# Who killed Batman's parents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613 "2017-12-16T05:31:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/1 "2017-12-16T05:31:57Z")
I was looking through magazines in a drugstore earlier today (because every day is an adventure in my life) and I saw a Justice League-themed quiz in an issue of Entertainment Weekly. One of the questions was who killed Batman’s parents. And I said to myself “It was Joe Chill” and congratulated myself for having a well-rounded education. But when I checked the answers, it said I was wrong. The magazine said the Joker killed Batman’s parents. Did that happen at some point? I’ll even accept it if it happened in the current DC movie franchise (even though this would require me to believe Jared Leto is old enough to have killed Ben Affleck’s parents when he was a child). Or did this person get everything they knew about Batman from watching the 1989 movie? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/2 "2017-12-16T05:43:10Z")
What I read was that a gunman on the street took Bruce’s mother’s necklace and shot the father dead…the mother’s heart was weak and could not stand the shock of her husband being shot down. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/3 "2017-12-16T05:56:36Z")
According to which source or genre? Joker killed the Waynes in the Tim Burton movie. In Gotham it wasn’t the Joker or Joe Chill. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/4 "2017-12-16T07:56:12Z")
There have been so many contradictory answers to this question. The only person who is always at the scene, no matter what version of events is being retold, is young Bruce Wayne himself. This has lead me to believe that Bruce Wayne, as a child, killed his own parents. The truth will come out eventually. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/5 "2017-12-16T10:54:11Z")
Perhaps it was Joe Kerr. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/6 "2017-12-16T11:01:06Z")
It was Patrick Bateman. The subtle off-white color and raised lettering of Thomas Wayne’s business card sent him into a murderous rage. I mean, it even had a watermark. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/7 "2017-12-16T13:19:19Z")
[Now it can be told](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_w4NjykFu0/UkMKC38ExCI/AAAAAAABRmU/CxzjpImxxoU/s1600/worldsfinest153-05.jpg): the panel that launched a thousand memes. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/8 "2017-12-16T13:44:27Z")
If it’s a mystery I’d have to consider Alfred a good suspect. He ends up with proxy control of “Stately Wayne Manor” and maybe other holdings. Especially since they’ve moved away from the doddering old Alfred to the head butting Alfred with a colorful past. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/9 "2017-12-16T14:19:55Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > If it’s a mystery I’d have to consider Alfred a good suspect. There’s actually at least one universe where Alfred was the killer - the current iteration of Earth 3. He pulled the trigger after Bruce couldn’t…then he shot Bruce. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/10 "2017-12-16T14:32:21Z")
Well there is at least [one other theory](http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:Comics-Batman-569462.jpeg) that says Alfred was the culprit. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/11 "2017-12-16T14:33:31Z")
This guy, maybe? [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f7/36/4f/f7364ffb24b3f47d9526ce02b3aaf78a.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f7/36/4f/f7364ffb24b3f47d9526ce02b3aaf78a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/12 "2017-12-16T14:34:58Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > There have been so many contradictory answers to this question. > The only person who is always at the scene, no matter what version of events is being retold, is young Bruce Wayne himself. This has lead me to believe that Bruce Wayne, as a child, killed his own parents. The truth will come out eventually. I think this is it. Bruce ‘Batman’ Wayne is clearly a psychopath. I first considered that the shock of seeing his parents killed made him this way but now I think it’s more likely this was an innate condition and he did indeed kill his parents in order to create an excuse for his life of crime under the guise of a vigilante. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/13 "2017-12-16T15:06:01Z")
They all did. It was common knowledge that the Waynes were attending the show that night, so every person with a grudge showed up to fix their wagon _à la_ “Murder on the Orient Express.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/14 "2017-12-16T15:29:46Z")
Lee Harvey Oswald, proving that he wasn’t in Dallas that night so he couldn’t have shot Kennedy. Alternate theory: nobody shot Bruce’s parents. Bruce Wayne is merely a crisis actor. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/15 "2017-12-16T16:16:37Z")
Taking the question seriously, it was just some random street thug whose name has been irretrievably lost to history, and who probably died of an overdose or something not too long after. If the killer could be identified, then Batman could have his revenge… but that can never happen, and so he just keeps on taking vengeance, and never finishing. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/16 "2017-12-16T16:51:23Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Lee Harvey Oswald, proving that he wasn’t in Dallas that night so he couldn’t have shot Kennedy. > > Alternate theory: nobody shot Bruce’s parents. Bruce Wayne is merely a crisis actor. Well, he was wearing a red shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/17 "2017-12-16T17:28:51Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > The only person who is always at the scene, no matter what version of events is being retold, is young Bruce Wayne himself. This has lead me to believe that Bruce Wayne, as a child, killed his own parents. The truth will come out eventually. C’mon. To do something like that, a kid would have to be batshit crazy. …ohhhh ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/18 "2017-12-16T19:51:24Z")
Wasn’t there something in the comic books relatively recently (I want to say one of the Justice League titles, as I don’t read any of the single-character DC ones) where Batman was asking somebody questions (who may have been under the influence of Wonder Woman’s lasso), and the conversation ended up something like this: “Who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents?” “Joe Chill” “That’s right. What is the Joker’s real name?” “Which Joker?” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/19 "2017-12-16T19:57:54Z")
In the original continuity (if that’s not an oxymoron), Joe Chill was a killer hired by Lew Moxon. That’s how it stayed until Burton made it the Joker (a masterful change, BTW). Who know who it is now, with all the recons and reboots. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/20 "2017-12-16T20:00:41Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Wasn’t there something in the comic books relatively recently (I want to say one of the Justice League titles, as I don’t read any of the single-character DC ones) where Batman was asking somebody questions (who may have been under the influence of Wonder Woman’s lasso), and the conversation ended up something like this: > “Who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents?” > “Joe Chill” > “That’s right. What is the Joker’s real name?” > “Which Joker?” He was using the Mobius Chair, and we never actually hear the chair answer, but it told him that there are 3 Jokers. The exact nature of that hasn’t been revealed, that I’ve seen, but I’m way behind. I haven’t read any of Dark Nights, which it’s supposed to play into, I understand. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613.md?page=2)