Today is Batman Day! Everybody knows the origin story of Batman. Thomas and Martha Wayne went out with their son Bruce for a family outing in town. In the infamous Crime Alley, they are murdered in a street mugging gone wrong. Only one of them survives and ultimately becomes Batman.
In the 2011 reality-shattering crossover event Flashpoint, written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Andy Kubert, the one who survives is not young Bruce, but his father, the renowned Gotham City surgeon and philanthropist Thomas Wayne.
Flashpoint begins when Barry Allen, the Flash, wakes up in an altered timeline where the world is on the brink of collapse. Wonder Woman and Aquaman are at war, Superman is missing, and the Justice League was never formed. At the heart of this reality is a changed Gotham City, where crime is rampant and hope is scarce. This is not the world Barry knows, and at its center is a very different Batman.
Unlike his son, Thomas Wayne is not driven by a vow to protect the innocent, but by grief and rage over the death of his son. He does not fear death, and he does not spare lives. This Batman kills, tortures, and uses his wealth to fund a war on crime that is brutal and uncompromising. Emotionally, he is hollowed out by trauma. So, when The Flash comes to him to find a way to undo the timeline and restore Bruce to life, Thomas is ready to do anything, no matter the cost.
Although Barry and Thomas ultimately succeed in restoring the timeline, the effects of Flashpoint prove far from temporary. The event leads directly into the launch of DC’s New 52 publishing initiative, but more surprisingly, it does not mark the end of Thomas Wayne’s story. Against all odds, we later learned that Thomas had survived the collapse of the Flashpoint timeline and was pulled into the main DC continuity…
Flashpoint Batman: Thomas Wayne Reading Order
Popularly known as “Flashpoint Batman,” the darker vigilante version of Thomas Wayne was introduced in 2011 during the Flashpoint main event, but like most of those publishing initiatives, it came with tie-ins, the most relevant for the Dark Knight being Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance.
Written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance is a three-issue miniseries that expands on Thomas Wayne’s life in the Flashpoint timeline. It serves as a prequel, offering insights into this alternative world of Batman. What differs from the one we are familiar with helps make sense of this character.
This grim, noir story explores a Gotham City where Commissioner Gordon is still an ally, but Thomas is a colder, more ruthless version of the Dark Knight. Central to the arc is a devastating reimagining of the Joker’s identity and an emotional reckoning with the personal cost of Thomas’s crusade.
- Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring Batman
Collects Flashpoint: Batman Knight Of Vengeance #1-3, Deadman And The Flying Graysons #1-3, Deathstroke and The Curse Of The Ravager #1-3, and Secret Seven #1-3.
The main Flashpoint miniseries by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert introduces the alternate timeline where Thomas Wayne becomes Batman. In it, Thomas Wayne provides Barry Allen with the emotional and material support he needs to restore the original timeline. Once convinced that Barry is not lying, he is ready to risk everything to help him restore a version of the universe where his son lives, even if it means his own death.
- Flashpoint – The classic trade paperback edition, originally published in 2011, but DC Comics reprinted it in 2024.
The story could have ended here for Thomas Wayne and, for a while, it did. A few years later, though, Tom King and Joshua Williamson had other ideas…
The Button
A 2017 crossover co-written by Tom King and Joshua Williamson, The Button was initially introduced as the start of a larger narrative, one that saw the Watchmen universe being integrated into the overall continuity of the DC Universe during the DC Rebirth era.
When Batman and the Flash investigate the mysterious Comedian’s button, they are momentarily pulled back into the Flashpoint timeline. Bruce confronts his father, who implores him to abandon the cape and live a life of peace.
- Batman/The Flash: The Button
Collects Batman #21-22 And The Flash #21-22.
Although Thomas Wayne does not appear in Doomsday Clock, making it an optional read for the character, the series provides a better understanding of the broader narrative that connects Flashpoint, The Button, and the restructuring of the DC timeline at the time.
Thomas Wayne during Tom King’s Batman run
Following The Button, Tom King continued to explore the character of Thomas Wayne and eventually reintroduced him in 2019 into the main DC Universe during his run on Batman, specifically in the story arcs The Fall and the Fallen (Batman #70-74) and City of Bane (Batman #75-85), which marked the conclusion of King’s controversial tenure on the title.
In this story, Bruce is betrayed and physically broken by Thomas Wayne, who has somehow reappeared in the main DC Universe. Now aligned with Bane, Thomas enforces a twisted vision of salvation for his son, one that involves removing Bruce’s pain by eliminating his identity as Batman. This storyline begins Thomas’s transformation from a tragic figure to a full-blown antagonist.
- Batman Vol. 11: The Fall and the Fallen
Collects Batman #70-74 and Batman Secret Files #2. - Batman Vol. 12: City of Bane Part 1
Collects Batman #75-79. - Batman Vol. 13: City of Bane Part 2
Collects Batman #80-85 and Batman Annual #4.
For context, Dark Nights: Death Metal doesn’t need to be read as it did not feature Thomas Wayne, but it’s the event that sets up the Omniverse and creates the narrative conditions that allow characters like him to exist across multiple realities. It’s what led to the next appearances of Flashpoint Batman…
Infinite Frontier: Thomas Wayne faced the Great Darkness
After Tom King, it was Joshua Williamson’s turn to bring back Thomas Wayne, making him a member of Justice Incarnate, a group defending the multiverse in the 2021 Infinite Frontier miniseries and the follow-up series Justice League Incarnate.
Following the multiverse-shattering events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, Thomas Wayne resurfaces in Infinite Frontier. Recruited by Director Bones and later aligned with Justice Incarnate, a team tasked with protecting the multiverse. Thomas becomes a reluctant hero again as he confronts both Darkseid’s growing influence and his own failures as a father and Batman. The story continued in Justice League Incarnate, in which Thomas Wayne plays a critical role in tracking the growing cosmic threat of the Great Darkness.
- Infinite Frontier
Collects Infinite Frontier #0–6 and Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #1 - Justice League Incarnate
Collects Justice League Incarnate #1-6.
The storyline ultimately concluded in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, but Thomas Wayne was not part of this event.
Flashpoint Beyond
In 2022, Geoff Johns brought back the world of Flashpoint in the miniseries Flashpoint Beyond, providing a follow-up to his original event series and tying up the events to Doomsday Clock and the Dark Crisis, which set the stage for Jones’ relaunch of the JSA.
Co-written by Johns, Jeremy Adams, and Tim Sheridan, Flashpoint Beyond returns to the world Thomas Wayne thought had been erased. Finding himself back in the Flashpoint timeline, he investigates its continued existence and starts tracking the mysterious Clockwork Killer. In the regular continuity, Batman has to face the Time Masters, who want to stop him from saving the Flashpoint timeline.
- Flashpoint Beyond
Collects Flashpoint Beyond #0-6.
Thomas Wayne, the Flashpoint Batman, is still out there and may come back one day…
