In comics, the name Scarecrow is used by a few villain characters. At DC, it’s Jonathan Crane, a psychologist obsessed with fear. Then at Marvel, it’s Ebenezer Laughton, an acrobat turned criminal.

Laughton, aka Scarecrow, is an elite acrobat and master bird trainer, who can induce fear in others, and he is superstrong, fast, and has enhanced healing abilities. The villain was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, making his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #51 (March 1964).

Laughton was born on a farm in New York and was raised by an abusive mother, then left home to work as an escape artist and contortionist in the circus. From there he turned to a life of crime and became a professional thief. He dressed up as a scarecrow and worked with a murder of crows that he had trained to help on his jobs.

For a little while, Laughton joined Count Nefaria, Plantman, Unicorn, Eel, and Porcupine on a mission to hold Washington, DC hostage, but they were defeated by the X-Men. Scarecrow suffered losses against Captain America and Falcon, then he snapped and started killing the supporters of the Coalition for an Upstanding America.

During his murder spree, Scarecrow came up against the second Ghost Rider and was impaled on his own pitchfork while they fought. His body was retrieved by the Firm, and Laughton was given surgical implants that made him a stronger, better villain. He started working for the Firm, but was shot and impaled in a battle with Captain America and Ghost Rider.

The sorcerer Stern raised Scarecrow from the undead, giving him new superhuman abilities and the power to induce fear in others. He also gained the ability to heal from injuries by feeding off the fear of others. Ghost Rider used that knowledge to his advantage by mangling Scarecrow’s body and causing it to heal in an unnatural, contorted pose.

Eventually he healed, but his mind and body continued to go through a lot because of his prolonged associations with magical and demonic characters. When Scarecrow finally parted ways with magical bosses, including a period when he was a ghost, his body started to become more stable. He was arrested for attempting to sexually assault hostages and joined Baron Zemo’s Thunderbolts to hunt heroes during Civil War.

Then Scarecrow was among the villains that attacked Peter Parker when he was revealed to be Spider-Man, but he was stopped and sent to prison. He and Molten Man went on a crime spree to flush out heroes that were in hiding, but they were stopped by Captain America and the Punisher. He worked with Blackout and other villains to kill Ghost Rider, but he was stopped when Jaine Cutter twisted his body around a fence. Scarecrow joined with Raoul Bushman to fight Moon Knight, and in Fear Itself, he caused chaos with his army of crows before Wolverine stopped him.