Thomas Wayne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Thomas Wayne | |
 Thomas Wayne in The Long Halloween. Art by Tim Sale. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #33 (November 1939) |
| Created by | Bob Kane Jerry Robinson |
| In story information | |
| Full name | Thomas Wayne |
| Supporting character of | Batman |
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.
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[edit] 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.
Dr. 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.
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 upcoming Superman/Batman #50, we will learn of a before unheard of meeting between Thomas Wayne and Jor-El and how it affects the present day (most notably Gotham City).
[edit] 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 labelled 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.
- 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." Batman Begins has the Waynes leaving an opera house showing Mefistofele at the time of the murder.
Interestingly, Batman #430, the aftermath of Jason Todd's death, depicts a situation where Thomas Wayne was having trouble with some investments, he was going to sell short. Bruce thought that he needed some exercise to take his mind 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 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.
[edit] Batman R.I.P.
Another mystery about Thomas' final fate is unveiled in the Batman R.I.P. storyline. It's revealed that Martha's parents, always unconvinced about Thomas' intentions, hired a detective to prowl around his life. Much later the detective returned, giving Commissioner Gordon a dossier in which Thomas Wayne is described as living a dual life: a respected and honest doctor in public, a drunken, abuser and abusive husband in private, indulging in orgies and drugs, and hooking Martha's herself to heroine to get their marriage going, thus becoming able to embezzle her part of the Kane household. The hired detective then stretched the fatct to formulate a new theory about Thomas' death: when Thomas discovered that his wife, becoming accoustumed to a life of excesses, betrayed him with his butler, no more certain about Bruce Wayne's real parentage, and willing to get revenge over his wife and furtherly hide the secret of his dual life, he used an hired gun to kill her and fake his own death in front of the little Bruce. Gordon dismisses the final theories, and keeps the dossier private. The story is ongoing.
[edit] In other media
[edit] The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians
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.
[edit] Batman (1989 film)
In Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman, David Baxt portrayed Thomas Wayne in his lone scene. The Waynes are murdered by Jack Napier, the future Joker, rather than 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 hears the police coming. 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." Batman learns the real killer's identity years later when the Joker says the same thing to Bruce Wayne when he is about to shoot him in Vicki Vale's apartment.
[edit] Batman Forever
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 renactment with Ramsey Ellis as the young Wayne, Michael Scranton as Thomas Wayne, Eileen Seeley as Martha Wayne, and David U. Hodges as Napier.
[edit] Batman Begins
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."
[edit] Batman: The Animated Series
In Batman: The Animated Series, 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. 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.
Actor Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman/Bruce Wayne, also voiced Dr. Thomas Wayne.
[edit] Justice League Unlimited
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 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.
[edit] The Batman
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, "My parents' murderer was never found."
Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne was murdered after taking Bruce to watch a movie, The Cloaked Rider, 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.
[edit] Batman: Gotham Knight
Jason Marsden voices Dr. Thomas Wayne on Warner Premiere animated feature Batman: Gotham Knight.
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