For a genre named after its protagonists, superhero movies tend to rest a lot of their quality on their villains.Batman, perhaps more than any other hero, carries a reputation as a guy with a killer rogues gallery. He’s dueled many of the most iconic antagonists on the big screen. The Joker alone has multiple excellent interpretations, including Heath Ledger’s genre-defining performance inThe Dark Knight. The same film saw the second appearance of a far less celebrated but still very interesting villain in Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow.
Every comic book movie has to measure itself against the source material, but the most popular characters have several previous cinematic appearances to compete with.Each new Batman moviewill have to stand out from the works of Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder, and Matt Reeves. That’s a lot of ups and downs for a new project to work around. It’s likely to keep newcomers wary of making their own adaptation.
Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow was excellent
Cillian Murphy appears as Dr. Johnathan Cranein all three entries in Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy. He’s the central antagonist ofBatman Begins, arguably sharing that role withLiam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghuland Tom Wilkinson’s Carmine Falcone. This version of Dr. Crane is one of the easier characters to transition from page to screen. His initial appearances paint him as a psychopharmacologist in league with the local mob, offering paid testimony to hand criminals light sentences. His partnership with Falcone makes him an enemy of Gotham’s DA’s office, but his seemingly upright public persona keeps him out of danger. In secret, Crane brews a unique toxin that causes overwhelming fear and all-consuming hallucinations.
Gradually, Crane’s psychotic nature and scientific glee reveal him as a bizarre figure in the underworld. He’s not there to make money or to send a message. He delivers silly one-liners,expresses delight when Batman arrives, and recounts his answering machine message when Batman doses him with his own drugs. He’s a fascinating character, barely containing his love for human experimentation and widespread chaos behind a professional mask while assaulting his victims with a burlap one. In many ways, Crane set thestage for the Joker, offering a sort of trial run with a few limiters still in place. His return in the following films was very different.
Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow is still fun in the sequels
Scarecrow escapes containment afterBatman Beginsand again afterThe Dark Knight. Each film gives him a single scene, almost using his performance as a barometer with which one could measure the downfall of Gotham City.InThe Dark Knight, Crane appears as a minor non-threat in Batman’s first scene. Instead of being the mob’s go-to psychiatrist, he’s a terrible drug dealer who kills most of his patients. He sells his fear compound to the Chechen, who immediately threatens his life. Batman breaks up the encounter, but Crane isn’t its featured player. Bruce is more worried about copybats with guns and angry dogs than he is about the guy who dosed him with drugs and set him on fire. He puts Crane away without much trouble, leaving him out of the rest of the movie. Still, his return is somehow charming. How many superhero movies have the guts to include their previous antagonist in the follow-up as a fun nod rather than putting them on a pedestal as a massive selling point?
Crane’s roleinThe Dark Knight Risesis even more enjoyable, though it doesn’t feel much like Crane. He’s not trying to dose people with his drug or conduct experiments. He’s the head of a new system. Bane frees Crane from prison and makes him the judge of his kangaroo court, allowing him to preside over meaningless trials and convict former company board members to death. He isn’t there for long, but this appearance feels much more like a joke than any kind of meaningful glimpse into the narrative. It’s funny, but it’s also a fairly straightforward sign of decline to see a dangerously unhinged villain take control.
Superhero movie villains need multiple appearances
Too many superhero movies introduce and dispense with their villains in a single appearance. American films are expected toend with the good guy killing(or at least arresting) the bad guy. Even those that survive often disappear from the franchise, either not popular enough to bring back or too popular to use as anything less than an ad campaign. In the comics, superheroes have stables of antagonists who consistently go through changes, disappear, reemerge, and maintain a consistent rapport with their enemies. Though there are a few repeat customers, the movies very rarely use villains the way Nolan used Scarecrow. They’re typically either dead within the runtime of their debut feature or so important to their universe that they become a protagonist. This robs both heroes and villains of the opportunity to grow together. So much of the franchise relies upon the interactions between these characters, but there’s very rarely a chance to build anything so impressive. It’s always on to the next thing orlocked into nostalgia-bait sequels.
How could Marvel and DC follow Scarecrow’s example?
Marvel could theoretically bring back its villains eternally with its multiverse conceit. DC has recently rebooted its universe, but it’ll likely introduce the same concept in time. Neither side regularly uses the kind of confident reincorporation that Nolan used with Scarecrow. There are a few examples, though they’re few and far between.Arnim Zola from Captain America: The Winter Soldieris an interesting example. He’s a dead antagonist who returns as a computer program to deliver a tranche of exposition, only to rapidly die again.Daredevil’s Kingpin simply never leaves the spotlight, appearing as the final boss in every season. The DCEU has Black Manta, who appears in bothAquamanmovies, becoming much more important in the second one. Scarecrow is far more subtle, returning because people like him rather than to attain increasingly critical positions. If Marvel and DC want to attempt something similar, they’d have to create antagonists with staying power. Those characters need to work within the context of their original films and as a consistent thematic partner of the protagonist. They have tostick around because people want them to. This provides the opportunity to consistently develop villains and grant important characters something more compelling.
Nolan’s Scarecrow isn’t perfect. He’s essentially a fun callback when he arrives in the third movie. His continued presence remains compelling, but he doesn’t have a huge impact on the plot. Future superhero movies can play with similar ideas, allowing beloved characters additional chances to develop.Nolan found a way to bringback a character as more than a cheap appeal to nostalgia, and that’s a lesson superhero movies can take to heart.
