| Joe Chill | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #33 (November 1939), Named: Batman #47 (June-July 1948) |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Joseph Chilton |
Joe Chill is a fictional character in the DC Comics Batman series. He is best known for murdering young Bruce Wayne's parents (in different versions of Batman's origin story), thus making him indirectly responsible for Batman's existence.[1]
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Not much is known about Chill except that he is, in most versions of Batman, a petty mugger who kills Bruce's parents Thomas and Martha while trying to take their money and jewelry; when he demands Martha's necklace, Thomas moves to protect his wife and Chill kills him; he then kills Martha when she screams for help (In most versions of the story, Chill declares "This'll shut you up!" before killing Martha; in the golden age version, Martha dies from the shock of seeing her husband murdered). Chill panics and runs away when Bruce begins crying and calling for help — in some versions, he is unnerved by the boy's accusations and unwavering stare ("Stop lookin' at me, kid! Stop it!") — but not before the boy memorizes his features. In at least three versions of the Batman mythos, Chill is never identified.
Batman's origin story is first established in a sequence of panels in Detective Comics #33 (November 1939) that is later reproduced in the comic book Batman #1 (Spring 1940), but the mugger is not given a name until Batman #47 (June-July 1948). In that issue, Batman discovers that Joe Chill, the small-time crime boss he is investigating, is none other than the man who killed his parents. Batman confronts him with the knowledge that Chill killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Chill, believing there is no way Batman could know this, accuses him of bluffing, but Batman reveals his secret identity as Bruce Wayne, who witnessed the murder firsthand. Terrified, Chill flees and seeks protection from his henchmen, but once they learn that Chill's actions led to the hated Batman's existence, they turn on their boss and gun him down before realizing how priceless his knowledge of Batman's true identity is. Before a dying Chill has a chance to reveal Batman's identity, the Dark Knight intervenes and apprehends the goons; Chill dies in Batman's arms, addressing him by his true name.
In Detective Comics #235 (1956), Batman learns that Chill was not a mere robber, but actually a hitman who murdered the Waynes on orders from a Mafia boss named Lew Moxon.
In the 1980 miniseries The Untold Legend of the Batman, Alfred Pennyworth reminisces that Joe Chill is the son of one Alice Chilton, Bruce Wayne's one-time nanny.
In the 1987 storyline Batman: Year Two, Chill played a key role. Several Gotham City crime bosses pool their resources to deal with a vigilante called the Reaper, and Chill is hired to take him out. When Batman proposes an alliance it is agreed that he and Chill will work together — something Batman finds repugnant, but which he nevertheless justifies to himself as necessary to tackle the Reaper. He vows to kill Chill afterwards. Chill is also commissioned to kill Batman after the Reaper has been disposed of. During a major confrontation, the crime bosses are all killed in a battle at a warehouse, in which the Reaper seemingly also perishes. Chill reasons that he now no longer needs to fulfill his contract, but Batman takes him to "Crime Alley", the scene of his parents' murder. There he confronts Chill and reveals his identity. Batman has Chill at gunpoint, but the Reaper appears and guns Chill down. It is left ambiguous as to whether or not Batman would have actually pulled the trigger.
In the 1991 sequel, Batman: Full Circle, Chill's son (also named Joe Chill) appears, taking on the identity of the now-deceased Reaper. He seeks revenge for his father's death, and subsequently attempts to drive Batman insane by using hallucinogenic drugs to trigger Batman's survivor's guilt over his parents' death, creating a video where a young boy's parents are killed in front of him and then the boy subsequently thanks God he didn't die himself; Chill knows that his father had killed Batman's parents, but does not know of Batman's identity. However, thanks to the intervention of Robin, Batman frees himself from the drug-induced haze, and overcomes his guilt. After the new Reaper is defeated, Batman learns to let go of his hatred of Chill.
After 1994's Zero Hour storyline, DC Comics stated that Batman did not catch or confront the man who murdered his parents after having seen in an alternate timeline that Chill hadn't done it after all.
In 2006's Infinite Crisis #6, another cosmic crisis reestablishing that Chill murders Thomas and Martha Wayne and adding for the first time that he is later arrested on that same night for their murder.
In the 2008 Grant Morrison story, "Joe Chill in Hell" (featured in Batman #673), Chill is reinterpreted as a mid-level crime boss who builds the Land, Sea, Air Transport company from the ground up (most likely through illegal means). He blamed his crimes, including murdering the Waynes, on class warfare. In this story, Batman has visited and frightened Chill every night for a month. Chill is living as a shut-in, but his guards never see or catch Batman during the visits. On his final visit, Batman gives Chill the gun he used to kill the Waynes. There is one bullet left within it. Chill finally realizes who Batman is, and fears what his fellow gangsters would do to him if they found out. It is hinted that he commits suicide; considering the issue consists of Bruce's flashbacks and hallucinations from an experiment he undergoes during his early career, however, it is left ambiguous whether the events of the issue are real.
In 2009's Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman, Joe Chill is seen as the bartender attending Batman's funeral (the funeral itself being a near death experience). Batman, who is observing the event, as well as Catwoman, note that Joe Chill should be dead. Chill notes that he was there at the birth of Batman, and it is only fitting he should be there to witness the end.
In Frank Miller's 1986 limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne finally finds it in himself to forgive Chill (who is not named). While being mugged by street punks, Wayne at first fantasizes that the two amateur criminals are Chill so he can take out his rage on them, but relents when they leave him alone after realizing he would have fought them. Wayne at last sees that Chill had not killed his parents for killing's sake, as the two punks wanted to do to him, and thus he was not truly evil. "All he wanted was money," Wayne realizes. "He was sick and guilty over what he did. I was naïve enough to think him the lowest sort of man."
In comics featuring the Crime Syndicate of America, it is revealed that on the Syndicate's alternate Earth, Joe Chill is a friend of Dr. Thomas Wayne. One night, a policeman wants to bring the elder Wayne in for questioning and, when he refuses, opens fire; this Earth's version of Bruce Wayne and his mother are killed. Chill comes out of the alley to discover the dead bodies, and the Waynes' younger son, Thomas Wayne Jr., leaves with him.
In the alternate universe of Flashpoint, Joe Chill killed a young Bruce Wayne with the gunshot leaving Thomas and Martha's son dead.[2] Thomas seeks revenge on Chill for his son's death. He located Chill attempting to inject him with a drug, but instead he punches Chill in the face and beats him to death.[3] Afterwards, Chill's gun is in a trophy display in the Batcave by Thomas.[4]
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