I feel like all the PhDs in Arkham have their own exclusive book club: Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Professor Pyg, Hugo Strange. They try to recruit Harley Quinn, but she thinks they're lame. Meanwhile Hush is always trying to join, but they won't accept him because he's an MD.

"Most hats are awful" "That's why I'm taking you to this hat show" *His partner is crushed by a giant hat* "I must become what I hate...I am now HATMAN!"

Harley, scarecrow, and Hugo: the Shrink squad

The arkham game Scarecrow has an amazing line about Batman’s use of fear where he says “We both utilise fear but only one of us understands it”

You know who wears big hats? THE SCARECROW! Truly Batman's archenemies

I remember my first Scarecrow comic was this one story where he was being made fun of by the guards at Arkham, mostly about how without his fear toxin he's lame and not a threat. So he proceeds to escape and find ways to scare people without his fear gas. Sometimes through hypnotism, but mostly from just killing people. My favorite moment was when Bruce Wayne was out for dinner with a girl and he says there's no reason to be afraid of Scarecrow, because at this point he only attacked at night and never in the middle of the day. Eventually though, they realize they hadn't seen their waitress in a while. Suddenly, a scream from the bathroom. Apparently the Scarecrow had been in that restaurant and had killed the woman in the restroom before escaping. It was pretty cool seeing everyone in Gotham being so frightened by the Scarecrow through very real means rather than through some fictional gas.

New theory Joe chill was wearing a woman’s hat when he shot Batman’s parents

You might say early scarecrow appearances were a bit… SCARcE lol Also I think Scarecrow should’ve been the big bad in Batman begins than just a middleman for Ra’s, he was very interesting and we should’ve seen him more in the costume. Hopefully he’ll be the big bad in one of the upcoming Batman movies, that would be pretty awesome

"I may be compelled to fear, but I'm not compelled to care" is such a good burn, even Jonathan Crane wouldn't know what to do to you after saying this! Because, if you don't care, you can't get scared... genius.

There were three interesting Scarecrow stories that I found to be very interesting twists on his fear theme. One episode of the Batman Animated Series had the Scarecrow using a variant of his fear toxin that removed people's fear, which basically turned them into poor-impulse control lunatics. His theory was that it is only fear, particularly fear of punishment, that hold society together. When Batman was exposed to the toxin he became progressively more and more violent, to the point where Robin had to physically restrain him to keep him from killing some goons. Second is during the Darkest Night story line the Scarecrow is given a temporary yellow power ring to fight the Black Lanterns, and he desperately wants to keep it, because while wearing it he can once again feel actual fear himself (over-exposure to his fear toxin had at this point rendered him incapable of feeling any fear himself.) Finally his story during No Mans' Land when he uses his skills as a psychologist to try to try tear apart one the small communities that had formed in the ruins of Gotham.

I Love Bruce Wayne's Passionate Hatred of Women's Hats.

I did a deep dive on Scarecrow awhile back, and those early days were ROUGH, even with Batman TAS, his first appearance design wasn't that scary, but his effects worked. Then his second appearance onward, he's been used so we'll since, especially the New Batman Adventures Scarecrow, Jeffrey Combs man! I love how Nolan's Scarecrow became a constant in the series, but Begins is always my favorite distilled version. Probably the best use of Scarecrow as a threat was the Arkham games, in Asylum, he made you think the game crashed, in Knight, he has this corpse look, and voiced by John Noble, and it's the most intimidating thing. (Also, nice logo change, that's what that photo shoot was for!)

Bruce Wayne equates women wearing hats to the fall of civilization. This doesn't make him sound very brave.

The current Scarecrow (at the time of this writing); using the fear of what might happen being more powerful than an actual event is brilliant.

To me Scarecrow is on the top 5 of favorite Batman villains. I wish Nolan would have used him properly. Here´s hoping he comes back in the new movies. As for favorite versions? The one of "Over the Edge" and the one from Arkham Asylum game. PS Please, the stories of Creeper and Phantom Stranger. The first because he´s one of my favorite DC characters and I can´t never understand if he´s a villain or a hero. The second because I have a magazine explaining the story of Stranger and not even after reading it I understood. However, I find him fascinating.

Scarecrow is one of my favorite ideas for a Batman villain. It's a shame the execution is so rarely there. The Cillian Murphy version from the Dark Knight franchise gets closer than most.

I feel like Scarecrow would be more effective if he utilized more existential fears in his arsenal. Spiders and snakes are cool and all, but things like fears of being forgotten, of being worthless, that your life is meaningless and will amount to nothing, of dying alone, of losing control or autonomy would be much more insidious.

Now I'm curious of your thoughts on the first appearance of Fear Gas, in Detective Comics #46, when Hugo Strange uses it. Also, weird thing to learn, Scarecrow WASN'T the first person to use a gas that causes fear

Do a red tornado episode please.

Sasha saying "Tell me things" is like Wonder Woman's rope.

@6:49 Joseph Gordon Levitt: "... Then, one day at the orphanage, 'Bruce Wayne, Billionaire Orphan!' showed up in an ice cream truck with his butler..." 😉

Had no idea Scarecrow was from the Golden Age I thought he was late Silver Age

Nice to see Crane getting some love here. Would love to see more coverage for him and the Riddler. I love Joker and Harley and Punchline, but sometimes...it can get a bit much. That said, Moar Harley/Punchline coverage too, please. lol

Sasha hits on something here that has been driving me crazy. Batman understands fear, like she said, he uses fear. How DC has missed this and hasn't used this aspect of Bruce when pitting the two of them against each other is beyond me. Although I do think TAS touched on this, but even that didn't take it as far as it could go.

Love how happy Robin is acting out his Scrooge Mcduck fantasy on that wartime comic cover.

As a lad I remember my first comic that Included Scarecrow was a JLA issue that had him teaming with Poison Ivy and causing crowds to believe there were generic versions of King Kong and Godzilla destroying their city. For some reason the Heros had decieded to switch up the villian they were dispatched to overcome. My memory may fail me but I believe Superman took care of those two and Batman overcame Chronos.

I have somewhere a dc trade called Scarecrow tales which collects a lot of his stories from the 70's to the 90's. It's fascinating watching the retelling of his origin change with the times, as the students he experiments on go from rich young men in suits to girls in mini skirts. Three stories that always stick in the mind for me: 1: One in an issue of Batman Adventures where he escapes Arkham and goes to work at a college under an assumed name. Because he just wants to teach again. But the scarecrow side of his person won't stay buried. A great scene during a lecture when he has the mask on his desk and he's the only one who can see it saying 'scarecrow!' 2: An issue of Gotham Knights [this is in the aforementioned trade] where Batman gets a whiff of fear gas then has repeating visions of his bodyguard of the time Sasha Bordeaux telling him a bat family member has been injured. He says why the vision isn't real. Then another happens. But then when he gets back to reality he finds one - forget whether it was Lucius or Alfred - was true. 3: a two parter Stuart Moore did during the noughties, in which two arkham inmates chide him for being no good without his fear gas. So he sets out to prove he can scare people without it. Since the piping in Arkham is so old if you speak into it you can be heard in the whole building. So he spends the whole night describing how he will kidnap these men's families and then in great detail what he will do to them. Come the morning the two men are found dead in their cells. They'd pushed their fingers into their ears so they wouldn't have to hear him talking anymore, and they pushed so far in they damaged their brains. That always sticks in the mind as it's one of the most macabre things I've ever read. On a lighter note: I see a copy of Blankets on your shelves! A truly great graphic novel.

I've always thought, in terms of a live action adaptation, the Scarecrow could be a very effective and terrifying villain, played as a sort of emotionless, sociopath trying to understand fear through experimentation. And the thought has occurred to me - and it'll probably sound strange - but I'd have Conan O'Brien play him. In addition to the lanky physicality, Conan has that deadpan delivery; and I feel like if you applied that to a character in the right context, like Crane, carrying out these horrible acts, literally terrorizing people, but all with a detached, expressionless curiosity, it would be seriously unnerving in just the right way for the character.

I mean, let's not forget that the DC and Marvel Scarecrows teamed up in the crossover to kidnap Lois Lane!

Art by Bob Kane, Huh? Knowing what a Schyster Kane was, I'm betting it's safe to say it was Really Bill Finger, or a Ghost Artist.

I feel that lot of people forget 99% old character were silly but they evolve to fit the ages and most concept to this days are really still silly. I think most character can shine under right people.

The most common secret family member trope: Evil Twin!

Possibly someone else mentioned this but my favorite Scarecrow tale is the Super Powers Team episode "The Fear". Scarecrow uses these skull-shaped devices so he can choose the fear he induces, and learns that for some reason (as in we know why but he doesn't) Batman is afraid of one particular part of Gotham, "Crime Alley". (Of course this is where his parents die and surprising for a Saturday morning kids show it's the first time Batman's origin was told outside of the comic unless you count a throw-away line in the first episode of the 60s show.) So he created a special fear inducer just for Batman that projects images of Crime Alley into his mind, which ends up backfiring and Batman loses his one fear. And credit to Adam West, who had taken over the Batman character in the previous Superfriends season. He really sells Bruce's fear to the point that Wonder Woman comes to help. It's strange to hear West do a dramatic Batman but he does a good job and it was nice to get to hear him do another dramatic role as the Simon Trent/The Grey Ghost in B:TAS.

The Amalgam Comics Scarecrow who is Amalgamated from DC's Scarecrow and Marvel's Scarecrow

What I learned: Bruce will never be seen at Royal Ascot.

"They didn't really solve it, they just guessed right the first time". Wasn't that how Batman 66' solved mysteries and found hideouts?

"Or you could do what some of these stories do..." This is the level of shade I keep coming back for, thank you, Sasha.

Upon hearing about Bruce's hatred of hats Jervis Tetch swore revenge for this insult against his favourite headwear.

Scarecrow is just such an underrated villain. I'm glad James Tynion is using him as a big bad for the Bat event coming soon. Even more, he's using Scarecrow so far as suggested. Not even a drop of tear toxin. Just putting a random scarecrow in places got the people of Gotham freaked the hell out. As for favorite Scarecrow? It's gotta be Jeffery Combs' Scarecrow. He was downright terrifying and didn't even use fear toxin in his episode. Alright, he used toxin that made you not fear. But man was Combs' Scarecrow freaking amazing.

There was a brilliant story during No Man's Land, where Crane faced off against Huntress. In my memory, he didn't wear his costume, or use any fear gas, but was just (being a psychology professor) manipulating people's xenophobia and paranoia. Made him a lot scarier, because that's so real; don't have to look far for real-world examples!

No doubt that Cillian Murphy was a fantastic pick for Crane in the Nolan movies, just saw him in a Quiet Place II and it was awesome.

One of my favourite Scarecrow tricks (which I feel should get a mention) is the removal of fear which I remember reading in Detective Comics 571. Scarecrow goes and sees someone in hospital who has taken his anti-fear drugs and suggests to them that they could survive jumping out the window, in which they agree and they jump to their death. The idea that by taking away your fear could get you killed is cool too.

I think there is a huge overlap with what the Scarecrow could be and what Hugo Strange became in some media. Strange was fascinated with the various psychosis of people and what drove them to commit crime or not (why would the death of parents make Bruce Wayne AKA Batman become a hero while the same event drove others to become villains or make them depressed). Some depictions of Crane had him obsessed over how people reacted to fear, how some would run away like animals while others would fight. I guess what I;m saying here is, since those two crossed over so much, it was difficult to make either the definitive in the area.

And now we know...Bruce Wayne is scared of ladies' hats! Bring on the cloche, pillboxes, and fascinators!

Bruce Wayne dislikes hats? I bet the Mad Hatter really brought his blood to a boil!

I always felt, Dr. Crane in the hands of a good writer is a horrifying idea. I would like to see a Hugo Strange team up book in which the two doctors exchange "therapeutic" treatment ideas for the Arkham. Also in my head cannon scarecrow will always be afraid of birds and choose his identity as an almost opposite to The Batman truly embracing that fear. Love your videos and your style, stay awesome!

Scarecrow and Clayface are my favorite of the rogue's gallery!

The Riddler appeared twice in 1948 in the pages of Detective Comics and then vanished for 17 years. I have always wondered why he was remembered and dusted off. Same thing with Two Face, but unlike Riddler he had five appearances and two impersonators. He was gone for 17 years and I have an understanding of why, but the Riddler's two shot then sudden resurface is a riddle in itself.

I love the scarecrow! My favorite versions are: Batman: The Animated Series, and Batman Begins. I did not like that they made him a pawn to Ras. Being a writer, you could have made Scarecrow the main villain and Batman Begins would have been the same film. What is your favorite animated film from Detective Comics Sasha?

A new episode on my birthday! Best present! Thank you so much for posting a new one today.

The idea of what makes you afraid is what makes it hard for writers to get a good grip on what makes Scarecrow effective. Do they focus on more physical fears such as getting hurt or suffering a fatal accident? Or do they focus on social phobias and fears- there's a slew of 'isms' that Crane can exploit to horrific and tragic results. Considering the wild variety of quality in his stories it's hard to pick one that really stands out to me- I think a bit of research is called for. :)

There needs to be a team up with Scarecrow and another villain that “disappeared for a long time. Mad Hatter! Not only would hats be a great way to deliver fear toxins, but double threat for Bruce Wayne! Just a tip for Crane: when taking a Submarine to dig up loot, maybe don’t do it in the daytime? The kids on the playground getting Ice Cream are right over there! Sasha: love the updated profile pic! You’re looking away like you were distracted, or expecting to be on a South Park album cover. Either way, boss move, man!

4:05 A Jade Scarecrow sounds very odd indeed.

It's a shame Jeff Combs wasn't the voice of the Scarecrow in all of the Batman: the animated series. He was perfect!

Somehow Crane is stealing both Mad Hatter's and Riddler's plans

I think when he was brought back in batman 189 they were going to put him in the 60s batman TV show which would have been excellent I wish I had the two original golden age apperances I always wandered where he appeared next after batman 189 because he was underused in the 70s too I did like he was one of the jury in who killed batman issues 292 to 294

It's always thought provoking when characters disappear. in 1998 werewolf by nights had a mini series and a few one off issues in strange tales that seemed to lead up to him becoming a villain or at least a uncontrollable werewolf but then he was gone till 2005 and he was just back to normal.

Through this entire essay I was thinking of those exact 2 scenes from Batman Begins. I especially love the "He's here... The Bat .. Man" scene!

You know Bruce buying an ice cream truck probably didn't do him any favors to those who said Batman was a bad influence.

It's good to see someone else recognize the potential for the Scarecrow. I've begun writing my own Batman script with the Scarecrow as the main villain, and I've done some deep dives on the character that I'm pretty proud of because he's a character that has a lot going for him.

One thing I always remember about Scarecrow is that he is the only Arkham resident (besides Dr. Destiny himself) with any meaningful part in the Sandman issues set there.

I’ve been saying this for years, Crane is one of my favorite characters, if not my absolute favorite character in comics and he is criminally underrated, which can be attributed to how underutilized his true potential is. I started with Batman: The Animated Series and it launched a lifelong love and appreciation for the character but when I moved to comics and started reading some of his older stuff, good stories were few and far between. Fear For Sale in his first post crisis appearance remains one of my favorite stories to date and I have high hopes for Fear State. Like you, I have a myriad of issues with the Nolan films but Cillian Murphy’s Crane was not one of them.

I have a beat-up copy of Batman 189 and have read it many times because the cover was so cool. The story was so-so to me and got me past the boredom that had me reading it but I never thought much of the Scarecrow. Even with the numerous times that he appeared in the Super Friends cartoon, I accepted him as part of Batman's villains, like the Joker and Penguin. It wasn't until I saw Batman Begins did the character change from a campy type of villain to a serious and deadly one.

I started getting seriously into Bat-books around the Knightfall era and I always thought that Scarecrow was one of the more interesting Batman villains at that time. But a good Scarecrow story requires more involvement and effort to pull off than some of the others---there has to be a certain level of psychological subtlety to make it really interesting. I have images of some good ones in my mind but I can't cite title and issue for them.

I'm so glad you brought up Batman Begins. I thought of that version of Jonathan Crane when you were saying that Scarecrow is a good way to discuss how Batman uses fear in his crime-fighting. I appreciated that in that movie, Crane's fear toxin is engineered, but it is derived from the blue flower that Bruce needs to find to get to Ra's al Ghul, and that Ra's uses in a fear-based initiation ritual. It's a well-conceived origin for Crane that ties him directly to Bruce Wayne, and links their shared tactic. I had assumed that had come from old comics I hadn't read yet, but now I'm not so sure! Time to read!

Nightwing's sister proved to me that you have 80 years to introduce a secret family member for a major character, and not a day more. Scarecrow, like a lot of villains who aren't Joker or Harley, seems to get a lot more love in the tv shows and movies than the comics. One of the things that kinda showed off his lead antagonist potential for me, and normalized a 40 year old crossover as something that just routinely happens, was when he just kinda shows up as a major role in Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo. Like none of the other Gotham heroes and villains, just Dr. Crane loving the heck out of being best frenemies with Velma Dinkley. Like he'd finally found a worthy opponent, and he even got protective when the other bad guys actually tried to hurt her. It was kinda sweet.

I remember thinking Scarecrow was a major villain when I was a kid even if he never quite lived up to my impressions. My first encounter with him was in an issue of the Joker's own comic where there was a conflict between the two villains. I knew about Joker but had no idea who Scarecrow was. And then, Scarecrow was a member of the Legion of Doom in the Superfriends cartoon. And he was even in the Injustice Gang in the comics, fighting the Justice League (I particularly remember them showing up in a storyline involving Ultraa, the hero from Earth Prime). He's an odd choice to be a member of these villain groups, but I guess he was somewhat well-known while also having a useful gimmick but not one that was too useful.

The greatest way to learn what a person most fears is to see what they try to scare others with. I love the Scarecrow. They’re 100% my favorite Batman rogue. If you want a good read for both a comic which dives into Cranes own fears, as well as different forms of fears being utilized might I recommend checking out “scarecrow: year one” Another good one is New Years Evil: Scarecrow vol. 1 #1 or “Scarecrow Mistress of Fear” which not only dives into Jonathan Crane’s relationship with fear in more depth but also how he uses it to manipulate people and why. It also gives us a great… not “romance” or “crush” per say, but a definite intimate intention and obsession with a woman who dares to stand up against him. The kind of connection with another person which we’ve never really seen from The Scarecrow before. Definitely worth the read- if for nothing else to see the ridiculous outfit Jonathan Crane thought a lady counterpart of his should have I would kill to see you do a series like you did for Clayface but with The Scarecrow.

Love the new profile picture!

Didn’t Scarecrow make an appearance in Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl run?

Oh yes, batfamily overcoming fear toxin with with their trauma. I remember this one comic panel where Bruce was telling Tim that he was proud of him for dealing with the toxin and Tim was like 'thanks, it's because everyone I love has been taken from me :)'

Great video! Thank you!

You should do one every year about non-copyrighted or one that fell out of copyright

Great vid, Sasha. Really interesting dive into the psychology of Scarecrow. Fear means different things to different people so it's likely very appealing for writers to tackle the character and bring their own take to him. Keep up the good work!

"I may be compelled to fear, but I'm not compelled to care."😂🤣 Oh, Sasha! You fill my day with laughter! 😁😀

I get compliments on your merch all the time! I got the unisex long sleeve white shirt with the Approved by Casually Comics stamp approval (: love it . Thank you!

As a quiet bookworm with no social life, I kind of feel for the Scarecrow. Is that wrong?

I liked the version from the issue of Brave and Bold, when they reveal how Bat and Cat finally became lovers and eventually married...

I like it when you see someone affected by fear gas and you get these like monstrous-looking forms of characters.

Favorite scarecrow is definitely when he got a yellow lantern ring during blackest night.

I love the Dark Knight Trilogy version especially in Batman Begins, but the Arkham games were great like 'crashing your game' in Asylum which legit scares you for a second, then the intro of Arkham Knight is amazing, I know there's issues with Arkham Knight everyone has but when he releases his fear toxin over Gotham it's awesome, I thought Gotham did a good job at a young Scarecrow and I liked his design, but yeah he's really under used despite his potential I want to see him get a Yellow Lantern ring.

He wasn't missing... He was TWEEKIN'.

In The Blackest Night Sinestro was not happy when Crain got a yellow ring. He said that it was because Crain was a buffoon, but I think if Crain was allowed to keep the ring he would have mastered the power of fear beyond Sinestro witch is what really scared him

arkham asylum scarecrow made still scares the shit out of me to this day

He was the best part of Arkham Asylum

Someone at DC in the '40s really hated women's hats, because the Flash also had a story about how much he disliked them.

Quality off-season halloween content

I had a weird thought of travelling back in time and using the current art syles to take the comic world by storm, but then realized that they wouldnt be ready for that type of art with 1 the comics code and 2- stories of TOdd mcfarland getting grief for how he drew Spiderman.

I have always like Scarecrow more than the other rogues just because of his association with fear and the dark country ural aspect of his costume. I have not read the Scarebeast issues As the Crow Flies yet but it seems to be a minor appearance of Scarecrow. I would love to see an arc that has a curse on Gotham City that change the heroes and villains into a physical representation of their names like a giant Penguin for Penguin, a straw and cloth Scarecrow for Scarecrow, a cat woman for Catwoman, a bat man for for Batman (who gets into a fight with Man-Bat over stealing his motif), etc, but this seems like something that may have already happened.

Great video as always! I'd love your thoughts on mister miracle, please! different iterations, how he fits into the new gods and the superhero community, being switched at birth, daddy darkseid, tom king's miniseries, and the future of the character (shilo norman).

That was the most normal that we're going to see your hair. It's beautiful! And Scarecrow was good too.

I have a friend of mine that thinks that Scarecrow, not Joker, should be Batman's main villain. Both of them being users of fear as a weapon, but on different sides of the coin. Don't know if I agree with that, but I can understand his view in that regard.

Love the background music its very calming

I just looked it up and there is a phobia of hats. It's called cocklaphobia. Perhaps the criminals of Gotham should recruit Hatman to fight Batman.

I missed this video when it was first released, but now I'm watching it in October, so it seems apt!

Great video, but when are the Clayface going to come back? Those were sooooo good.

My favorite version of the Scarecrow is the Creeper from the Jeepers Creepers movies. Somewhat more seriously, I think a lot could be done with the character if he were more mysterious, and the toxin made him appear to have supernatural powers, along with the manifestations from the victim's psyche. Also, each Scarecrow story could center around different types of scares: phobias, urban legends, hauntings, and even domestic fears like divorce.

I remember liking the Scarecrow/Hugo Strange story by Doug Moench in the Legends of the Dark Knight series.

I love your videos to include this one, but whats up with the music ? such a somber mood it presents which contrasts your awesome energy and humor in the video!

Later versions were more fully realized (except for a few cool moody covers back in the day) and I probably saw Marvel's 1st, but MY Scarecrow will always be the first one I ever recall getting creeped out by, the one from Challenge of the Superfriends ( didnt help having my father call him "Pruneface" brrr).