| “ | Your Honor... not a day goes by that I don't wish I could take back what I did. Sure, I was desperate, like a lot of people back then, but, that don't change what I did. | „ |
| ~ Joe Chill to Judge Faden. |
Joe Chill is a minor antagonist in the 2005 superhero film Batman Begins, the first installment of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy.
He is the criminal who, like in the source material, murders Thomas and Martha Wayne as they exit the city's theater one fateful night, leaving their son Bruce an orphan and scarring him for life. Years later, Chill is bailed from prison due to testifying against his cellmate and renowned crime boss Carmine Falcone, but such decision angers both Bruce and Falcone.
He was portrayed by Richard Brake, who also played Enrikas Dortlich in Hannibal Rising, the Night King in Game of Thrones, Valin Hess in The Mandalorian, Frank in Barbarian and Otis Clairborne in R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned.
History[]
Joe Chill was a poor man living in Gotham City. Thanks to the city's abysmal economic state thanks to the League of Shadows, Joe grew desperate and became a robber out of the necessity to get money through any means possible. One fateful night, as Thomas and Martha Wayne, the two richest Gothamites, exited the city's theater with their young son Bruce, Chill assaulted them and demanded their money. Thomas did so, but Chill tried to steal Martha's pearl necklace, so Thomas tried to save his wife. Fearful, Chill fatally shot the couple and ran away after looking at their orphaned son. He is soon captured by the authorities as Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb happily tells a distraught Bruce a few hours later.
Fourteen years after his crime, Chill is offered parole from prison in exchange of testifying against the renowned Gothamite crime boss Carmine Falcone, with whom Chill shared a cell while serving time in prison. As the only living relative of his parents, Bruce is requested to attend Chill's trial, though unknown to everyone, including his best friend Rachel Dawes, Bruce secretly plans to murder Chill. During the trial, Chill seemingly apologizes for real due to what he did and Judge Faden pardons him, though Bruce refuses to speak a word with him and hastily leaves. Once the trial is over, Bruce prepares to shoot Chill dead as he exits the court surrounded by reporters and journalists, but before he can do anything, one of Falcone's disguised assassins shoots Chill dead.
Sometime afterwards, after being berated by Rachel for thinking about killing Joe, Bruce goes to meet with Falcone, who tells him why he decided to silence Chill and, to further spite him before kicking him out of his club, mentions as well how Chill supposedly bragged about his father's death to his fellow prisoners while in jail, suggesting that Chill may not have been really sincere while apologizing at the court. Either way, Bruce realizes that seeking revenge on Chill wasn't the right way to solve things and inspires him to become feared to protect Gotham City from its criminal underworld, making Chill responsible in the long way for Bruce to become Gotham's Dark Knight, Batman.
Gallery[]
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Batman Begins Gotham Mob Others The Dark Knight Others The Dark Knight Rises Others | ||