After inhaling a nefarious airborne poison known as Fear Gas, the producers of Fox’s Gotham were forced to confront the one thing in the world that terrifies them the most: forgetting to include a famous Batman character in their Batman show that’s not about Batman. That haunting vision of a world without articles like the one you’re reading right now must have truly shaken them to their cores, because it seems they’ve taken a vow to do whatever they can to make sure it doesn’t come to pass. That’s why, according to IGN, longtime villain The Scarecrow will soon join the list of before-they-were-famous Batman characters on Gotham, a list that already includes—deep breath—Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Harvey Dent, The Riddler, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, and, of course, beloved comic book hero The Penguin’s mom.
Unlike a lot of those people, who arrive on Gotham almost fully-formed as the characters they will eventually become, the show’s version of Scarecrow will actually be a plucky young kid who doesn’t spray people with fear gas or stuff his clothes with straw. His dad will, though. IGN says that “the Scarecrow moniker” will be something that’s “passed on to him from his father.” This way, Jim Gordon can fight the Scarecrow without anyone complaining about how it doesn’t make any sense within established Batman continuity, and also nobody needs to think of an entirely new villain. Everybody wins! Also, maybe Scarecrow’s dad and Penguin’s mom can start dating? It’s not like their kids aren’t already fucked up.