He was the antagonist for Christopher Nolan’s reboot of the Batman franchise and now he is making an appearance in the DC Universe Online MMO. That’s right, Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow, is going to be haunting your dreams as you fight to keep the streets of the DC Universe clean.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Scarecrow here’s a description of his back-story,

Jonathan Crane was a skinny, awkward kid who got bullied often because he reminded people of Ichabod Crane, from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  As he grew older, Crane became obsessed with the essence of fear, hopefully in an effort to conquer his own phobias. This obsession put him on the academic fast track at Gotham University.

But Crane sabotaged his career by using his students as unwilling subjects in his dangerous fear-based experiments.  He was dismissed from the university by the board of regents for his unorthodox methods.  In an act of revenge, Crane put his knowledge of fear to work, creating a fear gas, dressing himself in straw and sackcloth and adopting the guise of The Scarecrow.

DC Universe Online has players inhabiting the persona of their own villain or hero as they team up with the iconic characters from DC comics to wreak havoc or fight crime. At $14.99 a month, the game is a steal for fans of DC Comics. Story-wise, the game is very open to allow players to see the likes of everyone from the Green Lantern to Lex Luthor.

While many have been clamoring to get their hands on this game, they have struggled with constant news of delays. Currently the game sits with an early 2011 release date but with the nature of MMOs on consoles that is open to change. I just want to throw on some tights and my cape and take to the skies with Superman.

Which DC Universe villain are you most looking forward to taking down/teaming up with? Let us know in the comments below.

DC Universe Online should hit the PC and PS3 some time early next year.