Though there was some clamour at the introduction of criminal Jack Napier as the killer of the Bruces, rather than Joe Chill there was at least some intelligent thinking behind the name. Created by the filmmakers in order to give The Joker something of a backstory - rather than leaving him nameless and "absolute" as Christopher Nolan would later choose to - Jack Napier was designed with the same mechanism as Edward Nigma in mind, since it was constructed as a play on the word "jackanapes". More importantly, the name is also a reference to Alan Napier, the actor who played Alfred in the 1960s Batman TV show. So at least the invented character in some way paid homage to the property's history. Another character pays homage to Tim Burton, whose name is reused for the wild-haired, suspiciously familiar looking doctor of Arkham Asylum who appears at the end of Batman Forever.
