The origins of Batman were retold few times throughout the decades, but they were always very consistent and remained virtually unchanged in the comic books. The first time the nightmarish night that spawned Batman was presented to the world was in Detective Comics #33 (1939), and then reprinted in Batman #1 (1940)
The short, two page story shows the wealthy Wayne family encountering a mugger while coming back from a movie theater. The mugger holds them at gunpoint and is trying to take Martha Wayne's pearl necklace, and when Thomas Wayne tries to save her and stop him, the mugger shoots him and then Martha to quiet her down. The young Bruce is spared.
Couple of days after that night the young Bruce vouches to become a crime fighter and fight criminals. The killer is never found by the Police which also plays a role for Batman/Bruce as he witnesses inadequacies and occasional helplessness of the police department
The name of the killer isn't revealed until Batman #47 (1948) by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, in which Batman discovers that the head of the truck company/smuggler/small time crime boss he is investigating is in fact his parents' killer. His name is Joseph Chilton, in short Joe Chill.
The origins are retold (by the same team who thought them up), but this time there was a small addition: an angry Bruce
When trying to infiltrate Chill's organization proves fruitless, Batman attempts to trick Chill into making a mistake, but again with no success. Finally, Batman confronts Chill directly about his guilt in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne
When trying to infiltrate Chill's organization proves fruitless, Batman attempts to trick Chill into making a mistake, but again with no success. Finally, Batman confronts Chill directly about his guilt in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne
Batman swears that he will be watching Chill everyday and will be waiting for him to make a mistake, and then he'll have him. Chill runs to his henchmen to tell them that he's the one responsible for Batman's birth
Realizing that Chill is the reason behind Batman's existence, they instantly gun him down before realizing that they wasted a great opportunity to find out about Batman's true identity.
When dying in Batman's arms Chill says "I guess you got me".
In Detective Comics #235 (1956) by Sheldon Moldoff and Bill Finger, Batman finds the last piece of the puzzle and learns that Joe Chill was not a mere robber, but actually a hitman who murdered the Waynes on orders from a Mafia boss named Lew Moxon. It appears that Thomas Wayne once dressed as a bat to stop Moxon's crime for which Moxon vouched revenge. He hired Chill to kill the Waynes and make it look like a robbery. Bruce was spared to testify to police that it was a stick up
Incidentally the issue presented a slightly differently worded vow from Bruce
And a slightly different end to Chill's life
The origins and the story of Batman facing Joe Chill were retold in 1980 in The Untold Legend of Batman #1 by Len Wein and John Byrne
We also get to see young Bruce taking his vow again
The mini series faithfully recreated the events previously established in the canon years before, down to Batman recognizing Chill
..confronting him...
And Chill causing his own death
And also retelling Batman's discovery of the coverup robbery
The murder night was retold few times during the 80's, always being faithful to the original story. The only change was the revelation about which movie the Waynes went to see, and it was always the Mark of Zorro. That is an important addition because it implies that this might have been the earliest source of Bruce's idea for becoming a vigilante. Another important thing is that all the stories depict the family as being very happy and unsuspecting of the tragic turn to the fun night.
The Dark Knight Returns
Batman #459
While The Dark Knight Returns doesn't change any of the events, it does however, show Batman forgiving Chill in his mind. Bruce thinks: "He flinched when he pulled the trigger. He was sick and guilty over what he did. All he wanted was money."
Batman: Year One
Batman #0
Batman: Year Two presents an alternative chain of events concerning Chill. In this series, Chill is still a killer for hire and is hired to kill a vigilante called Reaper.
Batman must work with him if he wants to find the Reaper,
...but then takes him to the alley where his parents died and confronts him about it. While being held at gunpoint by Batman, Chill is killed getting shot by the Reaper. It is left ambiguous as to whether or not Batman would have actually pulled the trigger
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B A T M A N
Tim Burton's 1989 movie presented the night without many changes, and it presented it in a very dream-like quality, with an eerie music, echoed sound and symbolic images.
The Waynes are walking back happily from a movie theater (albeit there's no implication that they were seeing the Mark of Zorro).
However, they are stopped by two muggers instead of one. As in the comic books, the pearl necklace causes the havoc that leaves the Waynes dead.
In this movie however, it's not Joe Chill who pulls the trigger (albeit it is hinted that he is there, see the quote below by M. Uslan), although the substitute killer, just like the comic book Chill, is never caught by the police but recognized and found decades later by Batman.
It's also very likely that it was a premeditated murder. First of all, Jack Napier has been known to be a mobster and he already has a partner accompanying him in the murder and is dressed like a mobster, in a nice and expensive suit with a tie (The actor Hugo Blick stated he wasn't even allowed to keep it), new polished shoes, nice coat, neatly cut and stylized hair and leather gloves. Not like someone who needs money at all, and not the types to hang out in dark alleys. Secondly, the early script for Batman had Joe Chill being hired by Rupert Thorne to kill Waynes. Third, Waynes were being followed, and then never asked about money or even held at gunpoint. Young Napier just stood there in the shadow and shot the two without uttering a word
Michael Uslan, producer: It also seemed to make sense to have the young Jack/Joker as the killer of Bruce Wayne’s parents in the flashback. Worried about that change in the legend, I asked Bob Kane for his thoughts on the matter. Bob replied that it made perfect sense and that, “If the Joker had been created originally in 1939, that’s who would have murdered the Waynes in the comic book!” As a tip of the hat to hardcore Bat-Fans – and to Joe Chill – the scene in this movie showed Jack and another man responsible for the killing. It was hoped that would satisfy the majority of generations of Batmaniacs. (BITF intro 2002)
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B A T M A N F O R E V E R
Batman Forever presents a slightly different imagery. The Wayne family is also shown as having a good time but there's no popcorn present in Bruce's hands.
Also, when Martha gets shot she drops a pair of roses, something which havent been shown previously
Another thing is that there isn't any indication that there's an accomplice present
B A T M A N B E G I N S
Christopher Nolan's 2005 movie presents an altered story. The Wayne family doesn't go to see a movie and instead goes to see the opera Mefistophle.
Another change is that this night is not the last happy moment for the Wayne family, as Bruce is miserable and frightened by the bat figures in the play. He is also shown to be scared of bats even before the tragedy and he is the reason why the family leaves earlier and through the back door - a very believable reason for Waynes ending up in the dark alley, something never explained before.
Yet another change is Joe Chill's character and motivation - he is not a killer for hire and instead is a frightened and desperate product of poverty and depression. This version mirror's Batman's point of view on Chill in The Dark Knight Returns.
The actual murder appears to be left without changes with the pearl necklace starting a riot resulting in Waynes' deaths.
Bruce does not decide his fate right after the murder of his parents. Instead, he is led to his path by Ra's Al Ghul decades later while in prison. Another change is the fact that Chill is caught by the police the very same night and is shot to death by mob on the day of his parole in front of Bruce who was planning to kill him himself. That is most likely a reference to Year Two in which it's very possible that Batman wanted to gun Chill down but was outpaced by the Reaper.
In the court Chill seems resentful of what he had done but one can assume that he was just telling the judge what he wanted to hear, although that's unlikely considering how it's implied in the movie that it's the poverty and desperation that was the cause of Waynes' murder
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