If there is one thing people know about Batman, it is his origins and how he had to tragically watch his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, die in front of him. Throughout Batman's many live action adaptations, his origins have been shown over and over again.
What many fans probably don't know is who the person responsible for their murder is. This man is known as Joseph Chilton, aka Joe Chill. Like most comic book characters, he has had many re-imaginings and changes to his backstory as comics have progressed. There are even some comics that dramatically change the incident of the murder in the alley itself.
10 Shot For Creating Batman
The Detective Comics #33 give readers their first look at Batman's origin story and with it, the murder of his parents. The incident is shown in several panels here and features Joe Chill as the party responsible for their murders. Later on, Batman finds Chill, confronting him and revealing his own identity to him in the process.
Once Chill connects the dots, he goes back to his fellow criminals to seek protection from the Caped Crusader. Despite this, they shoot him because he indirectly created Batman by murdering his parents. Batman catches up to him and they make peace before he dies. Thankfully, he did not mention Bruce Wayne's name to the other criminals and so his identity is still safe.
9 Chill As A Hitman
While Batman and Joe Chill's origins show him to be a criminal who murdered Bruce's parents after trying to steal from them, this later turns out not to be the case. In Detective Comics #235, it is shown that Chill is a hitman, not just a common criminal. He murdered the Waynes as part of a contract with Mafia boss Lew Moxon.
Lew Moxon was sentenced to 10 years in jail for armed robbery after Thomas Wayne overpowered him and his men. When he went to jail he swore revenge on Thomas Wayne and later took it in the form of Joe Chill. While this is a small addition, it does add depth and a motive to the act.
8 Son Of Bruce Wayne's Former Caretaker
Even more depth and backstory is added to the character in the 1980 miniseries, The Untold Legend of the Batman. It is in this comic series that Alfred Pennyworth thinks back to Joe Chill and his relation to a caretaker of Bruce. Joe Chill was the son of Alice Chilton who was a one-time caretaker for Bruce Wayne.
While not a big part of Bruce's young life and something that does not add much in terms of Joe Chill's personality, but it still does further show how connected he was with the Wayne family.
7 Batman And Joe Chill Team Up
Batman Year Two centers around a very unlikely team up in a classic case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." When a vigilante called the Reaper shows up, Batman decides to work together alongside Joe Chill. Later on, the Reaper single-handedly takes down multiple crime bosses.
It is right around this time that Batman reveals his identity to Joe Chill, once again showing how he was responsible for his creation through the tragic murders. Batman ultimately planned to kill Chill after revealing his identity, but the Reaper got to him before he gets the chance.
6 The Son Strikes Back
In Batman: Full Circle, a second Reaper emerges with yet another connection to Joe Chill. The new Reaper is revealed to be none other than Joe Chill's son, also named Joe Chill. He pursues Batman because he knows his father killed Batman's parents and with that, is seeking revenge for his own father's murder as well.
He then uses hallucinogenic drugs to trigger Bruce's survivor's guilt concerning the death of his parents. Despite this, Robin intervenes and saves Batman from the torture that Joe Chill Jr. is inflicting on him. With this confrontation, Batman declares that the bad blood between him and the chills is no more.
5 Wayne Family Murderer Unknown
One of the biggest chances to the murder of Bruce's parents comes in the Zero Hour storyline. In this comic, Joe Chill did not kill Martha and Thomas Wayne. In fact, the actual killer is not revealed at all and is assumed to just be an unknown criminal.
This narrative choice was employed because DC wanted Batman to treat all criminals as though any of them could have killed his parents in a sense. The identity of the killer was never revealed in the comic for that reason.
4 Arrested In Infinite Crisis
One of the more minor changes made to the murder of Bruce's parents was made in one of the larger comic events, Infinite Crisis. In this comic, Joe Chill did still kill Bruce's parents, though what happened after is not exactly the same. He was actually caught and arrested later that night.
This followed the release of the movie Batman Begins where Bruce's parents murderer was similarly arrested that same night. This change seems to make it so there would not be a confrontation with Batman revealing his identity as there was in previous comics. It also seems to place lesser emphasis on the killer himself.
3 Confrontation While Hallucinating
In Batman Vol 1 673 titled "Joe Chill in Hell," the character reappears in an unusual way. After being shot by the Bat-Devil, Batman goes into cardiac arrest and has a wide variety of hallucinations as a result. He tries to rationalize his current state and along the way remembers confrontations with various villains throughout the years.
One such villain is Joe Chill himself who is residing in a penthouse in the hallucination. Similar to previous encounters, Batman confronts him and reveals his identity. This time he does it by giving him the very same gun that Chill used to kill his parents. When Joe Chill realizes this, he goes to kill himself because he knows the underworld would murder him if they knew he indirectly created Batman.
2 In Attendance At Batman's Funeral
Another comic shows Joe Chill in attendance at Batman's funeral, although Batman is not actually dead in this comic— just believed to be. This is seen in the Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? comic where Batman suffers from a near death experience.
Batman and Catwoman observe the funeral from a distance and see someone they didn't expect to.:Joe Chill is there very discreetly working as a bartender. He expresses how he was there for Batman's creation and wanted to be there for his ultimate end as well.
1 Flashpoint Joe Chill
While it is an alternate reality and not as cannon as many of the other entries on this list, Flashpoint includes an especially interesting change to the murder and events that follow. In this reality unintentionally created by the Flash, Joe Chill actually ended up killing Bruce Wayne. Thomas Wayne was so upset and angry that he beat Chill to death right then and there.
Martha Wayne was driven insane by the death of her son, becoming the Joker in the process. Thomas Wayne becomes the the Batman of that universe and, unlike his son, has no problems with using guns as well as lethal force.