The latest film version on the Caped Crusader has opened to positive reviews from both critics and audiences. With early talks for a sequel already underway, many people are trying to guess who the next villain will be. Most Batman fans and actors from the film have their money on The Court of Owls. A recent addition to Batman lore, they are a secret society of Gotham’s most powerful controlling everything from the shadows. They are also a group of villains that have been growing in popularity thanks to their appearances in other media. As exciting as they would be, it runs the risk of repeating the same story of corruption that the previous installment covered. Which is why, if you ask me, the best villain is a guy who used to wear a potato sack on his head.
Dr. Johnathan Crane is a psychologist at Arkham Asylum and a professor of Psychology. His experiments relating to fear and the effect they have on the human mind lead him to becoming the villain known as The Scarecrow. He has appeared in video games and various animated Batman shows over the years. But his most well known appearance was in the Christopher Nolan film “Batman Begins”. There was potential in him in that film, certainly not a bad performance. But it’s safe to say he was underutilized, especially when it came to showing what people see while under Crane’s fear toxin. But it is because of this lack of focus and development that Scarecrow can receive the same treatment as The Riddler. But what kind of story would work with this kind of character?
There was a recent storyline in Batman comics that focused on Scarecrow as the main bad guy. Known as “Fear State”, Dr. Crane took advantage of a city trying to recover from two back-to-back city wide traumatic events by using the media to intensify the sense of fear throughout Gotham. He even manipulated city officials into turning against Batman by framing him for terrorist attacks, forcing him to team up with a group of people – The Unsanity Collective – who try to move past their traumatic past by wiping their memories clean and losing all sense of fear. The entire purpose behind this plan is to push Gotham into what Dr. Crane calls the Fear State. His theory is that once they confront and push beyond the limits that fear puts on the human mind, people can grow and become better versions of themselves.
This is a storyline that can be used effectively in the next Matt Reeves film. After The Riddler kills several high profile officials – including the mayor – and then uses bombs to flood Gotham where his followers attempted to attack Gotham’s citizens, there would be fear that more people like The Riddler will start appearing. Dr. Crane could be inspired by what the serial killer was trying to accomplish and tries to help the city in his own way. Through a series of attacks and the spread of his fear toxin, he would push Gotham’s citizens into a state of panic in an effort to have them let go of their fear and become new people. The movie could even do justice when it comes to what people see when under the toxin’s influence. While the first movie had a psychological element and a Horror atmosphere, the movie could create truly disturbing visions and hallucinations that – if presented the right way – can make you question what is real in the scene you are watching. In this way, it can take inspiration from “Joker” by using subtle choices and framing to keep you guessing what’s really going on until the very last second. There can even be a way to adapt the Unsanity Collective where they are formed by Dr. Crane to help him in his mission.
This is admittedly my suggestion for where The Batman 2 could go. But it’s a direction I believe would help further the themes and story of Matt Reeves’s universe.
