Thomas Wayne
Thomas Alan Wayne, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the father of Bruce Wayne (Batman), and husband of Martha Wayne as well as the paternal grandfather of Damian Wayne. Wayne was introduced in Detective Comics #33 (November 1939), the first exposition of Batman's origin story. A gifted surgeon and philanthropist to Gotham City, Wayne inherited the Wayne family fortune after Patrick Wayne. When Wayne and his wife are murdered in a street mugging, Bruce is inspired to fight crime in Gotham as the vigilante Batman.
| Thomas Wayne | |
|---|---|
Thomas Wayne, as he appeared on a variant cover of Detective Comics #1050 (January 2022) Art by Jorge Molina | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #33 (November 1939) |
| Created by | |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Thomas Alan Wayne |
| Team affiliations | Wayne Enterprises Justice League Incarnate |
| Supporting character of | Batman Flash |
| Notable aliases | Batman (Flashpoint & DC Rebirth) Dr. Wayne Dr. Batman |
Wayne was revived in Geoff Johns' alternate timeline comic Flashpoint (2011), in which he plays a major role as a hardened version of Batman, whose son was killed instead of his wife and himself, and dies again by the end of the storyline. Wayne returned to the main DC Universe in DC Rebirth, as a revived amalgamation of his original self killed by Joe Chill and his Flashpoint Batman self killed in "The Button".
As a key figure in the origin of Batman, Thomas Wayne has appeared in multiple forms of media. Notable portrayals of the character in live-action films include Linus Roache in Batman Begins (2005), Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Brett Cullen in Joker (2019), and Luke Roberts in The Batman (2022). Ben Aldridge also portrays him in the television series Pennyworth (2019).