Thomas Wayne

**Dr. Thomas Wayne** is the main overall antagonist of *Batman: The Telltale Series*. He was a Gotham billionaire and father of Bruce Wayne. When he and his wife Martha were murdered by Joe Chill, he inspired his son to devote himself to a life of fighting crime. During the events of the series, it is revealed that he had ties to the Falcone crime family and corrupt Mayor Hamilton Hill.

## Biography

**Spoiler warning: *Plot and/or ending details follow.***

### Early life

Thomas Wayne was the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and at some point in his life he met and married Martha Wayne, and the two had a child they named Bruce. Thomas Wayne, along with Carmine Falcone and Mayor Hamilton Hill ran Gotham City. He used his name and status as CEO of Wayne Enterprises to control city.

His family was close to the Cobblepot family and Bruce became friends with Esther's son, Oswald Cobblepot. Thomas Wayne and Mayor Hill approached Esther and tried to make a deal with her to buy the land the Cobblepot family-owned, to which Esther refused. Wayne and Hill then had Esther committed to Arkham Asylum and injected her with a drug that put her in a psychotic state.

During his time working with Falcone and Hill, Thomas began using Arkham Asylum, Gotham's local mental hospital, to convict people and take control of their land. Thomas also ordered the assassination of the Arkham family when they objected to his use of the Asylum.

### Death

Eventually, Martha found out about Thomas's criminal ties and threatened to reveal them to the public if he didn't stop and close all ties with Falcone and Hill. Thomas would have agreed, but the word of this got out to Hill. As they and Bruce returned from an annual showing of "The Mark of Zorro", Joe Chill, who had been ordered Hill to assassinate them, ambushed the family in an alleyway. Thomas tried to protect his family from Chill, whom he incorrectly believed was sent by Falcone, but he got shot in the torso. Stating that it was nothing personal, Chill shot Thomas again in the eye. To make this look like a mugging gone wrong, Chill killed Martha and took her pearls. Chill was about to kill Bruce, but he fled when there were police sirens heard.

### Legacy

Following their deaths, Thomas and Martha were looked upon by Gotham as martyrs and many of Gotham's elite became inseparable to make sure none of them suffered a similar fate. This would also force Falcone to begin using his own resources to manage his empire. Bruce even became Batman in order to make sure no more innocent people would die.

However, the public's unknowing of his dealings lead to the Arkham family's daughter, Victoria, to become Lady Arkham and form the Children of Arkham. On the twentieth anniversary of their death, they leaked information about Thomas' dealings with Falcone by leaking information to the press which they were able to get with help from Hill. With this, the Wayne family's legacy was tarnished and Bruce was forced to suffer from these consequences but took the responsibilities that were directed at him. After the Children of Arkham's defeat, Bruce's public image would recover, but Thomas and his reputation were ruined beyond repair.

Bruce later decided to continue being Batman to make amends for his father's mistakes.

## Personality

Initially, Thomas Wayne was seen by many as a wise, respectable, and caring man and father who devoted many of his resources of Wayne Enterprises to make the lives of Gotham's citizens better.

That all changed when Thomas's criminal connections to Hill
 and Falcone were discovered. Throughout the first season, Thomas was revealed
 to have committed various atrocities, including drugging Esther
Cobblepot, committing people to Arkham Asylum in order to steal their
lands and wealth, and had the Arkham family assassinated when they opposed his
 amoral actions. As described by Falcone, Thomas was "more ruthless than
 any of them" when people got on his bad side. Also, as described by Alfred, Thomas had a strong desire and need for control, regardless of the consequences, arrogantly thinking himself invincible, indicating that Thomas was something of a control freak.

Despite his ruthlessness and cruelty, Thomas was not completely heartless. He genuinely cared
about Martha and Bruce and often gave them anything that they wanted. That
 was shown when Bruce recalled seeing the film 'The Mark of Zorro'
countless times at the Monarch Theater, where Alfred
 revealed that Thomas and Martha had arranged the screenings themselves.
 He was also willing to protect his family if necessary, even attempting to save the two from being murdered, showing that deep down, while far from a saint, he at least had some redeeming qualities.

## Victims

* Esther Cobblepot (implied)
* The Arkham Family
* Multiple other unnamed victims

## Relationships

### Family

* Martha Wayne (Deceased) - Wife
* Bruce Wayne - Son

### Allies

* Carmine Falcone (Deceased) - Friend and ally
* Bob Zellerbach - Friend and co-worker
* Regina Zellerbach - Friend and co-worker
* Alfred Pennyworth - Butler

### Enemies

* Joe Chill (Deceased) - Murderer
* Hamilton Hill (Deceased) - Ally turned indirect murderer
* The Riddler (Deceased) - Rival
* Esther Cobblepot (Deceased) - Former Friend turned Victim
* The Arkham Family (Deceased) - Indirect murder victims
* Multiple unnamed victims

## Trivia

* Thomas Wayne created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane
* Unlike most interpretations of the character, Thomas Wayne, in the Telltale series, is corrupt and has ties to criminals. Though he's shown to have saved a young Carmine Falcone in flashbacks during *The Long Halloween* storyline, there are no other instances where Wayne was involved in a life of crime.
	+ This is not actually the first time Thomas Wayne has been depicted as a villain; the version of him in the Elseworlds Story "Batman: Reign of Terror" set during the French Revolution also depicts Thomas Wayne as a villain, the difference being that there Thomas Wayne is still alive and thusly an enemy of his son as Batman.
	+ Thomas Wayne having criminal connections was originally introduced in the new 52 Earth-2 continuity, back in the 1979 while he was in medical school developed connections to the Falcone crime family after he saved Frankie Falcone from a gunshot wound.

* He is considered as the Bigger Bad of the *Batman* Telltale series considering Lady Arkham's motives for her actions directly involving him in Season One, as well as Alfred revealing he has worked with him and was now working with Bruce (with his father's desire for control reflected in him) in Season Two, *The Enemy Within*.