8 Nobodies Who Got The Better Of Batman

5. Joe Chill

BTAS Sid the Squid
DC Comics

Speaking of Joe Chill...

When it comes to making an impact on the life of Batman, few people have affected the Dark Knight as much as Chill.

A loaded gun at the right place at the right time to hold up Martha and Thomas Wayne, Joe was responsible for sending the life of Bruce Wayne into a spiral of chaos. We've all seen it so many times across so many different mediums, but if there's one precise moment to pinpoint as the reason for Bruce eventually going on to don the cape 'n' cowl, it's the night that his parents were gunned down in Crime Alley.

For Joe Chill, he is very much the ultimate nobody. A low level crook who could've been any other nondescript criminal on that night, Chill is someone never far from the mind of Batman - with, as mentioned, Bruce's early days as the Bat seeing him come close to murdering the person responsible for his parents' deaths.

Over the decades, certain canon have had Chill carry out the Waynes' murders at the behest of a crime boss, while other canons have just had him down as a scumbag who found himself in a stick-up gone wrong - but either way, Joe Chill is every inch the nobody.

The problem is, he's the nobody whose actions on that fateful night forever haunt the World's Greatest Detective.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.