Villain Profile: The Scarecrow

It’s time for another Theme Week. And since we’re in the last week of October, a Halloween Theme Week feels most appropriate. The next seven posts will focus on the most Halloween-y characters I can think of. Demons, Goblins, a Zombie, and the center of our next villain profile, an insane psychiatrist. Okay, so his MD doesn’t really fit in with this theme, but is there anything more Halloween-y than a Scarecrow? I think not. Let’s get to it, the Scarecrow.

Think Scarecrow ever sticks himself by accident when putting
that glove on?

Jonathan Crane’s life sucked pretty much from the get go. He was conceived out of wedlock, his father ran off when he found out, and his mother felt it was a good idea to leave her son with her abusive mother. Crane’s Nana was a religious zealot whom felt compelled to torture her grandson because he had the gall to be born. Whenever young Jonathan did anything his grandma disapproved of, she’d lock him in a crow infested abandoned church in a Scarecrow costume, where he was viciously attacked by the winged devils. He eventually learned that his dear sweet granny was also a skilled chemist, as she would prepare the scarecrow costume by dosing it in chemicals that sent the birds into a frenzy. As you can probably imagine, young Jonathan was left in a pretty much perpetual state of terror. Anyone else think that this supervillain’s path could have been corrected with just one call to Child Services?

Things just got worse as time went on. As he grew up, Crane became your typical target for bullies. He was lanky, scrawny, a coward, and a bookworm. It also didn’t help that these traits plus his last name created parallels to Ichabod Crane from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Hm… Crane’s bullies must have been pretty well read to get that connection. Or they saw the Disney animated feature and weren’t ashamed in High School to admit that they watch Disney Movies. Weird. Anyway, Jonathan Crane = Nerd, High School = Bad place for Nerds. The straw that broke the camel’s back for Crane was the latest bit of humiliation being dished out by local bully Bo Griggs, and cheerleader Sherry Squires. What was it? High School cliché 30, Popular girl leads nerd on and then humiliates him by pulling a prank. There prank involved Sherry bringing Crane into a dark classroom under the premise of make-out time, and then scare the pants off of him when Bo jumped out of the darkness with a jack-o-lantern on his head.

Simple, but effective.

Fed up with being treated like this, Crane plotted some payback. At the night of the prom, he dressed up in his scarecrow costume, and then “attacked” Bo and Sherry in the parking lot with a realistic looking water pistol. This little stunt lead to a car accident that killed Sherry and left Bo paralyzed from the waist down. Rather than be, well, disgusted with that his petty revenge completely destroyed two lives, Crane was pleased with himself. And this incident further developed his interest in “fear.” An interest that had been growing since those early days stuck in the church being attacked by birds. Speaking of, Crane decided to seek further vengeance, this time on Grandma. He exposed her to his variation of the chemicals that she used to stir up the crows at the church. The fear inducing effects of the chemicals literally scared the old bat to death. Despite three people connected to Crane dying or being seriously injured, Crane somehow escaped police suspicion and went on to college. He majored in Psychology. Who’d of thought?

At Gotham University, Crane became the favorite student of a psychology professor named Avram Bramowitz. Crane deeply respected Bramowitz, but also resented his mentor for dismissing “the psychology of fear” which so deeply fascinated Crane. After receiving his degree, he attempted to become Bramowitz’ college at Gotham U, but unfortunately there were no available positions in the Psychology department. Unfortunate for Bramowitz, that is. Crane returned to his old love, Chemistry, to get what he wanted. He was able to create an incredibly powerful hallucinogen that caused people to see their greatest fears. He used it on Bramowitz, whom died from its effects. Apparently killing his mentor and basically stealing his position was preferable to getting a job at another school, earn some Professor street cred, and waiting for a position to open up. Supervillains, man, they can be dumb. Crane’s new job didn’t last all that long, though. He was fired for nearly injuring a student. He had shot a flower pot during his lecture to demonstrate the body’s fear response, and part of the pot nearly took a student’s eye out. Karma’s a pain, isn’t it, Crane? Crane missed the life lesson here, though, as he used his fear toxins to kill several members of the Gotham U faculty that dismissed him.

He was temporarily deputized as a Sinestro Corps
member. Seems like a match made in heaven.

Around this time, he was somehow able to get a job at Arkham Asylum. Oh, those poor crazy folks. Crane basically tortured his patients through his fear “experiments.” Thankfully for the folks at Arkham, the Batman was looking into the deaths of the Gotham U Dean and Regents that had fired Crane. Batman and Captain James Gordon tracked down Crane, is his new alias as The Scarecrow. He and Batman duke it out, and Batman takes him out. Crane is then locked in the very prison he’d turned into his personal playground. I bet some of the inmates had a few words to share with their former doctor. Crane has repeatedly escaped Arkham Asylum and is one of Batman’s most dangerous and deranged foes.

Much like his arch-foe Batman, Scarecrow has no superhuman abilities other than above average intelligence. He was able to develop a powerful fear inducing gas that causes their victims to experience terrifying hallucinations. He uses his Scarecrow mask to both enhance the fear effects of the gas, and to protect himself from stronger doses of his chemicals. Repeated exposure has render him immune to the fear toxin, so now he mostly wears the mask for the “increase freak out” reasons. Despite being a skinny, physically unintimidating man, Crane has shown to be a very accomplished fighter. He combines Crane Style Kung Fu with drunken boxing to create “violent dancing.” That is what he calls it. He also uses a Scythe every now and then, to fit with his Scarecrow motif.

Scarecrow is one of Batman’s longest running foes. He dates back all the way to the 1940s, and the original Batman comics.

Cartoon. Creepier. Full on Nightmare fuel. He'll be
joining Venom in my Nightmares.

He was a recurring character in Batman: The Animated Series. In his initial episode “Nothing to Fear,” we see him doing his “vengeance on the school board” plot. He drugs Batman with his fear toxin when the Dark Knight tries to stop him from burning the Gotham U’s funds. His greatest fear? Not Bats, seeing Papa Thomas Wayne chastising him for being Batman. Batman is able to overcome these psychological problems just in time to save the Dean of Gotham U from a blip that Scarecrow had commandeered. As time goes on Scarecrow goes through some major design changes. The picture is to the right. Yeah, goes from cartoony to nightmare fuel in just a handful of years. Creator Bruce Timm describes him as a western style preacher, with a noose on his neck and an overall “Texas Chainsaw Massacre Leatherface,” kind of look.

Cillian Murphy portrayed Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in every film of the “Dark Knight” film series. He was introduced as one of two villains in Batman Begins. He’s a corrupt head psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. In exchange for transferring mobster Carmine Falcone’s thugs to Arkham Asylum, a lesser sentence for their crimes, Falcone smuggled Drugs into Gotham for Crane. After Falcone is captured and beaten by Batman, and then arrested, he attempts to force Crane to transfer him to Arkham. Crane, who’s done putting up with this crap, puts on his Scarecrow mask and doses Falcone with enough fear toxin that his brain is basically fried. When Batman starts investigating the drug smuggling, he runs into Scarecrow in the Gotham slums, the Narrows. Scarecrow gets him with the fear Toxin and then sets him on fire. Batman is saved by butler Alfred, and family friend Lucius Fox. When Batman’s friend and assistant DA Rachel Dawes confronts Crane about what he’s doing at Arkham, Crane gives her a dose of the fear toxin. Batman uncovers Scarecrow’s plot, tracks them down, gets Crane’s mask off and gives him a taste of his own medicine. Crane completely loses it, and tells Batman that he was working with Ra’s al Ghul, whom Batman believed he’d killed. In the finale, where the real Ra’s attacks Gotham with Scarecrow’s fear toxin, Scarecrow rides a horse and scares the heck out of folks. He takes a Taser to the face and rides out of the film. Crane has a minor role in The Dark Knight, where he’s become a drug dealer. He gets captured by Batman in the opening act. He’s given the job of head of “justice” department in Gotham once Bane takes over the city. He gives people the choice of death or exile, which involves walking across an only partially frozen river. He’s arrested in the finale.

He's back and arguably better than ever.
I bet he misses his nose, though.

We see him in Batman: Arkham Asylum, as part of Joker’s attempted takeover the prison hospital. He uses a glove with hypodermic needles on the fingers to inject people with his fear toxin. Batman gets injected and taken into a disturbing nightmare world where he needs to dodge a colossal Scarecrow’s gaze. Once Batman overcomes the toxin, he flees into the sewers. His plan was to dump a huge amount of fear toxin into the water, infecting Gotham with his poison. He’s stopped, not by Batman, but the even more insane Killer Croc. The lizard looking monster brutalizes Crane. He somehow survives, and can be seen in an after credits scene grabbing a box of the potent and dangerous upgraded Venom formula, the Titan formula.

He returns in Batman: Arkham Knight. Much like in Batman: The Animated Series, Scarecrow goes through a major redesign for his return. Picture is to the left. He works with the Gotham Knight to take over Gotham and kill Batman.

Much like Black Mask, Scarecrow is an interesting Mirror Villain to Batman. Like the Dark Knight, Crane uses fear to cripple and torment his foes. But, unlike Batman, Crane enjoys torturing his victims with that fear. Which obviously Batman doesn’t. I think. His signature Fear Toxin, despite being suspiciously similar to Joker’s Laughing Gas, is a powerful weapon that he uses to devastating effect. It’ll be interesting if he returns to the big screen universe in the new DC Movie Universe. If they’re doing Killer Croc, just about anything is possible. He’s the psychotic psychiatrist, the master of fear, the malevolent Scarecrow. Next time, a monster based on a rhyme, Solomon Grundy.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/batman/images/c/c0/ScarecrowArkham2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111031200805

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/batman/images/7/7b/32322-scarecrow_400.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080329035709

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/batman/images/6/60/1454605-scarecrow.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110829184340

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarecrow_(DC_Comics)#/media/File:Scarecrow_(Animated).jpg