Scarecrow

The **Scarecrow** was the Joker's right hand and one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside the Queen of Fables) of the first season of the T.V. series *Harley Quinn*.

## Appearance

Scarecrow dresses like his namesake, with his iconic bag around his unseen head, tattered clothing, and straw coming out of his sleeves and pants legs. His appearance was slightly different in his debut episode, "A High Bar", in which he is seen wearing a brown shirt instead of the red one he wears in all episodes onward. He also wears a noose around his neck.

He appears to be wearing contacts or be using other effects to achieve his eerie yellow eyes, seeing how, when he dies, you can see that his true eyes are, in fact, light blue for a few frames.

## Biography

### Background

Jonathan Crane was professor of psychology turned criminal mastermind with an obsession with fear. In his crimes he used a specially designed hallucinogenic drug–dubbed "fear toxin" to exploit the phobias of the people of Gotham City and made a name for himself as an enemy of Batman and member of the Legion of Doom.

For his crimes he would often land himself in Arkham Asylum. He was seen as an inmate at the time Doctor Harleen Quinzel was hired as a new psychiatrist at the institution.

### "A High Bar"

*Main article: A High Bar*

Scarecrow is introduced gossiping with Bane in the Legion of Doom, talking about the Joker's recent breakup with Harley Quinn. He later went to The Penguin's nephew Joshua Cobblepot's bar mitzvah with Bane and Two-Face, and bantered with Harley Quinn when she arrived at his table. However, the Joker soon arrived and drove her off, yelling at Scarecrow to laugh with him, which he nervously did. He then watched as Joshua Cobblepot prepared to kill Harley, commenting that Joshua used "too many adjectives" to insult her, only for Harley to end up escaping. The Joker demanded that she admit she was "nothing" without him, and when she refused, the Joker ordered Scarecrow and the other Legion of Doom members present to attack Harley.

Complying, Scarecrow armed himself with a tank of fear toxin and prepared to attack Harley and Poison Ivy with Two-Face. Two-Face opened fire while Ivy blocked, allowing Harley to jump over their heads and close to grips with Scarecrow. He dodged dexterously, but Harley managed to kick his toxin gun out of his hand. While he bent to recover it, Harley shot the back of his tank and sent him sprawling away from the releasing gases, which infected many party guests with fear toxin. He eventually recovered it and rejoined Two-Face and The Penguin as they all closed in on Harley and Ivy.

A lull in the fight began when the Joker insulted and berated Bane for fighting Kite Man rather than focusing on Harley and Ivy, prompting Harley to demand why they would allow the Joker to treat them so poorly and still follow his orders. This got through to Scarecrow, who lowered his weapon. He agreed with Bane that the Joker calling him a monster was "pretty harsh". He then refused to help the Joker along with the rest of the Legion of Doom members, forcing the Joker to leave the bar mitzvah.

### "So You Need a Crew?"

*Main article: So You Need a Crew?*

Scarecrow was seen briefly during a press conference where Lex Luthor banished Doctor Psycho from the Legion of Doom for using "the c-word".

### "L.O.D.R.S.V.P."

*Main article: L.O.D.R.S.V.P.*

Scarecrow was assigned to show Harley Quinn around the Legion of Doom headquarters due to her prospective membership. He easily impressed King Shark with the large aquarium situated throughout the entire office, and won over Clayface by noting their "Improv Nite" every Wednesday. However, when Poison Ivy compared the Legion's vast wealth to her "shitty college boyfriend", he took it in stride and unveiled the Legion's three kryptonite-powered, missile equipped, hybrid submarines; these particularly impressed Harley. He then departed and left them in Lex Luthor's hands.

Aquaman later arrived to crash the dinner that evening, and although Scarecrow rushed him, he had been disarmed earlier in the evening and was quickly dispatched by Aquaman. He then fell back to Luthor when it became clear that Aquaman was only there for Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Harley eventually drove Aquaman off by goading him into destroying their aquarium, forcing him to save the fish who flooded out into the room. Aquaman then left, and Scarecrow applauded Harley along with the rest of the Legion of Doom, before watching her induction.

### "A Seat at the Table"

*Main article: A Seat at the Table*

Behind the scenes, Joker approached Scarecrow with a plan to overthrow both the Legion of Doom and the Justice League, so Scarecrow began his portion of the plan by helping establish PlanetWide Pavers; a dummy corporation specializing in rough land development in order to entice Poison Ivy into attacking it. Meanwhile, Scarecrow attended a Legion of Doom's weekly meeting where the Joker tried to get approval for a new tower - another part of the plan - which Scarecrow readily agreed with. Harley opposed it, however, wondering why he needed to build a brand new tower, and Scarecrow couldn't help but agree that a flag pole going from the top to the bottom was "a bit garish" and not worth building a completely new tower over. Later, Scarecrow's workers succeeded in capturing Poison Ivy at a PlanetWide Pavers factory.

### "Bensonhurst"

*Main article: Bensonhurst*

Scarecrow kept Ivy captive while he worked on the proper mutations he needed to transform her pheromones into a liquid that would turn plants into ravenous monsters. He also used her DNA to create a special batch of fear toxin that would affect Ivy, as she was normally immune to poisons. On surgery day, he finally revealed himself, sedated Ivy, and had her sent off for surgery.

### "Harley Quinn Highway"

*Main article: Harley Quinn Highway*

Scarecrow ended up recapturing Poison Ivy after she attempted to fight her way out of the facility, easily sedating her once again and taking her in for surgery personally this time. Surgery commenced without issue, Ivy's pheromones being extracted and synthesized under Scarecrow's watchful eye. After synthesization, the pheromones were dispersed into hundreds of tiny vials which were then inserted into individual bombs by PlanetWide Pavers security personnel. The bombs were then loaded onto a fleet of tractor-trailers for shipment to Gotham City.

*❝ Congratulations, mom, you're going to give birth - to the destruction of Gotham. ❞*
— Scarecrow taunting Poison Ivy

Before departing with the bombs, Scarecrow stayed just long enough for Poison Ivy to wake up. He then gloated over his victory but refused to explain what he was doing with her pheromones, intending instead to gas her with fear toxin. He laughed at her suggestion that it wouldn't work on her, saying that he engineered a "special blend" just for Ivy using her own DNA. He then gassed her, and the toxin quickly took effect, allowing him to leave with his shipments before anyone could stop him.

Harley Quinn and her crew soon caught up to him on the Harley Quinn Highway however. Scarecrow continued in his lead tractor-trailer as three of his four vehicles were slowly picked off, but Harley's crew got bogged down, saving Ivy from a fall, allowing Scarecrow to pull ahead. He nearly made the Gotham Park exit, but Harley managed to shoot a rocket at the statue overshadowing the highway, whose head fell onto the road right before Scarecrow. His truck crashed, and his driver died, but the Scarecrow refused to be outdone and managed to drive the tractor-trailer straight off the road into open space - and into the Gotham Reservoir below. This completed his plan, infecting the water supply with Ivy's pheromones and turning plants throughout Gotham City Park into ravenous monsters. Although he lost his mask in the crash, he survived.

### "Devil's Snare"

*Main article: Devil's Snare*

Scarecrow's part in the Joker's was not yet done, and he was now tasked with herding as many people as possible toward the Gotham City Park in order to increase the death count enough to draw in the Justice League. He accomplished this by literally crop-dusting fear toxin around the perimeter of Gotham, forcing them to flee in terror toward the park. This succeeded in drawing the Justice League, who were then imprisoned in a storybook by Queen of Fables, but Scarecrow's actions caught Batman's attention. He came to deal with the situation, only for Scarecrow to ambush him. Although they fought, Scarecrow managed to escape.

### "The Final Joke"

*Main article: The Final Joke*

After the Joker finally managed to take over all of Gotham City (with Scarecrow's help), Scarecrow decided to celebrate their hard won victory and even proposed that they apply fear-toxin to innocent civilians trapped in a maze for fun. The Joker wasn't into it however, but Scarecrow was in a good mood, so he decided to rip off the captured Batman's mask, revealing his identity as Bruce Wayne. His identity shocked Scarecrow, but the Joker was enraged that Scarecrow spoiled the secret. Scarecrow tried to apologize, saying that it seemed like something Harley would do, but this only incensed the Joker further. His continuous apologies only stoked the Joker's rage until he shot acid at his face, melting Scarecrow's head down to the skull, and when he fell over in pain his skull exploded in a shower of gore, killing him.

## Legacy

A picture of him can be seen in a memorial montage during the 83rd Annual Villy Awards.

In "Gotham's Hottest Hotties" his picture as seen as a contact on Harley's phone. She briefly considered calling him as she needed inside information on a murder case before remembering that he was dead and deleting his contact.

## Personality

*❝ Trying to escape on surgery day. Don't worry. Insurance will cover it. Obviously, that was a joke. Insurance would never pay for this. I think we can all agree they're the real villains, yeah? ❞*
— Scarecrow taunting Poison Ivy.[src]

Scarecrow is a sadistic supervillain who loves using fear toxin whenever the opportunity presents itself, although he is not unreasonable. He has occasionally been convinced to go against the Joker, such as when he stood up for Bane and when he rejected the Joker's idea of having a top-to-bottom fire pole in a completely new building as "garish". Beyond these brief lapses, however, he is quite loyal to the Joker, follows his orders, and assists with his schemes - often out of fear of him. He took particular pleasure in tormenting Poison Ivy, and showed a streak of resilience when he drove his truck off of the Harley Quinn Highway into the reservoir below rather than admit defeat, achieving his goals anyway.

He speaks with a Cockney accent (the traditional working-class speech of London, England) for reasons that are never explained.

## Abilities

* **Chemistry**: Scarecrow is a proficient chemist and has used this skill to develop his infamous "fear toxin". He's not a one-trick pony either, as he has been able to adapt it on the fly using Poison Ivy's DNA to make her susceptible to it. He was also able to use Poison Ivy's pheromones to mutate plants into monsters and has found inventive ways to use his existing fear-toxin such as via crop-dusting or through gas canisters.
* **Psychology**: He was an expert psychologist with an emphasis on phobias and fear.
* **Intimidation**: As the Master of Fear, Crane takes delight in frightening his victims.

## Media Appearances

**Season 1**

* "A High Bar"
* "So You Need a Crew?" (cameo; on TV screen)
* "L.O.D.R.S.V.P."
* "A Seat at the Table"
* "Bensonhurst"
* "Harley Quinn Highway"
* "Devil's Snare"
* "The Final Joke"

**Season 2**

* "All the Best Inmates Have Daddy Issues" (cameo; flashback)

**Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red**

* *Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red* #13

**Season 3**

* "The 83rd Annual Villy Awards" (cameo; pictured)

**Season 4**

* "Gotham's Hottest Hotties" (cameo; pictured)

## Trivia

* Joker called him "Bag Head", just like Jerome Valeska (predecessor of Gotham's version of Joker, Jeremiah Valeska) called Scarecrow from the 2019 fourth season of the *Gotham* TV series.
* When Scarecrow unmasked Batman, it was possibly referencing him doing that as well in *Batman: Arkham Knight*.
* Scarecrow is the first villain that is killed in the series. He is also the first villain killed by another villain.

## Gallery

*See also: All images of Scarecrow*

Flashback to Scarecrow in Arkham AsylumFighting Harley Quinn
## References

1. ↑ "Well I’ve been given the go ahead to let you guys know one of the new projects I’ve been working on! Mans is the voice of SCARECROW! #HarleyQuinn". *Twitter* (October 11, 2018).
2. ↑ "All the Best Inmates Have Daddy Issues" *DC Universe* (May 8, 2020).
3. ↑ "The 83rd Annual Villy Awards" HBO Max (July 28, 2022).