“Elseworlds Part 2” was a hugely important episode for the Arrowverse as it allowed The CW to dive into the Batman mythos for the first time, as Ruby Rose’s Batwoman made her debut. The writers wasted no time in playing in this new sandbox, either, as a famous weapon of one of Batman’s most dangerous foes made an unexpected appearance.
No, we’re not talking about Mr. Freeze’s cold gun that can be seen in one of the promo images (though it did appear in the same scene). Rather, when Caitlin fought Nora Fries in Arkham Asylum’s store room, the Flash – well, Oliver Queen, affected by the reality-warp – tried to throw a lightning punch to take care of the situation but, in doing so, knocked over a batch of vials labelled “Crane.”
The chemicals inside then turned to gas and caused Oliver and Barry to receive visions of their greatest enemies – Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) and Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh) – who taunted them and reminded them of their failures. It was later described as “a powerful hallucinogen” by Batwoman. However, Bat-fans will instantly recognize it as Scarecrow’s fear gas.
The most famous use of Crane’s gas on screen is in Batman Begins, as used by Cillian Murphy’s Dr. Jonathan Crane to drive his victims into insanity. However, more recently, a younger Scarecrow’s appeared on Gotham, also using his signature weapon. He’ll show up again in season 5 in the new year as well, so this is a rare instance of the Arrowverse and Gotham sharing a DC concept at the same time.
Of course, Batwoman’s expected to get her own spinoff next fall, and as such, fans are hoping that some iconic Batman villains will appear on her show. Seeing as the fear gas played a role in her introductory episode, let’s hope this was a tease that Scarecrow could rear his ugly head in the future.
“Elseworlds” concludes tonight with Supergirl on The CW.