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Batman #113 revealed the true origins of Scarecrow’s chosen moniker and how Dr. Jonathan Crane views himself in relation to the rest of society.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman #113, on sale now from DC Comics.
Batman is racing against the clock to stop Scarecrow’s latest plan to attack Gotham City. But a literal trip down memory lane with Ghost-Maker revealed that Scarecrow’s ultimate goal is tied up in the name he chose for himself. In Batman #113 by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey and Clayton Cowles, it’s revealed that Jonathan Crane’s alter ego was not one chosen simply because it has the word “scare” in it or even because he fears it.
Rather, it is a reminder of what Scarecrow strives for: the evolution of modern society by overcoming their collective fears, represented by him.
While examining Ghost-Maker’s past working with a young Jonathan Crane, Batman finally gained insight into how the fear state works. First, one must shock a massive population with something akin to a terrorist attack or the Joker War. Next, that collective fear needed to be focused, made to be represented by a single figure or entity. This part of the experiment is what Crane called a “scarecrow,” the collective manifestation of an entire society’s fears — something they must overcome to better themselves.
That is how the Scarecrow perceives himself at this moment. He has turned himself into a figure of doom for the city, but to him, he is the harbinger of their evolution. He cited early man learning to see different shades of green to spot snakes in the grass and came to accept that by overcoming fear, humans can mentally and physically enhance themselves. Scarecrow chose a name to remind him of the power that fear can instill in others.
It’s even exemplified in his current outfit. While it does make him look more horrifying than he has in years, it is also more similar to an actual scarecrow. Scarecrow is dehumanizing himself to, in his own twisted mind, help Gotham City. The entire point of all of this was to put Gotham through his experiment and to help them overcome their demons and come out the other end better than they were before. It’s a case of swallowing bitter medicine to get stronger.
But while this may seem like a noble goal, it is not a proven theory. Scarecrow believes it will succeed, but the fear state is nothing more than a twisted experiment. He’s seen Batman go through a personal fear state and become stronger for it, but what an entire society can survive and what Batman can go through are two entirely different things. Even Simon Saint, the man who read the fear state theory and freed Scarecrow because of it, never truly intended to follow it all the way through. The potential risks would be catastrophic if they were wrong.
But Scarecrow doesn’t believe he’s wrong. He’s dedicated his life to this and made an entire persona for himself to see his beliefs validated. His alter ego isn’t just some way to frighten people, it is a promise of what he is and what they need to overcome. He might actually believe that he is the hero in this instance and that it is people like Batman or the Magistrate who are holding the city back.
Now, he has set off a ticking time bomb in Gotham and it won’t be long before it goes off. He’s already set the stage, Peacekeeper-01 is losing his mind in the streets and is set to become the “scarecrow” in this grand experiment, prepping the city for a mass panic like it’s never experienced before. And in the aftermath, whether the experiment yields a positive result or not, Scarecrow will watch and undoubtedly be willing to try again.
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