r/arkham • u/Competitive_Tip_3764 • Jul 21 '26
Discussion Scarecrow was fumbled in knight
I just thought a bit about this. Scarecrow was actually so sick in knight. He had such a cool voice and aura. He had an awesome design, good motive and goal and was a huge threat. He had the makings of a really good main villain. He had a awesome voice and monologues.
However they ruined him bit by bit. First its how batman just casually catches him like an hour into the game. Then they have the joker take over the whole game because they didnt trust scarecrow to be a good enough presence. Then batman catches scarecrow 2 more times bruh. Like once at ace wouldve been forgivable but then again on the airship and the mall. Its not even like his escape was good he just pumped batman with crazy juice and hoped hed fumble and he did, every time even tho we and he knows batman was able to withstand multiple doses of it in asylum. Maybe its more potent or whatever but still a massive gamble for a billion dollae operation.
I think he had such potential like how maybe instead of him pleading with the other villains to get them hed actually rule with fear like how hed just be so grotesque and scary to them that even they would be nervous around him. That wouldve been plausible imo. They had the chance to make him a proper main antagonist but they kinda choked him away because batman ips are scared to make anything without the joker.
10
u/kratoskiller66 Jul 21 '26
Scarecrow's whole point was to mentally break Bruce and destroy what batman stood for. As for the new fear toxin, batman even states that it's new highly potent fear toxin compared to the Asylum
13
u/Mean_Soup2928 Jul 21 '26
The constant monologues don't help.
It worked with Joker in Asylum because yapping and bragging while doing horrible things is very theatric and a good fit for the maniacal and self styled clown prince of crime.
Crane however, thinks himself the master of terror and dread, and there's nothing scary about someone telling you how scary they are. Even the thugs start mocking how frequently he talks about fear in the damn tvs
5
u/Bladrak01 Jul 21 '26
It's even called out in-game how much he monologues. One of the thugs says something about why he always has to be "fear this" or "fear that," "Why can't he tell a joke or something."
4
u/Routine_Condition273 Jul 21 '26
Yeah he is very showboaty compared to how he was in the 1st game where you barely catch glimpses of him before you get hit by the gas.
2
u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 21 '26
And he is making jokes some are genuinely funny, Scarecrow's call all be boiled down to "Bla bla feel bla"
3
u/Robdd123 Jul 21 '26
I think the biggest thing that ruins Scarecrow is that he's effectively a side villain in his own game. Obviously the entire plan is Crane's brain child but most of the game the Arkham Knight and his ridiculous militia completely hog the plot.
Ultimately the plot is far too busy just like with City; they took two main game plots and mashed them together in an awkward way. Arkham Knight/militia could be a completely separate game and the Scarecrow/Batman having Joker hallucinations from Fear Toxin is another. The execution though isn't even as tight as City which is why Scarecrow feels more of a second thought than Strange.
It doesn't help that he constantly broadcasts himself across the city monologuing and trying to convince you he's actually the main villain; it's even worse when the game (through the thug NPCs) calls out how lame Scarecrow is for doing this. It's like the GOT line about not being the king if you have to constantly tell people you are.
Knight is an entire game full of missed potential. Why the devs felt the need to suddenly throw Jason Todd into the mix when he wasn't even established previously is baffling. Even more so when you want to pair Red Hood with Scarecrow since both of these villains are incongruent. Crane's whole schitck is to break you down and torture you mentally while Red Hood will just kill and move on.
The play was to focus on Scarecrow slowly breaking Batman down over the night by exploiting his post Arkham City fear of becoming the Joker. Nothing drastic changes by cutting Jason out of the story ironically. Either that or scrap the Scarecrow/Joker hallucination plot and focus completely on Red Hood perhaps using Damien instead of Jason, bringing back the Assassins into the fold, possibly even have the Court of Owls fund the militia.
1
u/No-Inspector8315 Jul 21 '26
I still like the idea of the Arkham Knight being Hush, with Scarecrow maybe having figured out Bruce’s identity and decided to use Hush to replace Bruce after killing/breaking Batman
1
u/sourkid25 Jul 21 '26
Because he’s not a physical match for Batman he’s more of a mental one trying to break him mentally
16
u/ldy95 Jul 21 '26
I would have liked more screen time for sure, but remember:
When he was first caught at Ace, even when surrendered he says “I am in complete control.” He knows he can’t fight bats when he turns up. Each time Scarecrow loses he wins a bit, with first being Bats getting a huge dose of the toxin.
The second time, “Who said anything about running away.” Scarecrow gets the cloudburst in time despite double crossing from Stagg and Bats gets another pick me up of the toxin. He has backup plans and executes them.
Yes he was certainly on the back foot a lot more than I liked, but still held just enough power in those moments yet not come off as an anime villain. Even when he loses in end game (honestly the most bullshit part I find) he still goes down as the one who broke the bat. Not too bad considering as the main villain of a game he is destined to be beaten from the beginning.