The history of the Scarecrow from the Batman: Arkham series.
Past[]
Jonathan Crane was born into a normal Gotham family, he was intelligent as a child but because of that, he suffered years of bullying. The bullying caused Jonathan to develop several fears and be in a constant state of terror. To overcome his fears, he decided to dedicate his life to studying fear and eventually became a professor of psychology.
Crane would get a job at Blackgate Prison to continue his studies. He used his position to develop a new gas the induced fear on anyone the breathed it so he tested it on prisoners believing that they were perfect test subjects for this kind of thing and used it to improve his toxin. Eventually, his unethical experiments were found out and he was fired from his job, Crane enraged at this, decided to adopt the supervillain identity Scarecrow to get his revenge.
Due to adopting this persona he caught the attention of Batman and was in conflict with him many times. He became interested in the fact Batman wasn't visually affected by his Fear Gas, and Crane became intrigued with the idea of a man who had no fears, deciding to focus on breaking the Batman along with the rest of Gotham. Over the many years of him operating as Scarecrow, he repeatedly broke out of Arkham Asylum hoping to infect all of Gotham with the fear gas but each time his plan was foiled by Batman. Over the years he was subjected to his Fear Gas again and again. This had an unintended side-effect of Crane was gradually beginning to lose his sense of fear, increasing the instability of his mind, however, due to Batman being what he saw when infected by Fear Gas, Crane retained a fear of bats no matter how much his immunity to the toxin increased.
Even when Scarecrow returned to Arkham, he would continue his plans from a secret loft that was hidden at the Intensive Treatment Center. Scarecrow managed to hide three canisters worth of his Fear Toxin in Arkham West, but unknown to him The Riddler was able to discover it and used it later for one of his riddles. When the Suicide Squad arrived at the prison Scarecrow was able to escape when The Joker released every single inmate in Arkham. Though he was eventually recaptured.
While incarcerated, Crane was assigned to Dr. Murphy for treatment but was later sent to Dr. Combs. He was somehow able to sneak in some fear gas and using it was able to break Combs as he saw visions of the deaths of his family. While this was happening security arrived and captured Crane, this made it impossible for Crane to continue his work as the staff was watching his every move. After a few weeks, he was assigned to Dr. Stephen Kellerman, Kellerman tried his best to treat Crane but Crane acted like he was conducting the sessions.
These meetings lead Kellerman to believe Crane was sadistic rather than insane. Crane's mind games were having even more of an effect on Kellerman due to the Fear Toxin chemicals he had incorporated into his cologne and was also exposed to the guards who brought him to each session. This was used for Crane's plan to further his research who rigged to facilities air conditioning system to spray fear gas all over the facility. However, Kellerman caught on to what Crane was doing and alerted Batman and provided him with a sample of Crane's fear gas to create an antidote. Scarecrow was amazed that Batman seemed to be unaffected by the gas, then gleeful when he implied that he was being affected as much as anyone else. Despite his pleas to learn what kind of vision his nemesis had seen, Crane was defeated, arrested, and returned to his cell.
Batman: Arkham Asylum[]
Scarecrow's game over screen.
When the Joker escapes and releases the inmates in Arkham Asylum, one of them is the Scarecrow. During his attempt to recapture the Joker, Batman encounters the Scarecrow on multiple occasions. The first time Batman encounters the Scarecrow is when he enters the Asylum's morgue. However, due to his gas, Batman starts to hallucinate with the first hallucination making him think Commissioner Gordon was killed and that he failed to save him. When he enters the morgue, he keeps on hearing multiple voices telling him to leave. When he does, Batman is still in the morgue, only this time, Batman comes across three body bags. The first two he opens reveal the corpses of his parents but, when he opens the third one, the Scarecrow jumps out of the bag, causing Batman to collapse in fear. When he wakes up, Batman ended up in a different "world." In this world, the Scarecrow is gigantic and Batman must avoid his gaze while getting to the Bat-Signal in the twisted broken down mess of his psyche. After Batman manages to reach the Bat-Signal and gaze on the Scarecrow, the villain explodes into light, defeating him and granting Batman a clean mind, where he finds out Gordon wasn't dead at all.
The second time Batman encounters the Scarecrow is when Batman exits the Mansion. Whilst walking through the hallway, Batman begins to relive his parents' deaths and then fights Scarecrow in the same world, now being a broken down mansion instead of the hospital, and must do the same thing in terms of defeating the criminal. Now though, The Scarecrow summons an army of skeletons to fight the Batman but, after reaching the Bat-Signal for the second time, the vigilante manages to fight off the Scarecrow's Fear Toxin and somehow winds up in the Clock Tower. The third time Batman faces the Scarecrow is in the intensive treatment halls but, this time, he hallucinates that the Joker and the other villains are running the asylum and all heroes are inmates of Arkham. During which, Batman gets shot by the Joker and appears to die but rises from his grave and arrives in Scarecrow's twisted world of a voidful prison. Batman has to do roughly the same thing as he did previously but, when Batman is going to shine the light upon Scarecrow, the latter decides to inject more Fear Toxins inside his rival. After which, Batman ends up in a different world where Scarecrow is watching him fight off skeletons that he summons. After dealing with a certain amount of minions, Batman is finally able to beat his foe by shining a trio of Bat-Signals upon him.
Scarecrow right before being attacked by Killer Croc
Shocked that Batman is able to fight off so much of his toxin, the Scarecrow retreats to the sewers via an elevator, unaware that it is Killer Croc's cell. Batman manages to catch up with Scarecrow in the sewers, and the latter threatens that he will release the gas in the sewers if he comes any closer. However, as Scarecrow laughs manically, Killer Croc suddenly emerges from the sewer waters, grabbing Scarecrow and prevented him from dropping the Fear Gas in the waters, dragging him deep into the sewers.
Despite him appearing to be killed by Croc, it's revealed that Crane somehow survived the attack. During one of the three endings, a crate of TITAN is floating around the sea harbouring Arkham Island when, all of a sudden, one of Scarecrow's arms emerges out of the water and grab the crate, hinting that he escaped Killer Croc's grip somehow. Given that the other two endings consist of Croc and Bane and that their fates are revealed in the sequel, Crane's ending is now considered canon.
Batman: Arkham City[]
| “ | I will return Batman. You will pay for what you have done to me. Fear will tear Gotham City to shreds. |
„ |
| ~ Decoded messages from Scarecrow, foreshadowing his return. |
Due to having disappeared, the Scarecrow is not imprisoned in Arkham City along with the rest of Gotham City's criminals. However, he is clearly in the prison and there is strong evidence that he has something big planned. Near the Sionis Steel Mill, a boat can be found filled with bugs and a terrified thug that then dies and the Scarecrow's mask can also be found on a bridge near the Steel Mill.
Pre-Batman: Arkham Knight[]
Needing better resources, Crane decides to strike a partnership with Simon Stagg. The two are eventually able to create a version of the fear gas that can be absorbed through the skin, effectively making gas masks useless. Another project of theirs is the Cloudburst, a device that could spread the Fear Toxin as a giant cloud. With two years' worth of time spent mostly by himself, Crane's mind begins deteriorating at a much greater pace and, with his hatred of Batman fuelling him, Scarecrow becomes a near-inversion of his former self, though he is still dedicated to his study of fear. Crane, after his many years of study has come to believe that fear is the driving force for everything even with Batman. His plans also expand with Crane now wanting to cover the entire Eastern Coast of America in his Fear Toxin. At some point, Crane also undergoes facial reconstruction surgery; making his face even worse than it already was by surgically fusing his mask to it. With his plans in thier final stages, Crane takes up residence in Arkham Asylum which had been abandoned after the Joker's riot and opening of Arkham City and vacated permanantly after TYGER was dissolved.
Crane gathers the remaining super-criminals together and meets with the Riddler privately and persuads him into launching his challenge to Batman on Halloween due to knowing that multiple threats to Batman at once would even be a problem for him. As muscle, he hires a mysterious experienced militia led by the equally mysterious Arkham Knight who accepts due to both the forture offered and due to his personal grudge against Batman. Believing that Poison Ivy can further strengthen his Fear Toxin, Scarecrow tasks Harley Quinn and Penguin with freeing her from the Bludhaven Police Department.
Once Ivy is rescued from prison, Crane explains his plan to her that he wants to cause a mass evacuation of Gotham leaving it to their gangs and the Arkham Knight's Militia, thus outnumbering Batman and the GCPD. Ivy refuses to be a part of this plan so Crane sends her to his gas chamber safe house in Chinatown so that he can test his toxins on her while ensuring she can't use pheromones to brainwash the militia guarding her. The Arkham Knight also reveals a crucial piece of information to Scarecrow; Barbara Gordon is one of Batman's allies and the Commissioners daughter so, if they kidnap her, it would break Batman's alliance with him a plan which Scarecrow liked.
Batman: Arkham Knight[]
Scarecrow, as he appears in Batman: Arkham Knight.
| “ | The self-proclaimed master of fear, Dr. Jonathon Crane is an obsessive and deranged former psychiatrist who uses a combination of experimental drugs and psychological tactics to exploit his victims' fear and phobias. Prolonged exposure to his own own toxin has rendered Scarecrow unable to experience the fear he so desperately craves. The only person who can still elicit fear from him is Batman. Following his attacks on the Dark Knight in Arkham Asylum, Scarecrow was mauled by Killer Croc. Rumour has it he has since reconstructed his face to resemble his iconic mask whilst plotting his revenge against Batman and Gotham. | „ |
| ~ The Scarecrow's bio in Arkham Knight. |
By spreading his fear toxin into Pauli's Diner on October 31st 2015, Scarecrow causes a mass panic the day before Halloween. After that had been made public, Scarecrow addresses the citizens of Gotham via monitors, telling them that the panic at the diner was just a demonstration and that, if they do not abandon the city until the next day, he will spread his toxin in the entire city. When the entire city is abandoned aside from the GCPD, Batman and the thugs of Gotham, the Scarecrow and his militia move into ACE Chemicals where they begin mixing chemicals to create a gigantic bomb that will cover the entire eastern seaport in Fear Gas.
Scarecrow at ACE Chemicals.
After eventually locating Scarecrow at ACE Chemicals, Batman faces him in the main chamber. There, Scarecrow assures Batman that he is still in complete control. When Batman throttles him, Scarecrow tells Batman to let him go or his men would kill Barbara Gordon. Batman drops Scarecrow to warn Barbara and Scarecrow use the opportunity to leave the room, trapping Batman inside. Intending for Batman to die in the explosion, Scarecrow leaves ACE Chemicals. However, Batman manages to reduce the blast of the explosion so that only the building itself is destroyed. Batman eventually meets Scarecrow again on the airship of Simon Stagg on the Cloudburst, which will be able to act as a mobile distributor for Scarecrows fear toxin, being able to cover a vast space with it in seconds. Facing Scarecrow on a airships bridge, Batman's mind is weakened by the influence of the toxin combined with the Joker sickness, and he temporarily loses control, thereby beating up several of Scarecrow's thugs so severely that they almost die.
Surprised, Scarecrow notes the brutality of Batman's attacks but Batman regains control over his body before he can kill Scarecrow. Uncomfortable because he senses that something changed, Scarecrow then flees the airship as the cloudburst is ripped out of the airship by a helicopter, taking Scarecrow with it. In a vision caused by the fear toxin, Batman sees Barbara, who had been captured by Scarecrow, commit suicide under the influence of the fear gas. Unaware that it is only a hallucination, Batman is deeply affected by what he thinks is his protegee's demise. Scarecrow keeps the truth from Batman, hoping to break him through guilt. Eventually, Scarecrow sends the Arkham Knight to detonate the Cloudburst, covering Gotham in his toxin. However, due the Knight's impatience for his chance to kill Batman, the Dark Knight is able to destroy the device and have Poison Ivy clear away the toxin, killing her. Angered by the Knight failing to follow his order to retreat, Scarecrow takes command of the militia and kidnaps Gordon.
Using Barbara as a bargaining chip, Crane forces Gordon to lure Batman to him. When Gordon shoots at Batman, knowing that Batman's armor around his bat symbol is the thickest, thereby dropping him off the roof as a means to escape, Scarecrow throws Barbara off the roof as punishment since he wanted to torment Batman more before killing him. Though Batman manages to save Barbara, Scarecrow escapes with Gordon while leaving his ally Deathstroke to take control of the militia. Scarecrow later launches an attack on the G.C.P.D. with the militia. Although Batman, thanks to the help of Barbara, is able to defeat them, this is merely a distraction so that Scarecrow can use Gordon to access Batman's base at the Movie Studios and kidnap Robin, who Batman locked up. As Batman arrives too late, Scarecrow contacts him and tells him to surrender himself or he will kill them both.
| “ | Do you understand, Gotham? You have no saviour. No more hope. No more Batman. I've won. | „ |
| ~ Scarecrow believing that he has defeated Batman now that he has unmasked him and exposed him to the public. |
Scarecrow injected with his own toxin.
Eventually, Batman is forced to give up his tools and turn himself in to Scarecrow and get taken to the Arkham Asylum in order for Robin and Gordon to live. At the Asylum, Scarecrow forces Jim Gordon to take off Batman's mask to show the world who he really is. Gordon initially refuses, but Scarecrow shoots Robin in the chest, threatening that the next shot will kill him, so Gordon reluctantly complies. Once the mask is taken off, Scarecrow knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne and he plans on breaking Wayne with fear toxin and face people hurting Wayne's loved ones and himself. Unfortunately, things don't go as Crane wants; Batman uses the injections of Fear Toxin to seal the consciousness of the Joker away by showing him the only fear he had: being forgotten.
Thanks to help from a redeemed Arkham Knight, Batman breaks free and injects Scarecrow with his own fear toxin. Scarecrow is now scared of Batman and everything around him. Eventually overpowered by his own fear, Scarecrow tries to run away but is knocked out by Gordon and taken to G.C.P.D. for incarceration. Broken and trembling with fear in front of Gotham police officers, Scarecrow ironically ends up as the very same thing he had hoped and failed to turn Bruce Wayne into: a frightened and cowering man for the entire world to see, perpetually scared of Batman's sight thanks to his new fear toxin, whose effects are now likely permanent.
It is presumed that Scarecrow later receives life imprisonment for his actions and will spend the rest of his days in Arkham Asylum. Whatever sentence he is given, Scarecrow's plans ultimately backfire as, by exposing the Dark Knight as the hero he was, Scarecrow ends up cementing Batman's legend which in turn inspires others due to Bruce Wayne's life sacrifice.