Joe Chill

Joe Chill is a fictional character in the DC Comics Batman series. He is most famous for murdering young Bruce Wayne's parents (in different versions of Batman's origin story), thus making him indirectly responsible for Batman's existence.

Template:Spoiler Not much is known about Chill, except that he was a petty mugger who killed Wayne's parents when they refused to hand over their money. Chill panicked and ran when Bruce began crying and calling for help, but not before the boy memorized his features.

Golden and Silver Age versions

Batman's origin was established in the comic book Batman #1 (Spring 1940), but the mugger was not given a name until Batman #47 (June-July 1948). In that issue, Batman discovered that Joe Chill, the small-time crime boss he was investigating, was none other than the man who killed his parents. Batman confronted him and revealed his secret identity ("I'm the son of the man you murdered—I'm Bruce Wayne!") and Chill, frightened, sought protection from his henchmen. Once his henchmen (who had friends that were arrested by Batman) learned that Chill was responsible for creating him, they turned on their boss and killed him. Fortunately, Chill did not get a chance to reveal Batman's identity before his henchmen killed him.

In Detective Comics #235 (1956), Batman learned that Chill was not a robber, but actually a hitman who had murdered the Waynes on orders from a Mafia boss named Lou Moxon. In a flashback, we learn that Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne, had worn a bat costume to a costume party, where Moxon and his men had shown up and forced him to remove a slug from his arm. Afterwards, Thomas testified against Moxon in court. The crime boss swore revenge, and hired Chill soon after. Batman confronted him years later while wearing his father's costume (since his current one was ripped in his last battle). Moxon, who had amnesia and so did not remember ordering the hit, suddenly remembered what he had done. Thinking Batman was actually Thomas Wayne's ghost, Moxon panicked and ran out into the street, where he was hit by a truck and killed.

Modern Age version

In the post-Crisis 1980s storyline Batman: Year Two, Chill played a key role. Several Gotham crime bosses pooled their resources to deal with a vigilante called the Reaper, and Chill was hired to take him out. When Batman proposed an alliance it was agreed that he and Chill would work together - something Batman found repugnant, but which he nevertheless justified to himself as necessary to tackle the Reaper. He vowed to kill Chill afterwards. Chill was also commissioned to kill Batman after the Reaper had been disposed of. During a major confrontation, the crime bosses were all killed in a battle at a warehouse, in which the Reaper seemingly also perished. Chill reasoned that he now no longer needed to fulfill his contract, but Batman took him to "Crime Alley", the scene of his parents' murder. There he confronted Chill and revealed his identity. He was about to execute Chill with the same gun that had killed his parents when the Reaper appeared and gunned Chill down.

In the later storyline Batman: Full Circle, Chill's son (also named Joe Chill) appeared, taking on the identity of the now deceased Reaper. He sought revenge for his father's death but was defeated by Batman and Robin. Batman realized that the bad blood between him and the Chills was now over.

After 1994's Zero Hour storyline, the Batman comics stated that Batman had no idea who his parents' killer was, after having seen in an alternate timeline that Chill hadn't done it after all. The rationale for this change was that it would allow Batman to view all criminals as surrogates for Chill.

Other comic versions

In Frank Miller's 1986 limted series The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne finally finds it in himself to (at least partially) forgive Chill after he is mugged by street punks. At first he fantasizes that the two amateur criminals are Chill so he can take out his rage on them, but relents when they lose interest and leave him alone. 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." He then despairs that the "new breed" of street criminals did in fact kill for fun: "These are his children... and the world is theirs."

Although Chill was created in the real DC Universe, he was most recently seen in the now-canceled DC comic book Batman Adventures in its final issue (#17). In the issue he fell to his death from a balcony after refusing help from the Dark Knight, who was unaware of who Chill really was. The comic, based on Batman: The Animated Series, was widely noted as the best comic interpritation of Batman ever, which was sadly canceled to make a show based comic on The Batman which made fans very mad.

Earth-3's Joe Chill

In 1990s comics featuring the Crime Syndicate of America, it was revealed that on the Crime Syndicate's alternate Earth, Joe Chill was a friend of Dr. Thomas Wayne. When the Waynes were shot by a policeman when Thomas Wayne refused to accompany him for questioning, Joe Chill came out of the alley to discover the dead bodies, and Thomas Wayne Jr. left with him which sparks Thomas Wayne Jr. to become Owlman.

In other media

Chill was not mentioned in the 1989 Batman film, directed by Tim Burton; in that film it was the young Jack Napier, who would later become the Joker, who murdered Wayne's parents.

Chill was played by Richard Brake in the 2005 film Batman Begins. This version of Chill was a down-on-his-luck bum who claimed to be driven to mug the Waynes being paid by Henri Ducard. He was released from prison 14 years later as part of a deal to testify against Gotham mob boss Carmine Falcone (with whom he had shared a prison cell) but was gunned down by one of Falcone's mob operatives as he left the courtroom (depriving the young Bruce Wayne, who was waiting outside the courtroom with a gun of his own, of his chance at revenge).

Although the DC Animated Universe has never seen fit to fully portray the fateful night in the alley, the Justice League Unlimited episode "For The Man Who Has Everything" has come the closest, including an actual appearance by Chill himself. The sequence is not completely accurate and canonical, however, as Thomas Wayne is not shot, but instead disarms Chill and starts punching Chill, much to young Bruce's delight (the scene is relived/reimagined due to Batman being captured by the "Black Mercy" plant, an alien plant which traps its prey in the fantasy of their heart's desire). In an ironic twist of casting, Chill's one line in the episode ("We'll start with the pretty pearls around the lady's neck") is performed by none other than Kevin Conroy himself, the voice of Batman in Justice League Unlimited.