Gotham City has had a lot of villains over the years, but if you ask any fan who the biggest and baddest is, the answer will almost always be the same—the Joker. The Joker is not only the most well-known villain of Gotham City, but he is also Batman’s biggest nemesis in the Arkham trilogy.
But what if we said that there was someone more evil than the Joker? Because while the Clown Prince of Crime holds charismatic reign over Gotham, Scarecrow’s approach to terror is clinical, calculated, and has no holds barred. Both characters have a very different approach to what it means to be evil, and we feel like Scarecrow might just be scarier.
Arkham’s biggest villain might not be the Joker
From Arkham Asylum through Arkham Knight, the Joker has been the main villain of the trilogy, orchestrating elaborate schemes to torment both Gotham and Batman. His flair for the dramatic has been a big part of why he’s so well-known amongst us fans, aside from all the screentime, of course. And it’s cemented him as the face of Arkham’s horrors.
Would be insane if Scarecrow was the reason behind Martha losing her mind at Arkham Asylum in The Batman universe 👀#TheBatman pic.twitter.com/P0L1uHXesu
— BLURAYANGEL 🦇 (@blurayangel) September 5, 2024
There’s no denying that the Joker is depraved, but from what we know of his history from, say, The Killing Joke, it’s traumatically “ordinary.” If anything, this suggests that his villainy is born of pain as much as malice. In comparison, Jonathan Crane begins not as a broken man but as a remorseless scientist.
Crane’s early days at Blackgate prison show us that he is a psychologist who betrays every professional oath, injecting inmates with his fear toxin to study their terror. Unlike the Joker, whose madness arguably stems from trauma, Crane’s past doesn’t justify his transformation. He chooses terror purely to have power, and he masks it under the pretense of curiosity.
When Scarecrow makes you believe your game crashed and restarted in Arkham Asylum… actual terror on my face the first time I played pic.twitter.com/Vl2JYdIzID
— Nicholas (@NicholasPas5) August 24, 2022
Even before he became a threat to the city, Scarecrow manipulated Gotham’s other villains many times. He tortures and betrays Irving Malone (Batman in disguise), engineers Harvey Dent’s descent into Two-Face by misusing experimental drugs, and indirectly drives Arkham’s inmates to madness or death through inhumane trials.
It might not be the popular opinion, but there’s merit to it
There are some fans online who also agree with this perspective. In Reddit discussions, some comments say that while the Joker’s actions are brutal. Crane’s lack of motive beyond pure malice makes him more evil. And as we said, fans also mention that at least Joker has a traumatic history.
Scarecrow’s terror experiments and genocidal plots stem from nothing but inhuman curiosity and entitlement. Joker’s madness is infectious, but it’s grounded in chaotic whimsy. Crane weaponizes the mind against itself, turning dreams into nightmares so vivid they kill.
He manipulates not just fear, but the fear of fear, ensnaring victims in endless loops of terror. And this is the main point. When we talk about the villains in the Arkham trilogy, it’s tempting to crown Joker as the ultimate bad guy. He is, after all, the franchise’s emblematic villain, the face on every poster, the Joker to the Batman.
But it’s not a bad shout to say that the Scarecrow might just be scarier. Who do you have as the worst of the two? Let us know your thoughts!
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
