Absolute Batman's Latest Villain Looks Right Out Of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy

Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta's "Absolute Batman" lives up to its title with a maximalist reinvention of the Dark Knight. This Bruce Wayne is an enormously tall block of muscle, and his entire Batsuit is loaded with concealed weapons (like detachable knife ears on the cowl), no utility belt needed. "Absolute" Batman's adversaries have also exchanged costumes for body horror. They transform into literal monsters, from a ghoulish Mr. Freeze, to a terrifying, skyscraper-sized Bane, and the Joker. Based on "Absolute" Joker's nightmarish true form, he might even be a literal demon. But a preview for "Absolute Batman" #19 hints the series' next major villain will be all too human. Doctor Jonathan Crane, aka the Scarecrow, has arrived.

The issue's main cover, drawn by Dragotta, shows Batman with his aforementioned ear-knives drawn and reflecting the Scarecrow. One of the knives shows a full body shot, the other a close-up of the villain's masked face. (It's a similar composition to Todd McFarlane's famous cover for "Incredible Hulk" #340, which depicts Hulk's roaring race reflected in Wolverine's claws.)

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It's a refreshingly low-key design, which is a good call. The fear-obsessed Scarecrow is one of Batman's most psychological villains, and turning him into a literal Scarebeast misses the point. In fact, this Scarecrow's design resembles Crane's (played by Cillian Murphy) look from "The Dark Knight" trilogy, i.e. a business suit with a scarecrow mask. (The "Absolute" Scarecrow's brown suit and red tie is definitely a better color scheme, though.)

Far from going absolute, Nolan wanted to strip down Batman for realism. A villain dressed in an all-out Scarecrow costume would be too much. So, in "Batman Begins," Crane wears only a Scarecrow mask as a tool to frighten his victims once he doses them with Fear Toxin.

Scarecrow will be a major villain of an arc running through "Absolute Batman" issues #19-25, following a mini-arc in #17-18 of Batman fighting Poison Ivy. Like other villains so far, Scarecrow will be a pawn of the Joker. Issue #19's synopsis reads:

"Poison Ivy proved to be just one of the many horrors within the bowels of the ARK M facility, and as Joker sets his sights on Absolute Batman, he decides to enlist the help of one of the center's most terrifying doctors, Dr. Jonathan Crane."

Batman has resisted Joker's minions; even when Joker sent in his strongest warrior, Batman ultimately broke Bane, too. Batman has beaten brute force twice, so Joker may have decided it's time to attack his heart and mind, not his body. That calls for a master of fear. Storytelling wise, too, it'd be a mistake to just keep throwing ever bigger monsters at Batman for him to beat. With Scarecrow, Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have enacted a self-imposed challenge: How do they make Crane their scariest villain yet and their most human?

In an AMA hosted by League of Comic Geeks, Snyder previewed his reinvention of "Absolute" Scarecrow and said he would indeed be human and "very different from the other villains." (Before you say misdirect, Snyder tends to be upfront about his plans; take him hyping the hell out of the Joker's monster form on social media.) He explained:

"[Scarecrow] has all of the gases and the things from history, a full kind of museum of fear that he loves to keep, but he's very modern. He's someone who uses fear to bring down government[s], to topple rulers. He's like a hired gun or a shadow that moves behind the scenes."

Scott Snyder started as a horror writer; see his DC comic "American Vampire," which Stephen King co-wrote. From his earliest Batman comics, like "The Black Mirror" and "Court of Owls," he's brought a touch of horror. "Absolute Batman" carries on that tradition. Yet, somehow, Snyder has never written a full Scarecrow story, even though Scarecrow is the most horror-adjacent A-list Batman villain. That makes this arc long overdue, but the expectations to deliver a terrifying Scarecrow are high.

Some past Batman iterations have struggled to make Scarecrow truly scary. As Bruce Timm, co-creator of "Batman: The Animated Series," once noted: "No matter what you do with it, a guy with a jack-o'-lantern face and scarecrow clothes is not scary." When the series returned as "New Batman Adventures," Timm and co. overhauled Scarecrow (now voiced by Jeffrey Combs from "Re-Animator"). The result didn't quite look like a scarecrow, more like an undead southern preacher, but it was definitely scary. Meanwhile, the "Batman: Arkham Asylum" games took inspiration from Freddy Krueger, giving Scarecrow a syringe glove to dose victims with fear toxin.

Snyder, in his League of Comic Geeks AMA, said he instead wanted to dig deeper into the Scarecrow motif: "In ancient times, [scarecrows contained] nets that would catch birds so they could be killed, not just scare them away, but genuinely scare them to death." With some extra scary touches like button eyes and a stringed mouth, the "Absolute" Scarecrow combines subdued and scary better than Christopher Nolan's Scarecrow. Dragotta's cover also shows this Scarecrow surrounded by Fear Toxin. What could be Bruce's greatest nightmare; disappointing his late father, or perhaps losing his still-alive mother? The Scarecrow will know soon.

"Absolute Batman" #19 is scheduled for publication on April 8, 2026.