Thomas Wayne
Thomas Wayne is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Golden Age
Thomas Wayne
Fifteen years ago, he along with his wife and son were walking back from the movie when both Thomas along with Martha Wayne were shot by a mugger leaving their son the only survivor. In the aftermath, he came to swear to avenge them where he came to become a vigilante known as the Batman by the time he was an adult. (Detective Comics v1 #33)
Silver Age
One account claimed that he served in the U.S. Army where he held the rank of Colonel and served as a doctor. (Batman v1 #120) Among the friends he made then were Red Larken, Ron Thursgood, Old Bruno Clark and Xavier Simon. One night, they were in a town when Simon got drunk and mistreated a woman leading to the rest of them testifying at his court martial. Xavier was drummed out of the service and sent to prison for 5 years where he swore revenge against the others. (Detective Comics v1 #481)
During one year, he attended a masquerade party alongside his wife where the theme was flying creatures. He made an elaborate bat costume where he gained praise for his Bat-Man suit. During the party, armed gunmen took him hostage where they took Dr. Wayne to their boss who was noted mobster Lew Moxon. The bank robber had been shot and injured during one of his heists where he wanted Thomas to treat him. Wayne managed to get the upper hand where he knocked out the criminals allowing them to be arrested by the police. Thomas Wayne was the re-united with his family and received praise. Afterwards, Moxon was taken to trial and sentenced to 10 years for armed robbery where he swore revenge against Thomas Wayne. (Detective Comics v1 #235)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Thomas Wayne was the son of Patrick Morgan Wayne of the wealthy and influential Wayne family of Gotham City. He ignored his wealthy heritage in order to travel to the Caribbean where he became a missionary. During this time, the group he was with were wiped out due to a military conflict leading to Thomas returning back to Gotham. Once there, he attended medical school and accepted his inheritance of the Wayne fortune. Whilst controlling the family practice, he managed to grow his thriving medical practice. (Batman Secret Files and Origins v1 #1) He was known to had participated in the World War where he was a doctor in the army where he met several friends that included Red Larken, Ron Thursgood, Old Bruno Clark and Xavier Simon. Wayne fought Simon to be a strange yet intelligent man who was a good pilot but he was a brute that got drunk and mistreated women. Thomas along with his other friends testified at Xavier's court martial that saw him removed from the service and sentenced to five years in prison. (Detective Comics v1 #481)
At some point, he met and struck a friendship with Zatara with the pair working together to help on many children charities. (Detective Comics v1 #833) A drunk Thomas later attended John Zatara's stage show in Gotham at a time when he was supposed to be meeting Roger Elliot and his wife Marla Elliot over a business transaction. At the time, Martha Kane had arrived in order to talk about a business proposal with Elliot Pharmaceuticals for charity work. (Batman: Streets of Gotham v1 #14) During this time, he courted the wealthy Martha Kane who was the heiress of Kane Chemical. (Batman Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)
Later on, the Elliots came to suffer a vehicle crash with Dr. Thomas Wayne attempting to save them. Despite his efforts, Roger Elliot died whilst his wife Marla Elliot survived where she came to be discharged following intense reconstructive surgery. During this time, he was approached by a detective named Sam Emerson Bradley who believed the accident was intentional though Dr. Wayne refused to hear the man's suspicions. (Detective Comics v1 #846)
Decades ago, he commissioned the creation of the Wayne Central Station with Gregor Greenside assigned as the architect responsible for designing it with the goal of bringing the people of the city together. (Batman: Death by Design v1 #1) When his wife was heavily pregnant, Thomas Wayne volunteered to do disaster relief work at Santa Prisca to help in the wake of hurricanes and abject poverty. During that time, he tried and failed to liberate slaves that were traded to fund Marxist insurgents whereupon he left the nation behind forever. (Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #34)
At a masquerade ball, Thomas Wayne wore a bat costume where he helped capture the bank robber Lew Moxon. Moxon had attempted to force Wayne to treat wounds he sustained from an earlier fight with the police. After his arrest, he was taken to trial where he swore revenge against Thomas Wayne. (Detective Comics v1 #235)
When Martha was pregnant with his son, Thomas took her for a drive as they decided on names for their child. During the journey, they witnessed a crashed meteorite which was actually a probe from alien civilization. After touching it, Thomas's mind was transported to a distant world called Krypton where he inhabited a tactile holographic representation of his form. Initially, he was confronted by Kryptonian authorities but could not understand them until the arrival of Jor-El who took him to the side. The scientist revealed that he had created the probe and was searching for a world where he could send his son to as Krypton was facing destruction. Thomas confessed about the nature of Earth but stated that fundamentally mankind strived for good with this convincing Jor-El to send his son to that world. Wayne promised that he would adopt the child if he ever found him and he was returned to his body where he told Martha of his experience. He took the probe back to his stately home and secretly studied it where he used some of the advanced alien science behind it to revitalise his company that was financially struggling and facing collapse. This allowed him to restore the family wealth and continue to do good in Gotham City. Afterwards, he kept the remains of the probe buried in the cave beneath Wayne Manor and kept its existence a close secret. (Superman/Batman v1 #50)
Eighten years ago, he along with his wife and son were walking back from the movie when both Thomas along with Martha Wayne were shot by a mugger leaving their son the only survivor. (Batman v1 #404)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Overview
Personality and attributes
During a masquerade, he came to make an elaborate flying creature where he got praise as the Bat-Man. (Detective Comics v1 #235)
As a member of the Wayne family, he came from a line of brave adventurers that were men said to had brought pride and honor of their lineage. (Batman v1 #120)
He came to marry Martha Wayne where the two had a son together they named Bruce Wayne. (Detective Comics v1 #33)
One of his relatives was Silas Wayne who was the great-uncle of his son Bruce Wayne. (Batman v1 #120) Among his family members was his cousin Bruce N. Wayne who was a famous private detective and named his own son after him. (Batman v1 #233)
Powers and abilities
According to Bruce, Thomas had saved over 4,000 lives over the course of his career. (JLA v1 #72)
He was noted as Gotham library's biggest financier. (Batman v1 #707)
It was shown that he kept a secret diary that detailed the close secrets of his life with it titled as the Journal of Dr. Thomas Wayne. (Superman/Batman v1 #50)
According to one account, he conducted experiments in the occult that looked to bring the dead back to life. (The Brave and the Bold v1 #99)
The Wayne's were considered amongst the First Families of Gotham. (Detective Comics v1 #846)
One of his residences was the Wayne Family Summer Home that was located on a New England island. (The Brave and the Bold v1 #99)
Notes
- Thomas Wayne was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane where he made his first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #33 (November, 1939).
- In Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe v1 #2 (1985), it was established that after Thomas Wayne's death that Bruce went into the care of his uncle Philip Wayne.
- In the novel Waynes of Gotham, it was shown that Thomas Wayne was secretly involved in a project that involved experimentation on the minds of criminals to remove their tendencies towards violence but this may had turned such individuals into homicidal madmen that terrorised Gotham City over the years.
Alternate versions
Flashpoint
As a result of the Flash's actions, a splinter reality was created known as the Flashpoint with a vastly different universe. In this reality, at Crime Alley it was the young Bruce Wayne that was killed by Joe Chill instead of his parents. This chain of events leads to his wife Martha spiraling into madness and becoming the Joker whilst Thomas becomes the vigilante Batman. He operated his own private casino as a base of operations with Oswald Cobbelpot as his security chief who handled the business whilst Wayne himself operated as Batman in the fight against crime. Commissioner James Gordon operated the privatized police of Gotham City and was aware of Batman's true identity. Barry Allen would arrive in this reality where he headed to the Batcave and was ambushed by the Thomas Wayne Batman. During this encounter, Allen revealed to Thomas that he and his wife Martha were meant to had died in his reality with Bruce surviving to become Batman. After asking Barry a questions about Bruce's life, he agreed to help Barry in changing the timeline in the full knowledge that it meant sacrificing his life to restore his son's. Thomas Wayne would also help in recreating the accident in returning Barry his powers after he had lost access to the Speed Force. A string of murders committed by the Joker led to Commissioner Gordon attempting to kill the criminal but was killed in turn. Batman was, however, unable to bring himself to kill his now insane wife Martha and thus felt responsible for her crimes as the Joker. He would later tell her his discovery from Barry Allen that both of them were meant to had died at Crime Alley and that he would do everything possible to restore the true reality even if it meant their deaths. This act would led to Martha's sanity being restored leading to her reconciling with Thomas but becomes hysterical when she asked about what Bruce becomes in the other reality. When Thomas said Bruce Wayne became Batman, Martha Wayne became unhinged again where she fled and fell to her death in the same hole that Bruce fell in when he was a child. He would make another attempt at restoring Flash's powers with Batman working with him to form a team to stop the chances made by Thawne to history. Thomas would contact Cyborg for help in tracking down the government Project: Superman holding the captive Kal-El for experimentation who manifested his abilities after being exposed to sunlight whereupon he flew away.
Earth-2
In a parallel of Earth-2 in the New 52, he was shown as being a doctor who befriended Frankie Falcone after saving his life from a gunshot wound and became involved in numerous parties orchestrated by him. During these parties, he met his future wife Martha with the two marrying and having a son. Thomas would seek to distance himself from Frankie Falcone's criminal life style and quit acting as their personal doctor. This act would lead to bad blood forming between the two former friends with Falcone sending thugs to attack Thomas Wayne who was only saved by the intervention of his butler Jarvis Pennysworth. Similar to Prime Earth, Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha Wayne were with their young son Bruce Wayne when they were attacked by the Falcone hired Joe Chill who shot them in Crime Alley. The elder Waynes were seemingly killed by Chill with Bruce Wayne being taken away for him to grieve over his parents death. In reality, Martha had died but Thomas had survived where he recovered in the hospital with the aid of Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Thomas would know that Chill was sent by Frankie Falcone and intended to protect his son Bruce by forging his records to declare himself clinically dead by Dr. Thompkins. The elder Wayne would drop off the grid in order to exact his revenge for Martha's death and manage to steal the drug Miraclo from his colleague Rex Mason which he used to kill Falcone. During this plan, he was confronted by the Batman who he later discovered as being his grown up son Bruce Wayne and tried to reconnect with him. However, upon learning Thomas Waynes story, Bruce was shocked and decided not to have any part in his father's life. As such, Thomas could only watch at a distance as his son married Selina Kyle and had a daughter Helena Wayne. Afterwards, Earth-2 was invaded by the forces of Apokolips with the trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all being killed in the battle with Gotham City being a wasteland. Thomas Wayne would arrive at the Batcave and decided to honor his son by taking the cowl of Batman though a more brutal one who used guns as well sa the Miraclo formula to enhance his abilities due to his old age. He would operate when Apokolips began their onslaught of Earth-2 once again where he aided the other heroes against the invading forces. During the Convergence, he was among the Earth-2 heroes that got abducted by Telos who started a war between the numerous Bottle Cities that had been saved across the Multiverse. In that time, Thomas Wayne went to an alternate Gotham alongside his world's version of Dick Grayson where they met Batman. During a brief exchange, he managed to acquire a Batplane that he used to support his allies but it was brought down by a number of Batman villains. Rather than be captured, Thomas detonated explosives on his person that killed him and the supervillains around him thus allowing Dick Grayson to continue living.
Other
- In Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table v1 (1998), an alternate version of Thomas Wayne was shown in the Elseworld setting. He and his wife Isadora Wayne were part of the House of Waynesmoor who had faithfully served England for generations.
- In JLA: Secret Society of Super-Heroes v1 (2000), an alternate Elseworlds version of Thomas Wayne was shown where he operated in a world secretly ruled by the Kryptic Order. He was a member of thus group of super-powered beings where he operated as the Bat-man.
- In JLA: Earth-2, a version of Earth-3 was shown that was part of the Anti-Matter Universe. This reality's Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne had two children namely Thomas Wayne Junior along with Bruce Wayne. Both Martha and Bruce were killed with Thomas Wayne Junior growing up to a life of crime as Owlman. Thomas Wayne was tortured by his son's criminal actions and became the Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department where he tried to bring Owlman to justice only to fail.
- In JLA: Destiny, both Martha and Bruce would be killed in Crime Alley with both Superman and Batman not appearing in this world. On this Earth, Thomas Wayne would bankroll the Justice League and manage its operations in protecting the world.
- In Batman: White Knight v1 (2017), an alternate version of Thomas Wayne was shown in a different continuity setting. This version operated in World War II where he created a secret program designed with acquiring valuable Nazi assets such as scientists for the war efforts. Among these was prominent scientist Bron Von Fries who was developing Freeze-Tech with Thomas convincing the War Department with providing shelter for him in exchange for his research that could be used for the Allies. Baron Von Fries was allowed to bring his family on the condition that experiments were to be conducted off U.S. soil with Thomas building a laboratory for him underneath the German embassy at Gotham. Wayne believed that his experiments could be used for medical applications whereas Baron Fries intended it to be used as a weapon with the War Department siding with him. Thus, Thomas Wayne was removed from the project that was renamed as Paperclip which was intended for use in the Cold War. Years later, he met Baron Fries son Victor Fries who hated his fathers Nazi past and his treatment of his fiancée Nora Smithstein. Thus, Victor met with Thomas who he came to admire as a father figure with Wayne helping even pay for his wedding. Thomas had continued in the use of cryogenic medical experiments and had invited Wayne to the wedding but he was killed in an alleyway.
In other media
Television
- In Justice League, the character was referenced in the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe where he appeared in the episode "A Better World" that featured an alternate reality. This world went through a similar series of events as the main reality with Thomas Wayne being killed leading to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. In this alternate Earth, the superheroes formed a dictatorship controlled by the Justice Lords. The Justice Lord version of Batman referenced his parents murders where he told the main reality Batman that his Thomas Wayne was killed by some punk with a gun making it appear as it was a random mugging.
- In Beware the Batman, the character made appearances in the animated television series in flashback sequences showcasing Wayne's early life. The episode "Fall" showed Thomas Wayne hiring Alfred Pennyworth after the end of his service in the MI-6 to serve as the butler to the Wayne family.
- In Gotham, Thomas Wayne appeared in the live-action television series where he played by actor Grayson McCouch. He along with his wife Martha Wayne were killed in Crime Alley with the young thief Selina Kyle claiming to had seen the murders.
- In Pennyworth, Thomas Wayne appeared in the setting of the live-action television prequel series where he was portrayed by actor Ben Aldridge. This version was shown as being a CIA Agent who operated out of Gotham in England to monitor Alfred and go undercover in the No Name League.
Films
- In Batman, Thomas Wayne appeared in the 1989 live-action Tim Burton film where he featured in the flashbacks of Bruce Wayne's childhood that saw the murder of his parents where he was played by actor David Baxt. He was shown with his wife Martha Wayne and the young Bruce at Crime Alley where they were confronted by Jack Napier along with Joe Chill. It was Jack Napier in this version that killed the elder Waynes with Chill being his partner who calls him to run away after the murder.
- In Justice League: Doom, the graves of Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne were dug up by Bane after he learnt of Batman's true identity where he embarked on his plan to kill the Batman. As a member of the Legion of Doom, he disguised himself as a caretaker to the graveyard who informed Bruce Wayne of the desecration of his parents graves. Whilst Wayne was there, Bane revealed his true identity and intended to break the man behind the cowl by burying him in the grave.
- In Batman vs. Robin, the character appeared in flashback sequences where he was voiced by actor Kevin Conroy. During Bruce's childhood, his father told him a rhyme that warned about the Court of Owls and their Talons. His son was scared that the legend was true but Thomas stated that they were only a story. Afterwards, both Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed in an alleyway with their son Bruce for a short time believing that the Court of Owls was real and that they were responsible for his parents death. As Batman, he was exposed to a psychotropic gas by the Court where he relived his parents death but saw his own adult son Damian Wayne as a ruthless Batman killing them. This forced him to challenge his fears about the violent nature of Damian.
Video games
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Flashpoint Thomas Wayne Batman was a playable costume available to Batman in the video game.
- In Batman: The Telltale Series, Thomas Wayne featured in the backstory of the video game. It was revealed that he had secretly partnered himself with Hamilton Hill and Carmine Falcone with the three effectively ruling Gotham. As such, Thomas was involved in corruption and other illegal activities that he used to build the Wayne fortune which he hid from the public. He was once friends with Esther Cobblepot where he intended to purchase her land but she refused. In response, Thomas was involved in committing Mrs. Cobblepot to Arkham Asylum where he used drugs that caused her to go insane. Thomas and his wife Martha were both killed by hired gun Joe Chill who had been sent by Hill to eliminate his rivals. Knowledge of Thomas Wayne's actions was released to the public secretly by Oswald Cobblepot who along with the Children of Arkham wanted to expose Thomas for committing innocent people to the institution.
Appearances
- Detective Comics v1: (1939)
- Batman v1:
- Untold Legend of Batman v1:
- Superman/Batman v1:
External Links
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