, with rioters running amok as Gotham’s finest try to restore order. Amid the flurry, Thomas (Brett Cullen), Martha (Carrie Louise Putrello), and Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) are seen exiting a theater before passing a sketchy guy in a clown mask who clocks the family and pursues them into an alley. Here, the masked criminal calls out to Thomas, before telling him “You get what you f***ing deserve” and opening fire. He then does the same to Martha before ripping the pearls — first seen in the original Detective Comics origin story — from her neck.

The point here, from Phillips’ perspective, is not so much who killed the Waynes but why they were killed. In “Joker,” Arthur Fleck is depicted as a down-and-out loner, shunned by society, deprived of mental health support, and driven to anarchic psychopathy as a result. His message about the haves and have-nots of Gotham resonates with a beleaguered populace tired of losing out to the city’s corrupt upper class. This, it seems, is why the mystery criminal decides to pursue the Waynes into the alley and give Thomas “what he deserves” — making Joker indirectly responsible for the act. The individual is less important here than his motivations, which makes Phillips’ depiction of the Waynes’ death at least slightly different to other on-screen versions. Whether we’ll get more answers about the actual individual who pulled the trigger in “Joker: Folie à Deux” remains to be seen.

In 2022, Matt Reeves introduced yet another take on the Dark Knight story with “The Batman,” mercifully sparing audiences yet another depiction of the Wayne murders. But like with most Batman stories, this cataclysmic event in Bruce’s life couldn’t be avoided entirely, and plays a crucial role in the plot of Reeves’ neo-noir vision.

The movie sees Robert Pattinson’s Batman taking on Paul Dano’s Edward Nashton/Riddler — a twisted former orphan who’s obsessed with revealing the widespread corruption at the heart of Gotham. As the story unfolds, Thomas Wayne (Luke Roberts) is revealed to have unwittingly played a role in that corruption, having campaigned for the city’s Renewal fund which was ultimately used to line the pockets of the city’s organized crime groups. It’s also revealed that, prior to his and Martha’s (Stella Stocker) deaths, Thomas was being hounded by reporter Edward Elliot, who knew about his wife’s mental illness. After the reporter refused his bribe, Thomas turned to crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) to handle the situation. According to Andy Serkis’ Alfred, Thomas simply asked Falcone to silence Elliot without killing him, but that request fell on deaf ears. Shortly after the reporter wound up dead, so too did Bruce Wayne’s parents.

Who pulled the trigger? That question is never answered, though it’s heavily implied that Falcone was responsible for offing Thomas and his wife to prevent the former from revealing the kingpin’s role in Elliot’s death. Alternate theories posit that rival mob boss Sal Maroni, who’s played by Clancy Brown in the excellent new spin-off series “The Penguin,” was responsible for Bruce’s parents’ murders, or that the couple were taken out by political opponents. As with most of the illicit doings in this version of Gotham, though, all roads appear to lead back to Carmine Falcone.

By far the character most associated with killing Bruce Wayne’s parents, Joe Chill was also the original culprit from 1939’s “Detective Comics” #33. In that original telling of the fateful event, Chill is a random mugger who “sticks up” the couple for Martha’s necklace. But wasn’t until 1948’s “Batman” #47 that we actually learned his name, after Batman investigates Chill for his mob activities only to discover he is the man responsible for his parents’ deaths.

Since then, Chill has shown up in all manner of “Batman” media. Christopher Nolan’s 2005 reboot, “Batman Begins,” featured the character, portrayed by Richard Brake, in a significant role that sees him gun down the Waynes in an alley outside a performance of Arrigo Boito’s opera “Mefistophole.” The only other film to use Chill as the Waynes’ killer was 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” though the character is never actually identified in the opening sequence depicting the Waynes’ death. However, stunt coordinator and second unit director Damon Caro confirmed to ScreenRant that he was the mugger in this scene, and that he did, in fact, “play Joe Chill” even though there was “a silly credit issue with the studio” and “IMDb wouldn’t accept it.”

Chill has also shown up in various TV shows, not only as the Waynes’ murderer but as a Gotham city mobster, as was the case in the scary, mature “Batman: Caped Crusader” which features Chill in an unspeaking role in the episode “Kiss of the Catwoman”. While several projects have switched out Chill for other gunmen, he remains the character most-known for killing the Waynes and indirectly giving rise to the Batman.