The Wayne Killer

## Actor(s)

*"He told Falcone he was going to the police, that he would confess everything. And that night, your father and your mother were killed."
"It was Falcone?"
"Oh, I wish I knew for sure. Or maybe it was some random thug on the street who needed money, got scared, and pulled the trigger too fast. If you don't think I've spent every day searching for that answer..."*
―Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne[src]
**"The Wayne Killer"** is an unknown individual who came across Thomas and Martha Wayne in Crime Alley and killed both of them in front of their son Bruce, which led to his crusade against crime as a brutal vigilante.

## Biography

### Crime Alley Shooting

The Wayne Killer was a mysterious and enigmatic criminal who mugged the Wayne family while they were out late one night. Allegedly just a "petty thug" who wanted their money and jewelry, things would quickly spiral out of control, however, leading to the mugger either deliberately or accidentally shooting and killing Thomas and Martha Wayne and leaving their son, Bruce, an orphan.

The mugger would then flee the scene either being unwilling to kill a child or because the approaching GCPD sirens scared him off before he could finish the job. It's unknown what happened to him afterwards.

### Legacy

Having never been caught or even identified, the Wayne Killer left a lot of unanswered questions as to what his exact motives were for targeting the Waynes. His actions would go onto have both a direct and indirect ripple effect on Gotham and its citizens over the years to come.

Alfred Pennyworth, consumed with guilt for having failed them when they needed him the most, would spend the next twenty years after the Waynes murder trying to come up with leads on what really happened that night. Though he initially suspected Carmine Falcone for having been the one to hire the Wayne Killer in order to get rid of Thomas, Alfred was ultimately unable to find any concrete proof linking the two.

Years later, Falcone himself would speculate that it was in fact Salvatore Maroni who may've hired the Wayne Killer as he didn't want Thomas to win the election, though he admits that he has no way of knowing this for sure.

With Thomas Wayne dead, it wasn't long before the criminals of Gotham would see the appeal in his Renewal Fund. Maroni, along with Falcone and several other high-ranking members of Gotham's criminal underworld would take control of the fund and start using the money for their own purposes. Falcone was unsatisfied with this arrangement, however, and would eventually set Maroni up during a drug bust, eventually taking his place as the city's biggest crime lord after Maroni went to Blackgate.

This in turn, would eventually lead to far worse consequences in the form of a deranged serial killer intent on tearing down Gotham City and exposing the corruption within for all to see.

Bruce Wayne unable to let go of the past trauma, became determined to prevent anyone else from ever having to suffer the kind of pain and fear that he had endured since that night, eventually training his body and mind to become the vigilante known as the Batman.

## Relationships

### Enemies

* Thomas Wayne † - Victim
* Martha Wayne † - Victim
* Bruce Wayne - Indirect Psychological Victim

## Trivia

* As noted by Alfred, there was no way to tell if the Waynes' killer was actually an assassin working for Falcone, Maroni, or if he was truly just a random mugger who wanted money and in the heat of the moment panicked.
* Some fans have theorized that the disgruntled man Bruce briefly met at the mayor's funeral might be him.

## Behind the scenes

* In the DC Comics, Joe Chill was a small-time criminal who mugged and killed Thomas and Martha Wayne in Crime Alley, making him responsible for the creation of Batman. His position in continuity has changed many times over the years, having seen him commit the murder alone, act on orders of mob boss Lew Moxon, or not commit the murder at all. In the Tim Burton 1989 film, it was Jack Napier/The Joker who killed the Waynes.

## External Links

* Joe Chill on DC Database
* Joe Chill on Wikipedia