Changes: Thomas Wayne

Revision as of 01:30, 6 February 2008

Thomas Wayne is the husband of Martha Wayne, and father of Bruce Wayne.

The character of Thomas Wayne was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane. Later permutations of the character were developed courtesy of Denny O'Neil, John Byrne, Frank Miller and John Francis Moore.

In the original Golden Age origin of Batman, his parents were murdered by a mugger named Joe Chill. The Silver Age expanded on the Joe Chill story, and it was later revealed that he was an assassin working for a gangster named Lew Moxon. ^[1] Batman eventually tracked Chill down to a warehouse and revealed his secret identity to him. Terrified, Chill ran into another section of the building, where he pleaded with his henchmen to protect him. He confessed to murdering Batman's parents thus inspiring him to become a crime-fighter. Upon learning that their boss was responsible for creating the man who had sent them to prison so many times, Joe's henchmen gunned him down in cold blood. This story was later repudiated in Post-Crisis continuity, when it was revealed that Joe Chill was still very much alive. ^[2] Batman even found himself forced to team up with Chill in order to stop the murderous vigilante known as the Reaper. This time however, it was the Reaper that took Chill's life, not some random gunmen. This story has also since been repudiated and is now considered non-canon. Currently, Thomas Wayne's murderer has yet to be identified and is presumably still at large.

In both the Golden and Silver age retellings of the story, the Waynes attend a showing of the film The Mark of Zorro. The Earth-Two Waynes view the 1921 version of the Mark of Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks, whereas the Earth-One Waynes watch the 1940 version with Tyrone Power.

Golden Age Earth-Two continuity, Thomas Wayne's butler was named Alfred Beagle - a man who's personality and physical characteristics differed greatly from the more recognized Alfred Pennyworth.

In Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman, actor David Baxt portrayed Thomas Wayne in a flashback cameo scene. The Waynes are murdered by Jack Napier, the future Joker, rather than Joe Chill. After firing two fatal shots, Napier points the gun at Bruce and asks "Tell me kid, you ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?" Napier abandons the crime scene when his more apprehensive partner hears the police coming. Martha's pearls falling into the gutter are prominently featured in slow motion. Batman learns the killer's identity when the Joker says the same thing to Bruce Wayne when he is about to shoot him in Vicki Vale's apartment.

In the 1992 television program Batman: The Animated Series Bruce Wayne's parents are, as in other versions, murdered in Crime Alley. In this version, however, instead of being killed by the Joker or Joe Chill, the Waynes are killed by an unidentified attacker. This anonymous killer is never actually shown in the series. Similarly, the murder is never mentioned, only alluded to and is instead illustrated through the use of metaphor. In one example, Bruce has a nightmare wherein he sees 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. Batman screams as the world is bleached white and a lound shot is heard.

In an episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited entitled "For the Man Who Has Everything" Batman is temporarily trapped by a hallucenogenioc plant called Black Mercy which creates the perfect dream world in which to hold the victim. In the dream world, Batman relives his parent's death but there, his father puts up a good defense against the killer and almost wins. Unfortunately when the Black Mercy Plant is removed, the dream ends with Thomas (and Martha) Wayne being killed all over again.

Thomas Wayne returned to the big screen in 2005 for Batman Begins. Played by Linus Roache, Thomas was a surgeon at the Gotham City hospital, and of the fifth generation of the Wayne family to live in Wayne Manor. He was the chairman of Wayne Enterprises until his death. As 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. One of Thomas' more notable scenes involves Bruce falling into a cavern that leads into what will one day become the Batcave. An exchange takes place between the two wherein Thomas rhetorically posits the question, "Why do we fall, Bruce?. So that we can get up again." In this version of the origin story, Martha and Thomas are murdered at gunpoint by a petty criminal named Joe Chill at 10:47 p.m., after attending a performance of "Mefistofele". They had left the opera early when Bruce was scared by the bat-like demons that appeared on the stage. It was shown that he was killed because he was trying to protect his wife, after Chill tried to rip off her necklace. It is revealed in the movie that the deaths of two such prominent citizens encouraged Gotham City's elite to bring it back from the brink of ruination (in the process temporarily foiling a plot to destroy the city by Ra's al Ghul). Dr. Wayne's last words to his son are "Bruce... don't be afraid."

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-Thomas Wayne is the father of [[Bruce Wayne]].
+Thomas Wayne is the husband of [[Martha Wayne]], and father of [[Bruce Wayne]].
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