- "We regret to inform you that... last night, at 10:47 P.M., Thomas and Martha Wayne were shot and killed. They were coming out of the Monarch Theater when the couple was attacked. Thomas and Martha died on site. They are survived by their son, Bruce Wayne, who witnessed the tragedy himself."
- ―Gotham News 1 Reporter[src]
The Murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne was an unsolved homicide that took place in Crime Alley, in which a low-level crook murdered Martha Wayne and Thomas Wayne.
History[]
The Murder[]
In October 2002, Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne went to watch a picture at a theater with their son Bruce, the same night of Thomas' mayoral election. On their way out, they proceeded into an alley, where they encountered a low-level crook who shot both Thomas and Martha dead, sparing Bruce.
Aftermath[]
Afterward, Bruce was orphaned and raised under the guardianship of his butler Alfred Pennyworth. The death of his parents gave him a scarring disorder of PTSD and trauma, eventually leading to the birth of Batman, a way of him combating his demons with a wrath of vengeance against the criminals of Gotham City.
Twenty years later, a serial killer known as the Riddler began assassinating key political figures within the city, and exposing a conspiracy tied to Thomas Wayne's renewal plan. During the conspiracy, Riddler revealed Thomas's connection with Carmine Falcone and the assassination of reporter Edward Elliot. Disturbed, Bruce approached Falcone asking him about the incident, where Falcone revealed how Salvatore Maroni had a grudge against him and Thomas' alliance and hinted at him being the indirect killer of the Wayne's. However, when Bruce approaches Alfred, after his confrontation with Falcone, Alfred reveals how Thomas approached the mob boss after he learns the revelation of Elliot's death and tells him he would surrender himself to the police, although he was killed on the same day. Alfred, albeit was never fully sure if Falcone was the one who sent a hitman after the Waynes, as he also suggested it could've been a scared crook who accidentally pulled the trigger on the couple. Till present day, Bruce or Alfred, never really found out who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, with Salvatore Maroni's incarceration and Carmine Falcone's death at the hands of the Riddler, the answer remains in the shadows.
Trivia[]
- The Wayne Killer, as he eventually became known, was never caught or even identified. A fact that continues to haunt Bruce Wayne and fuels his obsession with fighting crime.