Why Titans Season 3’s Scarecrow Plan Is All Down To Batman’s Obsession

As Titans season 3 moves into its endgame, Scarecrow’s evil plan comes to fruition. But is Gotham only in danger because of Batman’s trophy obsession?

Scarecrow plans on driving Gotham City to destruction in Titans season 3’s finale, but has the real villain been Batman – and his egotistical trophy obsession – all along? Since Jason Todd turned up outside his cell door, Titans‘ Jonathan Crane has shown renewed vigor as a member of Batman’s infamous Rogues Gallery. From languishing behind bars as a perma-stoned convict, Scarecrow exploited Jason’s vulnerability, engineered an escape, and wasted no time resuming his pre-Arkham activities. Scarecrow’s first big gambit came when he tricked Starfire into poisoning Gotham’s water supply with anti-fear drug, sending the city into shutdown. But that straw brain has something even more wicked in mind…

Since Jonathan Crane took residency at Wayne Manor, he’s enjoyed some much-needed “me time” and reconnected with the Scarecrow persona, scarring his face in lieu of a mask, and dusting off the old sickle. Embracing his inner straw-man, Scarecrow has hit upon a new fate for Gotham City – kill everybody. According to Nightwing, Crane plans to finish the work he started before his incarceration, and having brought Gotham to its knees first, he’s sure to succeed this time around. While Scarecrow is thriving as the city’s harbinger of doom, however, a certain Bruce Wayne is as much to blame for Gotham’s plight.

Related: Titans Teases A New Team Leader (After Dick Becomes Batman)

At every step of Scarecrow’s journey in Titans season 3, his task has been made easier by Batman’s habit of keeping trophies and mementos from past villains. It was a fear toxin sample stolen from the Bat-cave that Jason Todd used to grab Scarecrow’s attention and synthesize his own anti-fear concoction. If Jason didn’t have such easy access to Bruce’s Scarecrow memento, the villain might still be puffing away in Arkham. Batman’s trophies also proved instrumental in bringing out the more disturbing cracks of Scarecrow’s psyche. Since his Titans‘ debut, Jonathan Crane and mental well-being have continued to elude each other, but it doesn’t take a criminal psychologist to see how badly that relationship has worsened since Scarecrow arrived in the Bat-cave. A recording of Bruce’s clinical assessment pushed Crane closer to criminal insanity, and the sight of his old Scarecrow mask (just casually sitting on Bruce’s trophy shelf) inspired the murder of an innocent pizza man. And, of course, Batman had the sickle just sitting around waiting for its original owner.

Bruce’s biggest crime, however, is keeping the massive stock of fear gas seized when Batman and Robin thwarted Scarecrow years prior. In Titans season 3’s penultimate episode, Dick Grayson confirms, “Bruce took Crane’s weapons and put them in the Gotham Armory to study them.” He and Jason then visit a warehouse containing Penguin’s umbrellas, Riddler’s cane, Joker’s chattering teeth… and one missing crate of fear toxin. If Batman hadn’t been such an avid collector of supervillain memorabilia, Scarecrow would never have been able to reclaim his old stash, and repeating the scheme Batman & Robin stopped years earlier wouldn’t be an option.

Blaming Batman for Gotham City’s current troubles in Titans season 3 would be harder if Bruce’s intentions were purely scientific, but this clearly isn’t the case. According to Nightwing, Crane’s fear toxin was kept for research purposes, and this makes sense, as understanding dangerous chemicals is imperative to finding an antidote. But Batman retained Scarecrow’s entire payload, and still hadn’t disposed of the stuff years later. Not only that, but what scientific justification is there for keeping Catwoman’s goggles, or Penguin’s machine gun umbrellas? The obvious truth is that Bruce doesn’t keep trophies “for science” at all, but because of his obsession with the Batman lifestyle, and his considerable ego. That habit has now come back to bite him, as Gotham faces a new threat… all because Batman is a hoarder.

More: Why Batman Attempts To Take His Own Life In Titans Season 3

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