Thomas Wayne

Thomas Wayne is a fictional character in the Batman series of comic books. Dr. Thomas Wayne was the father of Bruce Wayne, and husband of Martha Wayne, as well as a gifted surgeon and philanthropist. He was also the inheritor of the Wayne family fortune, which was built through industry and real estate by previous generations.

He is first introduced in Detective Comics #33 (November 1939) in the first exposition of Batman's origin story. In the story, he and his wife are murdered by a mugger as young Bruce looks on helplessly. This trauma influences Bruce to become Batman when he grows up.^[2]

Fictional character background

Thomas Wayne is seldom shown outside of Bruce Wayne's and Alfred Pennyworth's memories of him, and often through Bruce's dreams and nightmares. He is frequently depicted as looking very much like Bruce Wayne, but sporting a thick moustache.

A notable occurrence in Thomas Wayne's biography was when Bruce fell through a fissure on the Wayne property, into what would one day become the Batcave (sometimes the fissure is replaced with an abandoned well). Thomas Wayne eventually rescued his terrified son from the cave.

Thomas Wayne was also the "first Batman" according to The First Batman, a Silver Age tale where he attacked and defeated hoodlums while dressed like a "Bat-Man" for a masquerade ball with flying creatures as a theme (the costume resembles the original Batman costume from 1939). This was recognized as one of the inspirations for Bruce becoming Batman. According to the story, Thomas Wayne's actions resulted in Lew Moxon being imprisoned and ordering the murder of Thomas Wayne ten years later through Joe Chill. Though this would make Bruce 12-15, the Silver Age Batman tales were known for their inaccuracies. When Batman realizes Moxon ordered his parents killed, he confronts Moxon, who can't remember what he did due to amnesia. When Batman's costume is torn, he wears Thomas Wayne's. Moxon remembers his crime, believes that he is being attacked by Thomas Wayne's ghost and flees into the streets where he is killed by a truck. These events were retold in the 1980 miniseries The Untold Legend of the Batman. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Dr. Wayne as the "First Batman" was retconned - he instead attended the masquerade ball as Zorro. This was furtherly retconned in the pages of Superman/Batman, where Superman, hoping to reverse some universe-altering alteration to the time streams, lands in a version of Gotham City in which Thomas never died, finding him giving candies to children (it's Halloween Night) in the original Batman costume, and thinks at how Bruce told him about a costume his father wore at a ball, that inspired his Batman identity later.

In many of the modern interpretations of the character, such as those by Frank Miller and Jeph Loeb, Thomas is portrayed as distant or stern towards his son prior to his demise, although his kindness and generosity are unequivocal.

Thomas Wayne was once suspected to be the father of Bane, a man who would one day break his son; however, DNA testing proved this to be false, and Bane's real father was recently revealed to be King Snake.

It is revealed in Batman: The Long Halloween that Thomas Wayne saved the life of future crime lord and gangster Carmine Falcone shortly before the Wayne's murder. Falcone's father, Vincent, came to Wayne Manor and begged Thomas to save his dying son, who had been shot in a gangfight by rival gangster Luigi Maroni. Thomas wanted to take the younger Falcone to hospital, but Vincent insisted that nobody know about the shooting; the surgery was thus performed in the dining room with Alfred assisting. After saving Carmine Falcone from death, he was offered a reward or favor, but he flatly refused, in that "to a doctor, a patient is a patient." Young Bruce Wayne watched this all in silence from afar. Years later, Bruce contemplates whether Gotham would have been better off had his father let Falcone die.

In the Superman/Batman #50, it is revealed that, years ago, while on a drive with a pregnant Martha, Thomas witnessed a strange object fall to earth. Inspecting it, Thomas's consciousness is transported to Krypton, and presented in a holographic form. There, he encounters Jor-El, who wishes to know what kind of a world Earth is, as it is one of many possible candidates for him to send his son, Kal-El, to. Thomas tells Jor-El that the people of Earth aren't perfect, but are essentially a good and kind race, who would raise the child right, convincing Jor-El to send Kal-El there. Upon returning to his body, Thomas uses the technology in the Kryptonian probe to revitalise a failing Wayne Enterprises. Years later, the alien technology would be the basis of much of Batman's technology. Thomas recorded his encounter in a diary, which was discovered by Bruce in the present day.

Murder

When exiting a theatre, Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered during a mugging that occurred in front of a young Bruce Wayne. This tragic event shocked Gotham, led to Park Row (the street where it occurred,) being labeled Crime Alley, and most importantly, was the motivation for Bruce one day becoming the Batman.

Due to the many writers who have written Batman stories, and constant references due to the central importance of the murder to the Batman mythos, many of the factors concerning the event have varied.

• Bruce's age has varied, usually between six and ten years old. It has mostly been accepted that he was eight by many writers.
• The murderer is consistently identified as Joe Chill, though the mythos alternates between versions where Batman finds out and where Batman never finds out. Chill has also alternated between being a mere mugger who randomly selected the wealthy Waynes, and a hitman who murdered them intentionally (the former is the most common interpretation).
• The reason given for Chill leaving Bruce alive has varied. Sometimes it was because Chill couldn't kill a child, sometimes because Chill heard a policeman's whistle, police siren, or a rapidly approaching policeman. Often, it is because of the cold, frightening look the young Wayne boy gave Chill after the crime; Chill hesitated and ran away. In the version presented in The Untold Legend of the Batman Batman theorizes that Chill, the hired hitman of gangster Lew Moxon, deliberately left Bruce alive to report that his parents were killed by a robber.
• Exactly whether or not Chill was hired to murder the Waynes or if he acted alone is still unknown. An original script draft of Batman had Rupert Thorne hire Chill to assassinate them, because he was running for mayor against Thomas Wayne. In most other variations Chill is 'just some punk with a gun'.
• The movie that the Waynes went to see has fluctuated between the 1920 version of The Mark of Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks and the 1940 version starring Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone. A fictional third version has starred "Tyrone Fairbanks." Tim Burton's Batman has the Waynes leaving The Monarch Theatre having seen Footlight Frenzy. Batman Begins has the Waynes leaving an opera house showing Mefistofele at the time of the murder, although The Dark Knight's Visual Guide says that Bruce would rather have seen The Mark of Zorro at a movie house.
• Batman R.I.P. concludes with a flashback to the moment before the Waynes were murdered. Although it is never stated on the page, the color scheme and placement of this flashback strongly suggest that The Black Glove was involved with the Wayne murder in some fashion. It has been speculated that that their death might have part of a Black Glove bet. This issue was never explicitly mentioned or dealt with during the course of the storyline, though.

Interestingly, Batman #430, the aftermath of Jason Todd's death, depicts a situation where Thomas Wayne was having trouble with some investments, and was going to sell short. Bruce thought that he needed some exercise to take his mind off of it and so offered him to play catch, but Thomas said no and in his anger, struck Bruce across the face, leading Bruce to declare to his mother that his wished Thomas were dead. In an ironic twist of fate, Bruce's parents would be killed that night.

Batman: Dark Victory asserts that the Wayne murders were the main cause of much of the corruption and crime in Gotham City, as, once it became clear that even wealthy, important people could be murdered so easily, the people began to lose faith in its police, and the police themselves started to lose faith in their importance, leading to corruption within the force.

Consistent elements have included Thomas Wayne being murdered by a pistol, and Martha Wayne's pearl necklace being torn, with the pearls falling into the gutter. In comic continuity, the murder took place at 10:47 p.m. (the Batcave is accessed by Batman through his manor by turning the hands of a grandfather clock to this time), on the 26th of June.

Thomas and Martha Wayne are notable as two comic book characters who have remained dead. Since his death, Thomas Wayne has only appeared in the Batman series in flashback and in the occasional out-of-body experience or hallucination. His most significant appearance in this latter category is in the miniseries Batman: Death and the Maidens by Greg Rucka. In this story, Batman ingests an elixir given to him by his enemy, Ra's al Ghul, and believes he is having a conversation with his dead parents. Interestingly, both Thomas and Martha disapprove of their son's costumed crusade, but Thomas admits that he merely disapproves of what being Batman has cost his son rather than actually disliking the concept itself. As she and Thomas depart, however, they assure Bruce that just because the passing of time has lessened his grief does not mean that he no longer cares for them, and, as a result, Bruce is able to accept that he is Batman because he chooses to be, not because he has to be.

Alleged double life

During Batman R.I.P., it is alleged that Thomas and Martha Wayne were leading a double life, secretly partaking in criminal endeavors, drug abuse and orgies while presenting a facade of respectability to the outside world. The alleged evidence is revealed to be doctored in the aftermath of the storyline, however.

Dr. Hurt, head of The Black Glove and the mastermind behind Batman R.I.P. actually claims to be Thomas Wayne to both Bruce and Alfred. Although both of them rebuke him without hesitation, Hurt never explicitly drops the claim.

In the ongoing follow-up series, Batman & Robin, it is suggested that some, if not all, of these allegations have begun to circulate around Gotham; Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne attend a high society function where a few party guests vaguely mention the existence of rumors surrounding the family, and Dick tries to tie Bruce's absence from the public eye with being occupied with clearing his family's reputation.^[3]

Other versions

JLA: Earth 2

In JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, the Thomas Wayne of the antimatter universe is the father of the supervillain Owlman. Like his original counterpart, he married Martha Kane and fathered Bruce Wayne. However, this version also had a second child, Thomas Wayne Jr. After Martha and Bruce are gunned down by a crooked policeman when Thomas Sr. refused to accompany him for questioning (when Thomas Wayne performed an "illegal medical operation."), Thomas Jr. becomes Owlman to get revenge on his father and the justice system. Thomas Wayne currently acts as commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, seeking to bring his son to justice with the help of a cadre of idealistic officers.

Superman: Red Son

In Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son, Thomas and his wife are anti-communist protesters in the Soviet Union. They are executed in their home by NKVD Commissar Pyotr Roslov for printing anti-communist pamphlets. Their son witnesses the murders and attempts to overthrow the Communist Party of the Soviet Union when he's an adult.

In other media

Television

• Thomas Wayne appears with his wife in the Super Powers episode "The Fear," in a flashback. It shows them being confronted by an unidentified mugger, just after watching a Robin Hood movie with their small son Bruce, then they are both attacked and murdered, as Bruce watches in horror. This was the first time Batman's origin was shown outside of the comics, and it was considered pretty heavy stuff for a Saturday morning cartoon.

• Thomas Wayne made appearances in Batman: The Animated Series voiced by Kevin Conroy. Bruce Wayne's parents are, as in other versions, murdered in Crime Alley. In this version, the murderer is never identified. In fact, the anonymous killer is never visually shown at all; similarly, the murder is never even mentioned, only alluded to and is instead shown by metaphors, albeit occasionally graphic ones. For example, one nightmare had Batman seeing his parents walking towards a tunnel; he then runs towards them telling them to stop. Even so they enter the tunnel which is revealed to be the barrel of a giant gun, dipping blood. Batman screams as the world is bleached white and a loud shot is heard. Later, the series mentions the murder explicitly and even shows the murder itself. The series also makes use of the rose motif that the Batman and Batman Forever films associate with the murder. Bruce Wayne leaves roses at the site of his parents' death on the anniversary of the event (as he does in the comic, except that he leaves the roses on their graves). The incident is implied to be a random mugging, though very little is known about whether the killer was really robbing the Waynes or was a hit man. The only reliable source is Batman himself, who believes it was just "some punk with a gun." Dr. Thomas Wayne were also close friends with some of his classmates, including Dr. Leslie Thompkins, who became one of the legal guardians of his son after his murder, Dr. Matthew Thorne, brother of notorious mob boss Rupert Thorne, and Dr. Long, faculty of Gotham University.

• In the Justice League Unlimited episode "For the Man Who Has Everything", Batman is temporarily trapped by a hallucinogenic plant called Black Mercy, which creates the perfect dream world in which to hold the victim. In the dream world, Batman relives his parents' death but there, his father puts up a good defense against the killer disarming him and almost wins. However Batman's mind knows that this isn't real and the Black Mercy plant is removed, ending the hallucination with a gunshot heard. Kevin Conroy again voiced Thomas Wayne for this scene as well as Joe Chill.

• In many of the episodes in the first season of The Batman, Bruce goes over his parents' murder in his head. In the fourth season premiere, Bruce tells Alfred, "The man who murdered my parents was never brought to justice." After taking Bruce to watch a movie The Cloaked Rider, Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne was murdered by an unidentified mugger. Before his death, Dr. Wayne was a dearest friend of Marion Grange (who was mayor of Gotham City for the first four seasons) Lucius Fox (who's running Wayne Enterprises for the Wayne family) and Alfred Pennyworth (loyal family butler who took the custody of raising Bruce after he became an orphan).

• Thomas Wayne was featured in a flashback in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Invasion of the Secret Santas" voiced by Corey Burton, but was uncredited. He also appears as a ghost in "Dawn of the Deadman", but was also uncredited. He will appear in the upcoming second season episode "Chill of the Night", this time voiced by Adam West.

Film

• In Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman, David Baxt portrayed Thomas Wayne in his lone scene. The Waynes are stalked by Jack Napier, the future Joker and his partner. They are then murdered by Napier, rather than by Joe Chill. Napier then points the gun at Bruce and asks "Tell me kid, you ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?" Napier quickly abandons the crime scene when his partner calls for Jack. Martha's pearls falling into the gutter is prominently featured in slow motion. The last words Napier says to young Bruce are darkly ironic: "See you around kid." as Batman will later do battle with Napier and learns the real killer's identity years later when the Joker says to Bruce Wayne "Tell me my friend, you ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?" when he is about to shoot him in Vicki Vale's apartment.

• Curiously, the third film in the series, when doing a flashback to the murder of the Waynes, rather than use archive footage, had a new reenactment with Ramsey Ellis as the young Wayne, Michael Scranton as Thomas Wayne, Eileen Seeley as Martha Wayne, and David U. Hodges as Jack Napier.

• In the 2005 Christopher Nolan film Batman Begins, Dr. Wayne was played by Linus Roache and received a far more prominent role than Thomas Wayne had ever been given in any 'other media' incarnation of Batman. Wayne was a surgeon at the Gotham City hospital, and of the fifth generation of the Wayne family to live in the Wayne Manor. He was the chairman of Wayne Enterprises until his death, a position that his friend and board member Lucius Fox would get later on after Bruce gained control of the company. Bruce falling into the cave is included in this film. Being one of the most prominent citizens in Gotham, he was trying to change the city into a better place, up until the end of his life. In this version, he and Martha are murdered at gunpoint by Joe Chill, a petty criminal, after attending a performance of Mefistofele. They leave the opera early when Bruce is scared by bat-like demons onstage. Martha's pearls are heard falling, but aren't shown. Thomas is killed because he is trying to protect his wife, after Chill tries to rip off her necklace. It is revealed in the movie that the deaths of two such prominent citizens encourages Gotham City's elite to bring it back from the brink of ruin (in the process temporarily foiling Ra's al Ghul's plan to destroy the city's economy). Dr. Wayne's last words to his son are "Bruce...don't be afraid."

• Jason Marsden voices Dr. Thomas Wayne on Warner Premiere animated feature Batman: Gotham Knight.

Video Games

• Thomas Wayne is featured in Batman: Arkham Asylum voiced by Kevin Conroy. Scarecrow's fear gases have had Batman experiencing flashbacks of his parents' murder. A bench in Arkham Asylum dedicated to Thomas and Martha Wayne is the answer to one of Riddler's riddles which leads to Thomas and Martha Wayne's unlockable bio.

References