The Scarecrow was a criminal who used fear and intimidation in his crimes. A psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, Dr. Jonathan Crane, came into conflict with Batman two years after the vigilante's defeat of Harvey Dent.
Biography[]

Jonathan Crane at Arkham.
Jonathan Crane was a qualified psychologist at Arkham Asylum, having specialized in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He claimed to have studied under the tutorage of Dr. Hugo Strange and appeared to have a rivalry with Dr. Harleen Quinzel. When Robert Lowery/Firefly was committed to Arkham, Crane was placed in charge of him despite the inmate's requests to see Strange.
Crane performs a fear test on Bruce to determine if he's sane enough to stand trial. Bruce passes, but Crane has him stay in Arkham under the alias "Lewis Wilson" due to his celebrity status. As Crane monitors Bruce's actions, Quinn requests to have a persona therapy session with him, having been tasked by Chuck to get a modern picture of Lowery. Crane refuses to have Quinn get near Bruce, but she gets an idea after spotting the surveillance cameras.
Bruce is then taken back to Crane, who discusses Lowery's fear of Batman. Crane reveals Strange had developed a drug designed to cure post-traumatic stress disorder by inducing a new fear of Batman, however, there were dosage issues that led to 80 percent of the subjects suffering from psychotic breaks that led to them repressing the memory of receiving the drug, but still retaining the fear of Batman. He then subjects Bruce to his own fear gas and interrogates him, revealing he knew Bruce wasn't Lowery the whole time. The stress of the drug forces Bruce to reveal to Crane that he is Batman, intriguing the doctor further. Bruce informs Rakim to tell Drake to bring him some Nepentholene, a drug designed to prevent the brain from forming permanent memories, to help him overcome Crane's fear toxins.
Bruce returns home to find Barbara and Alfred and recounts to them what he learned about Crane at Arkham. While Bruce recreates Crane's formula, Alfred breaks down Maynard's riddle, which reveals that Crane used Blockbuster to murder Strange and that he's selling the fear toxin to foreign buyers affiliated with Kashif. As Bruce prepares to put on the Batsuit, he nearly panics, leaving him and Alfred to question if he's still suffering from the fear toxin.
To prevent Crane from leaving the country, Bruce has Drake and his colleagues print out dozens of wanted posters of him to plaster across the city. Crane disguises himself as an HVAC repairman to set up his formula in the ACN's ventilation system and leaves behind a videotape before infecting the guard. One of Drake's friends working at the building's parking lot reports his license plate to him, allowing Batman to track him down. As the ACN prepares their nightly coverage, Quinn arrives with her crew and takes Chuck hostage. The ACN nightly news broadcasts Crane's tape, where in his scarecrow attire, he claims to be Firefly and plans to feed on their fright. Right after the tape airs, the fear toxin is unleashed into the studio, sending the anchors and staff into a maniacal frenzy that results in several deaths. As Gotham watches the madness unfold, Batman ambushes Crane with his own fear toxin, sending the doctor into a panic. Before Batman can apprehend him, the two are confronted by the foreign clients Crane was selling his formula to.
Drake and his colleagues, called the Nightwings, fail to catch the buyers and Crane, but help Batman capture Kashif, known to the clients as the Demon, Ra's al Ghul. They negotiate with the buyers to exchange Ra's for Crane. Meanwhile, Chuck's attempts to negotiate with Quinzel fall on deaf ears, as she inspired by her previous client, Catwoman, to embrace her new identity as Harley Quinn. After someone stops a sniper from taking out Quinn, Chuck attempts to escape to the lower levels, but commits suicide after inhaling fear toxin. Quinn finds the one who rescued her was Catwoman, who offers to train her for her new criminal lifestyle.
After the Nightwings take Crane in the hostage exchange, Ra's offers his partnership and to share the fear toxin with Batman, but Bruce refuses to let anyone have it and consumes three pills. Alfred reveals to Drake and Barbara that they are experimental drugs that remove his ability to feel fear and pain to turn him into a fighting machine for his final mission. Determined to bring Bruce back, Drake and Barbara, now in her own Batsuit, take the Batwing to Ra's' ship as Batman destroys the fear toxin supplies and fights relentlessly against the henchmen. Drake manages to cure him of his maniacal state and helps him escape while Barbara converts the Batwing into a car and lands on the highway. At his auto shop, Drake finds that Crane has taken Hakim hostage. However, upon seeing Barbara in the Batsuit, Crane loses control and stabs his own eyes out. Four weeks later, Crane has been committed to Arkham Asylum, where he still has nightmares about Batman and his allies. He is confronted in his cell by Harley, who has killed most of the staff and prepares to murder him so he'll "never dream about the bats again."
Appearances[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Films[]
Scarecrow was at various points suggested for entries in the Batman film franchise under the directions of Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. The most notable of these included Batman Unchained, a proposed fifth film which would have featured him as one of the main villains. According to various reports, actor Nicolas Cage was courted to play the role in the film. However, rapper Coolio, who'd cameoed in Batman & Robin as a character referred to as "Banker", claimed during a concert that he was set to return in the follow-up and played Scarecrow.[1] However, Unchained was abandoned after the critical and financial failure of Batman & Robin.
Scarecrow was also going to appear in another follow-up project titled Batman: DarKnight. This version would have been depicted as a professor at Gotham University and Arkham Asylum, who used his position to experiment on both patients and students alike. Scarecrow would have organized for Dick Grayson to committed to Arkham and was involved in the creation of Man-Bat. Actor Jeff Goldblum was reportedly considered for the role, along with Jeremy Irons (who later portrayed Alfred in the DC Extended Universe). However, production of the film ceased in favor of a full franchise reboot, which eventually became Batman Begins. Incidentally, a version of Scarecrow featured as one of the film's villains.
Comic Series[]
Scarecrow was the villain first announced in Batman '89: Echoes' solicit. His costume also draws inspiration from the DC Animated Universe's incarnation of the character, with elements being drawn from both Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. The design of Johnathan Crane resembles Jeff Goldblum, likely as a reference to DarKnight. His civilian attire also resembles the suit worn by Jack Skellington in Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.