If the last name is Wayne, prepare for pain. Thomas and Martha Wayne have taken enough bullets to their bodies to fill a bathtub. With Matt Reeves' The Batman coming out next year, it remains to be seen if the film will decide to show the carnage of their deaths for the umpteenth time.
The common criminal (generally called "Joe Chill") managed to start Batman's whole career. So, here are 10 of the most (and certainly not remotely close to "all") notable times the Waynes got whacked. Notice the use of the word "notable" and not "best."
10 Batman: Arkham Asylum
One of the first Arkham game's most recognizable pieces was that of the Scarecrow nightmares. In the second showdown with Scarecrow, Batman is subtly gassed with fear toxin and has to re-live his parents' deaths as he walks down a hallway.
The scene doesn't actually show the deaths outright, but it has the sounds of the scene play out. It then cuts to a shot of the young Bruce leaning over his dead parents. Interestingly, the scene does have a bit of an epilogue to it, as Batman breaks free of the toxin by remembering the kindness shown to him as a recently orphaned child by James Gordon.
9 Batman: Arkham VR
Be the Batman. Beat the criminals with your own fists. Investigate crimes with your own skills. Endure the horror of having your parents shot in front of you. As part of the Arkham franchise, this entry was a first-person VR game that put the player in Batman's POV. Yet it felt the need the showcase the Wayne family death again despite having done so in Arkham Asylum, and on top of that, it shows it in a different manner, throwing off continuity.
Here, Thomas tries to cooperate with the criminal's demands and is shot while trying to hand over Martha's pearls. She is shot after charging at the criminal. Then, the criminal leans in and tells Bruce "That's what happens when you try to be a hero." It's a bit on the nose.
8 Joker
Joker's biggest pop culture impact was the dancing scene on the stairs rather than its thesis on society. Unfortunately, the Wayne family death is a clumsy attempt to talk about the issue of class and society. Yes, the Waynes die on the same night the Joker rises, sure. But there's not a point to it: Bruce Wayne is easily some 30+ years younger than Joker in the film, and there most likely won't be a sequel involving Batman. Likewise, the Joker "inspiring" another "real" Joker undermines it all the more. Sure, the film tries to make the audience root for the deaths this time around, as Thomas is an awful upper-class jerk, but that makes the scene less emotionally impactful.
Unless we get a follow-up movie of a privileged one-percenter version of Batman beating up the poor and mentally ill (which is all Batman versions, when you think about it), there was no need for Joker to shoehorn this in. Besides, Batman: The Telltale Series had a far more interesting version of the corrupt Waynes.
7 Batman: The Animated Series
While Batman: The Animated Series never outright showed the Wayne deaths, there was an episode featuring yes, more Scarecrow hallucinations. In this version, Thomas and Martha are seen in a dream as they walk towards a tunnel.
Batman sees them and begs them not to go in, but the ground beneath him breaks and the tunnel is revealed to be the barrel of a handgun, dripping with blood. It's amazingly graphic for a kids' cartoon.
6 Gotham
Gotham would eventually find its footing with its wackiness, but the first few episodes were a bit rough. There's a lot to unpack with this version. A criminal comes up to the Waynes (as a young Catwoman watches) and demands their goods. They comply. Notably, he takes the pearl necklace instead of just leaving all the pearls on the floor, although a few do still fall. After robbing them, he suddenly shoots them needlessly, and there is a lot of blood. It adds to the realistic nature of the violence, and any child with their own parent's blood on their hands would send them, well, batty.
The real problem here is that the series practically opens up with this scene being in the pilot, and with no establishment of the Waynes, it's hard to care. Because Gotham was a prequel series, it wasn't much to ask to wait a little bit until blasting the Waynes to the cold abyss.
5 Batman (1989)
Tim Burton's Batman set the stage for all the Wayne death tropes. Bruce Wayne and his parents walk into Crime Alley. A criminal appears in slow-motion. He shoots Thomas, who tries to defend his family. Then, he shoots Martha and her pearl necklace falls to the ground. Then, he runs off, leaving a shocked Bruce Wayne behind.
That being said, the movie has one critical difference from every other version: The Joker is the killer. And in this version (unlike Joker) he has about a 14 year age difference. It does undermine the random nature of the act, which symbolizes crime as a whole, but sure, it gives Batman more of an arc, and certainly more beef with Joker for their confrontation.
4 Batman v Superman
Jeffrey Dean Morgan was arguably the best casting choice for Thomas Wayne, ever. His manly mustache and huge build totally rule, and Morgan would make a perfect Flashpoint Batman...which is boring now that the DCEU Batman already used guns, so what's the difference?
In this version, Thomas "beefcake" Wayne doesn't play around, and makes a big fist, and attempts to fight off the criminal, and gets shot. But even more amazingly, Martha Wayne puts up a fight, too, and in this version, the pearls falling makes tragic sense: the criminal's pistol triggers while entangled in them, shooting her in the face. It makes sense that Batman's parents would both be scrappers. The bowl-cut Bruce rocks is pretty bad, though. That's the real crime.
3 Justice League Unlimited
In one of Batman: The Animated Series' spinoff shows, an episode of JLU re-creates the famous comic story "For The Man Who Has Everything." In this version, a parasite has latched onto Batman and puts him in a dreamlike state where he lives his happiest fantasies. In this version of Crime Alley, Thomas fights the criminal...and wins. He pummels the hell out of a helpless Joe Chill and keeps thrashing him, as Bruce grins and cheers him on.
But the moment the parasite is taken off of Batman, the dream gets nasty, Joe Chill recovers his footing, points the gun at Thomas, and shoots. Batman screams as he wakes up from the parasite's grasp.
2 Teen Titans Go! To The Movies
This is by far the most hilarious version of a tragic and overplayed scene. In a desperate attempt to get their own movie, as everyone else in the Justice League has one, Robin convinces his fellow Titans to time travel and erase the Justice League heroes. Robin and the gang go to Crime Alley and prevent the Waynes from entering Crime Alley, after a chipper Bruce says "Golly, thanks for taking me to the movies in this dangerous neighborhood!"
Then, having screwed up time by erasing the Justice League, the Titans decide they have to undo their damage. What's the solution? Push the Waynes into Crime Alley and grin as they die, throwing a thumbs-up to confirm the kills.
1 Batman Begins
This is it. Not just the most notable Wayne deaths, but the best one. Bruce, suffering from a fear of bats and seeing a spooky opera, asks his parents if they can go home early, as the performers resemble bats. His parents, the most wholesome/developed version of the Waynes put to screen, decide to take him home.
When Joe Chill comes for the kill, a polite Thomas tries to be friendly, but Joe points the gun at Martha and Thomas moves to shield her, getting shot in the process, Martha followed immediately. It happens very quickly, and the shock stuns Bruce, who hears his father's last words "Don't be afraid."