5. Fictional Obituary: Joe Chill, Absolute Batman

5. Fictional Obituary: Joe Chill, Absolute Batman Spoilers for Absolute Batman #20. Joe Chill, the imprisoned gunman responsible for Thomas Wayne's death at Gotham Zoo, has died at Blackgate. His life became inseparable from the violence he committed and the lasting harm it caused. Thomas Wayne's family and the children present that day carried consequences that continued long after the shooting itself. During his imprisonment, Mr. Chill received visits from Bruce Wayne. Those meetings became a recurring part of the years that followed, connecting the man who had taken a life with the son who had survived that loss. An honest notice of Mr. Chill's death cannot soften his responsibility or offer absolution on behalf of the people he harmed. It can record that his life ended in custody, amid circumstances that left serious questions unresolved. His death closes his own account. It does not bring the lives altered at the zoo back to what they were, and it does not require those left behind to understand or forgive him.