Future State: Harley Quinn #1 offers Batman’s most terrifying rogue a sinister upgrade that helps him ruthlessly hunt vigilantes in Gotham.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Future State: Harley Quinn #1, by Stephanie Phillips, Simone Di Meo, Tamra Bonvillain and Troy Peteri, on sale now.
In the Batman mythos, Scarecrow is Gotham City’s most terrifying villain, due to the very nature of his arsenal. Using his fear toxin, he’s driven terror into the hearts of the Bat-Family, Gotham, the Justice League and even as a member of the Sinestro Corps.
However, in Future State: Harley Quinn #1, he gets his most sinister upgrade as he becomes the head of a hunting unit the Magistrate is using in this dystopian Gotham after the end of Death Metal.
Jonathan Crane’s fall from grace is well-documented, as he went from psycho-analyzing patients in Arkham Asylum to actually being one of the facility’s most famous inmates. While his dark descent has taken place in many cartoons, comics and movies like Batman Begins. Using his gas, he scares people by bringing their worst nightmares to life to fracture their minds, and this cerebral nature is what the Magistrate is harnessing.
Crane’s squad has caught Harley here, and he makes it clear he’s turned a new leaf. The Magistrate wants to cleanse the city, so Crane has put away his criminal past. As he treats Harley like Hannibal Lecter, he barters a bit more freedom in prison for her help in getting into the minds of targets. His educated background has seen him probing minds for years but he’s just not as good as Harley.
This is why he wants Harley as his unofficial advisor, developing plans to bring in Professor Pyg. They concoct a scheme to use Pyg’s victims to infuriate him as they’re put into the public eye as something other than the art spectacle he carved up. She further aids Crane by revealing the opening of an orphanage will draw the personal ire of Firefly, drawing him out for eventual arrest.
Crane’s impressed after the two captures and wants to use Harley to capture his main target: Black Mask. He hates the tyrant for some recent personal feud and wants him in chains. However, Harley’s insight is legitimately making Crane better at his job too, and he could apply her methods to other vigilantes and what’s left of the Bat-family too.
Crane might even be able to use this therapy against Harley, breaking her to transform her into his permanent tool or otherwise manipulating her. Crane needed gas to really bring people’s demons to life but now, he’s getting the means to do so with just his words and thoughts. He’s inflicting fear without poisons and working people’s minds without them even knowing it. But with the Scarecrow persona still lingering beneath the surface, trying to get out, Harley may not realize the monster she’s creating for all of Gotham after all.
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