Hello everybody this is Justin Barnes and I am going to talk about the Scarecrow from Batman Arkham Asylum. I warn you though, spoilers are everywhere. So if you don’t like spoilers, THEN DON”T READ THIS POST! Scarecrow’s real name is Dr. Johnathan Crane who was bullied and tormented throughout his youth. Crane vowed to overcome his fear via the study of psychology and biochemistry, however he got kicked out of college when he was caught using students as test subjects. He later developed the identity of Scarecrow and is famous for using a special gas that is code-named “fear gas”. It is called that because when a person inhales the gas, that person’s deepest phobias look frighteningly real to them and it drives them completely insane.
In the game, Scarecrow was one of the inmates on Joker’s so-called “party list”. He makes his first appearance when Batman is trying to save Commissioner Gordon from Harley Quinn. When Batman descended into the lower parts of the Medical Facility, he was effected by some fear gas Crane pumped into the elevator and witnesses him fill an operating room with the gas which caused the staff and patients in the room to panic until the point of death. Batman later sees Commissioner Gordon crying for help and soon sees him dead. Batman soon enters the morgue and hears a voice saying “get out of here” which grows louder every second. When he leaves, he ends up in the same room, but there are three body bags. Two of them contain his deceased parents which speak to him and when he opens the third one, Scarecrow jumps at him. Batman then enters a nightmarish world where a huge Scarecrow floats in the middle of the area and seeks to find him. Batman avoids Scarecrow’s gaze and uses a Bat Signal that contains his will power to destroy the huge Scarecrow and end the hallucination. When back in reality, Batman sees that he person he thought was Commissioner Gordon that Crane killed was actually a security guard.
Later when Batman destroys Dr. Penelope Young’s Titan formula in the Arkham Mansion, he is effected by Crane’s gas again which makes him relive his parents’ murder by walking down a never-ending hallway which is turning into a city alleyway every second and hears the voices of his parents, himself when he was 8 and the voice of the murderer named Joe Chill which is monstrously distorted. Once he hears his parents get shot, Batman becomes what he looked like when he was 8 years old and hears the voices of Gordon and another cop that are discussing the effects of the murder on him before Gordon can ask him any questions. Batman than enters another hallucination that is just like the one he experienced in the Medical Facility. When he ends the hallucination, he sees that he somehow got locked in clock tower of the mansion.
Scarecrow’s next appearance in Arkham Asylum was when Batman re-entered the Intensive Treatment building so he could access Killer Croc’s {real name is Waylon Jones} lair. Batman got affected by the gas which caused him to relive the events at the beginning of the game but this time, he and Joker switched places. Batman than entered another hallucination nightmare and escapes it. He awakens to see he is holding Scarecrow by the neck and Scarecrow injects some more of the fear toxin into Batman which makes Batman enter another nightmare where he is fighting skeletons, that are actually Joker’s men. When he defeats all three waves, he breaks out of the nightmare. Scarecrow is shocked because Batman had ingested enough toxins to drive 10 men insane, and managed to overcome their effects.
Crane’s next appearance is when Batman first enters Killer Croc’s lair which is a sewer below the Transfer Room in the Intensive Treatment Building. After Batman enters the sewer, Scarecrow threatens to drop a bag full of his gas into Gotham’s water supply which will plunge Gotham into constant terror for 100 years. Before he can drop it, Killer Croc attacks Crane which causes him to drop the bag on the ground. Batman throws a Batarang at Croc’s shock collar before Croc can eat Scarecrow. The shock caused Croc to retreat but he dragged Crane with him. Some say the Scarecrow escaped Croc by unknown means.
Crane’s last appearance in the game is after the end credits. When a crate of the Titan formula is floating across the Gotham River, Scarecrow’s hand reaches out of the water and grabs it {same goes for Croc and Bane}.
Before I go, I would like to tell you a couple of Scarecrow quotes that i like. The first ones is during his first appearance.
Staff: Please Dr. Crane! Don’t do this!
Crane: There is no Crane..
Staff: They’re all over me!
Crane: Only Scarecrow!
The second one is during the first hallucination
Scarecrow: (laughs an evil laugh} Poor little bat! You’re in my world now!
The next quote is when Batman breaks out of the third hallucination.
Scarecrow: How are you doing this?! You’ve ingested enough toxins to drive 10 men insane! What are you?!
I have also attached a picture of Scarecrow to this post so when you see this guy, be prepared to face your fears. All of them! Thanks for reading this and don’t forget to rate and comment.
The Middle School Messenger 