#we Could have had a harvey dent-ish downfall where he becomes someone to pity rather than someone to fear

[rollforjackass]

thank god i've come back to tumblr after all this time bc where else could i say "i've been simping for the scarecrow from batman begins lately" with impunity. anyway thank you cilian murphy for your service

#idk his take on scarecrow fascinates me bc of his progression through the trilogy #like we're all familiar with the 'villain descends into madness' trope and how it's usually played as a tragedy #we see traumatic backstories & flashbacks & the underlying narrative is 'i don't want to be this way' or 'i just want it to stop' #so i'm obsessed with the fact that when we see crane again in dark knight & dark knight rises he's Even More Confident than he was in bb #he goes from quiet meek-ish schemer to wise-cracking criminal who smirks at the batman when he's unmasked #and then to the preening judge of bane's mock court doling out death sentences like it's a game to him #and like we Could have had the scarecrow that we saw in the end of bb: straitjacketed & descending into madness #we Could have had a harvey dent-ish downfall where he becomes someone to pity rather than someone to fear #but we didn't! we got a guy who said 'what drives you crazy makes you stronger' and went on to have a whole lot of maniacal fun #and i think that's really the essence of how batman villains Become iconic batman villains: being utterly ride or die for their public imag #scarecrow: oh i got gassed & went a little delulu? i'm a known criminal who will never hold a job as a doctor again in my life? #scarecrow: so what i'm getting here is that i'm free to become Worse~ #batman #jonathan crane