10 Most Messed Up Batman Moments

10. The Death Of Thomas And Martha Wayne

It is only fitting to start this list off with the moment that began it all for the Caped Crusader. Of course, the specifics of this scene have been told and retold dozens of times, from Detective Comics #33, to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins all the way to 2019’s Joker. It is the seminal, defining moment of Batman’s life.

There are many more gruesome moments that have occurred within the extended Bat-family, but the genesis of it all is still something inherently tragic; a young boy seeing his parents murdered in cold blood, for nothing. A senseless murder that scarred Bruce Wayne, motivating him to become the vigilante we all know and love.

This cuts to the heart of something inherent to the Batman/Bruce Wayne character; he is a tragic figure, who spends his entire life trying to make sure nobody has to suffer the kind of tragedy that befell him and his family that day in crime alley. In some iterations, such as Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s iconic Kingdom Come, an older Bruce goes to the extent of turning Gotham into a police state patrolled by robots, all in an effort to address the trauma that lies at the heart of the Bat.