Every Time Batman’s Parents Died On-Screen, Ranked

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Eight-year-old Bruce Wayne first became Batman when seeing his parents gunned down in Gotham City’s Crime Alley. It’s easier to count the Batman movies that don’t show this than the ones that do. It’s why you can expect tons of jokes and sincere complaints to follow about the agony of having to watch Thomas and Martha Wayne die again and again.

As an unamused Clown Prince of Crime would say: “Ha. Ha.”

The jokes are more tiring than the scene at this point, as exhausting as “Why doesn’t Batman simply buy crime?” 

The death of Bruce Wayne’s parents is the core of his character, the one wrong he can never right. If you have a problem with Batman stories going back to it, then maybe Batman just isn’t for you. It’s a powerful scene that earns the right to be depicted again and again: here’s the “Batman” movies and TV that handled it the best and… not the best. (No video games or interactive movies, sorry “Death in the Family.”)

2019’s “Joker” certainly has the most… unique take on the Waynes’ deaths! Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) incites a riot among the lower classes of Gotham, who start wearing clown masks like their leader’s face.

One of the clowns follows the Waynes down an alley, telling Thomas (Brett Cullen) “You get what you f***ing deserve.” This time, the gunman walks over to Martha (Carrie Louise Putrello) and deliberately shoots her, tearing her pearl necklace off instead of shattering it with the shot. Her blood splatters on young Bruce’s (Dante Pereira-Olson) face, because this movie is R, baby!

“Joker” leans on the bad faith “Batman is class warfare against the mentally ill” critiques. The movie is all about flipping the typical Batman perspectives; the Joker is a societal victim, and the typical corruption of Gotham was caused by people like the bullying Thomas. His murder isn’t a tragedy, it’s just desserts.

The short-lived cartoon “Beware the Batman” tried to mix up the usual Bat-formula. Few of the classic villains appeared, Alfred (J.B Blanc) put his secret agent training to use and followed Batman into the field, Katana (Sumalee Montano) was Batman’s sidekick instead of Robin, etc. But the show’s depiction of the Waynes’ death was about as typical as it comes.

Batman and Katana are running down an alley, which Bruce recognizes as Crime Alley. He flashes back to the death of his parents. The scene pulls the usual tricks; slow-mo, no sound but the music, disguising the gunshots with obscuring framing, etc.

The scene returns to the present with a match cut of young Bruce, and then Batman (Anthony Ruivivar) screaming “No!” The series’ fairly flat CGI animation and vacant facial expressions don’t do much for the atmosphere. It’s one of the most bloodless Wayne deaths, both literally and stylistically.

Lots of Batman fans love the silly prequel show “Gotham” — but not me! The show’s first scene is the death of young Bruce’s (David Mazouz) parents. It’s the most melodramatic rendition ever and I can only ask who thought that Bruce screaming was a good idea?

Figuring out the identity of the Waynes’ killer is a fine episode hook for a Batman prequel all about young Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie). But the show does the least interesting thing and makes it a multi-season mystery and a pre-planned hit on the Waynes, and so a smaller tragedy.

The one good touch is how the killer is masked with only his eyes visible. There’s a shot from Bruce’s POV of the killer’s gun pointing at him before the camera focus pulls in on the man’s face. That bit conveys Bruce’s fear and how he’ll learn to wield fear of masked men as Batman.

Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever” is technically a sequel to the Tim Burton “Batman” movies. So, when Bruce (Val Kilmer) remembers the night that changed his life, it happens in only brief flashes and the actors are all kept in silhouette. This time, Martha is also carrying roses that fall with her pearls, suggesting the flowers that Bruce will later lay on his parents’ graves. Since the scene is so brief, it’s hard to rank it that high compared to others.

“Batman Forever” was the first movie to show the other piece of Batman’s origin, though. As a young man, Bruce falls into a cave and sees his bat-shaped destiny. “I fell forever,” Bruce remembers, evoking Dennis O’Neil and Dick Giordano’s comic “The Man Who Falls.” In the comics, Bruce falls before his parents die, but in “Batman Forever” he falls when running away from his parents’ funeral. Not a bad change!

Most Batman movies adapt “Year One” in some way. This one recreates the story almost beat for beat and so is a little anemic. (It’s barely over an hour long.) I get not wanting to mess with perfection, though.

In “Batman: Year One,” Bruce (Ben McKenzie) remembers his parents’ death after his first (disastrous) night crime fighting. He asks for a sign, and he interrupts a bat crashing through his window afterward as a message from his father about what he must become.

But first, the death itself. The movie knows that you know the drill. The Waynes exit the theater, walk into an alley, Joe Chill appears and shoots them, the pearls fall, and Bruce is left kneeling before his dead parents. The black-and-white scene doesn’t even bother with some stylized red blood! McKenzie’s voiceover performance as Bruce is rather dull too, not evoking the powerful emotions of the scene.

In “The Big Chill,” Batman (Rino Romano) faces Mr. Freeze (Clancy Brown), who soundly defeats him in their first fight.

Freeze’s ice gives Bruce a fever and he dreams of his parents’ death. He imagines transforming into a child, walking down an alley holding their hands. He tries to pull away, aware what fate awaits them, and then the killer appears before this happy family. He’s kept completely in shadow; the shot holds as it flashes between Joe Chill and Mr. Freeze appearing in his place.

As Chill/Freeze fires, the scene cuts to a picture frame of Thomas and Martha. The picture freezes over and then shatters into pieces, a clever way of showing but not showing the violence.

One gripe: the killer’s gun looks more like a laser pistol than a revolver. The image of Batman’s parents getting shot with a ray gun certainly makes me chuckle.

“Batman: The Brave and the Bold” is a lighter incarnation but it still made Bruce Wayne’s bloody origin the center of two episodes.

In “Invasion of the Secret Santas!” we learn that Bruce’s parents took him to the movie theater they died outside of to make up for not getting the action figure he wanted for Christmas. That’s why Batman (Diedrich Bader) is a bit of a Grinch.

“Chill of the Night!” shows how much lil’ Bruce loved the movie, charging down the alley with a rolled-up paper like Zorro’s sword. Then Joe Chill (Peter Onorati) emerges and shoots his parents, ensuring Bruce will grow up to make his Zorro fantasy a reality. It’s one of the more conventional Wayne death scenes, but it leads into the series’ best episode as the grown-up Batman finally confronts Joe Chill, putting his first ever case to rest.

Animated film “Batman vs. Robin” and its sequel “Batman: Bad Blood” both have brief dream sequences of the Waynes’ deaths. 

In “Batman vs. Robin,” the Court of Owls traps Batman in their labyrinth. Batman (Jason O’Mara) sees his parents gunned down… by a red-eyed Batman. Then the killer Batman unmasks and it’s an adult Damian Wayne, Bruce’s son. Too bad the movie doesn’t settle for subtlety. The dreamed young Bruce (Griffin Gluck) literally tells the adult Batman how being Batman makes him a “demon” like criminals, and that his rage is corrupting his son too.

In “Bad Blood,” Bruce is kidnapped by Talia al Ghul (Morena Baccarin) and sedated for brainwashing. He imagines his parents’ death, only this time, the gunman turns into a swarm of bats, and his parents come alive to pull him underwater.

The movies get points for tinkering with the familiar, at least!

“The Doom That Came to Gotham” reimagines Batman as a cosmic horror story; Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli) is literally prophesied to save Gotham from a horrible evil and I don’t mean a sadistic clown.

Thomas Wayne (Darin De Paul) helped found Gotham City and stayed alive for centuries with the grimoire called the Book of Ghul. He and Martha (Emily O’Brien) are telling Bruce about the legacy he’ll inherit when a crazed man exits the shadows holding a knife. He stabs Thomas, smashes Martha’s head on a nearby statue, and Bruce runs not into a cave but a belltower where bats are resting.

The killer’s identity? Fellow immortal Henry Queen, father of Oliver/Green Arrow (Christopher Gorham), who thought that by killing the Waynes he could avert the doom coming to Gotham. Linking Batman and Green Arrow like this isn’t even the wildest change the story makes.

“Teen Titans Go!” is a spoof series that’s in on all the jokes about DC and its characters.

The Titans go back in time to prevent the murder of the Waynes. Just as they’re about to enter the alley of their doom, the Titans appear and warn them not to walk down Crime Alley. Starfire (Kari Wahlgren) suggests “Happy Lane” instead. But a world without Batman turns out to be much worse than one with him (believe me, we all know that).

So the Titans go back in time again to ensure the Waynes do die. Raven (Tara Strong) slaps the pearls around Martha’s neck, Robin (Scott Menville) pushes her and Thomas into Joe Chill’s line of fire, and then gives his team a thumbs up as little Bruce stands slackjacked and horrified. Jeez, Robin, I know Batman can be a harsh teacher but…

The 1966 “Batman” TV series never showed Bruce Wayne’s origin. A happy couple gunned down in front of their child would be out of place in that show, for sure. But Adam West got to act in Batman’s origin many years later in 1985’s “The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians” episode “The Fear,” written by Alan Burnett, future writer and producer on “Batman: The Animated Series.” 

In it, Batman (West) is chasing the Scarecrow (Andre Stojka) through Gotham City. The pursuit brings Batman to Crime Alley. Cue the first ever onscreen depiction of Batman’s origin. The scene uses some extreme close-ups, and a dramatic lightning strike, to disguise the violence. But still, considering the kind of show “Super Friends” was, the scene is still daring. It doesn’t disguise that Bruce’s parents died, it just doesn’t show the act itself. “The Fear” is rather mild but still boundary pushing.

The first movie to show the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents was Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman.” In technical execution, it holds up as one of the best. Everyone looks right out of a 1940s noir, the sound is muted, and the scene opens on an appropriately dramatic low angle.

The slow build-up to the killings is excellent too. As the Waynes head towards the alley, there’s a close-up of their feet as they walk out of frame — followed by the feet of two gunmen. As the Waynes turn a corner, the shadows of the gunmen are visible on the wall they’ve passed.

It’s a shame about the terrible decision to make the triggerman Jack Napier, the future Joker. Hugo Blick is terrifying and convincing as a young Jack Nicholson, but the Joker killing Batman’s parents is really stupid. It doesn’t deepen their rivalry, it cheapens it. Batman’s quest should never be literally about stopping the man who murdered his parents.

Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” does the best job building up to the murder scene; Bruce (Gus Lewis) spends time bonding with his father Thomas (Linus Roache). We get to know Thomas, and that he was a good dad, so his death feels more tragic than other iterations that go right to the murder. (Unfortunately, the film does not extend the same depth to Martha, played by Sara Stewart.)

The Waynes are watching an opera, rather than a movie, and they leave the theater because Bruce gets scared. That means he feels guilty, thinking his parents would still be alive if he’d been braver. Joe Chill (Richard Brake) is just a random mugger, he’s not out to murder the Waynes, but he panics.

The shaky alternating close-ups of Bruce, Thomas, and Chill convey the chaos of the scene but undercut its impact. Lewis also has the opposite problem that Mazouz later would on “Gotham” and feels a little too subdued in his grief.

“Batman v. Superman” director Zack Snyder worships Frank Miller; he and DP Larry Fong recreate “The Dark Knight Returns” almost frame for frame; the slow motion and fades evoke comic panels. Chill’s gun even slips underneath Martha’s (Lauren Cohan) pearl necklace when she rushes to him after he shoots Thomas (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Unlike the black-and-white coloring many other versions of the scene use, and the blue tones that “Dark Knight Returns” colorist Lynn Varley did, Fong and Snyder give the scene a unique golden hue.

The death scene is crosscut with Bruce’s (Brandon Spink) fall into the batcave, where the bats not only surround him, but lift him off the ground to his destiny — just like how Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL’s “Beautiful Lie” score carries this scene.

The voiceover, delivered by Ben Affleck’s adult Batman, is a weak point (Chris Terrio’s purple prose has got nothing on Frank Miller’s hard-boiled writing). Yet, the audiovisuals are beautiful, and that’s no lie.

Before she was a super-villain, Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) was a psychiatrist. In “Batman Begins Forever,” she and some of her evil friends go into Bruce Wayne’s (Diedrich Bader) mind. They wind up trapped in a loop, watching the Waynes die time after time (just like “Batman” fans) because Bruce thinks about it every second of every day.

Harley tries to rescue the little kid inside Bruce from this cycle, but his adult self demands that she not. He feels extra guilty about his parents’ death because he asked them to take him to the movies. “I must never forget. That is my penance, my bat-shaped cross to bear.”

As Harley tells him, that level of guilt is a little disproportionate to what happened. But instead of moving past it like she encourages him to, Bruce decides to literally undo his trauma by resurrecting his parents with Poison Ivy’s (Lake Bell) plant Frank (J.B. Smoove). Batman is the villain of Harley and Ivy’s story.

One dark and stormy night, a retired Bruce Wayne (Peter Weller) is channel surfing, growing agitated by reports of a crime wave in Gotham. Then he happens upon a showing of “The Mark of Zorro”… the movie he saw right before his parents’ murder. The moment of Batman’s birth is spliced together with the moment of his rebirth.

The death of the Waynes is only part of a larger scene, but it’s a great scene. The movie plays the “Zorro” orchestral score over a young Bruce charging down the alley, pretending to be Zorro. When the gunman appears, the color vanishes except for the red of the Waynes’ blood.

The movie doesn’t recreate Miller’s comic frame for frame like “Batman v Superman,” but more elegantly changes it for a moving medium. Take Bruce’s shocked face as his mother’s blood and splattered pearls fall in front of him in slow motion; the pearls land in a puddle and vanish one-by-one, consumed by darkness just like Bruce.

In “For The Man Who Has Everything” (the episode and the original Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons comic), super-villain Mongul (Eric Roberts) traps Superman (George Newbern) with the Black Mercy, an alien parasite that locks its victims in a dream world. Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg) have to save Superman.

In Superman’s world, Krypton never exploded. Halfway through, the Black Mercy latches onto Batman instead. We don’t see what world the Black Mercy put Batman into in the comic, but apparently it was a happy fantasy like Superman’s. (Bruce says he was married to Kathy Kane, the 1950s Batwoman.)

Not in the episode (written by J. M. DeMatteis). There, Bruce’s fantasy (rendered in black-and-white) is returning to his parents’ death, only this time, his father beats the hell out of Chill. (In some clever casting, Conroy voices Chill too, as if Bruce can’t remember the man’s voice and so hears his own.) The only thing that can make Batman happy is watching that forever, because he’s just that traumatized. Dark!

Why yes, “Batman: The Animated Series” is the best Batman ever. The show consciously didn’t do an origin episode for Batman (Kevin Conroy) but sometimes alluded to his parents’ deaths.

In “Dreams in Darkness,” Batman is poisoned by the Scarecrow’s (Henry Polic II) Fear Toxin. He dreams of his parents’ dying in the most abstract take on the scene yet. Batman sees his parents walking down a tunnel and chases after them. As they vanish, the scene collapses in a fiery explosion. The tunnel becomes the barrel of a revolver, blood pouring out of it. As Batman screams in despair, the hammer on the gun pulls back and fires, ending the scene in a flash of bright light.

Being a kids’ cartoon, “Batman: The Animated Series” had limits on how violent it could be, but also a wide capacity to be more imaginative than the live-action “Batman” features can be.