Batman Villain Scarecrow Has Been Officially Recast
A new Scarecrow has been cast in the Batman universe.
This article is more than 2 years old
Batman has many horrifyingly strong villains, but few come close to instilling the kind of terror that Scarecrow so effortlessly does. Forget Bane. Toss aside Killer Croc. Scarecrow gleefully tampers with your grip on reality just as much as he tinkers with your sense of self, teasing out deep-seated fears before turning them against his victims. Now, a popular live-action DC show has added Scarecrow to its roster of baddies, and things are about to get nuts.
According to The Wrap, Mad Men star Vincent Kartheiser has been tapped to play Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane in the third season of HBO Max’s Titans. Kartheiser portrayed Pete Campbell on the aforementioned AMC period drama.
Cillian Murphy portrayed Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed take on the Batman universe, a story now widely referred to as the “Dark Knight Trilogy.” Judging from Vincent Kartheiser’s style and the show’s overall approach to its characters and its story, the actor already looks to be a wildly different take on the character, and that is a great thing. It will be awesome to see a new version of such a popular villain, especially from an actor who may be unknown to those who have not seen Mad Men.
Kartheiser’s casting as the villainous Scarecrow comes just months after it was announced that Jay Lycurgo would be portraying Tim Drake, who, for those who may not be familiar with him, is the third Robin. That same month, Savannah Welch was cast as Barbara Gordon, who at this point in the story has abandoned the Batgirl mantle and is now serving as Gotham City’s Police Commissioner. As for what the bad guy is up to, it appears that Scarecrow will start off the season behind bars. But anyone who has ever read a Batman comic knows that the Caped Crusader’s best villains do not stay in Arkham Asylum for very long. I can say with confidence that it will take Scarecrow an episode—tops—to break out and start wreaking some serious havoc. He is too evil to do anything else.
Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1941, Scarecrow first appeared in World’s Finest Comics #3 and has since become one of Batman’s best-known baddies. His addition to the third season of Titans is certainly an exciting one, and we can’t wait to see what the story ends up doing with him.
It’s refreshing to see some concrete DC news come through. There is so much uncertainty swirling around the film arm of the DC Universe that it is nice to be able to expect something without worrying about Warner Bros. backpedaling. From the confusion surrounding Michael Keaton’s return to the DC Universe as Batman in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash to the rumors that Dwayne Johnson wants to restore the SnyderVerse, the future of the DC Extended Universe is becoming more and more unclear.
Filming on the Batman universe show Titans began in October 2020 and will reportedly conclude in early June of this year. No official release date has been announced, but with casting news beginning to come in, a release date reveal is probably on the horizon.
