Scarecrow (DC Comics)
Scarecrow | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | World's Finest Comics #3 (September 1941)[1][2] |
Created by | Bill Finger (writer) Bob Kane (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Dr. Jonathan Crane |
Team affiliations |
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Notable aliases | |
Abilities |
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The Scarecrow is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the character first appeared in World's Finest Comics #3 (September 1941), and has become one of the superhero Batman's most enduring enemies belonging to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.
In his comic book appearances, the Scarecrow is the alter ego of Dr. Jonathan Crane, a 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", the 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 the Scarecrow's visual motif.
The character has been adapted in various
Publication history
Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane 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.[5][6] 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.[7]
Scarecrow was revived during the Silver Age of Comic Books by writer Gardner Fox and artist Sheldon Moldoff in Batman #189 (February 1967),[8] which featured the debut of the character's signature fear-inducing hallucinogen or "fear toxin".[9] The character remained relatively unchanged throughout the Bronze Age of Comic Books.[10]
Following the 1986 multi-title event
Fictional character biography
Backstory
Born in Georgia, Jonathan Crane is abused by his parents and great-grandmother, and is bullied at school for his resemblance to Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow",[11] sparking his lifelong obsession with fear and using it as a weapon against others. 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 brandishing a gun in the school parking lot; in the ensuing chaos, Griggs gets into a car accident, paralyzing himself and killing Squires.[11]
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.[13] 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.[14]
As a college professor, Crane mentors a young
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.[17]
Scarecrow appears in
The Scarecrow appears in such
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.[25]
In the 2004 story arc As the Crow Flies, Scarecrow is hired by the
The Scarecrow reappears alongside other Batman villains in
Scarecrow appears in
Blackest Night
Scarecrow briefly appears in the fourth issue of the Blackest Night storyline. His immunity to fear (brought about by frequent exposure to his own fear toxin) renders him practically invisible to the invading Black Lanterns. The drug has taken a further toll on his sanity, exacerbated by Batman's disappearance in the Batman R.I.P. storyline; he develops a literal addiction to fear, exposing himself deliberately to the revenant army, but knowing that only Batman could scare him again.[33] Using a duplicate of Sinestro's power ring, he is temporarily deputized into the Sinestro Corps to combat the Black Lanterns. Overjoyed at finally being able to feel fear again, Scarecrow gleefully and without question follows Sinestro's commands.[34] His celebration is cut short when Lex Luthor, overwhelmed by the orange light of Avarice, steals his ring.[35]
Brightest Day
During the events of
The New 52
In 2011,
The Scarecrow kidnaps
As part of "
In
DC Rebirth
In DC Rebirth, Scarecrow works with the Haunter to release a low dose of fear toxin around Gotham on Christmas and sets up a small stand for her to pick up the toxin. Both he and Haunter are paralyzed by the toxin's effects, allowing Batman to apprehend them.[54] The Scarecrow later emerges using a Sinestro Corps' Power ring to induce fear and rage against Batman in random citizens throughout Gotham, to the point where he provokes Alfred Pennyworth into threatening to shoot Simon Baz as part of his final assault.[55] In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Scarecrow is among the villains who attend the underground meeting held by Riddler that talks about the Superman Theory.[56] Wanting to take on other bad guys outside of Doctor Sivana, Mister Mind, Black Adam, and Herkimer, Shazam flies to Gotham City where he hears about a hostage situation caused by Scarecrow. Shazam starts to fight him when he begins to get affected by the fear gas. Batman shows up and regains control of the situation by defeating Scarecrow and administering the antidote. As Scarecrow is arrested, Batman states to Shazam that Scarecrow is too dangerous for him to fight.[57]
Infinite Frontier
During Infinite Frontier, a re-designed Crane is the main foe of the crossover Fear State.[58]
Characterization
Skills and equipment
A master strategist and manipulator, his genius labels him as one of the most cunning criminal masterminds. Crane is a walking textbook on
Scarecrow is also a brilliant
Powers and abilities
In the story arc As the Crow Flies, after being secretly mutated by Dr. Linda Friitawa, Scarecrow gains the ability to turn into a large, monstrous creature called the Scarebeast. As Scarebeast, he has greatly enhanced strength, endurance, and emits a powerful fear toxin from his body. However, he has to be under physical strain or duress to transform.[61] During the Blackest Night mini-series, Scarecrow is temporarily deputized into the Sinestro Corps by a duplicate of Sinestro's Power ring.[34] He proves to be very capable in manipulating the light of fear to create constructs until his ring is stolen by Lex Luthor.[35]
Personality
Crane, in almost all of his incarnations, is cruel, sadistic, deranged, and manipulative above all else. Crane is obsessed with fear, and takes sadistic pleasure in frightening his victims, often literally to death, with his fear toxin.[11] Crane also suffers from brain damage from prolonged exposure to his own toxin that renders him nearly incapable of being afraid of anything - except Batman. This is problematic for him, as he is addicted to fear and compulsively seeks out confrontations with Batman to feed his addiction. He is also known to have a warped sense of humor, though not to the level of Black Mask or the Joker, as he has been known to frequently make taunts and quips related to his using his fear toxin or his love of terrifying others.[62] During Alan Grant's "The God of Fear" storyline, Scarecrow develops a god complex; he creates an enormous hologram of himself that he projects against the sky, so he will be recognized and worshipped by the citizens of Gotham as a literal god of fear.[63]
Other characters named Scarecrow
Madame Crow
Abigail O'Shay is a Gotham University student who writes her
Alternative versions
As one of Batman's most recognizable and popular opponents, the Scarecrow appears in numerous comics that are not considered part of the regular DC continuity, including:
- The Scarecrow appears in
- The Scarecrow is featured in part two of the four-part in Terry Sloane is killed. This causes Sloane to return to the field as Mister Terrific and kill Scarecrow.[67]
- A stand-in for Jonathan Crane named Jenna Clarke / Scarecrone appears in the Elseworlds original graphic novel Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty as a henchwoman/consort under the employ of Vandal Savage. Scarecrone also acts as a stand-in for Two-Face. She has the power to invade a person's psyche and make their deepest fears appear as illusions simply by touching them. "Scarecrone" is actually her alternate personality. Vandal Savage requires Clarke to switch to her Scarecrone persona through a special formula that he has made Clarke dependent on. The two personalities are antagonistic towards each other. It is revealed that when the formula brings out Scarecrone, the right side of her face becomes heavily scarred. This scarring is healed once the formula wears off and the Jenna Clarke personality becomes dominant again.[68]
- The Scarecrow is one of the main characters in John Stewart's ring frees the city from Scarecrow's control, subsequently freeing Scarecrow from Brainiac's control. Scarecrow does not seem bothered by this realization, admitting he would have done it anyway. He causes a diversion by releasing his fear gas into his entire city, driving his citizens into a homicidal frenzy,[75] and manages to escape capture, but he is ambushed and nearly killed by the Joker in retaliation for not having been invited to the Legion of Doom. Scarecrow's city is again saved by the Justice League.[76]
- The Scarecrow appears in the third and final chapter of Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, in which he has adorned his Scarecrow costume with laces of the severed fingers of the bullies who tormented him in school. He is about to kill a former football player when vampire Batman appears, noting that Scarecrow is worse than him; as a vampire, he is driven to kill by forces beyond his control, while Scarecrow chooses to be a murderer. Batman then grabs Scarecrow's vial of fear gas, crushing it along with the supervillain's hand, and cuts Scarecrow's head off with his own sickle, declaring that Scarecrow has no idea what fear really is.[77]
- In the Batman/Terry McGinnis fights a new, female version of the Scarecrow named Adalyn Stern. As a child, Adalyn was traumatized when she witnessed Batman brutally beat up her father (who was a notorious gang leader). She was placed in institutional care until she was assigned to one of Jonathan Crane's disciples who attempted to treat her with technology derived from Crane's work, which only amplified her fear of Batman. She grows up and becomes a co-anchor to Jack Ryder on the New 52. She uses A.I. cubes placed in everyone's homes to brainwash the population into believing that the new Batman is a demon that needs to be put down. She is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of the original and new Batman as well as Jack Ryder and is institutionalized in Arkham Asylum afterward when she views herself as nothing but the Scarecrow.[78]
- In the alternate timeline of Flashpoint, Scarecrow is one of the many villains subsequently killed by Thomas Wayne, who is that universe's Batman.[79]
- In the graphic novel Batman: Earth One, Dr. Jonathan Crane is mentioned as the head of the Crane Institute for the Criminally Insane, and one of its escapees is one Ray Salinger, also known as the "Birthday Boy", used by Mayor Cobblepot to his advantages.[80]
- In Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, the Scarecrow appears mutated into a raven as one of the various other Arkham inmates mutated by Shredder and the Foot Clan to attack Batman and Robin. Batman is captured, but Robin manages to escape. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter then arrive, where Splinter defeats the mutated villains, while Batman uses his new Intimidator Armor to defeat Shredder and the Turtles defeat Ra's al Ghul. Later, Jim Gordon tells Batman that the police scientists have managed to turn all of the inmates at Arkham back to normal, and that they are currently in A.R.G.U.S. custody.[81]
- Scarecrow makes a minor appearance in the 2017 series Batman: White Knight. Crane, along with several other Batman villains, is tricked by Jack Napier (who in this reality was a Joker who had been force-fed an overdose of pills by Batman which temporarily cured him of his insanity) into drinking drinks that had been laced with particles from Clayface's body. This was done so that Napier, who was using Mad Hatter's technology to control Clayface, could control them by way of Clayface's ability to control parts of his body that had been separated from him.[82] Scarecrow and the other villains are then used to attack a library which Napier himself was instrumental in building in one of Gotham City's poorer districts.[83] Later on in the story, the control hat is stolen by Neo-Joker (the second Harley Quinn, who felt that Jack Napier was a pathetic abnormality while Joker was the true, beautiful personality), in an effort to get Napier into releasing the Joker persona. Scarecrow also appears in the sequel storyline Batman: Curse of the White Knight, being among the villains murdered by Azrael.
- The Scarecrow briefly appears in one-shot comic Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, where he can be seen scratching notes on the floor with a pitchfork. He does not have any spoken lines and does not react to Batman in any way.[84]
- Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow is one of the main antagonists in the
In other media
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ^ "Scarecrow". DC Comics. 15 October 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ Batman #627
- ^ a b Batman Annual #19
- ISBN 0-02-538700-6. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics Archived 2012-07-24 at archive.today: Scarecrow of Earth-2. Retrieved July 31, 2008.
- ^ Eaglemoss Magazine || The Ages of Scarecrow + First Appearance
- ^ Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics Archived 2012-07-29 at archive.today: "Fright of the Scarecrow," Batman #189 (February 1967). Retrieved July 31, 2008.
- ^ Batman #189 (December 1966). DC Comics.
- ^ Cronin, Brian (August 15, 2020). "Batman: Scarecow and Joker Miscalculate How the Dark Knight Handles Fear". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Batman/Scarecrow: Year One. DC Comics.
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External links
- Scarecrow at Comic Vine
- Scarecrow (Origin) at Comic Basics