“A psychology professor who turned fear into science — the one villain who can make even Batman afraid.”
A neurotoxin that materializes a victim's worst fear as vivid hallucination — capable of breaking even Batman.
Expert-level psychological manipulation even without the toxin — he locates and exploits mental vulnerabilities through words alone.
The grotesque scarecrow costume amplifies the toxin's effect — the appearance itself is a weapon of dread.
Jonathan Crane was exposed to extreme fear experiments as a child, and the resulting trauma transmuted into obsession. He doesn't want to conquer fear — he wants to study it, understand it, weaponize it. A disordered obsession dressed in the language of a cold-blooded academic.