Thomas Wayne

**Thomas Wayne**is a major posthumous character in *Batman: Shadow War.*He is a billionaire and surgeon, and of the fifth generation of the Wayne family to live in the Wayne Manor and father of Bruce Wayne and husband of Martha Wayne. 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. When Thomas and Martha were assassinated by Joe Chill, they inspired Bruce to pursue a life of crime fighting however it turned out he had ties to crime lord Carmine Falcone and corrupt mayor Hamilton Hill.

## History

### Backstory

Thomas Wayne is a brilliant surgeon and billionaire CEO of Wayne Enterprises. He lived with his family at Wayne Manor on the outskirts of Gotham City. He was married to Martha Wayne and the two had a son named Bruce. One night, Thomas saved the life of gangster Carmine Falcone. Falcone's father Vincent came to Wayne Manor and begged Thomas to save his dying son, who had been shot by rival gangster Luigi Maroni. Thomas wanted to take the younger Falcone to the hospital, but Vincent insisted that nobody know about the shooting; the surgery was thus performed in the dining room with butler Alfred Pennyworth assisting. After saving Falcone's life, he was offered a reward or favor, but refused to accept any form of payment. Unbeknownst to Thomas, young Bruce watched this all in silence from afar.

However, Thomas eventually got into contact with Falcone and became criminal partners alongside corrupt mayor Hamilton Hill. While Carmine acted as a fall guy and collected profits for the others, Hill controlled City Hall and its politics, and Thomas laundered the money and legalized many of its operations. The group also used hitmen that worked for Falcone, such as Joe Chill to take care of competition, including Theodore Cobblepot, who ran against Hill as mayor. He would also make deals with arms dealer, Roman Sionis, which the latter owed various favors for him. While Martha was aware of his double life, Thomas kept the information away from Bruce.

Among one of his many victims was finance planner and businessman Carl Beaumont, who he demanded the land he owned for Thomas and his partners to build on and become richer however Beaumont refused Thomas's offer for a "fair price". As a result, Thomas had Falcone order Chill to murder Beaumont, which was successful.

### Death

Eventually, Martha was unable to deal with her husband's crimes anymore and objected to it, especially due to the murders Thomas caused in his pursuit for power. She threatened to reveal his crimes to the public if he didn't stop and close all ties with Falcone and Hill. Thomas would have agreed, but word of that got to Hill. As Thomas, Martha and Bruce from an annual showing of "The Mark of Zorro" at the Monarch Theater, Chill, who had been hired by Hill to assassinate them, ambushed the Waynes in an alleyway. As Thomas begged for his life and tried to protect his family from Chill, whom he believed that he was sent by Falcone, he was shot twice in the torso. After he stated that it was nothing personal, Chill shot Thomas again, that time straight through the left eye and killed him. Chill then murdered Martha, and took the pearls that she wore to make it look like a mugging gone wrong, but was forced to flee before he could kill Bruce.

### Legacy

Following their deaths, Thomas and Martha were looked upon by Gotham as matyrs and many of Gotham's elite became inseparable to make sure none of them suffered a similar fate. That also forced Falcone to begin his own resources to manage his empire. Their deaths also inspired Bruce to become the vigilante Batman, who hoped to clean up Gotham in their name.

However, the public's unknowing of Thomas's dealings lead to Carl Beaumont's daughter, Andrea, to become the terrorist and vigilante, Phantasm, as well as being indirectly responsible for Oswald Cobblepot becoming a fearsome crime lord known as the Penguin. On the twentieth anniversary of Thomas and Martha's deaths, Phantasm leaked information about Thomas's dealings with Falcone by leaking an account that was managed by him and the crime lord was leaked to the press, through Hill whom they blackmailed. With that, the Wayne family's reputation was tarnished and Bruce was forced to suffer from those consequences, but took the responsibilities that were directed at him. After Phantasm's defeat and disappearance, Bruce's public image would recover, but Thomas and his reputation were ruined beyond repair.