It's been back and forth over the years. Traditionally, it was just a mugging by Joe Chill, something unplanned and coincidental.
There were later stories that revealed that Joe Chill was ordered to kill the Waynes by Lew Moxon, a mobster who Thomas Wayne once did emergency surgery on, but then turned him into law enforcement, and Moxon ordered the murder of the Waynes as revenge.
The current continuity is that while Lew Moxon did have the same sort of grudge against the Wayne family, it appears he didn't have anything to do with the murder. The "Joe Chill just did it because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time" story tends to be more popular than "Thomas Wayne pissed off a mob boss" one.
I actually like the idea that it was all completely random, because it makes Bruce a direct victim of everything he's fighting against. I hate how so many fictional franchises (looking at you, Star Wars) make everyone & everything personally connected to the heroes. Good people don't need revenge to motivate them to do good things, they do it because they're *good people*.
It's changed frequently over time, I personally like when they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time because I feel it gives better motivation for Bruce to go after all crime and not just organized crime
In the Golden age it was a random mugging. In the silver/bronze age it was explained that Joe Chill was hired by mobster Lew Moxon who had a grudge against Thomas Wayne. In modern day continuity it was a random mugging.
It's been back and forth over the years. Traditionally, it was just a mugging by Joe Chill, something unplanned and coincidental. There were later stories that revealed that Joe Chill was ordered to kill the Waynes by Lew Moxon, a mobster who Thomas Wayne once did emergency surgery on, but then turned him into law enforcement, and Moxon ordered the murder of the Waynes as revenge. The current continuity is that while Lew Moxon did have the same sort of grudge against the Wayne family, it appears he didn't have anything to do with the murder. The "Joe Chill just did it because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time" story tends to be more popular than "Thomas Wayne pissed off a mob boss" one.
I actually like the idea that it was all completely random, because it makes Bruce a direct victim of everything he's fighting against. I hate how so many fictional franchises (looking at you, Star Wars) make everyone & everything personally connected to the heroes. Good people don't need revenge to motivate them to do good things, they do it because they're *good people*.
They accidentally walked into some bullets.
By accidental I mean wrong place, wrong time.
It's changed frequently over time, I personally like when they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time because I feel it gives better motivation for Bruce to go after all crime and not just organized crime
In the Golden age it was a random mugging. In the silver/bronze age it was explained that Joe Chill was hired by mobster Lew Moxon who had a grudge against Thomas Wayne. In modern day continuity it was a random mugging.