... like this, from 0:18 to 0:22:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3l8HLHwXK8

That's four seconds of intro that wordlessly sells it: kid experiences tragedy and is driven to become Batman. They don't need to constantly reference the Waynes' deaths in the show, but we know the show is mindful of it.

I know it's unthinkable these days to have a tragedy-free Batman, but every one prior to Tim Burton was exactly that. I think Adam West mentioned his parents' murders in the pilot episode of his series, but that's it; except for that one mention, he was basically a civic-minded playboy with lots of time on his hands.

That would be like devoting a whole trilogy of big-budget feature films to the origin of Darth Vader.

Gotham is an original idea that explores themes and areas previously untapped by Batman's bloated, tired media empire - so of course the marks hate it.

I want to watch BATMAN'S PARENTS DIE, then I want to watch Batman KICK THE JOKER IN THE FACE for 70 minutes. That's the way it's been for eighty years, and daggummit it, that's the way I likes it...!

John - the Prequels were a great idea in theory; they only failed because of the execution.

... unlike the Sequel Trilogy, which is just a plain bad idea from the start.

See my comment and link above.

That's almost exactly what happened, except on another earth and backwards. With the help of the grooviest mystic ever, the Phantom Stranger:

http://iamthephantomstranger.blogspot.com/2009/01/detective-co mics-500-march-1981.html

I got this comic at Convenient Food Mart when it came out, bitches.

I would say that almost none of the Batman movies hold up over time. Even the recent Nolan movies with all their commentary on war on terror the surveillance state are starting to show their age.

For me it's not that they keep showing the death of batman's mom and dad but they never change up the reason of why they were killed, they're fucking stupid for walking down a creepy ally way at night. How about Thomas Wane is an industrialist war profiteer and gets killed over politics. Easy.

Yeah but then who's Bruce going to swear a lifetime of vengeance against? Neo-imperialists? Oil pirates?

The Waynes are a poverty-stricken white family, and they get killed by a racist black cop.

The pointlessness of the Wayne's deaths is the point: nobody is out of the reach of crime, and the Waynes did nothing to "earn" their murders.

Even the alley in question was in a "safe" part of town rather than some grimy rat-infested body-dump site from "Law & Order". The movies tend to get that wrong, but the comics typically show a well-lit sidestreet known as "Park Row" and you wouldn't anticipate trouble there. The murders themselves even happened directly under a street light, not in a dark corner.