What’s The Deal With Batman’s Mom Martha Wayne?

Batman has always had a strong moral compass. How could he not, growing up as the son of Martha and Thomas Wayne? His mother was a generous philanthropist, and his father was a kindhearted doctor who dreamed of becoming the mayor that Gotham so desperately needed. Or at least, so we thought: In The Batman, Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) discovers that his late parents weren’t exactly who he believed they were.

Bruce Wayne was only a child when his parents were murdered. The family had been out together when a mugger approached them, demanding Martha’s pearl necklace and then violently shooting both of the Waynes in front of Bruce. In the aftermath of this trauma, Bruce found an unconventional way to make use of his family’s money: turning himself into a masked vigilante sworn to protect the people of Gotham. He wanted to avenge his parents, to carry on their legacy of charity. But in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the Wayne family legacy gets a grim retelling.

As the Riddler (Paul Dano) terrorizes Gotham, Bruce Wayne discovers the truth about his mother, and the lengths his father went to to protect her family secrets. Drawing from the DC graphic novel Batman: Earth One, The Batman shines a new light on Martha Wayne.

Below, a full breakdown of Martha Wayne’s troubled past, and more on how the Wayne family history informs The Batman.

Who was Martha Wayne?

Martha Wayne was a philanthropist and active member of Gotham's community. She was helping her husband Thomas Wayne with his campaign for Mayor of Gotham when they both got gunned down in an alley. Together, her family and the Wayne family were the founders of Gotham.

How was Martha introduced in the comics?

Martha Wayne first appeared in Detective Comics #33 in November of 1939. At the time, her character was a blip in Batman’s story. She and her husband's murder was what led Bruce Wayne to become Batman, and nothing more was really mentioned. Her origin story was not written about until later comics.

What does The Batman reveal about Martha’s family origins?

The Batman takes inspiration from a few different aspects of Batman’s comic book history, but one text seems to have had an outsize influence: Batman: Earth One. In Vol. 1 of the graphic novel series, published in 2012, Martha Wayne’s origin story is reimagined, and she’s given a new maiden name: Arkham. Martha Arkham grew up in Arkham Manor, which would later become Arkham Asylum. When Martha was 12 years old, her mother had a mental breakdown, brutally murdering Martha’s father before committing suicide. Years later, Martha herself was institutionalized on and off.

It turns out that the Arkhams have a history of mental illness that dates back to Gotham’s founding. When the Arkham family first arrived to Gotham, they were attacked by bats (which they believed were inhabited by angry native spirits). The spirits put a curse on the Arkham bloodline that doomed them.

How does Martha’s history play into The Batman?

The Riddler’s primary focus in The Batman is exposing the ugly truth about Gotham’s most trusted civil servants. He targets the mayor, the district attorney, and the police commissioner, brutally murdering them and revealing their true nature. His final victim is Bruce Wayne, which comes as a shock for our protagonist. And it turns out that he isn’t on the Riddler’s hit list for his own actions, but rather for his father’s.

Up until this point, Thomas and Martha Wayne have been saints in Bruce’s eyes. Now, he discovers the difficult truth about his parents. When a journalist uncovered the truth about Martha’s troubled family history and planned to expose these secrets in the middle of Thomas’ mayoral run, Thomas attempted to bribe the journalist to drop the story. When that didn’t work, he hired mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) to “put the fear of God in him.” Unfortunately, Falcone took it upon himself to kill the man, rather than just frighten or threaten him.

The Riddler sends an explosive addressed to Bruce Wayne, but unfortunately it was opened by Alfred (Andy Serkis), the family’s longtime butler. When Bruce confronts Alfred about the years of being lied to about his father’s good nature, Alfred insists that Thomas never meant for the journalist to be killed. All he was trying to do was protect Martha and Bruce — and, in the end, Alfred suspects it was Falcone who had Thomas killed, in order to keep him from coming clean to the police.