WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman #108 by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jiménez, Tomeu Morey and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
It is no secret that the Scarecrow has been positioning himself to be the next major threat to Gotham in the aftermath of the Joker's latest attack. What is still a mystery to most are his motivations. In the past, the Scarecrow is mostly known for conducting twisted experiments to better understand the nature of fear or to scare Batman. But his actions of late have been stirring the pot in Gotham rather than directly challenging Batman, all in an attempt to get Gotham scared enough to willingly use the Magistrate, which he will be a part of as revealed in Future State. The big question is why? The answer may actually be more twisted than anyone realizes. Scarecrow might actually be trying to become the hero of Gotham.
That may sound farfetched, but examining all of Scarecrow's past actions and what he gets up to in the future, it paints a picture for readers. Scarecrow has been slowly manipulating events from behind the scenes, secretly working with Simon Saint to get the Magistrate Program activated. But both men recognize what the Magistrate could become, perhaps even planning on it. For Gotham to willingly surrender its freedoms for the sake of security, they would have to be terrified of something far worse. Scarecrow has been slowly pushing Gotham's citizens past their breaking point, leaving signs of a potential attack to scare them into wanting more protection.
The Magistrate would be that protection, ensuring that Gotham was safe from all masks in the future. But this policy does not apply to the Scarecrow, who years from now would remove his mask to once again become Jonathan Crane and work alongside the Magistrate. That future, coupled with his partnership with Simon Saint, suggests that the Scarecrow's plan is to get the Magistrate authorized for use, making Batman public enemy number one so that he can join the very people hunting him down.
It remains a mystery then why he would he go about destroying Batman this way. If he wanted the Dark Knight dead he could just try and do it himself. He's tried to do it himself in the past anyway. But the thing about Scarecrow is that he lives for scaring others. His greatest pleasure in life is making other people's worst nightmares become a reality. It stands to reason that this overly complicated effort is no different. Scarecrow wants to make Batman's greatest fear come to life. Wouldn't one of those fears be the tables being turned and for Batman to be the criminal while someone like the Scarecrow is on the side of the law?
If this is his plan, then the Scarecrow would become Gotham's hero. He would be the one protecting the desperate citizens from the things they believe only bring them harm, namely Batman. The truly sadistic part of his plan is that to get this power, Gotham has to willingly give it to him. They would have to be so scared that they would choose the Scarecrow's justice over Batman's. It's not just a legal victory for the Scarecrow, it's taking the soul of Gotham out from under the Bat.
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