| A villain published by DC Comics. The Scarecrow first appeared
in World's Finest #3 in 1941.
Jonathan Crane was a college professor in psychology at
Gotham University. His early life was marked with by an obsession
with fear and an underlying cruel streak. As an adult, Crane
was obsessed with his studies and tended to forget worldly trappings.
Because of this, Crane's clothes were generally threadbare, and that
added to his thin lanky build caused his colleagues to nickname him
the Scarecrow. Realizing that his present salary as a professor
would not allow him to pursue all of his academic goals and still
maintain a lifestyle that would be more socially acceptable, Crane
turned to crime to make more money.
Using the name he had been given by his colleagues, Crane dressed
as a scarecrow and used fear to extort money from his targets. He
would threaten his victims and if they did not pay, he would kill them.
His actions brought him into conflict with the defender of Gotham
City, Batman. Batman eventually captured and jailed Crane, but
the Scarecrow later escaped.
Through the years, Crane's obsession with fear has grown. His crimes
always focus on some aspect of fear, whether it be the removal of all
fear, causing his victims to take unnecessary risks or to induce fear
in his victims, preying upon the phobias that exist in his victims.
The Scarecrow usese his mastery of chemistry to produce toxins and
chemicals that create a wide variety of effects. | 
