Daredevil vs Scarecrow: Who Would Win?

The Man Without Fear squares off against the master of terror in this edition of Cure For Kryptonite. Can Daredevil overcome his darkest nightmares, or will Scarecrow’s fear gas prove to be too much for him?

I can already feel the tension building! A Marvel hero who is praised for his courage goes up against a DC villain with a weapon that induces fear, this should be good… Let’s start with the parameters of the fight:

(Since Scarecrow is outmatched physically, I’m giving him home-field advantage)

Daredevil is tracking Scarecrow after a recent outbreak of a new narcotic in Hell’s Kitchen. He is lead to an abandoned warehouse in Gotham City a few blocks away from Arkham Asylum. This warehouse has served as Scarecrow’s lab and base of operations for the past few weeks. Daredevil has his billy club and Scarecrow has fear gas. Daredevil’s sonar shows him that Scarecrow is inside, but as he approaches the warehouse, he trips a silent alarm alerting Scarecrow of an intruder. So both men know a fight is coming, but neither knows anything about his opponent. No calling for back-up. The first person to incapacitate his opponent wins.

For those of you that don’t know, Daredevil is a blind superhero in the Marvel universe. He suffered a terrible accident while saving a blind man from being hit by a truck. The accident caused him to lose his sight, but it also heightened his remaining senses to super-human levels. His hearing is so acute that he can use even the most minor sounds to create a sort of metal sonar. So it’s kind of like he can see, even though he can’t see.

Daredevil’s heightened sense of touch gives him amazing balance, flexibility, and agility. He also has enhanced strength and a healing factor. And to top it all off, he’s a martial arts expert. (Side-note: Daredevil is one of my personal favorites! I mean, come on… A blind superhero? How cool is that!)

In this match-up, Daredevil is going up against a psychologist who fell off the deep end. Dr. Jonathan Crane was known as a brilliant psychologist before becoming a super villain. As Scarecrow, he uses a wide variety of psychotic drugs and psychological tactics to exploit the fears and weaknesses of his adversaries.

Scarecrow is also an expert chemist. He was able to develop and manufacture an entire arsenal of fear toxins by himself. But other than that, Scarecrow doesn’t really have any outstanding powers or abilities. He has shown that he can hold his own in terms of hand-to-hand combat, but he is no where near in the same league as Daredevil.

That’s a brief overview of the two characters, now let’s get back to the fight.

Our battle begins with Daredevil entering the warehouse through a broken window. He is expecting to be undetected, but to his surprise, Scarecrow charges at him, wielding a syringe filled with some sort of liquid. Daredevil dodges the attack with an acrobatic flip through the air. Turning on his heels, Daredevil tosses his billy club and hits Scarecrow directly in the throat. Scarecrow collapses to the floor. Daredevil moves closer towards the body of his apparently unconscious foe, but just as does, Scarecrow springs up and sprays a triple dose of fear gas directly in Daredevil’s face. Daredevil becomes incredibly disoriented and stumbles backward, his sonar sense begins to fade. While Daredevil is struggling to regain his composure, Scarecrow injects him with the syringe full of fear toxin. Daredevil jerks backward, the overdose of fear inducing drugs floods his system and overloads his enhanced senses. He writhes on the ground in agony, and his mind slips slowly into madness.

Winner: Scarecrow

Ultimately the outcome of this fight comes down to what kind of effect Scarecrow’s fear gas would have on Daredevil.  I could be wrong about this, but I think that Daredevil’s heightened senses (particularly his enhanced sense of smell) make him more vulnerable to toxins and inhalants. That means the fear gas would be extra effective against Daredevil, so I’m giving my vote to Scarecrow.  In a hand-to-hand combat only fight, Daredevil would destroy Scarecrow. But I see the fear gas as a big enough wild card to turn the tables.

Who do you think would win this fight? Tell me your opinion in the comments section below!