{"id":94609,"date":"2020-10-13T19:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T19:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamerant.com\/examining-many-different-deaths-thomas-martha-wayne\/"},"modified":"2020-10-13T19:00:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T19:00:48","slug":"examining-the-many-different-deaths-of-thomas-and-martha-wayne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/10\/13\/examining-the-many-different-deaths-of-thomas-and-martha-wayne\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining the Many Different Deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Everyone knows\u00a0the story. A wealthy couple and their only child exit a theatre after a happy night on the town, only to fall victim to a mugging that\u00a0leaves the boy as the sole survivor. Having witnessed his parents’ murder, a young Bruce Wayne vows vengeance on all criminals, beginning his transformation into the Dark Knight of Gotham. Batman is far from the only superhero to lose his family \u2013 indeed it\u2019s often rarer for them to have surviving relatives \u2013 but this all too ordinary tragic event remains one of the most iconic backstories in media.<\/p>\n

Sure, each iteration of Batman probably doesn\u2019t need to remind audiences of this childhood trauma. It\u2019s unlikely The Batman <\/em>will do it again<\/a>, although there is always a chance. Yet they say the best way to identify directors is\u00a0to see how they handle\u00a0the same scene. You can tell a lot by how each adaptation frames this pivotal incident. Whether it was a random crime or part of a larger operations, whether it\u2019s stylized as overwrought or underplayed. A close examination of each cinematic depiction of the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne reflects upon each Batman adaptation\u2019s wider vision, and how they provide their individual spin towards one of the world\u2019s most thoroughly-depicted crimes.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Every Time Superman Turned Evil Before Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Note: for the sake of simplicity, this article only covers select cinematic\/live-action portrayals of the Waynes\u2019 murder. Most animated versions (whether direct-to-video comics adaptations, or TV shows or video games) are often so brief they do not warrant any analysis. Similar with Batman Forever<\/em>, which shows seconds-long flashes of a young Bruce Wayne during his therapy sessions, but are essentially only recreations of Burton\u2019s 1989 Batman<\/em>. It\u2019s also worth mentioning that while Adam West\u2019s Batman <\/em>(both the series and the 1966 film) makes fleeting references to Bruce Wayne as a \u201ccrime orphan\u201d, it never depicts the details of such. (Probably best for a light-hearted version of Batman with Golden-Aged gallantry and campy humor.)<\/p>\n

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In 1989, Tim Burton revamped Batman for the modern era, introducing his \u201cdark and serious tone\u201d for general audiences. Of course, Batman <\/em>fully leans into Burton\u2019s own theatrical and Gothic sensibilities, as is shown by the first live-action portrayal of the Waynes\u2019 murder. In a series of extreme uncomfortable angles, the group exit the cinema, a poster showing something called Footlight Frenzy<\/em> \u2013 a film the Waynes didn\u2019t necessarily see although it doesn\u2019t seem to exist in real-life. The scene\u2019s sound is distorted, being free from dialogue but having an underlying ominous choir and their footsteps clearly echoing as they turn into a damp alleyway. The atmosphere is hazy and dream-like, everything seeming distorted. The familiar iconography of the scene, including Martha\u2019s pearls being torn off as Thomas moves to protect her, is included, although this is the only time the recently-orphaned Bruce is addressed afterwards. The shadowed gunman menacingly asks him \u201cDo you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?\u201d. Later, the Joker will ask a grown Bruce Wayne the same thing, admitting (much like Jules\u2019 Ezekiel quote from Pulp Fiction<\/em>), \u201cI just like the sound of it\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is the significant departure from Batman canon. Not only does Burton\u2019s Batman <\/em>have two muggers attack the Wayne family, but one of them is Jack Napier; the future Joker. Indeed, the flashback scene is triggered after Bruce encounters Joker and sees his non-makeup encrusted face. Joker\u2019s direct involvement in Batman\u2019s origin is part of a perennial trend that shrinks comic-book origins into \u2018personal\u2019 stories. But the Joker\u2019s inclusion here makes sense for 1989, when Batman was still an unknown cinematic property. In structural terms, by having the Joker as part of Batman\u2019s backstory means his defeat wraps up Batman <\/em>into a self-contained bow. Having defeated his parents’ killer, Batman is potentially able to finish his war on crime. But of course that didn\u2019t really work out.<\/p>\n

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Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201crealistic\u201d reboot of Batman delved into meticulous detail of how Batman was created. Although Bruce\u2019s fall into a well of bats is established as his primary trauma, Batman Begins <\/em><\/a>also features its own version of the fateful night. In opposition to Burton, Nolan directs the scene as a fairly ordinary, if tense, exchange. Instead of mist and shadows, Joe Chill is in plain sight before suddenly pulling a gun on the Waynes, depicted as less menacing than a typical desperate mugger. Likewise, although Thomas is again shot after moving to protect Martha\u2019s pearls, there is no focus upon them falling here. Indeed, the editing almost rushes past the actual shooting, going from Thomas\u2019 movement to them on the ground in a few seconds. Nolan underplays the murder to make it shocking and visceral, Batman Begins <\/em>enforcing the senselessness of these deaths, and how lives can be changed so quickly.<\/p>\n

Batman Begins <\/em>also tweaks certain elements around these deaths. Firstly, the Waynes were watching the opera Mefistofele <\/em>instead of a movie, enhancing the class differences and privileged Bruce has to address in Begins <\/em>before returning to Gotham. It also has Bruce ask his parents to leave early due to his fear of the bat-like creatures, which both explains why they were isolated in the alleyway, and makes Bruce feel responsible. In another contrast to Burton\u2019s version, Begins<\/em>\u2019 college-aged Bruce wants to take lethal revenge against Joe Chill, but is prevented by a mob-hit from Falcone. Instead of fulfilling his short-term vengeance against his parent\u2019s killer, Bruce\u2019s anger instead ferments into a crusade against all injustice.<\/p>\n

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Gotham <\/em>was a somewhat confusing show. Beginning as a prequel show about Detective Jim Gordon climbing the ranks of the GCPD, it kept incorporating more and more of Batman\u2019s lore and supporting cast, even though Bruce himself was still a child. It was similar to Smallville<\/em><\/a>, only at least Clark had his superpowers, so Gotham <\/em>created Batman\u2019s world without Batman himself. Regardless of Gotham<\/em>\u2019s later unique and campy interpretations, the first scene of the show stuck close to Batman canon.\u00a0Cavorting on rooftops,\u00a0Selina Kyle spots a family walking down an alley, only to witness the murder of the Waynes.<\/p>\n

Gotham <\/em>hints that the Waynes were watching a musical, with Bruce agreeing with his father the \u201cmusic\u201d was \u201ckinda lame\u201d. But the actual mugging is straightforward, with the gunman suddenly appearing in front of the Waynes demanding their money and jewelry, framed in close-ups between Thomas, the masked mugger, and scared Bruce. Again, Martha\u2019s pearls are tossed onto the\u00a0ground\u00a0with the slow-motion of Burton\u2019s version. Although this time Thomas and Martha are not shot for suddenly moving, but rather as they stand still. In Gotham<\/em>, their murder was no random attack but a planned assassination, revealed much later to be done by Matches Malone under orders from Hugo Strange.<\/p>\n

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The sequel to Man of Steel <\/em>retroactively added Batman to this universe<\/a>, as Zack Snyder\u00a0opened the long-awaited crossover film with his own portrayal of the Wayne\u2019s murder. As with Burton and Nolan before, Batman v. Superman<\/em>\u2019s depiction perfectly captures Snyder\u2019s style. Melancholy piano music plays over fade-ins to slow-motion segments of the iconic shooting, playing more as a montage than a scene. Snyder\u2019s hyper-focused close-ups of the gun and shooting is quasi-pornographic, fetishizing the floating shell-casings and Martha\u2019s falling pearls. In this version they actually get wrapped around the gun-barrel, so that the shot itself explodes them in operatic synchronization.<\/p>\n

Love it or not, such overwrought and glossy aesthetics are a trademark of Snyder. The scene is intercut with the Waynes\u2019 later funeral, wherein Bruce runs into the woods and falls into a well of bats that lifts him upwards. It\u2019s honestly a pretty effective visual of Bruce finding comfort amid the swarm as he replays the traumatic moment. Plus, although the cinema marquee does say Excalibur<\/em>, close inspection of the outside posters shows one for The Mask of Zorro <\/em>(the usual film the Waynes were seeing). So, as in Watchmen<\/em>, Snyder\u2019s commitment to the comic book visuals at least remains intact.<\/p>\n

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Discussions of portrayals of the Wayne murders would be incomplete without this animated film, as the child-friendly satire Teen Titans Go! To the Movies <\/em>contains an incredibly dark joke about Batman\u2019s origin. The film\u2019s plot follows the Titans trying to get a movie made about them, with director Jade Wilson saying she will only do if they are the \u201clast superheroes on earth\u201d. Therefore, the Titans use some time-traveling crystals to stop the origins of other superheroes. They prevent Krypton exploding, steal away Wonder Woman\u2019s lasso, and of course, redirect the Wayne family away from \u201cCrime Alley\u201d. After returning to the present however, the Titans find the world ravaged by supervillains (and nobody making any movies), and so they quickly recreate the origin stories. Including putting back Martha\u2019s pearls before pushing her and Thomas into the alley to be shot, as a young Bruce looks on horrified.<\/p>\n

This is a quick joke that demonstrates the rapid and surprisingly cut-throat satire of Teen Titans GO! To the Movies<\/em>. Yet it also touches upon the dilemma often raised in Batman media, of whether Batman requires the trauma from his parent\u2019s death to be Batman. Like a reverse of a baby-Hitler situation, killing the Waynes secures Batman and the lives that he saves. Depictions of Batman have gone back and forth on this issue. Tom King\u2019s comic book run suggested Batman needs to be \u2018broken\u2019 to be himself. Other representations, including Batman Forever<\/em>, suggest that while their deaths may have created Batman, Bruce\u00a0continues his caped crusade\u00a0not out of guilt or trauma, but simply because he wants to.<\/p>\n

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Joker <\/em>was\u00a0a departure from most Batman portrayals, in both content, tone and focus. In this 70s set Gotham, the Monarch cinema was showing Brian DePalma\u2019s classic Blow Out<\/em>, alongside Zorro the Gay Blade<\/em>. Significantly, Joker<\/em> is the only R-rated adaptation of these adaptations, which carries through into the visuals of the Waynes\u2019 shooting. Most versions have cut between the gunshot and the Waynes\u2019 reaction, therefore obscuring the actual impact. In Joker<\/em>, the shooting of Thomas Wayne and his collapse is done in one shot, making it far more brutal. Additionally, young Bruce\u2019s face gets covered in Martha\u2019s blood after she is shot, her pearls being violently ripped off post-mortem.<\/p>\n

Before its release it was unclear how much connection Joker <\/em>would have with Batman, if any, or whether it would be a completely separate origin like Venom<\/em><\/a>. But Joker <\/em>features Thomas Wayne as a main character, whom Arthur Fleck believes to be his biological father. Their deaths are an indirect result of Fleck, after he incites a riot after killing late-night host Murray Franklin. The clown-masked assailant who follow the Waynes into the alley is specifically targeting them, echoing Fleck\u2019s words as he shoots them that \u201cYou get what you f***ing deserve\u201d. It\u2019s unclear whether or not Fleck intended this, having said in the film he \u201cdoesn\u2019t believe in anything\u201d and never comments on the class-disparity raging around him. It\u2019s also ambiguous whether it frames these deaths as a righteous vengeance against the rich, or a morally bankrupt murder. But Joker <\/em>does come full-circle with the first portrayal of the Waynes\u2019 death in 1989, by having the Joker responsible, if indirectly, for the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Gone but not forgotten.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Batman: Arkham City: 7 Best Things About The Game (& 3 That Could’ve Been Better)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Everyone knows their story by now, but each version of the murder of young Bruce’s parents offers unique insight into the director’s vision.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":940,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Examining the Many Different Deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne - ITTeacherITFreelance.hk","description":"Everyone knows their story by now, but each version of the murder of young Bruce's parents offers unique insight into the director's vision."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/940"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94610,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94609\/revisions\/94610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}