Scarecrow is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff, the character first appeared in World's Finest Comics #3 (1941) as an adversary of the superhero Batman. Although Scarecrow only made two appearances in the 1940s, he was revived by writer Gardner Fox in Batman #189 (1967) which debuted his Fear Toxin. The character has since become one of Batman's most enduring enemies, belonging to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.
In the DC Universe, Scarecrow is the alias of Dr. Jonathan Crane, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology turned criminal mastermind. Abused and bullied in his youth, he becomes obsessed with fear and develops a hallucinogenic drug—dubbed "fear toxin"—to terrorize Gotham City and exploit the phobias of its protector, Batman. As the self-proclaimed "Master of Fear", Scarecrow's crimes do not stem from a common desire for wealth or power, but from a sadistic pleasure in subjecting others to his experiments on the manipulation of fear. An outfit symbolic of his namesake with a stitched burlap mask serves as Scarecrow's visual motif.
The character has been adapted in various media incarnations, having been portrayed in film by Cillian Murphy in The Dark Knight Trilogy, and in television by Charlie Tahan and David W. Thompson in Gotham, and Vincent Kartheiser in Titans. Henry Polic II, Jeffrey Combs, Dino Andrade, John Noble, Robert Englund, and others have provided the Scarecrow's voice in animation and video games.
Publication history
Batman creators Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff introduced the Scarecrow as a new villain in World's Finest Comics #3 (September 1941) during the Golden Age of Comic Books, in which he made only two appearances.Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics : Scarecrow of Earth-2. Retrieved July 31, 2008. Ichabod Crane, the protagonist of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, was used as an inspiration for the character's lanky appearance as well as his alter ego, Jonathan Crane.Eaglemoss Magazine || The Ages of Scarecrow + First Appearance
Scarecrow was revived during the Silver Age of Comic Books by writer Gardner Fox in Batman #189 (February 1967),Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics : "Fright of the Scarecrow," Batman #189 (February 1967). Retrieved July 31, 2008. which featured the debut of the character's signature fear-inducing hallucinogen or "fear toxin" which is depicted as a bag of dust.Batman #189 (December 1966) The character remained relatively unchanged throughout the Bronze Age of Comic Books.
Following the 1986 multi-title event Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, the character's origin story is expanded on in Batman Annual #19 and the miniseries Batman/Scarecrow: Year One, with this narrative also revealing that Crane has a fear of bats. In 2011, as a result of The New 52 reboot, Scarecrow's origin (as well as that of various other DC characters) is once again altered, incorporating several elements that differ from the original.Batman: The Dark Knight (Vol. 2) #4-7 (February–May 2012)
Fictional character biography Backstory Born in Georgia, Jonathan Crane is abused by his great-grandmother, and is bullied at school for his resemblance to Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", sparking his lifelong obsession with fear and using it as a weapon against others, before they can use it to defeat him like his literary namesake. In his senior year, Crane is humiliated by school bully Bo Griggs and rejected by cheerleader Sherry Squires. He takes revenge during the senior prom by donning his trademark scarecrow costume and wielding a water pistol resembling a real gun in the school parking lot. In the ensuing chaos, Griggs gets into a car accident, paralyzing himself and killing Squires.
Crane's obsession with fear leads him to become a psychologist, taking a position at Arkham Asylum and performing fear-inducing experiments on his patients. He is also a professor of psychology at Gotham University, specializing in the study of phobias. He loses his job after he fires a gun inside a packed classroom, accidentally wounding a student; he takes revenge by killing the professors responsible for his termination and becomes a career criminal.
As a college professor, Crane mentors a young Thomas Elliot.Batman: Heart of Hush The character also has a cameo in Sandman (vol. 2) #5. In stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the Scarecrow is depicted as one of the more deranged criminals in Batman's rogues gallery, with a habit of speaking in nursery rhymes. These stories further revise his history, explaining that he was raised by his abusive, fanatically religious great-grandfather, whom he murdered as a teenager.
Criminal career
Scarecrow plays a prominent role in Doug Moench's "Terror" storyline, set in Batman's early years, where Professor Hugo Strange breaks him out of Arkham and gives him "therapy" to train him to defeat Batman. Strange's therapy proves effective enough to turn the Scarecrow against his "benefactor", impaling him on a weather vane and throwing him in the cellar of his own mansion. The Scarecrow then uses Strange's mansion to lure Batman to Crime Alley, and decapitates one of his former classmates in the alley in front of Batman. With the help of Catwoman—whom Scarecrow had attempted to blackmail into helping him by capturing her and photographing her unmasked—Batman catches Scarecrow, but loses sight of Strange, with it being unclear whether Strange had actually survived the fall onto the weather vane, or if Scarecrow and Batman are hallucinating from exposure to Scarecrow's fear toxin.
Scarecrow appears in Batman: The Long Halloween, first seen escaping from Arkham on Mother's Day with help from Carmine Falcone, who also helps the Mad Hatter escape. The Scarecrow gases Batman with fear toxin as he escapes, causing Batman to flee to his parents' grave as Bruce Wayne, where he is arrested by Commissioner Jim Gordon due to Wayne's suspected ties to Falcone. Scarecrow robs a bank with the Mad Hatter on Independence Day for Falcone, but is stopped by Batman and Catwoman. He later appears in Falcone's office on Halloween with Batman's future rogue's gallery, but is defeated by Batman. Scarecrow returns in Batman: Dark Victory as part of Two-Face's gang, and is first seen putting fear gas in children's dolls on Christmas Eve. He is eventually defeated by Batman. He later appears as one of the villains present at Calendar Man's trial. It is revealed he and Calendar Man had been manipulating Falcone's son Alberto; Scarecrow had determined that Alberto feared his father, and poisoned his cigarettes with the fear toxin to bring out the fear; Calendar Man, meanwhile, had been talking to Alberto, with the fear toxin making Alberto hear his father's voice. Together, they manipulate Alberto into making an unsuccessful assassination attempt on his sister, Sofia Gigante. After Two-Face's hideout is attacked, Batman captures Scarecrow, who tells him where Two-Face is heading.Batman: Dark Victory In Catwoman: When in Rome, Scarecrow supplies the Riddler with fear gas to manipulate Catwoman, and later aids Riddler when he fights Catwoman in Rome. Scarecrow accidentally attacks Cheetah with his scythe before Catwoman knocks him out.Catwoman: When in Rome
The Scarecrow appears in such story arcs as Knightfall and Shadow of the Bat, first teaming with the Joker to ransom off the mayor of Gotham City. Batman foils their plan and forces them to retreat. Scarecrow betrays Joker by spraying him with fear gas, but it has no effect; Joker then beats Scarecrow senseless with a chair. Scarecrow later tries to take over Gotham with an army of hypnotized college students, commanding them to spread his fear toxin all over the city. His lieutenant is the son of the first man he killed. He is confronted by both Batman-Azrael and Anarky and tries to escape by forcing his lieutenant to jump off of a building. Batman-Azrael knocks him out, and Anarky manages to save the boy.Batman: KnightfallBatman: Shadow of the Bat Despite his criminal history, he is still recognized as a skilled psychologist. When Aquaman needs insight into a serial killer operating in his new city of Sub Diego—San Diego having been sunk and the inhabitants turned into water-breathers by a secret organization—he consults with Scarecrow for insight into the pattern of the killer's crimes. Scarecrow determined that killer chose his victims by the initials of their first and last names to spell out the message "I can't take it any more",Aquaman (vol. 6) #30 allowing Aquaman to determine both the true identity and final target of the real killer.Aquaman (vol. 6) #31
In DC vs. Marvel, the Scarecrow temporarily allies with the Marvel Universe Scarecrow to capture Lois Lane before they are both defeated by Ben Reilly.DC vs. Marvel #2
In the 2004 story arc "As the Crow Flies", Scarecrow is hired by the Penguin under false pretenses. Dr. Linda Friitawa then secretly mutates Scarecrow into a murderous creature known as the "Scarebeast", who Penguin uses to kill off his disloyal minions."As the Crow Flies"—Batman #627 (July 2004) The character's later appearances all show him as an unmutated Crane again, except for an appearance during the War Games story arc.Villains United #6Villains United Special Scarecrow appears in the third issue of War Games saving Black Mask from Batman and acting as the crime lord's ally, until Black Mask uses him to disable a security measure in the Clock Tower by literally throwing Scarecrow at it. Scarecrow wakes up, transforms into Scarebeast, and wreaks havoc outside the building trying to find and kill Black Mask. The police are unable to take it down, and allow Catwoman, Robin, Tarantula, and Onyx to fight Scarebeast, as Commissioner Michael Akins had told all officers to capture or kill any vigilantes, costumed criminals or "masks" they find. Even they cannot defeat the Scarebeast, though he appears to have been defeated after the Clock Tower explodes.War Games #3
The Scarecrow reappears alongside other Batman villains in Gotham Underground; first among the villains meeting at the Iceberg Lounge to be captured by the Suicide Squad. Scarecrow escapes by gassing Bronze Tiger with fear toxin. He later appears warning the Ventriloquist, Firefly, Killer Moth and Lock-Up, who are planning to attack the Penguin that Penguin is allied with the Suicide Squad. The villains wave off his warnings and mock him. He later leads the same four into a trap orchestrated by Tobias Whale. Killer Moth, Firefly and Lock-Up all survive, but are injured and unconscious to varying degrees, the Scarface puppet is "killed", and Peyton Reily, the new Ventriloquist, is unharmed, though after the attack she is taken away by Whale's men. Whale then betrays Scarecrow simply for touching his shoulder (it is revealed Whale has a pathological hatred of "masks" because his grandfather was one of the first citizens of Gotham killed by a masked criminal). The story arc ends with Whale beating Scarecrow up and leaving him bound and gagged, as a sign to all "masks" that they are not welcome in Whale's new vision of Gotham.Gotham Underground