Dr. Jonathan Cillian Crane aka The Scarecrow
Early Life & Career
Born out of wedlock and thus a bastard child, Jonathan was initially shunned by his mother's family who took her away and left Jonathan to be raised by his father. A cruel man with a capacity for brutal and sadistic punishments, Jonathan's father would push the envelope with Crane, locking the boy inside a root cellar for days or leaving him strung up like a scarecrow in the field until Jonathan passed out from the heat. These acts of cruelty left numerous psychological scars on young Crane but also awoke his interest in fear. As his father instilled more fear in Crane, the boy began to feel himself excited by the sensation and eventually he was addicted to it, seeking out punishment in order to experience the feeling of fear until one day his father didn't scare him anymore. At the age of twelve, Crane tried to push his father to punish him further and further and while the boy's body was harmed, he couldn't feel the same fear he once had and as such pushed harder eventually turning his father's own tactics on him, holding a gun to his father's head daring him to scare Jonathan. His father resisted and tried to struggle with Jonathan for the gun and in the heat of the struggle the weapon discharged, Jonathan finding himself sitting covered in his father's blood.
Eventually found by the police, the authorities determined that Crane had acted in self defense seeing the scars and evidence of the abuse that the boy had suffered. Trying to get in contact with Jonathan's mother, the police eventually revealed she had died a year earlier due to complications from a sexually transmitted disease, likely passed to her by Jonathan's father. Without either of his biological parents alive to care for him, Jonathan was put in the care of his fanatically religious grandmother.
Seeing Jonathan as a child of the devil who killed her daughter, the grandmother began to do everything she could to 'drive the demon' out of the preteen boy. She drove Jonathan out to an old abandoned church, pushing the boy inside and locking the door from the outside in the hopes that the 'holy spirits' within the church would purify the boy. Instead the abandoned church was filled with a murder of crows. The crows went into a blind panic at the suddenly disturbance in their home and swarmed around Jonathan intially pecking him as he backed away, finally feeling fear again. However something changed as he suddenly began to laugh, remembering all the times his father had tied him up in the field. Stretching his arms out, Jonathan's laughter grew louder as it began a menacing cackle. Yelling out at the crows as they flew away from him, Jonathan proclaimed himself the Scarecrow. All the while, the crows fled the church from every opening possible, which startled his grandmother to the point that she collapsed on the ground, her heart going into cardiac arrest as she looked up at the black birds of omen swirling around the old church. Emerging from the church, Jonathan acted just in time to call an ambulance which saved his grandmother's life, however for the rest of the time Jonathan lived with her, she never once occupied the same room as him keeping her distance as often as possible. This fear of him introduced Jonathan to a sensation that he would go on to cultivate throughout the rest of his life.
As a youth, Jonathan Crane was forever the victim of taunts and jeers due to his lanky frame and spindly legs. The other boys in the neighborhood would throw rocks at him and call him cruel names such as Ichabod and even turned his own surname into a cruel taunt likening him to the bird that shared that name. Because of this, Crane became obsessed with finding ways to strike fear into them and thoughts of revenge. Some five years later, he learned the origin of one of his nicknames when he read Washington Irving's short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. He regarded the story's main character, Ichabod Crane, as his personal hero, particularly, the man's skill at dancing. However, he also despised the fact that Ichabod was an utter coward and Jonathan swore that no one would ever laugh at him again. Inspired by the tale, Jonathan developed his own style of "violent dancing" which he combined with elements of Crane style Kung Fu and Drunken Boxing.
When Crane was seventeen, he developed a crush on a high school classmate named Sherry Squires. Unfortunately for Crane, Squires was romantically involved with another boy named Bo Griggs. Griggs embodied many of the traits shared by the bullies that used to torment Jonathan as a child. In October of that year, Jonathan mustered up the courage to ask Sherry to be his date at a costume party. Sherry agreed, but in truth, she was conspiring with Bo Griggs to play a cruel prank on Crane. Sherry led Jonathan into a dark room where Griggs surprised him, wearing a Jack O'Lantern mask. Much like the antagonist Brom Bones from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Griggs chased Crane and threw the pumpkin where it smashed across the back of Crane's head. Crane swore revenge against both of them.
On the night of their senior prom, instead of dressing up like the rest of his class, Crane fashioned himself a garb modelled after the Scarecrow he so resonated with. Excelling in chemistry class throughout his highschool career, Crane planned his revenge months in advance, researching the correct toxins and elements required to creature a formula which would heighten the fear levels in someone who inhaled it. It was during this time that Crane stumbled across a box of belongings that had been gathered from his father's house sometime after his death. Rummaging through it, Crane stumbled across his father's notes which contained the formula for a drug known as 451A. Reading the notes that accompanied it, Crane discovered that his father too had been developing a fear toxin, albeit one that could be used as a demoralizer or bioweapon as opposed to petty revenge. Replicating the toxin, Crane lay in wait for Sherry and Bo as they emerged from the prom before following their car to the local lover's knock. Once Sherry and Bo were getting steamy, Crane made his move throwing several canisters of the toxin at the car as the green mist surrounded it. Donning a gas mask, he approached the car in full costume, brandishing a scythe he had taken from his grandmother's barn. In his scarecrow costume, Crane did all he could to scare the pair who panicked, with Bo attempting to drive the car only to veer off on of the sharp turns lining the backroads. The crash immediately killed him while the stress caused by the potent toxins in 451A eventually killed Sherry by the time she arrived in hospital. It was this incident which grounded Crane's savage delight in frightening people -- literally to death. Though he laid low for the rest of the summer, as the time came for Crane to leave for Gotham University, he decided to finish off his grandmother from all those years ago. Flooding the house with the toxins of 451A, Crane donned his costume once again and visited his grandmother who took one look at the abomination before her and died as her eyes rolled up into her head, a prayer barely able to escape her mouth.
After high school, Jonathan enrolled at Gotham University where he became the prized student of psychology professor Avram Bramowitz. Although he had great respect for Bramowitz, he was bothered by the fact that his mentor could so easily dismiss the importance of the psychology of fear. Despite this, Crane wanted to be Bramowitz' colleague, however, there were no available staffing positions at the school. Undeterred, Crane turned his interests towards chemistry, not only honing his already impressive skills but also further honing 451A into a powerful hallucinogen that caused people to psychologically experience their greatest fear. He used this toxin against Professor Bramowitz, leading to the pedagogue's death. With Bramowitz out of the way, Crane was able to take his position as a professor of psychology with an emphasis on the study of fear.
While Crane is a respected member of the Gotham University staff, many are wary of his awkward presence and poor social skills. Most just chalk it up to being an eccentric genius but others still don't believe he should be teaching. Working at Gotham University, Crane built up his repertoire eventually applying to Arkham Asylum taking up a job as a psychiatrist between teaching classes. With access to the inmates at the asylum, Crane is able to continue his experiments into fear unleashing them on the inmates such as Waylon Jones. A man with a bit of a 'cannibal' problem who Crane later found out had an irrational fear of bats. With Gotham having recently taken up a bit of a bat problem, Crane decided to experiment with Jones' phobia cultivating the very sight of a bat to drive Jones into a rage. However the drugs that Crane used mutated Jones' body turning him into the criminal known as Killer Croc. Turning Killer Croc over to the Circus of Strange, Crane continued his job only eventually to have Croc back under his watch after he was apprehended by the Batman. It was during this time that Crane encountered the Joker face to face, going through numerous sessions with him and finding himself fascinated with the Joker's lack of fear. Inspired by the man's visage, Crane felt the need to cultivate his Scarecrow persona and created himself a new costume.
Now Crane lays waiting for the perfect moment for the Scarecrow to strike having perfected his fear toxin and made several variations of it, one of which is the street drug known as 'Thrill'. Designed by Crane and distributed by his orderly Allen Corvus to the Valestras crime family who then sell it, Thrill is a drug which gives the user an addicting high while removing all inhibitions and sources of fear. As such, the drug is extremely popular with the criminals before heists. Crane has yet to reveal himself as Scarecrow to the public as a whole, but one can be safely assured that he's scheming a deadly plot to unleash upon Gotham.
Allen 'Craw' Corvus
An orderly at Arkham Asylum and Crane's right hand man. Allen Corvus or Craw, as he's more commonly referred to, is a member of the Thornes. As such, Crane uses his connections into Gotham's underworld to provide his recreational drug 'Thrill' throughout the city. Craw acts as his middle man, taking the drugs to the Valestras who then distribute them through the city. To avoid being affected by Crane's chemicals, Craw wears a black mask reminiscent of a Renaissance era Plague Doctor. Additionally, Craw often dresses from head to toe in black, including a long split tailed trench coat.
Dr. Wesley Dodds:
Professor of Chemistry at Gotham University. Though Crane and Dodds are amicable to each other in the work place, Crane has little patience for Dodds believing that the latter wastes his potential in chemistry. Crane also has gathered a streak of paranoia around Dodds believing he may be suspicious of Crane's true plans.
Waylon Jones:
A former patient of Dr. Crane, Waylon Jones, or as he's more commonly known, Killer Croc came to Crane due to his irrational fear of bats. Instead of curing that fear, Crane cultivated it and made it a trigger for Jones so that the sight of a bat would drive him into an unstoppable rage. The treatment that Crane administered to Jones also had dangerous side effects, mutating Jones' skin condition into something much worse as his dry, flaky skin developed a leather like scale appearance. His body mass also began to shift as his mind began to wane. Jones eventually came to regard himself as a monster, and Crane was thrilled as the mere sight of Jones would spread fear everywhere he went. Jones' mind eventually snapped and he began to file his teeth into points before Crane handed him over to the Joker. Jones now resides in Arkham Asylum under the watch of its staff which of course consists of the Scarecrow himself.
Joker:
The Clown Prince of Crime himself and one of Crane's biggest inspirations. The Joker is an unnamed anarchist with a vast array of skills and a sense of unpredictability thus making the most skilled detectives and psychologists unable to follow his criminal pattern or psychological profile. The Joker is skilled in demolitions, firearms, close quarters combat, and is surprisingly deductive in nature. Nothing is known about him and his “story” changes as often as he tells it. Crane finds him truly intriguing, especially his complete lack of fear and regard for everything around him.
Jonathan Crane is a brilliant scientist who specializes in the study of fear. He invented a gas that causes his victims to experience terrifying hallucinations. He wears his Scarecrow mask to enhance the effect of the hallucinogen. The mask contains filters to protect him from his own gas. Although not physically intimidating, Scarecrow is adept in physical combat, using a style called "violent dancing", based partly on the crane style of kung-fu and on drunken boxing.
Due to the psychological scars and prolonged exposure to his own gas Crane's brain has suffered permanent damage. This damage affected his 'fear center' meaning that he has a hard time feeling fear for much of anything. This is problematic for him, as he has an addiction to fear and compulsively seeks out situations to satiate it.
The Scarecrow at times wields various farm instruments including a scythe, a sickle, a pitchfork or any combination of the aforementioned which he uses in addition to his "violent dancing". Scarecrow also uses a hand-held fear gas sprayer in the shape of a human skull, a pair of secondary sprayers are hidden on the underside of his wrists as well. Crane also uses strands of straw which he leaves as a calling card, some of which are special straws which can be snapped in half to release a fear poison. Another one of Crane's calling cards consists of small stuffed scarecrows which scare his victims.
However the Scarecrow's signature weapon is a glove with syringes strapped to each of the fingers, the needle of these syringes lead into four small blades, which the toxins leak onto the blade coating it with the strong hallucinogen. The syringes and blades are retractable, with the blade able to slide away from the syringes in the event Crane has a clear shot for an injection. It's with this weapon, Crane often spreads fear toxins into his victims as its versatile nature allows either a scratch or stab to inject the toxin.
Chemistry:
Jonathan Crane is a proficient chemist and has used this skill to develop his infamous "fear toxin". Additionally, Crane has developed a street drug known as 'Thrill' which grants a user a high while removing their inhibitions and their fear allowing them to believe they can accomplish anything.
Intimidation:
Using a variety of toxins that cause his victims to hallucinate that their phobias have come to life, the Scarecrow instills fear in all who see him. He uses various gas canisters on his costume to keep a cloud of his toxins around him constantly further enforcing his intimidation factor since all those around him inhale the toxins.
Martial Arts:
Crane uses a form of martial arts known as 'Violent Dancing'. When forced to fight, Crane uses his own martial arts style he calls "violent dancing", which is based in part on the crane style of kung fu, and makes full use of his long arms and legs. Additionally it takes several notes from Drunken Boxing, making it a slightly unpredictable style of fighting.
Psychology:
Jonathan Crane is an expert in the field of psychology, specifically the study of anxiety disorders. He is a walking textbook on the study of fear, and can recite the name and description of nearly every known phobia. He often demonstrates his intellectual prowess by analyzing his patients at Arkham Asylum. With this knowledge, he knows how to use words to affect a person's actions, once managing to drive two men to suicide with nothing but words. He also can use this insight to find people's mental weaknesses and exploit them.
Fear Gas:
Scarecrow's chief weapon is a toxin he created called fear gas. With it, he can cause his victims' worst fear to come to life. This substance is versatile as it has been used in gas, darts, capsules, etc. His mask was made in order to enhance the effects of the hallucinogen while also acting as a gas mask of sorts to keep him from poisoning himself. Through intense research in the science of fear, Jonathan Crane developed a powerful hallucinogenic drug he dubbed "fear toxin". When inhaled, the victim hallucinates their own worst fears becoming a reality. Though the length of the effects have been seen to vary, an antidote could neutralize the toxin almost instantly if properly made. Similarly, overcoming the fear in question has also been shown to nullify the symptoms.
The original strand of Fear Gas was created by Crane's father and dubbed 451A. This 'Super Toxin' is a specific version of the toxin utilizing the sweat of children under the effects of lesser fear toxin to make it more potent, enough that even Scarecrow himself does not have the antibodies. This version of Fear Toxin can take months to overcome its symptoms, and is far harder to synthesize an antidote for.
Alternately, Crane has created Thrill, an addictive version of the Fear Toxin which instead of giving the victim their worse fears and nightmares, instead makes them fearless while instigating a nice high which is what gives Thrill its addictive edge.
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