A man of true intellect, Jonathan Crane fell from grace when he became absorbed by his own experiments dwelling into fear and the incredible effects it can have on a person's psychological condition. Bullied throughout his youth, Crane seemed to conquer his own fears by becoming a master at such a natural and primal feeling through his research. Having developed an incredible gas agent that amplifies a person's worst fears and brings it to life in a horrifying fashion in his or her mental state, Crane guised himself into the terrifying image of The Scarecrow.
With his research the only motivating factor in his life, Scarecrow feels nothing but delight when he sees his countless victims' minds break into insanity and death from his weaponized fear toxin. Having been recruited by The Joker for one of his more brutal plans, Crane uses the opportunity to perfect an even more lethal dose of his signature fear gas. He hoped that not even the The Dark Knight would be able to withstand its effects and planned to unleash it into Gotham City to break the soul of every citizen forever.
Despite the enhanced toxin, Batman managed to overcome his fears once again and put an end to Crane's plans. Mauled by Killer Croc, Scarecrow disappeared for years, preparing the most deadly strains of his toxin imaginable and biding his time as he planned a massive operation with the help of a new villain, the Arkham Knight, to tear Gotham to shreds with fear and condemn the rest of the world into oblivion. Consolidating most of the villains and their gangs under his leadership, Scarecrow initiates his plans to destroy the legend of the Batman once and for all.
Taunted and bullied in his youth, Jonathan Crane vowed to overcome his fears through the study of psychology and biochemistry. Kicked out of his university for experimenting on human subjects, Crane adopted the identity of the Scarecrow and armed himself with a specialized fear-inducing gas that makes a person's deepest fears become frighteningly real. His ongoing criminal reign of terror makes him one of Batman's most psychologically dangerous foes.
Attributes:
Master of psychology and chemistry
Creator of fear-inducing gas
Motivated by an obsessive need to create fear in others
Batman: Arkham Origins
Dr. Crane was a frequent visitor to Blackgate Penitentiary, and he also gave advertisements to curing psychological problems, some of which were posted in the Final Offer. However, he did not sign out by the time Black Mask conducted a raid on the prison facility, indicating that he may have been held prisoner.
Batman: Assault on Arkham
Scarecrow was released from Arkham Asylum by the Joker. He injected his fear gas into some of the guards before escaping.
Road to Arkham
The Scarecrow's secret hideaway in Arkham Asylum.
An anonymous tip to Scarecrow's activities noted in the patient interviews in the form of a vial of the Scarecrow's Fear Gas was left at police headquarters. Using this, Batman was able to create an antidote. The Scarecrow was found by Batman using his Fear Gas to attack his state-sponsored psychologist. Batman apprehended the Scarecrow and locked him back up into Arkham Asylum. It was revealed that the vial came from Dr. Kellerman. Even though Scarecrow was back in Arkham, he continued his plans from a secret loft hidden in the Intensive Treatment Center, plotting his next move and even getting his hands on the blueprints of Arkham Asylum.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
The Scarecrow was one of the inmates of Arkham on the Joker's "party list". As part of the Joker's scheme, he led Batman to the Medical Facility where the Scarecrow pumped the elevator Batman was in full of Fear Gas. As Batman made his way to the bottom floor he saw the Scarecrow spraying his Fear Gas into an operating room of Arkham staff and patients, causing them to panic to the point of death. Eventually, Batman began seeing a vision of Commissioner Gordon, crying for help, before being dragged out of view. Batman found Gordon's body, and sadly tried calling Oracle to tell her he was too late. He could not contact her, however, as Barbara's voice said that the number he was trying to reach was unavailable, and to hang up. Batman then made his way to the morgue.
In the morgue, an echoing voice told Batman "You shouldn't be here!" and "Get out of here!", slowly growing louder, and creating an ominous, ghostly feeling in the air. Batman turned around and exited the room, only to find himself entering exactly the same room. There lay three body bags, two of which contained his deceased parents, speaking to him, with the Scarecrow jumping out of the third. It turned into a cat and mouse game in a surreal other world made up of elements of the asylum, where a giant Scarecrow sought out the hiding Batman. Batman was able to finally break free from the Scarecrow's hold by avoiding his assailant's gaze and shining a Batsignal, a manifestation of Batman's will power, at him, destroying the giant Scarecrow and ending the hallucination. Back in reality, Batman went back to Gordon, only to find that it was in fact the body of another security guard Scarecrow killed.
With his vast array of chemical drugs, exposure to Scarecrow's perfected gas may prove terrifying and induce frighteningly realistic hallucinations, such as this nightmare instilled into Batman's vision of finding Commissioner Gordon's corpse.
The Scarecrow later attacked Batman with his Fear Gas once again, after Batman destroyed Dr. Young's Titan formula. This caused Batman to relive his parents' deaths, walking down a long, never-ending hall that turned into a city street in the pouring rain. As Batman walked down the 'street', he heard his parents and a younger version of himself talking in the background, before they were met and attacked by Joe Chill, with his voice monstrously distorted.
Batman then briefly took the appearance of his eight-year-old self, hearing Jim Gordon and another officer discussing the murder in the background, before Gordon himself asked the young Bruce about the criminal. The voices soon ended, and another giant Scarecrow hallucination ensued, in which Batman escaped Scarecrow's hold once more by shining a second Batsignal at him. This time, upon returning to the real world, Batman found that he had somehow made his way into the top of Arkham Mansion's clock tower, and was locked in.
Scarecrow used his Fear Gas for a third time when Batman re-entered the Intensive Treatment center. The toxins caused Batman to relive the starting events of the game, but with the Joker and Batman in opposite positions. Much to the Scarecrow's surprise, Batman was able to break free of the Scarecrow's hold, waking up clutching Crane himself. Scarecrow injected Batman with even more Fear Toxin, leading up to another giant Scarecrow hallucination, in which Scarecrow watched as Batman fought his army of skeletons, including two larger ones (actually Joker's thugs, two injected with Titan). Batman broke free once again, causing the Scarecrow to flee to the sewers below. Batman followed Crane there and confronted him by an underground river, leading straight to Gotham's water supply.
Scarecrow descends into the deeper parts of Arkham Asylum.
The Scarecrow threatened to drop a bag of his Fear Toxin into the water supply, plunging Gotham's citizens into constant terror for up to one hundred years. Before he could do anything, however, Killer Croc attacked Scarecrow from the water, knocking the toxin bag harmlessly to the ground. Batman stopped Croc from eating Crane by activating his shock collar with a Batarang, causing Croc to retreat into the water, dragging Crane with him. Scarecrow, however, apparently escaped Croc through unknown means. In one of the three alternate endings after the credits, Crane emerged from the water by the docks and grabbed onto a floating crate containing the Titan formula. The same goes for Croc, and Bane.
Batman: Arkham City
"The only freak I ain't seen is Scarecrow. Maybe, maybe this is all one of his freakin' nightmares."
Although Scarecrow doesn't appear in Batman: Arkham City he is referenced in several ways.
Throughout Arkham City, various criminals and inmates mention Scarecrow's absence. Various mentions by the inmates include that that he is the "only freak" that's not imprisoned, that Killer Croc "got him", and one particular comment suggesting that they are living in one of his nightmares.
During the events of Protocol 10, if you head to the roof tops of Amusement Mile, you will find gang members dressed similar to and wearing symbols signifying Scarecrow.
Crane's mask
His gas mask can be seen amidst piles of hay. You must find his mask in order to solve one of the Riddler's riddles, the riddle is "If you're scared, don't be afraid to crow about it." Scanning it will unlock a story that can be viewed from the menu, and is as follows: No one has seen Jonathan Crane a.k.a. the Scarecrow since he was attacked by Killer Croc in the sewers below Arkham Asylum. Some say he escaped certain death by dragging what was left of himself onto a TITAN container and floating out to sea (as is seen in one of the random ending scenes in Batman: Arkham Asylum), while others believe he was eaten by Croc. Undeterred, Batman has spent months searching for Crane, refusing to believe that he is dead. If Crane is out there, plotting his revenge on Batman, then Batman knows Gotham will never be truly safe. The Gas Mask is gone during Harley Quinn's revenge.
During the Hush side mission, when a suspect who looks remarkably like Bruce Wayne is suspected to be a serial killer, Oracle throws out the possibility that Crane could have drugged Batman again, causing him to unknowingly commit the crimes. Batman quickly dismisses this.
The note from Falcone shipping
Elsewhere in Batman: Arkham City, between Amusement Mile and the Industrial District (just east of Scarecrow's mask), there is a boat moored between two buoys, in front of the North Gotham Dock sign. Using the Cryptographic Sequencer while on the boat with the password, "City of Terror" (which is the toughest code to crack in the game) will open a sealed hatch. Climbing down into the darkness disables Detective Mode and moves into first person view. The interior is a long, darkened hallway with a number of containers on either side holding large numbers of beetles inside them, some of which can also be seen crawling around the interior of the boat. In the back, there is a thug sitting hunched over in a chair under a lone light, unmoving. He appears to have a symbol on his chest that looks similar to the Scarecrows mark. Upon approaching him, he suddenly bolts upright and screams, before arching backwards in his seat and apparently dying. Next to him, there is a shipping invoice labeled #CRANE0016 from Falcone Shipping for the attention of Dr. J. Crane. The invoice lists 20 "Biological Containment Vessel Type 3" as well as shipping and sundry costs totaling $560,550 (this is $550 more than the total listed costs). There is a customs declaration of, "Live insects for medical research purposes." It also contains shipping notes, stating, "Jonathan, I hope you find everything to be satisfactory, Mr. Fine was very specific about the shipping details and we have followed them to the letter. By now you will have received the initial 15 shipments. The rest are in transit and will be with you shortly." followed by an unknown signature. During Harley Quinn's revenge, the boat has been sealed off.
Crane's fear gas tanks
Several fear gas tanks can be found around Arkham City. To the near west of Scarecrow's mask, some gas tanks can be seen lying on the ground. They have what appears to be Scarecrow's mark on them. After you have saved the second hostage from The Riddler, the area where barbed wired offed will have several Fear Canisters with Scarecrow's mark on them. Fear Canisters are also found in Hush's lair on the right as you enter the surgery room, suggesting that he had been helping him with his Identity Thief crimes.
Batman discovers Crane's hidden messages
If Batman scans the airwaves using the Cryptographic Sequencer, he can find secret radio stations that give off a seemingly random series of numbers followed by a music chime. The first message, found at Station 500.00/900.00 gives off the following numbers: 5 15 9 7 21 18 18 14 3 5 24 15 12 7 22 3 10 5 15 9 22 3 8 25 26 15 16 25 10 15 17 25 *chime*. Decoding this message can by done by, first, assigning a number to each letter starting with "z" (Z=1, Y=2, X=3, etc.), and second, shifting up by three (so that Z=4, Y=5, X=6, etc.). Once decoded, it will read "You will pay for what you have done to me." The second message, found at Station 700.00/500.00 gives off these numbers: 9 23 9 12 12 18 5 20 21 18 14 2 1 20 13 1 14 *chime* . Decoding this message can be done by matching each number to its corresponding letter in the alphabet (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.). Once its decoded, it reads "I will return Batman." The final message, found at Station 200.00/500.00 gives off these numbers: 3 20 26 18 26 16 24 1 11 4 24 9 3 8 5 2 12 18 6 16 7 11 3 10 17 5 13 4 21 8 *chime*. Decoding this message is more complicated. First, match each number to its corresponding letter in the alphabet (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.). This gives the sequence: C T Z R Z P X A K D X I C H E B L R F P G K C J Q E M D U H. Using an Atbash cipher, A is substituted for Z, Y for B, X for C, and so on. This gives the sequence: X G A I A K C Z P W C R X S V Y O I U K T P X Q J V N W F S. Finally, a Vigenere ciphere is used. A keyword is needed to solve the cipher, and the keyword for the code is "SCARECROW". Once decoded, it reads: "Fear will tear Gotham City to shreds."
It should be noted that these messages only appear after a certain point in the game and confirm that Scarecrow is still alive, and seeks revenge on Batman.
Arkham Unhinged
Mad Hatter mentioned that he acquired and modified Scarecrow's fear gas to make Batman see his "Alices" as various Alice in Wonderland characters who, in turn, were drugged by Hatter and placed under his control.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Scarecrow's face as seen in the E3 demo.
"Gotham: this is your only warning. Abandon this city, or I will unleash your greatest fears. Tonight, Gotham falls. A city of fear rises."
Scarecrow fully resurfaces within Gotham nine months after Joker's death and Arkham City's closure. His face disfigured after his encounter with Killer Croc in the sewers of Arkham Asylum, the villain surgically removed portions of his face and sewn his mask to what remained in order to make it his one and only identity.
Initially operating out of a boat within Arkham City, Crane ordered hundreds of shipments of insects that contained the correct toxins to mix in with his own and abducted numerous individuals from the near limitless supply of inmates to perform his initial experiments on, slowly perfecting his new fear toxin until all his victims were literally frightened to death. Eventually setting up shop within the abandoned and condemned ruins of Arkham Asylum after Arkham City and TYGER's shutdown, Scarecrow recruits his own gang and begins mass producing the latest serum of his fear toxin.
Having spent the past two years carefully making his plans and keeping out of Batman's surveillance over Gotham, Scarecrow is finally ready to embark on his long lusted vengeance over Batman and the city he vowed to protect. However, Scarecrow is eventually visited by a new villain in Gotham, whose appearance was made to both mimic and mock Batman with reminders of the two worst nights of his life within Arkham facilities, known as the Arkham Knight. Having murdered all his guards, Arkham Knight explains to Crane that he too wishes to destroy Batman, but also wants to make him suffer first through the worst way to the hero; through fear.
Knowing of Scarecrow's devastating toxin, Arkham Knight proposes that they form an alliance and, with extensive funding coming from the other villains in Gotham, build up a massive army of tanks, drones, and hundreds of specially trained soldiers to conquer Gotham. Arkham Knight lastly reveals that he knows everything about Batman, including who his closest allies are, convincing Scarecrow to agree to the alliance.To this end, Scarecrow exploits the criminal underworld's new landscape that surfaced when the Joker passed away during the events of Arkham City and takes complete control over the power vacuum that was left in place of the Clown Prince of Crime.
With Joker no longer around to create mindless chaos and destruction and pit the other criminals against one another, Scarecrow convinces the rest of Gotham's villains to unite under his leadership to finally achieve their shared goal; the death of Batman. Calling a meeting at the administrative building on Arkham Island, Scarecrow manages to convince each of the villains that a coordinated effort on Batman's life would suit their needs the most. After losing to Batman a year earlier, the villains realize that working together is the only way to purge the one nuisance preventing them from conquering Gotham for their own, twisted designs.
However, Scarecrow did not want to simply kill Batman, but destroy everything he stands for and take away his allies and family and ultimately unmask him for the world to see him as just a man before destroying Gotham and attacking the entire world itself with fear toxin. After consolidating all the villains and their gangs, Scarecrow first sends Harley Quinn on a mission to break into the Bludhaven Police Station and break out Poison Ivy, believing the former botanist to be an ideal resource for his plans. Quinn succeeds in her mission, murdering numerous police officers in the process, and frees Poison Ivy after the chaotic duo defeat Nightwing.
Upon Quinn returning with Ivy to Arkham Island, Scarecrow is infuriated when Ivy refuses to partake in his plans, having no interest in his personal vendetta. In response, Scarecrow has Ivy sedated and decides to use her as a test subject on a gas chamber he constructed in one of his safe houses, all supplied with the assistance and funding of the Penguin. The chamber would release fear toxin and later be a pivotal asset to Scarecrow's plans and attack on Batman and his family. With everything in place, Scarecrow finally initiates his plans on Halloween night by causing a mass evacuation of the city under the threat of his new strain of fear toxin being explosively unleashed through a massive chemical weapon hidden somewhere in Gotham.
To prove his threats, Scarecrow has one of his men unleash a small portion of his latest toxin within Paul's Diner, causing all the customers and staff to hallucinate and viciously attack one and another, leading to countless deaths in the process. This "demonstration" causes a city-wide panic as police and emergency services attempt to keep the populace safe and evacuate all citizens to the mainland. Once the city's six million citizens are evacuated, all of the villains' gangs overtake the streets, overwhelming police forces, and causing immense chaos and destruction.
Within mere hours, Scarecrow turns Gotham into a twisted playground for the villains and their various criminal organizations to murder, steal, and conquer for their own twisted ambitions, promising that they are all under his protection and that the Gotham City Police and all whom they protect will not be spared. Having formed an alliance with the Arkham Knight, Scarecrow takes complete control of the city through his massive army, using his tanks and helicopters to patrol the streets. Initially operating out of the ACE Chemicals factory, Scarecrow calls in for additional weapons, trucks, soldiers, and hazardous materials to make enough fear toxin to cover the entire east coast.
Eventually proclaiming to the Dark Knight himself that his years of protecting Gotham have meant nothing, Scarecrow states his intentions to completely destroy Gotham and take everything and everybody that Batman holds dear and leave his legacy in tatters. Ending with the chilling statement that he will turn his attention to bring similar destruction to the rest of the world once Gotham is reduced to nothing more than ruins and ashes, Scarecrow makes it clear that his plans endanger far more than Gotham.
With the entire criminal underworld under his control, Arkham Knight and his massive army at his beck and call, and two years of careful planning and preparation under his belt, Scarecrow was more than prepared to give Batman the fight of his life on one more, final night of horror for the whole of Gotham City and beyond. With his plans in order, Scarecrow and his crew murder several of the ACE Chemicals workers and a team of GCPD officers dispatched to secure the facility, while keeping a handful as hostages to use as collateral, and situates himself within the central mixing chamber to prepare his bomb.
With the various gangs and militia taking countless lives with each passing moment, Batman is able to subdue one of Scarcrow's followers and intimidates him to reveal the location of the villain's safe house. Arriving at the location, Batman does not find Scarecrow, but the ramifications of his torturous experiments in the form of bloody surgical instruments, canisters and large containers of fear toxin attached to feed tubes that lead to a gas chamber, and militia preparing to record their hostage within the same gas chamber dying from fear toxin exposure, Poison Ivy. After Batman subdues all the men, Scarecrow's face is broadcast on a large monitor within the chamber, revealing to Batman that the chamber will give the hero a glimpse of the horror that is soon to be unleashed.
As the armed guard watching over Ivy within the chamber prepares to leave, Scarecrow releases his toxin in the chamber, sacrificing the man in the process. Batman lets Ivy out of the chamber, as she reveals that she is in fact immune to the fear toxin, before learning of the other villains' alliance and has Ivy locked up within the GCPD before narrowing his search for Crane. Activating a satellite at the Panessa Movie Theaters, Batman heads towards the Falcone Shipping Yard to activate a micro emitter for Oracle to use in conjunction with the satellite to pinpoint where Scarecrow is manufacturing his fear toxin based of toxicity readings. Scarecrow however, is one step ahead, and sends a handful of his men to secure the shipping yard, holding a police officer hostage to use as leverage.
Batman is able to easily subdue all the militia, rescues the hostage, and activates the micro emitter, using it to pinpoint Crane's location at the ACE Chemicals Factory. As Batman infiltrates the factory, the hero learns that Scarecrow had ordered the evacuation of the city in order to seize complete control over the factory as it was the only location within Gotham that had the resources to produce enough of his toxin. The blast radius of the chemical bomb Scarecrow is preparing would reach hundreds upon hundreds of miles, meaning that the evacuation would not spare any citizen.
As Scarecrow concentrates his plans on preparing the last of his chemicals to be dispersed into the bomb and orders shipments of the toxin to be transported out of the factory, the villain orders Arkham Knight to utilize his remote controlled tanks and helicopters to take over all regions of the city and keep them under lock-down to defend against outside interference. Even worse, Batman learns that Scarecrow's bomb to cover the entire East Coast in fear toxin is merely the first phase of his operations and, in the end, the deranged villain intends for the entire world to feel the effects of his toxin. Fortunately, Batman is able to subdue Scarecrow's guards and confronts him, though the villain maintains that everything is going perfectly to plan.
Revealing that the Arkham Knight's forces are attacking Oracle at her clock tower, having deduced that she has been working for the Dark Knight for years, Scarecrow escapes and locks Batman within the chamber to die. With mere minutes left, Batman uses the last of his strength to reduce the blast radius of the bomb a great deal, to the point that only the factory itself would be affected. However, the deep exposure to the toxin awakens the Joker's consciousness within Batman's mind, having been placed there by the Clown Prince of Crime when he injected the hero with his own blood in Arkham City nine months prior. Joker's reveals his plans to slowly take over Bruce's mind and body and use his resources to destroy Gotham and begin a bloody campaign on the rest of the world.
Despite the dire circumstances, Batman is able to escape the factory just as the bomb goes off and completely destroys ACE Chemicals. Learning that Oracle was successfully abducted by the Arkham Knight, Batman concentrates his efforts on saving her and locating Scarecrow. Meanwhile, the Arkham Knight's forces continue to build up their army by constructing more tanks and equipment in underground tunnels, receiving advanced military grade weaponry from the Penguin's forces from stockpiles in Bludhaven, and deploying explosives that become imbued within the streets of the city themselves to serve as determinants. Villains such as Firefly continue to add to the chaos with massive waves of riots, crime, and destruction, while Riddler abducts Catwoman and holds her hostage to force Batman into his mind games and death traps.
In spite of the overwhelming odds, Batman continues to thwart many of the villains and their plans, as well as dismantling a large portion of the militia's checkpoints, bombs, equipment, and operations. To this end, Batman eventually learns from Penguin that Scarecrow has been working with a notoriously unethical and amoral businessman, named Simon Stagg, to perfect his deadly toxin and has been viciously testing it out on hundreds of abducted victims, including Stagg's previous business partner, Alex Sartorius, when he attempts to expose the illegal operation. Additionally, Stagg was working on an incredible aerosol device called the Cloudburst for Scarecrow, which would disperse Crane's toxin into the environment on a massive and amplified scale.
Batman learns that Stagg operates out of blimp laboratories that float over Gotham; laboratories that are now being attacked by Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight. Stagg had previously worked with Crane to perfect a chemical agent and weapon that he could sell to other countries for commercial gain, but betrayed Crane once he learned the villain wished to use the Cloudburst in his plans for revenge, keeping the device for himself to sell. Murdering dozens upon dozens of Stagg employees, Scarecrow seizes control of the blimps and perfects the Cloudburst himself, while instructing his forces to capture and kill Stagg and seize as many energy cells, one of the few lawfully legitimate projects Stagg produced, as possible to power the Cloudburst.
After several, grueling battles and Joker induced hallucinations, Batman is able to save Stagg and corner Scarecrow again. Unfortunately, due to Joker's interference, Scarecrow is able to gas Batman once again and escapes with the Cloudburst. Finally revealing the location of Oracle at the same safe-house and gas chamber Poison Ivy was previously imprisoned in, Scarecrow reveals that her remaining time is limited. Reaching the safe-house, Batman is horrified when he witnesses Oracle hallucinate from the fear toxin that is suddenly pumped into the chamber and commits suicide with a gun left on a table by Scarecrow to avoid further exposure. Riddled with guilt, Batman resolves to stop Scarecrow once and for all upon realizing that there is one person within Gotham who is immune to the toxin; Poison Ivy.
Visiting Poison Ivy within the GCPD lockup, Batman manages to convince her to help him destroy Scarecrow's toxin by using her unique ability to control plant life. Poison Ivy reveals that the founders of the land that would become Gotham believed in an abundance of nature and planted countless, massive trees. The oldest of these trees still resides within Gotham and holds the unique properties that can counteract Crane's toxin. After escorting Ivy to the tree, rejuvenating its roots, and protecting both Ivy and the tree from the Arkham Knight's militia, Scarecrow plays his hand and orders for the Arkham Knight is disperse his toxin within the Cloudburst.
The chemical agents are released into the air, with the Cloudburst amplifying their effects to the point that Gotham itself is covered in a perpetual cloud of the toxin and short circuiting the batmobile's energy supply. Scarecrow revels in the chaos as all remaining criminals, except for the Arkham Knight's Militia, begin attacking and killing each other in blind fear. Crane reveals that his purpose is not to kill Batman, but destroy everything he stands for and make the world see him as a fallen hero and legend and will continue to use the Cloudburst on the rest of the world. To tie up all loose ends, Scarecrow sends a handful of the militia to search for and murder Simon Stagg in order to prevent any further interference in his plans from his previous associate.
Despite the overwhelming odds, Batman is able to rescue Stagg before locking him up in one of his experimental cages for the police to pick him up and obtains one of Stagg's energy cells to power up the batmobile again. Diving head first into the cloud of toxin, Batman uses the cell to energize his batmobile once again with his mind slowly losing its sanity to Joker's consciousness due to the effects of the toxin. Batman enters his car and locates one, final tree system to eradicate the toxin, hidden beneath the foundations of Gotham, rejuvenates its roots, and destroys all responding militia tanks and drones arriving to destroy the plant.
With everything in place to cure the fear toxin, Batman learns that the Arkham Knight has the Cloudburst mounted into his tank and is patrolled by a group of cobra vehicles. Using stealth and deception, Batman manages to destroy all the cobra tanks and faces Arkham Knight head-on in a showdown with their vehicles. In the end, Batman manages to overheat the Arkham Knight's tank, blowing up both the vehicle and the Cloudburst in fell swoop. While the Arkham Knight is able to escape, Scarecrow is infuriated that the hero had managed to destroy his ultimate weapon and is no longer able to use it against the rest of the world. Poison Ivy then uses the last of her will and strength to amplify the ancient trees and destroys all the toxin with the pheromone, tragically giving her life in the process.
While Gotham is saved, the effects of Scarecrow's toxin led to hundreds of deaths, with countless corpses littering the streets of the city after the toxin is cleared, as Scarecrow refuses to surrender and assumes complete control over the remains of the Arkham Knight's forces. Implementing one of his contingencies, Scarecrow entrusts the assassin Deathstroke, having been recruited by the Arkham Knight prior to the city invasion, to oversee all ground operations, promising him that he will be rewarded handsomely with a considerable bounty and a chance for ultimate revenge against Batman for his services.
As Scarecrow plans another attack on Gotham, Batman deciphers a message sent by Commissioner Gordon, having tracked Crane down to kill him for taking his daughter, and pinpoints the militia's base to an underground subway station and mall complex, previously under construction. After fighting through the last of the militia, Batman locates a tied up Gordon and is confronted by the Arkham Knight for a final showdown. The commander finally reveals his true face and identity to Batman; Jason Todd, the second 'Robin'. Having previously been abducted and tortured by the Joker within an abandoned wing of Arkham Asylum for over a year, Jason grew to despise Batman for never finding him and apparently replacing him with Tim Drake.
Naming himself after the facility in which he was tortured, Jason traveled the globe to perfect his skills and recruited others to be trained in Batman's abilities. Managing to both defeat and reach out to Jason before the latter escapes once again, Batman frees Gordon and both make their way to the roof to finally confront Scarecrow. Engaging the villain as he looks over the skyline, Batman is shocked when Gordon suddenly turns his gun on him, having made a deal with Scarecrow for the life of his daughter, Barbara, still alive. Batman's witness of Barbara's death was actually the fear toxin in his body portraying one of his greatest fears.
Scarecrow has a tied up Barbara escorted to the roof, but reveals he has no intention of letting her go. Realizing that he was played, Gordon shoots Batman is his shielded suit to drive him off the edge of the building, serving as an escape for the hero. Scarecrow, believing that Gordon truly meant to kill Batman, takes Barbabra to edge of the building and calmly pushes her off, only for Batman to save her at the last second. Scarecrow takes Gordon hostage once again and leaves in a militia aircraft. Taking Barbara back to the GCPD, Batman next learns that Scarecrow has ordered his forces to attack Oracle's clock tower to destroy her servers; without them, Batman and Oracle will be unable to locate Gordon again.
Subduing all of the militia attacking the tower, Oracle is able to pinpoint Gordon's location just as Scarecrow orders a full scale assault on the GCPD. Working together with Oracle, having been sent vulnerable weak points within the militia's programs that control the tanks (most likely from Jason Todd), Batman is able to destroy the last of the militia's tanks and helicopters. However, Scarecrow reveals that the attack also served as a diversion, allowing the villain to attack the movie studios, having been previously converted into a secondary base of operations by Batman, where Tim Drake was stationed.
Crane tells the hero to meet at a storage depot, previously used by Scarecrow to receive his equipment and attire for the various gangs, if he wishes to ever see Gordon or Tim again. Upon reaching the location after neutralizing all villains and militia operations, Batman is forced by Scarecrow, via a monitor, to surrender his equipment and walk into the back of a truck that is adjacent to the depot. When he does so, the truck begins to drive away as fear toxin is pumped into the air, causing Joker's consciousness to grow stronger than ever. Having a brutal, mental fight with the Joker within Crime Alley, Batman's mind is mere moments away from being consumed completely by Joker's consciousness.
Arriving at the abandoned and destroyed Arkham Asylum, having been converted into a base of operations by Scarecrow, Batman is restrained and put in front of a camera, as Gordon and Tim watch from the side, broadcasting to the entire world. Scarecrow reveals his intentions to unmask Batman and show the world that he is simply a man, a legend made bare, before injecting him with fear toxin, murdering all his allies, and destroying Gotham. Scarecrow forces Gordon to unmask the hero, shooting Tim non-lethally to enforce his order. Batman urges to Gordon to follow the order, telling his long-time friend that he has everything under control.
Gordon complies and takes off Batman's mask, revealing to the world that he is Bruce Wayne. Scarecrow, genuinely shocked at his identity, injects the hero with his toxin to reduce him to a fallen and fearful man in front of the world. Meanwhile, Joker fully takes control over the hero when Scarecrow injects him with the lethal dose of fear toxin. With Joker now controlling his mind, the villain warps his mental images into a hellish nightmare that outlines his intentions and plans for Gotham, including murdering his rivals, their gangs, and Batman's allies before using Wayne's resources and equipment to completely destroy Gotham, ending by threatening to attack Wayne Manor and Alfred.
While initially confident that the toxin would have no effect on him as he seemingly has no fears, Joker becomes very disturbed and progressively frightened at the new surroundings around him, including his body being cremated, his grave shown to be small, overgrown and vandalized, no one attending his wake, and Gotham, Batman, and even Harley forgetting about him. Joker eventually realizes that, with all the horror he's inflicted on others, no one would mourn or miss him, and his legacy would soon be forgotten as Gotham and Batman move on with their lives. Now genuinely frightened that he was trapped within the nightmare and he would not be remembered by anyone, Joker is stalked by an invulnerable Batman, but is slightly relieved when he believes that he has found an exit.
Ironically, this was nothing more than a ruse by Batman, having finally turned the tables on his hated nemesis and is regaining control of his mind. Batman reveals to the Joker that the villain is terrified of being forgotten and that he will indeed be forgotten by everyone. For the first time in their battles, Joker is truly horrified and helpless against Batman as he is severely beaten and thrown into a cell within Arkham Asylum. As Batman locks the door to the cell, Joker screams and desperately pleads with the hero not to imprison, leave, and forget him, as he will then be locked away within his mind forever, telling the hero that he needs him. Batman, having finally realized that Joker was always at his mercy, bids goodbye to his nemesis and locks him away in his personal hell forever as Joker slowly sobs and fades away.
Immediately afterwards, Batman regains his mind and sanity and, having built up a tolerance to the fear toxin and freed by a redeemed Jason Todd (now donning the image of the Red Hood), injects Scarecrow with his own toxin. Scarecrow is reduced to a pathetic and cowering man in front of live television and screams insanely as his fears take control and sees Batman as a demonic figure, until Gordon punches the villain out. Humiliated, beaten, and mentally broken, Scarecrow is taken to the GCPD jails, where he would remain locked up for the rest of his life with his fellow criminals.
Bruce would later implement "Protocol Knightfall", a contingency that destroys him mansion, along with any evidence of his methods and allies, and fakes his death. As Gotham is restored to peace, Gordon becomes the new mayor of the city and Tim and Barbara get married, as a new vigilante patrols the streets of Gotham, heavily implied to be a reinvented alter-ego of Bruce Wayne. In the end, Batman is able to rebuild his family and keep Gotham safe, while Scarecrow becomes the very thing he had hoped and failed to turn Bruce Wayne into, a frightened and cowering man for the entire world to see.
Patient Interviews
Batman Arkham Asylum - Patient Interview Tapes - Scarecrow
Tape One
Patient Interview #1, January 7th
Scarecrow: Patient Interview 1. Patient was referred to me after the incident with Dr. Murphy. He appears to have suffered a breakdown of sorts. I believe it was brought about after the loss of his wife and child. As yet, the patient has been unable to speak. Continued observation shows little mental activity. It's as if the shock of what he saw triggered his mental collapse.
Security Guard: There's someone in here! It's him! We've found him! Break down the door!
Scarecrow: Note to self. As ever, it is difficult to continue my research under such conditions.
Security Guard: Step away from Dr. Combs. Now! Get down on the ground! We found them. Someone get a medic. Oh God, what's he done to him?
Tape Two
Patient Interview #6, January 22nd
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Patient interview 6. Dr. Crane has been back in custody for 3 weeks. Regular sessions have been inconclusive. I am not sure he is actually insane.
Scarecrow: Good evening, Stephen. How are you tonight?
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: I'm conducting the session, Jonathan.
Scarecrow: Of course. If that helps you cope, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Let's talk about the events 3 weeks ago. What did you think you'd achieve? Dr. Murphy is still in therapy.
Scarecrow: I wanted to understand him. His personal demons. His fears. It's all quite fascinating, really.
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: But you are...were a respected doctor. A brilliant mind, now just another resident in Arkham.
Scarecrow: Can I have a drink? A strong one? This kind of question bores me.
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: I'm afraid not.
Scarecrow: Interesting choice of words, Doctor. Tell me, what are you afraid of?
Tape Three
Patient Interview #9, January 29th
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Patient interview 9. Dr. Crane continues to evade questions. I believe he is quite sane. Just evil. He takes no interest in the people he has hurt. His research appears to be the only motivating factor in his life. What is it about fear that drives your obsessions?
Scarecrow: Fear drives everything, Stephen. Everything. Your life is governed by fear. Every decision you make is a product of that fear.
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Don't be ridiculous.
Scarecrow: You married your wife...Margaret, isn't it?...because you were scared of dying alone. You have children because you are scared of leaving nothing behind that really matters. You go to the doctors because you're scared of dying. Do I need to go on?
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: No. I think that will be all for today. Guards!
Tape Four
Patient Interview #12, February 14th
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Today I have another interview with Crane. I cannot say I am looking forward to it. I've been feeling anxious. I don't like to admit it, but...I think he's getting to me.
Scarecrow: How are you today?
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: I keep telling you, this is my session.
Scarecrow: It was your session, Doctor, but not anymore.
Security Guard: Are you OK, doc?
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: I think...yes..I...
Scarecrow: Oh, he's fine. Just questioning his grip on reality. You should be doing the same any second...
Security Guard: Mom, is that you? Wait, what are you doing?
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Get off of me... Help. I need help here. I can't breathe...
Scarecrow: Like I said... You're all part of my experiment now!
Tape Five
Asylum interview #1, February 14th
Scarecrow: Asylum interview 1. My experiment is underway. Working alone, I have created my ultimate Fear Gas, its potency a revelation.
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Ah! Ahh! They're all over me!
Security Guard: Please, daddy, don't do it! Ah! Ahh!
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Keep away! Keep away! Keep away!
Scarecrow: I have pumped enough gas into the Medical Center to break 100 minds. It should only be a matter of time before (Sound of glass shattering.) What?
Batman: Give it up, Now!
Scarecrow: How...how are you still standing? How come it's not affecting you?
Batman: Who says it's not?
Scarecrow: I knew it. What was it like? What have you seen?
Dr. Stephen Kellerman: Officer Cash. Get this formula to the air-conditioning system. Now!
Batman: You failed, Crane. Again. I've been working with Dr. Kellerman, creating an antidote to the toxins in your cologne. He fooled you, Crane. How does that make you feel? Threatened, humiliated? Scared?
Audio Files
Batman Arkham Knight All Scarecrow Audio Logs-0
Scarecrow's Audio
File One
Arkham Knight: You should invest in better guards, Crane.
Scarecrow: And you should invest in some manners... Who are you? Another pretender to the cowl?
Arkham Knight: Call me the Arkham Knight.
Scarecrow: Another child of the Asylum set free. Tell me, what tortured soul cowers behind that mask?
Arkham Knight: It doesn't matter who I am. I'm here because we want the same thing. Batman dead.
Scarecrow: You made short work of my guards, but Batman is a very different proposition. One for which I am fully prepared.
Arkham Knight: Those "guards" I killed? I could replace them with an army, an army trained in his methods.
Scarecrow: Trained by whom?
Arkham Knight: Me.
Scarecrow: And what would you know about Batman?
Arkham Knight: His fears.
Scarecrow: Very well. You have my attention, Arkham Knight.
File Two
Scarecrow: Three billion is a significant investment.
Arkham Knight: People are willing to pay.
Scarecrow: And what exactly would we be getting for our money?
Arkham Knight: Tanks, drones, a highly-trained infantry.
Scarecrow: You think you can just bring tanks into Gotham?
Arkham Knight: We hold his city ransom. We create panic. Then chaos.
Scarecrow: A distraction.
Arkham Knight: As they run scared, we emerge, take over his habitat. Every rooftop, road and back alley. We draw him out of the shadows and chip away until he has nowhere left to hide and no one left to hide behind.
File Three
Scarecrow: If you want him dead, why come to me? You seem... capable.
Arkham Knight: He needs to suffer. I suffered. So he will too.
Scarecrow: So it's personal. There are many in this city with a gift for causing harm.
Arkham Knight: Not that kind of pain. The real kind.
Scarecrow: Ah. You want him afraid.
Arkham Knight: I've seen what your toxin does. I want that.
Scarecrow: You're well informed about all of us, Arkham Knight. But you're wrong about something. I don't want Batman dead. I want him unmade.
Arkham Knight: He's better off dead.
Scarecrow: Kill him, and you martyr him, you make him a legend. But break him, humiliate him, terrify him and hold him up for the world to see. Then he's nothing but a man.
Arkham Knight: Look, you can do what you want, Crane. But when you're done, I will kill him.
Scarecrow: Very well. But know this: it'll be an act of mercy when you do.
"Possibly one of my greatest successes here at the asylum. Despite his tendency for extensive role-play (oddly common among Gotham City's criminals), it's unclear to me why Dr. Crane was ever considered insane. In our long discussions, I've been impressed with his genius for psychology and biochemistry, and I fully believe that if presented with a stock of his fear-inducing gas, he would feel no compulsion to use it. He seems to have entirely turned away from his former life of crime as the Scarecrow."
Additional notes
"He's valiantly battled a history of anxiety disorder, due to a difficult childhood and adulthood trauma, through an intense study of psychology and the causes of fear.
I've come to believe that the accusations that he experimented on human subjects are wildly exaggerated."
GENIUS at Chemistry!
Would he have something to contribute to 'Titan' research?
Quotes
"Poor little bat. You're in my world now!"
"What are you doing, little bat?"
"I will break you!"
"Oh, there you are!"
"No, he's not. We really should feel sorry for him. He never fully got over his parent's death. It left him quite insane."
"Everything you see is under my control!"
"Is your mind playing tricks on you? Or am I?"
"What are you, Batman? Chicken?"
"Dare to step into my gaze!"
"I think you need a little more!"
"Tell me, what demons do you have left to beat? Shall we see?"
"Are you enjoying the extra dose, little bat? Oh, I won't rush things this time. I'm going to savor every moment of your terror as I slowly destroy you."
"You're fighting back. Good. It can only weaken your resolve."
"How much more do you think you can take? Does it scare you to know that I have almost defeated you?"
"How are you doing this? You have ingested enough toxins to drive ten men insane! What are you?
"Why fight it, Batman? You're as crazy as the rest of us. You need us as much as we need you. And to prove it, I'll flood the catacombs with enough Fear Gas to break the minds of everyone in Gotham for a hundred years."
"You cannot escape my gaze! You will die here!"
"Look around you! These are the broken fragments of your mind!"
" Your mind will shatter like glass!"
"Are you scared, little bat? Do you need your mommy?"
"Welcome to my world, Batman!"
"I see you, Batman."
"What was that?"
"You're in my realm now. Everything is as real as I choose it to be."
"What are you trying to do?"
"Stand still. This won't hurt."
"He's all yours, Joker."
"How many more bones will you crush? How many lives will you destroy in the pursuit of what you call justice? You are the product of everything you fear: violence, darkness, helplessness. All that remains is for you to watch, as I drag your beloved Gotham into oblivion."
Game Over Lines
Batman Arkham Asylum - Game Over Scarecrow
Scarecrow's game over lines.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
"And at the end of fear... oblivion."
"You've failed. Now suffer!"
"Now madness takes you, forever."
Batman: Arkham Knight
"Die knowing that I will make them suffer, every one."
"Didn't you know, Dark Knight, you can't fight fear?"
"Prepare yourself, Batman. My reign of terror starts now."
"You die here, and your legend dies with you."
"This is the end, Dark Knight, you've got nothing to be afraid of anymore."
"You have failed to stop me, Batman, now Gotham will fall."
"I wanted more than your death and Gotham's destruction, but you forced my hand."
Trivia
The third encounter with Scarecrow, in which the game appears to reset then show a false Game Over screen is most likely a reference to the Metal Gear Solid games, or Eternal Darkness, when Psycho Mantis/losing your sanity makes the game "Crash". It could also be a reference to Earthbound as the screen blacks out after the game "Crashed", much like when Giygas was defeated.
Additionally, the mention of "Doctor Murphy" in Scarecrow's interview tapes could have been a reference to Cillian Murphy, the actor who played Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan's Batman films. The tapes also include a "Doctor Combs" which could reference to Jeffery Combs, the actor who was the voice of Scarecrow in the fourth season of Batman: The Animated Series.
The needles on the Scarecrow's right hand, bare a strong resemblance to the fictional serial killer, Freddy Krueger's claws. The Scarecrow and Freddy Krueger both send their victims into terrifying dream worlds, where they are killed or driven insane.
Expanding on this, Freddy Krueger himself also turned his claws into syringes when he was dealing with a former junkie in Dream Warriors. The only difference is that Freddy's syringes were filled with blue drugs, not yellow.
The skeletons that Batman sees appear to be normal enemies in reality, which means he may be viewing them through the Detective Mode. This is why when he woke from Scarecrow's Third Nightmare, he finds many knocked out henchmen and a pair of Titan Monsters that resemble the skeletons he fought in the Nightmare.
In the nightmare section where you hide from Scarecrow's gaze, when the lightning flashes Batman appears to be Scarecrow.
If you try to use Detective mode while hiding from Scarecrow's gaze and before the memories of Thomas and Martha Wayne's death, Scarecrow will do a very quiet laugh, as if the button triggers a taunt.
If you use Detective mode on the vision of Commissioner Gordon's corpse, the skeleton doesn't show; hinting that the corpse isn't real. On an interesting note there really is a corpse there, however it is just a guard not Gordon.
Scarecrow is the only villain in the game to mention Batman as Wayne. He says his surname during the third encounter. However, as Batman was wildly hallucinating at the time, it is very unlikely that Crane himself actually knows of Batman's secret identity. More than likely, this version of Scarecrow was simply a part of Batman's terrifying hallucination, much like the Joker, Quinn, and Zsasz were at the time.
It was thought the screaming of the orderlies and the inmate at Secure Access was heard from the Patient Observation's public address. After defeating Bane, Stephen Kellerman confirmed this after saying that "Just after you (Batman) took the elevator down, the PA was full of screaming. It was horrible." if you return to the Patient Observation to speak to him.
On Dr. Young's page, he has a question mark on the left bottom corner of the 1st page, which can mean he is working with the Riddler. A piece of evidence is the riddle where Riddler knew that Scarecrow had a secret place, which Riddler might have gone to.
Scarecrow has his own Challenge Map titled "Scarecrow Nightmare". Crane himself appears in the background of this Challenge Map, rapidly taunting Batman as he fights the skeletons Crane controls.
During the final nightmare with Scarecrow, you can not skip the movie scene. Making it the only non-skipping scene in the game.
Like Joker, Scarecrow doesn't have an identifiable cell in the Asylum. Theoretically, he could be held in the "Extreme Isolation" area of Arkham, which is the one place the player can't explore.
In Scarecrow's secret hiding place under the elevators, computer monitors show security camera images of Batman escorting Joker through Arkham. This indicates that Crane may have already escaped his cell prior to the riot, or that he had a way of slipping in and out of his cell without being noticed, given the number of supplies present.
Crane's appearance in Arkham Asylum has been ranked as the 38th Greatest Moment in Gaming.
The third "ACE Chemical Infiltration" trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight revealed that there will be a special mission on the PlayStation 4 version of the game called "Scarecrow nightmare mission," depicting Gotham burning in chaos, Scarecrow as a giant, and Batman fighting him in the Batmobile.
Other Appearances
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Scarecrow cameos in Injustice: Gods Among Us in one of the stage transitions in the Arkham Asylum stage. When the player attacks their opponent near the edge of the Cell Block arena, they are knocked into a room where Scarecrow injects the fighter with his fear toxin, and brutally attacks them at gigantic size before they move on to the Mess Hall arena.
