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Legion of Doom Team Member

Scarecrow

As he appeared in Season 9

ScarecrowFilmation

Scarecrow (His Filmation appearance)

The Scarecrow, aka Jonathan Crane, is a supervillain, and a member (or former member) of the Legion of Doom. He is one of Batman's worst foes.

Background Information[]

Scarcrow 5

On the parallel-universe of Earth-One, Jonathan Crane was obsessed with fear, from an early age. He enjoyed chasing birds to watch them flee in a panic.

As an adult, he would became a professor of psychology, where by day he would teach students the psychology of fear, while at spending his nights as a recluse spending his evenings alone reading books. His obscure behavior and gangly appearance made him an outcast among his peers. Jealous and paranoid of them, Crane would soon be inspired when giving a lecture on how criminals use fear to intimidate those into doing their bidding. The following evening while pondering this idea, Crane would decide to give up his academic career and become a costumed criminal known as the Scarecrow, employing his expertise on fear as his major tool in crime. His criminal career would eventually lead to a clash with Batman and Robin, and subsequent apprehension and arrest in early 1967. This would lead to the dynamic duo knowing the Scarecrow's secret identity.[5]

A little more than a year later, the Scarecrow would escape prison and attempt to get revenge against Batman by forcing the Dark Knight to swallow a pill that makes Batman fear the Scarecrow. However, after putting away a number of his other foe and escaping a deathtrap set by the Scarecrow, Batman would shake off the drugs effects and take the Scarecrow back into custody.[6]

Amazingly, Jonathan Crane was released from prison a year later. This was not unnoticed by Batman, who would would meet Crane to see if he had indeed been reformed. Although he feigned having turned over a new leaf, Jonathan of course had not. When he extended his hand for Batman to shake, he secretly injected him with a fear drug that would make all those who see him become very afraid. Trapping Batman in a room of mirrors, the Caped Crusader would find that his own reflection causes him fear, however Batman would shake off the effects before he could die of fright and recapture the Scarecrow.[7]

Earth-1A History[]

Although Batman had tangled with the Scarecrow several times throughout the 70's, when he was with the Legion of Doom, it would not be till 1985 that he would officially meet Professor Jonathan Crane.

Professor Crane was working as an officer of the court[8] (perhaps as a consultant), for Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department, to help them find the Scarecrow and put an end to his exploits of fear.

Using his detective skills, Batman was able to figure out that Scarecrow and Professor Crane were one and the same. He was soon able to apprehend Crane and turn him over to the Gotham City Police.


Hidden Lair[]


Equipment[]

Transportation[]

  • Biplane (used in the comic book / Earth One universe)
  • Crop duster helicopter


First Model[]

Alex Toth Scarecrow Model Sheet

Scarecrow by Alex Toth.

Observe this earlier model sheet which featured a much different take on The Scarecrow, with a long tattered trench coat, scarf and actual straw protruding. The face is more comical, though. The color scheme listed is fitting, red, blue, green, yellow, brown, tan... a hodgepodge of thrown together bits... which is what most real scarecrows are! I will say, though, that the Scarecrow in the comics is always rendered in shades of brown, so the version that actually made it to TV is accurate there, but the sketch is a unique take.


Legion of Doom Team Members[]

Members of the Legion of Doom

Core Members:
Lex LuthorBrainiacBlack MantaCheetahSinestroGorilla GroddCaptain ColdScarecrow
ToymanSolomon Grundy • The RiddlerGigantaBizarro

Expanded Team:
Doctor Natas


Appearances[]

Episode Appearances[]

Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder (1969, A Filmation Series):

Superfriends TV Show, Season 3 (1978):

  1. Wanted: The Superfriends
  2. Invasion of the Fearians
  3. The World's Deadliest Game
  4. The Time Trap
  5. Trial of the Superfriends
  6. Monolith of Evil
  7. The Giants of Doom
  8. Secret Origins of the Superfriends
  9. Revenge on Gorilla City
  10. Swamp of the Living Dead
  11. Conquerors of the Future
  12. The Final Challenge
  13. Fairy Tale of Doom
  14. Doomsday
  15. Superfriends: Rest in Peace
  16. History of Doom

Superfriends TV Show, Season 5 (1983):

Superfriends TV Show, Season 9 (1985):


Comic Book Appearances[]

Earth-One Appearances:

  • Justice League of America, #111 (May/June 1974)
  • Justice League of America, #143 (June 1977)
  • Justice League of America, #158 (September 1978)

Earth-1A Appearance:


Notes[]

  • The Scarecrow first appeared in World's Finest Comics, Vol. 1, #3[9] (Fall 1941).
  • The Scarecrow was invented by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
  • He may be undead, since some later incarnations show him with a noose around his neck. He also sometimes takes on a more ghoulish appearance, with a sinister gas mask, glowing eyes, and/or a stitched mouth.

References[]

  1. Ted Knight provided the voice of Scarecrow in The Adventures of Batman (1968).
  2. Don Messick provided the voice of Scarecrow in all his voiced appearances in the Superfriends except for The Fear.
  3. Andre Stojka did the voice of Scarecrow in The Fear.
  4. Francisco Colmenero did the voice of the Scarecrow for the Spanish dub.
  5. As revealed in Batman, Vol. 1 #189 (February, 1967), which can be found at the DC Database.
  6. As revealed in Batman, Vol. 1 #200 (March, 1968), which can be found at the DC Database.
  7. As revealed in Detective Comics, Vol. 1 #389 (July, 1969), which can be found at the DC Database.
  8. The generic term officer of the court applies to all those who, in some degree in function of their professional or similar qualifications, aid in forging justice out of the application of the law and the simultaneous pursuit of the legitimate interests of all parties and the general good of society. In Professor Crane's case, he was no doubt used because of his expertise in a particular field.
  9. Go to the DC Database for more on the World's Finest Comics, Vol.1, #3 (Fall 1941).

External Links[]


Appearances in Other Media[]

Scarecrow DCAU Scarecrow Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, was a psychology professor turned supervillain. He was terminated by Gotham University for his unscrupulous scientific experiments. Eventually the Dark Knight overcame and imprisoned his foe. Some time later, the Scarecrow escaped from Arkham Asylum.

This version of Scarcrow is based on Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1999) and The New Batman Adventures (1997-1999).
- For more on Scarecrow see article at 'DCAU'


References[]

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