The Batman director Matt Reeves is reportedly working on multiple rogues gallery movies, and he already has some notable villains in mind – and through one of them, he can beat Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. The Caped Crusader’s latest big-screen adventure (outside the DC Extended Universe), The Batman, was a huge critical and commercial success, and while updates on a supposedly planned sequel haven’t been given, there are plans for different spin-offs on TV/streaming, and now also some focused on Batman’s enemies.
The Batman is intended to be the first entry in a new Batman film trilogy, as well as the one that establishes a Batman-focused shared universe separate from the DCEU. The only confirmed The Batman spin-off so far is the TV series The Penguin, following Colin Farrell’s character’s rise to power in Gotham's criminal underworld following the events of the film, but there are now other plans to expand this new Batman universe. Reeves is reportedly meeting with writers and directors to develop spinoff movies, each one focused on a villain from Batman’s rogues gallery. Among the villains considered is Scarecrow, and through him, The Batman can beat Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy.
Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy Didn't Fully Use Scarecrow
Jonathan Crane is a brilliant psychologist from Gotham City with a traumatic past that ultimately led to him becoming a villain. Crane was bullied in school and became obsessed with fear, which he eventually used as a weapon against his enemies, wearing a scarecrow mask that would become a key part of his villainous identity. This obsession led him to become a psychologist, and he ended up working at Arkham Asylum, where he performed fear-inducing experiments on his patients. Crane made his first live-action appearance on the big screen in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, played by Coolio in a cameo appearance, and he made a proper appearance in Nolan’s Batman Begins, played by Cillian Murphy.
Nolan’s Scarecrow was loyal to its comic book counterpart and Crane was a corrupt psychopharmacologist working at Arkham Asylum and conducting experiments involving a fear-inducing hallucinogen. However, and even though he fought Christian Bale’s Batman, Scarecrow wasn’t the main villain, as there was Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson). Scarecrow was the only villain who appeared in all movies in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but his role in the sequels was more like a cameo appearance, and so his character wasn’t properly developed and used. Crane appeared in all movies in The Dark Knight trilogy in order to serve as a connecting link between all movies, and also because “fear” was present in all movies, and he was the best representative of it.
Why Scarecrow Would Be Great For Robert Pattinson's Batman
Although Nolan’s version of Gotham City and Batman was darker and more grounded than previous ones, Reeves’ The Batman took it many steps further. Reeves’ Bruce Wayne is in his second year of crime-fighting, but he showed how dangerous and ruthless he can be when needed, and he has already come face to face with some of Gotham’s most notable criminals: The Penguin, The Riddler (Paul Dano), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and the Joker (Barry Keoghan), the latter making a surprise cameo appearance at the end of The Batman. Fighting Scarecrow would be the best next step for the evolution of Reeves’ Batman, as he will mostly test the Caped Crusader mentally through fear and by bringing out his deepest traumas. In addition to that, The Batman properly established Gotham’s criminal underworld and its power over the city, and seeing Scarecrow’s role in it would also further develop this important side of Gotham City.