Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, the character first appeared in World's Finest Comics #3 (September 1941).

Henry Polic II, Jeffrey Combs, Dino Andrade, John Noble, and Robert Englund, among others, have provided the Scarecrow's voice in animation and video games.

[7] Scarecrow was revived during the Silver Age of Comic Books by writer Gardner Fox and artist Sheldon Moldoff in Batman #189 (February 1967),[8] which featured the debut of the character's signature fear-inducing hallucinogen or "fear toxin".

[10] Following the 1986 multi-title event Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, the character's origin story is expanded on in Batman Annual #19 and the miniseries Batman/Scarecrow: Year One, with this narrative also revealing that Crane has a fear of bats.

In his senior year, Crane is humiliated by school bully Bo Griggs and rejected by cheerleader Sherry Squires.

He takes revenge during the senior prom by donning his trademark scarecrow costume and wielding a water pistol resembling a real gun in the school parking lot.

[11] Crane's obsession with fear leads him to become a psychologist, taking a position at Arkham Asylum and performing fear-inducing experiments on his patients.

He loses his job after he fires a gun inside a packed classroom, accidentally wounding a student; he takes revenge by killing the professors responsible for his termination and becomes a career criminal.

In stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the Scarecrow is depicted as one of the more deranged criminals in Batman's rogues gallery, with a habit of speaking in nursery rhymes.

Strange's therapy proves effective enough to turn the Scarecrow against his "benefactor", impaling him on a weather vane and throwing him in the cellar of his own mansion.

[18] Scarecrow returns in Batman: Dark Victory as part of Two-Face's gang, and is first seen putting fear gas in children's dolls on Christmas Eve.

[20] The Scarecrow appears in such story arcs as Knightfall and Shadow of the Bat, first teaming with the Joker to ransom off the mayor of Gotham City.

Dr. Linda Friitawa then secretly mutates Scarecrow into a murderous creature known as the "Scarebeast", who Penguin uses to kill off his disloyal minions.

The police are unable to take it down, and allow Catwoman, Robin, Tarantula II, and Onyx to fight Scarebeast, as Commissioner Michael Akins had told all officers to capture or kill any vigilantes, costumed criminals or "masks" they find.

Killer Moth, Firefly and Lock-Up all survive, but are injured and unconscious to varying degrees, the Scarface puppet is "killed", and Peyton Reily, the new Ventriloquist, is unharmed, though after the attack she is taken away by Whale's men.

He attacks Batman in a graveyard, only to learn his fear gas is ineffective (due to Hush's bug), but before he can reveal this he is knocked out by Jason Todd.

[15] In the Battle for the Cowl storyline, Scarecrow is recruited by a new Black Mask to be a part of a group of villains who are aiming to take over Gotham in the wake of Batman's apparent death.

[35] In Brightest Day, Scarecrow begins kidnapping and murdering college interns working for LexCorp as a way of getting back at Lex Luthor for stealing his ring.

The toxin forces Supergirl to see visions of a Black Lantern Reactron, but she is able to snap out of the illusion and help Robin defeat Scarecrow.

[47] Scarecrow begins waking the Talons in his possession, having doused them with his fear gas and using Mad Hatter's mind-control technology in their helmets to control them.

[48] At Arkham Asylum, Scarecrow senses that he has lost the Talons after Bane freed them from Mad Hatter's mind-control technology.

[54] The Scarecrow later emerges using a Sinestro Corps power ring to induce fear and rage against Batman in random citizens throughout Gotham, to the point where he provokes Alfred Pennyworth into threatening to shoot Simon Baz as part of his final assault.

[56] Wanting to take on villains outside his rogues gallery, Shazam flies to Gotham City where he hears about a hostage situation caused by Scarecrow.

He is even known to have a frightening ability to tamper with anyone's mind with just words, once managing to drive two men to suicide, and uses this insight to find people's mental pressure points and exploit them.

[36] To instill his toxin, he often uses a hand-held sprayer in the shape of a human skull and special straws which can be snapped in half to release it.

In the story arc As the Crow Flies, after being secretly mutated by Dr. Linda Friitawa, Scarecrow gains the ability to turn into a large, monstrous creature called the Scarebeast.

He is also known to have a warped sense of humor, though not to the level of Black Mask or the Joker, as he has been known to frequently make taunts and quips related to his using his fear toxin or his love of terrifying others.

[63] Abigail O'Shay is a Gotham University student who writes her doctoral thesis on vigilantes like the Bat-Family, whom she calls the "cape and cowl crowd".

Blaming Batman for her trauma, O'Shay adopted the identity of Madame Crow with the intention of making sure no one would feel the kind of fear she did ever again as she becomes a member of the Victim Syndicate.

[65] As one of Batman's most recognizable and popular opponents, the Scarecrow appears in numerous comics that are not considered part of the regular DC continuity, including: