| “ | There is nothing to fear... but fear itself! | „ |
| ~ Scarecrow’s catchphrase. |
| “ | Boo! Aw, having trouble? Take a seat. Have a drink. You look like a man who takes himself too seriously. Do you want my opinion? You need to lighten up. | „ |
| ~ Scarecrow to Batman after exposing him to the fear toxin. |
| “ | Scarecrow: Would you like to see my mask? I use it in my experiments. Now, I'm probably not very frightening to a guy like you. But these crazies, they can't stand it. Falcone: So when did the nut take over the nut house? [Crane sprays his fear toxins at Falcone, who starts screaming uncontrollably] Scarecrow: THEY SCREAM AND THEY CRY! MUCH AS YOU'RE DOING NOW! |
„ |
| ~ Scarecrow poisoning Falcone with his fear toxins. |
Dr. Jonathan Crane, also better known as the Scarecrow, is a major antagonist in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy.
He is the corrupt and sadistic chief administrator at Arkham Asylum, who is secretly working with League of Shadows leader Ra's al Ghul and mob boss Carmine Falcone, who bring shipments of drugs in for Crane to use to create his Fear Toxin, which he later sells as a drug to criminals like The Chechen. He works with the League of Shadows again years later, when Bane and Talia al Ghul take over Gotham City, serving as judges in a kangaroo court for Gotham's wealthy citizens, forcing them to choose between death or exile, the latter actually being "death by exile".
In the films and Batman Begins video game adaptation, he was portrayed and voiced by Cillian Murphy, who also played Jackson Rippner in Red Eye. In Batman: Gotham Knight, he was voiced by Corey Burton, who also voiced Brainiac in the DC Animated Universe, Brainiac 1.0 in Legion of Super Heroes, V.V. Argost in The Secret Saturdays, the Galalunan Commander in Sym-Bionic Titan, and Hugo Strange in Batman: Arkham City.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- While the Scarecrow took time to answer all of his men's questions, this was obviously just a way to keep his men on his side and make sure they didn't turn on him making this pragmtic.
- While he didn't have as much of a "grand scheme" plan as Ra's al Ghul or did as much damage as the Joker, the Scarecrow still passed the heinous standards as while he acted as a "pawn" to Ra's al Ghul in the first film, he still committed many atrocities free from the League of Shadows' demands, such as illegal experimentation.
- In the second film, he had clearly lost his position at Arkham but was still poisoning and killing people, including clients of the mob. In the third and final film, he was only a mere mock trial judge but was still managing to kill many people by sentencing them to death or exile, with the latter choice leading to the prisoner's death anyway when they fell through the thin ice surrounding Gotham into the freezing waters below.
- Even though in the film he didn't know about Ra's al Ghul's true intentions with his fear toxin and was under the impression that the plan was to hold the city for ransom, this only makes him worse since he's motivated solely by greed and sadistic disdain for human life (unlike Ra's himself who's a well intentioned extremist). Meaning it doesn't undermine his heinousness.
Batman: Gotham Knight[]
- He carried out experiments on Arkham inmates.
- He killed five innocent people who were helping the people of Gotham with a brainwashed cult and was going to kill Cardinal O'Fallon before being stopped by Batman.
- He experimented on Waylon Jones, turning him into Killer Croc.
Batman Begins[]
- He regularly abused his power as a psychiatrist, experimenting on the patients in Arkham Asylum with his fear toxins, with it being heavily implied that he experimented on people who weren't insane, making them so terrified that they looked insane to the outside world, giving him an excuse to keep them in Arkham Asylum.
- He worked with crime boss Carmine Falcone by claiming that Falcone's men were mentally insane to get them a reduced sentence. One of these men was Victor Zsasz, and while he wasn't seen doing anything in the trilogy, assuming he was like his comic book counterpart, this meant the Scarecrow was responsible for giving a serial killer a reduced sentence.
- After Falcone was apprehended by Batman and put in custody, the Scarecrow went to meet him, claiming that he was insane, and to prove his false claim, the Scarecrow decided to turn on his former associate and spray him with his fear toxin, making him fairly terrified and traumatized to the point where he was left in a catatonic state.
- He helped Ra's al Ghul infect Gotham City's water supply with his fear toxins, thinking they would hold the city to ransom.
- While Ra's al Ghul did this due to being an extremist who believed this would make Gotham a better place, the Scarecrow's intentions were purely self-serving.
- He infected Rachel Dawes with a huge amount of his fear toxins, nearly killing her.
- During the chaos with Gotham being infected with the fear toxins, he attempted to attack both Rachel and a child who she was protecting, only being stopped due to Rachel tasing him.
Novelization[]
- He took advantage of his profession as a professor of psychology by testing his Fear Gas on his students, driving them into insanity to the point where one of them jumped through a window to assault a Santa Claus mannequin.
- Unlike the film version, who helped Ra's al Ghul to infect Gotham city's water supply with Fear Gas because he thought they were just going to use the Fear Gas to blackmail the city for ransom and was unaware of the League of Shadows' plans to instead wipe out the city with the gas, this version was fully aware and was looking forward to it.
- He and many of Arkham's inmates participated in causing mayhem on the streets of Gotham as his Fear Gas affected most of the citizens.
- He murdered a police officer upon escaping Arkham.
Video Game Adaptation[]
- He drove many of his patients insane with his Fear Gas to the point where they would attack anyone who moved, even keeping them chained up and using them as "attack dogs".
- When Batman tracked Scarecrow down to his lair, it went up in flames, and Crane left his patients to die, taunting them that they'd only feel pain as long as they're alive.
- He later used two of his surviving patients to attack Batman.
- He was uncaring when some of his henchmen were infected with the gas, and he did nothing to help them.
- He took the brother of one of his henchmen hostages and threatened to kill him should said henchman fail him in his plans.
- As the League of Shadows infected the Gotham River with the Fear Gas, this prompted the Scarecrow to lower the bridge into the river so innocent civilians would be infected.
The Dark Knight[]
Film[]
- He tried to sell his fear toxins off to the mob to make a profit. And he showed no concern for one of Chechen's men suffering from the effects of his fear toxin when he was presented to him.
- While trying to escape Batman and his copycats, he gassed one of them with fear toxin.
Novelization[]
- He tested his Fear Gas as a drug on a junkie and murdered him before selling his toxin as hallucinogens to the Chechen.
The Dark Knight Rises[]
- After Bane broke him and other inmates out of the Blackgate Prison, he became the judge of a kangaroo court, sentencing many of the upper-class people of Gotham, taking pleasure in doing so.
- While he claimed to give them a choice of either death or exile, it was revealed that both of these were the same thing, with the ones sentenced to exile being forced to walk over thin ice to escape Gotham, with most of them dying in the process due to the ice breaking, shown when Commissioner Gordon chose death and Scarecrow decided "death by exile".
Trivia[]
- The Scarecrow and the Joker are the only villains in The Dark Knight Trilogy to be Pure Evil.
- Furthermore, they are the only major villains in The Dark Knight Trilogy who didn't die and were sent to Arkham Asylum at least once.
- This is, alongside his Arkhamverse and Injustice incarnation, one of three incarnations of the Scarecrow to be Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- The Scarecrow on the Villains Wiki
- The Scarecrow on the Batman Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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 Pure Evils
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