Fan Casting Joe Chill in Tom Mankiewicz's Batman

The small-time thug who murders the Waynes—a pathetic, cowardly criminal whose face haunts Bruce for the rest of his life. Chill is a "handsome monster," a man who looks like anyone but is capable of cold-blooded murder. Bringing a chilling, ordinary evil—Chill isn't a supervillain, he's just a desperate man who made a terrible choice. His death at the Joker's hands, poisoned by laughing gas, is a grotesque punchline: a killer reduced to a frozen grin. He represents the random violence that can shatter a life in an instant—the seed of Batman's obsession.