Murder

The Wayne family encounters Joe Chill, in Detective Comics #33 (November 1939)

When Bruce Wayne was eight years old, his parents took him to a screening of a Zorro movie at a cinema in Gotham's Park Row. Returning to the car through an alley, they were confronted by a lone gunman, who attempted to steal Martha Wayne's pearl necklace, an anniversary gift from Thomas. In the ensuing struggle, the thief shot both the Waynes dead (Later versions of the story claimed that only Thomas was shot; Martha died instead from the "shock" of his murder due to her having a weak heart. This retcon was ultimately undone, with Martha again being gunned down with Thomas.). In the wake of this tragedy, Park Row was given the nickname "Crime Alley".

The identity of the Waynes' killer has varied through different versions of the Batman story. Initially, he was said to be the criminal Joe Chill. Later retellings would claim that Chill had been hired by gangster Lew Moxon, an enemy of Thomas Wayne, and told to make the killings look like a robbery. After DC Comics' history-altering Zero Hour series, this interpretation was abandoned in favor of the Waynes' deaths being a random street crime. The killer was thought to have never been caught, adding to the tragedy and universality of Batman's origin. After the further continuity tweaks of the Infinite Crisis miniseries, DC has once again returned to the Joe Chill interpretation.

Since her death, Martha Wayne has only appeared in the Batman series in flashback and in the occasional out-of-body experience or hallucination. Her most significant appearance in this latter category is in the miniseries Batman: Death and the Maidens by Greg Rucka. In this story, Batman ingests an elixir given to him by his enemy Ra's al Ghul, and believes he is having a conversation with his dead parents. Martha is depicted here as a beautiful woman whose face is marred by a bleeding bullet wound, suggesting that Bruce remembers her this way because he has become 'focused' on her death rather than her life, the wound vanishing after she forces him to acknowledge that issue. Martha strongly disapproves of her son's costumed crusade, fearing he has thrown away his chance for happiness, although her husband notes that they disapprove of what being Batman has cost Bruce rather than disapproving of Batman himself. As she and Thomas depart, they assure Bruce that just because the passing of time has lessened his grief does not mean that he no longer cares for them, and, as a result, Bruce is able to accept that he is Batman because he chooses to be, not because he has to be.

In Jeph Loeb's Batman stories, Bruce feels responsible for his parents' murder because he advised Martha to wear the infamous pearl necklace the night she was murdered. Had she not worn it, the mugger might have not killed them, or even have been attracted to them. In Death and the Maidens she claims that the pearls were fakes, and that she wouldn't have worn real ones simply to go to the theater. As this experience may have been merely a hallucination, it is unknown whether or not this is true.

Alleged double life

Another mystery about Martha Wayne's final fate is unveiled in the Batman R.I.P. storyline, where it is revealed that the Kanes hired a detective to prowl about the circumstances of her death, always suspecting that Thomas Wayne married her for her money.

Many years later, the detective hired by the Kanes presents to Commissioner Gordon a dossier describing Martha as a helpless, frail woman hooked on drugs by an abusive husband, who frequently indulged in orgies and extramarital affairs, taking Alfred Pennyworth as her lover. However, the villainous Simon Hurt, head of the Black Glove cabal, bent on getting revenge on Batman admits that the stories and supposed evidence are clever forgeries designed to break Batman.

Streets of Gotham

In the series Streets of Gotham, Martha Wayne's history as a young woman was revised and elaborated further.

After her father was tricked into a shady investment deal by a mobster named Judson Pierce, which drained the Kane fortune and made him suffer a fatal heart attack, Martha became involved with charity work focusing on Gotham's poorest citizens. One of her main projects was raising support for the free clinic founded in Gotham's slums by doctor Leslie Thompkins.

During an attempt to solicit support from Gotham's elite, she had her first encounter with Thomas Wayne. Aside from being a well-regarded surgeon, Thomas was also an infamous playboy and party animal. He affirmed this reputation by being extremely drunk in public and vomiting on Martha's shoes, causing her to storm off in disgust despite his apologies.

Leslie's clinic also became a new target for Judson Pierce after he deemed it a key point for taking over the surrounding neighborhood. Pierce attempted to prey on Martha's poverty by offering cash to shut the facility down. Martha accepted Pierce's money, but filed it as a donation to keep the clinic running. Enraged, Pierce arranged to have Martha and Leslie assassinated.

Martha met Thomas Wayne a second time after he had Alfred chauffeur him to the clinic so he could apologize again. That same evening though, Pierce's hitmen also decided to make their move. Alfred was able to subdue the assailants, but not before Leslie suffered a minor gunshot wound. While Leslie recovered from her injury, Thomas volunteered to work in the clinic alongside Martha. Thomas became content with the work there and it wasn't long before Thomas and Martha became romantically involved. By the time Leslie returned to work, Thomas became an official sponsor of the clinic and used his vast resources to keep it running. Thomas also distanced himself from his hedonistic past, citing Martha as his inspiration to change.

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Martha Wayne is seen as a good, strong-willed mother worried about her child's future and the future of Gotham's children as well. It is revealed that when Bruce was three years-old, Martha was pregnant with a second child named Thomas Wayne Jr. Due to an accident orchestrated by the Court of Owls, the child was born prematurely and sent to Willowwood Asylum, although he is officially listed as having died 12 hours after his birth. After the murder of Thomas and Martha, the asylum ceased to receive proper funding and the staff started to abuse the children in their care. The Court of Owls offers to take a child who is possibly Thomas Jr. into their ranks, the child left in care after he was born premature with serious disabilities, and he is reborn as Lincoln March, a Gotham socialite and mayoral candidate. Thomas Jr/Lincoln blames Bruce for their parents' murders and the abuse he suffered, and becomes obsessed with getting revenge against his brother. Whether Lincoln really is Bruce's brother or a ploy set by the Court of Owls in order to enlist him in their ranks is left ambiguous; Bruce acknowledges that the evidence favoring March being Thomas Jr. makes sense, but is certain that his parents would have told him if he had a brother, and observes that every piece of evidence has an alternative explanation, but without a DNA test there is no way to be certain.

Superman: Red Son

In Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son, Martha and her husband are anti-communist protesters in the Soviet Union. They are executed by the NKVD under Commissar Pyotr Roslov, which leads to their son vowing to overthrow the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty

Thomas and Martha Wayne in Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty (November 1997); art by Scott Hampton

In Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty, Thomas and Martha are saved from death when 'Valentin Sinclair' — really Vandal Savage, a man who has a long-standing interest and admiration for the Wayne family despite the fact that they often end up opposing him when they learn about his plans — scared off Joe Chill, Sinclair becoming a partner in Wayne Enterprises, only for Sinclair to have them killed when they threaten to expose his plan to divert a meteor that gave him his powers back to Earth so that he can study it. Their deaths — triggered by Sinclair's fear-inducing henchman Scarecrone causing them to remember the mugging, driving them to flee Chill by running off their balcony — prompt Bruce to become Batman to investigate, Gordon having written their deaths off as an accident and Bruce unwilling to investigate as himself because of the risk to his new wife, Julie Madison.

Flashpoint

Martha Wayne as the Joker (right) and Thomas Wayne as Batman (left) of the Flashpoint universe; art by Dave Johnson

The alternate universe Flashpoint version of Martha Wayne is the Joker (and even resembles Heath Ledger's portrayal as seen in The Dark Knight). After Bruce Wayne is shot and killed by Joe Chill, Martha is unable to cope with her loss so she cuts open her cheeks to create a faux smile.^[5]

As Joker, she is the nemesis of Batman, who is her husband Thomas and uses Yo-Yo as a henchman. She kidnaps Harvey Dent's son and daughter. Joker kills James Gordon after she tricks Gordon into shooting Harvey's daughter (disguised as the Joker). After Dent's son and daughter are saved, Batman confronts Joker^[6] about their son's death. As Batman has recently met Barry Allen, Martha learns that there is a way to rewrite history where Bruce will live although they will die. Realizing that her son will be Batman in that timeline, Martha flees in horror, falling to her death in the caverns below Wayne Manor.^[5]

When the Flashpoint reality was restarted during the "Flashpoint Beyond" storyline, Joker was revealed to have survived the fall and started targeting anyone who had anything to do with time travel. She was revealed to have allied with Gilda Dent when she was incarcerated at Arkham Asylum. Batman figured out that Martha was still alive when he was told by Oswald Cobblepot that Dexter Dent went to go see Martha in prison. Batman finds that Joker had enlisted scientists to build a Time Sphere and gutted them once they have served their purpose. Joker tries to use the Time Sphere only for it to explode. The Flashpoint timeline stabilizes when both Batman and Joker come to terms that their reality would be better without Bruce. Joker was last seen in a special cell in the Batcave as Batman and Dexter as Robin head out to fight the Kryptonian invaders. She does offer to hook them up with a contact if they are in need of Kryptonite.^[7]

In the pages of "The New Golden Age", Martha was seen with Batman and Dexter at the time when Per Degaton was imprisoned in the Flashpoint reality.^[8]

Planetary

In an alternate universe ruled by the tyrannical 'Planetary' organization, Martha and her husband were part of a makeshift 'League of Justice', an underground cell trying to revolt. They were murdered by Elijah Snow.^[9]

Earth One

In the graphic novel Batman: Earth One, Martha's maiden name was Arkham instead of Kane in this alternate continuity. Martha's father was murdered by her mother when she was twelve, leaving her family with a series of scandals, including a rumor that the Arkham bloodline is peremptorily insane. Martha was a campaign manager of her husband's mayoral campaign against Oswald Cobblepot. Cobblepot had planned to have a corrupt cop, Jacob Weaver, murder Thomas, but a mugger got to her family first and killed both her and her husband, leaving Bruce orphaned.

Holy Terror

In the Elseworlds novel Batman: Holy Terror Martha works with Thomas and other medical professionals in an underground clinic treating victims of the religious theocracy that rules most of the planet. In one example she makes note of a man that had been tortured to try to change his homosexuality.

The New 52: Earth 3

Martha Wayne's Earth 3 counterpart is featured in Forever Evil. In the revised Earth 3 alternate universe of "The New 52", all characters from the mainstream universe have corresponding counterparts albeit these counterparts are either a darker or outright evil version of the character. Martha is the abusive and sadistic mother of Owlman, in contrast to Batman's mother being a kind woman who fought against child abuse and corruption. Martha blames her husband's surgical fetish for the family's huge expenses, despite the fact that she herself frequently indulges in the family fortune. Owlman orchestrates his parents' murder with the Alfred of Earth 3. Owlman later wonders why Batman would dedicate his life to avenging his parents' deaths.^[10]

When Earth 3 was rebooted during the "Infinite Frontier" storyline, Martha Wayne and Thomas Wayne Sr. were depicted as criminals. After they caused the death of Jimmy Gordon Jr., Boss Gordon sent Harvey Bullock to kill them where Bruce was also killed and Thomas Wayne Jr. was left alive. Years later, Thomas Wayne Jr. in the identity of Owlman would learn this fact when he interrogates Bullock.^[11]

DC Comics Bombshells

In the opening of the first issue of the comic DC Comics Bombshells, set in an alternate history 1940, Martha and Thomas Wayne's lives are saved by an already-existing Batwoman.

Television

Film

Video games

• Martha Wayne appears in Batman: Dark Tomorrow, voiced by Erin Quinn Purcell.^[15]
• Martha Wayne appears in flashbacks in Batman: The Telltale Series, voiced by Lorri Holt.^[15] In the game's continuity, her husband Thomas Wayne had criminal ties to Carmine Falcone and Hamilton Hill, acting as a launderer for the groups money. They seized most of their power in Gotham by committing those who stand in their way to Arkham Asylum, injecting them with a psychosis inducing chemical to render them insane. Martha's level of involvement with Thomas' criminal activities is unclear. Once she discovered the full extent of his crimes, she became disgusted and resolved to gather enough evidence to get Thomas put in prison. Mayor Hill discovered her plan and sent Joe Chill to kill her and Thomas.

Novels

In Andrew Vachss' novel Batman: The Ultimate Evil, Batman discovers that, prior to her death, Martha fought against sex trafficking and child sexual abuse, heading a covert detection agency with help from Commissioner Gordon and the family butler Alfred Pennyworth. Batman also discovers that his parents' murder was not a random mugging, but was in fact orchestrated by a pedophile ring that Martha was investigating.