Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #51
Cover Date: Mar 64
Title: "The Sinister Scarecrow"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Don Heck - Penciler
Don Heck - Inker

Review/plot: A vaudeville contortionist helps Iron Man catch a thief, and Iron Man casually mentions that it's a good thing the performer is on the side of the law because of his great abilities. The contortionist thinks about it and decides Iron Man was right - he'd make a great thief. He gets himself a scarecrow suit out of a costume shop and steals his partner's trained crows and becomes the Scarecrow. That's really all it took back in the day to be a super villain.

Meanwhile Pepper Potts is turning away Stark's date - Veronica Vogue - because she is snooty. Stark thinks it's because Pepper is jealous, but having read The Iron Age, we know it's because she's keeping Tony focusing on his work instead of Hollywood starlets. Stark figures something is up but doesn't really mind because he's basically moved on to womanizing elsewhere ("she was becoming a bore, anyway!").

Happy drives Tony home...

...and they find the Scarecrow ransacking the suite.

Happy attacks, and while he's getting his butt handed to him, Stark changes into Iron Man, but gets himself wrapped in up in some drapery and tied up by crows. Not the high point of Iron Man's career. The Scarecrow manages to steal some high tech weapon designs, and his plan is to head out to "a land where all enemies of America are welcomed" - Cuba. Iron Man tracks down the Scarecrow and whoops him and gets to sink an evil commie boat as well. Then he comes home and tricks Pepper into going on a date with Happy. Meanwhile the Scarecrow cools his heels in Cuba.

The one cool thing about the Scarecrow is his crows grab him by the costume and fly him around. It's a good visual. This guy is totally not in Iron Man's league, though. He should have been a Daredevil villain.

Also in this issue, a man is challenged to a duel by a plant from outer space, but the alien gets eaten by a crow.

And, the Watcher tells a story about individuals in the future who search for life on other planets but only find primitive forms of life.

In a real twist, one of the primitives actually has a framed certificate stating that his people mastered atomic energy, but the scientists are too predisposed in believing other races are primitive to read it.

It's interesting to see the Watcher start to narrate these weird Tales Of Suspense.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Scarecrow

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Batman fought another Scarecrow in the Golden Age, but at this point the villain had been mothballed and wouldn't reappear until 1966.

Big issue for the crows - beat up Iron Man and defeat an alien from outer space

So since these two stories are in the same entry, they happen around the same time yes? One of Scarecrow's crows saved the world eh?

Speaking of DC's Scarecrow, he would later team up with Marvel's Scarecrow briefly during Marvel vs. DC.

This Scarecrow is a bit underrated as a villain. He's a contortionist/rubber man type, which in the Marvel universe, at least puts him in Daredevil fighting range; he's got the cool look and the crows; and his cool look/fighting style wasn't paired with a limited shtick like DC's Scarecrow. That said he has the complete misfortune (like a lot of Iron Man or Thor early villains) of getting thrown at a hero way above his skill level and never really gets to "flourish" if that until years later.

Sometimes it felt like the random villain created each month was not created for a specific hero but for whichever book needed a villain. thats actually realistic, as I like the underpowered Scarecrow meeting IM first.

Decides he'd make a great thief, so gets himself a scarecrow suit out of a costume shop, steals his partner's trained crows, becomes a supervillain, decides to defect to Cuba as an enemy of America... well, that escalated quickly.

Clearly in the Silver Age, there was a thin line separating you helping someone catch a thief and you becoming an evil Commie traitor to your country.

I see Pepper is still wearing the freckle-coverup makeup from last issue.

Okay. I get it now. I always thought the artist was airbrushing them out.

Sometimes it felt like the random villain created each month was not created for a specific hero but for whichever book needed a villain. thats actually realistic, as I like the underpowered Scarecrow meeting IM first.

Stan was also fond of two other plots: in Iron Man's book, he liked villains who targeted Stark or Stark Industries more than Iron Man himself, which makes sneak-thief types a reasonable villain; and he really likes the idea of a fast-moving, agile type taking on a powerhouse, as with the similarly rubber-jointed Cobra taking on Thor or the Human Top battling the massive, lumbering Giant-Man.

I place this with #50.

I've always had a liking for this Scarecrow (I can't even say the Marvel Scarecrow as there has been more than one), but I agree with your view that he should have been a Daredevil villain, especially as DD was lacking great villains to start with. Although wouldn't this be too early even for DD #1 ?