Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy had a different villain in each movie, and a theory links The Dark Knight’s Joker (Heath Ledger) to one of Batman Begins’ bad guys: Jonathan Crane a.k.a. Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy). Batman Begins explored the origin story of Batman (Christian Bale), from the murder of his parents to his training and decision to become Gotham City’s vigilante, and it saw him confront his first villains: Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), and Scarecrow, the latter becoming the only villain to appear in all movies in the Dark Knight trilogy, though only in cameo roles in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
The Dark Knight introduced the Joker, who arrived at Gotham City to create chaos and was responsible for Harvey Dent’s (Aaron Eckhart) transformation into the villain Two-Face, and The Dark Knight Rises saw Batman joining forces with Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) to bring Bane (Tom Hardy) and Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) down. Each villain in the Dark Knight trilogy had their own motivations and didn’t depend on the actions of those that came before them, but a theory suggests an interesting link between the Joker and Scarecrow, making the latter responsible for the former’s villainy.
Batman Begins’ Scarecrow Fear Toxin Explained
Dr. Jonathan Crane was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who used the inmates to conduct experiments on them. After Carmine Falcone, with who Crane had been working as Falcone helped him smuggle drugs into Gotham, threatened Crane with his knowledge of Ra’s al Ghul’s plan, Crane put on his Scarecrow mask and sprayed him with his Fear Toxin, driving the mob boss insane and having him transferred to Arkham Asylum. The Fear Toxin was part of al Ghul’s plan to destroy Gotham, and Crane being a corrupt therapist with vast knowledge in science and medicine made him the perfect partner for this plan. The Fear Toxin was made from Blue Poppies with other drugs that Crane got with Falcone’s help, and he tested it on his patients at Arkham.
What the toxin did to those exposed to it was tap into their deepest anxieties and fears, sending them into a state of panic. Ra’s al Ghul’s plan, then, was to pour the Fear Toxin into Gotham’s water supply so it would reach all citizens without them even knowing it, and with that destroy the city. Luckily, Batman had an antidote developed by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) that he used to save Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) and was later massed produced, thus stopping Gotham’s fall into insanity and destruction.
Theory: Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin Created The Dark Knight’s Joker
A theory posted on Reddit suggests that The Dark Knight’s Joker might have been unintentionally created by Scarecrow thanks to the Fear Toxin. The author explains that the Joker could have been “an ordinary guy” living in The Narrows who was affected by the toxin but didn’t get the antidote on time, falling into insanity. This could explain why there are no criminal records of the Joker at the time of The Dark Knight as he wasn’t a criminal before Batman Begins, the scars on his face that could be a result of hurting himself due to toxin-induced hallucinations, why he changes the story of his scars all the time (as these are just mixed up memories of traumatic events that became hallucinations), and his total lack of empathy.
Other Reddit users pointed out that the Joker might have been a war veteran, which explains his expertise in the handling of different types of firearms throughout The Dark Knight, as well as his combat skills and his agenda against order and institutions. Both theories could combine, with the Joker being a war veteran who was later exposed to the Fear Toxin and never got the antidote, with the toxin tapping on his trauma from the war and more. However, the ending of Batman Begins plays against the theory as in it, James Gordon (Gary Oldman) gives one of the Joker’s cards to Batman as he had already started creating chaos in the city, so the timing is off. The Fear Toxin works really fast, as seen with Rachel, so it could still be somewhat possible that the Joker was hit with the toxin and became a criminal by the time Batman Begins ended.
How This Theory Changes The Dark Knight
The Joker being a result of Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin would show that the antidote didn’t reach everyone in Gotham, adding to the social inequality of the city, and while it also gives an explanation to some of the biggest mysteries about The Dark Knight’s Joker, it also takes away what made him so scary. This version of the Joker was terrifying due to his complexity and unpredictability, as he was a psychopathic anarchist who wanted to create chaos without any real reason for it. There are many details in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight that work against the theory, and while it gives the Joker a proper backstory, it takes away what makes him the best villain in the trilogy.
