- "Me? It was your plan ya goofy clown!"
- —Joker controlling Scarface
Gotham's Blackgate Penitentiary once had a Gallows Tree from which 313 criminals with death sentences were hanged. The wood from that tree was whittled by an inmate into the puppet Scarface, and that inmate was murdered by Arnold Wesker, a man who soon fell under Scarface's influence. While most believe that Scarface is simply a tool through which Wesker, as the criminal mastermind, the Ventriloquist, acts out a dark side to his personality, Wesker himself believes that Scarface is possessed by the souls of who died beneath the Gallows Tree, and the puppet actually motivates him to commit the duo's many crimes.
Incident Reports[]
Before Arkham Shadow Incident[]
Scarface began life as "Woody" when he was carved from pieces of wood recovered from Blackgate's Gallows Tree by an inmate named Donnegan.
Arkham Shadow Incident[]
During the days leading up to the Rat King's "Day of Wrath, Donnegan would find himself with a new cellmate, Arnold Wesker, and would introduce himself and Woody through the dummy which lightened the mood of Donnegan's nervous cellmate, as he openly voiced how he liked the dummy. Later that night Wesker asks Donnegan where Woody had come from, with Donnegan revealing Woody to be made from the wood of the old Gallow's Tree used for hanging prisoners. It's during this exchange that Wesker began to "hear" the dummy call to him and demand Donnegan to let Wesker continue speaking about his past after being dismissed by Donnegan; Wesker's repressed second personality had now begun manifesting through Woody via Wesker's natural talent for ventriloquism. Unnerved by this, and claiming he sometimes believes Woody to be possessed, Donnegan proposes to Wesker for the two of them to get some sleep. While Donnegan sleeps Wesker "hears" Woody speaking, initially wondering if Donnegan was awake and making Woody talk, Woody mumbles about needing to escape Blackgate and needing a friend to help him do so. Wesker remembers what Dr. Harleen Quinzel once said to him and asks Woody if the two of them could be friends as he begins to develop an obsession for the dummy.
The next day Wesker takes Woody with him to Quinzel's group therapy session without telling Donnegan, who immediately knew Wesker had stolen Woody and was going to make him learn "the hard way" not to steal from him again after having a "chat" with Wesker. In the therapy session during his turn to speak, and after Quinzel asks about Wesker having Donnegan's dummy, he introduces the group to Woody and calls themselves best friends, Woody suddenly "interrupts" and points out to Wesker they only just met and he's being too clingy. Seeing Quinzel asking Woody to let Wesker speak rather than speaking to Wesker directly causes Dr. Jonathan Crane to lose his patience and attempt to pry Woody out of Wesker's hands, who keeps a strong grip on the dummy while Woody tells Crane to keep his "mitts" off of him and insults him by calling him "pencil neck". Seeing Wesker wasn't going to let go Crane decides to take Wesker and Woody away from the therapy session and into a more "structured and clinical" environment, when in reality Crane attempts to expose Wesker to Project Umbra, though Wesker is saved by Quinzel after a physical fight erupts between the two doctors once she discovers what Crane was attempting to do. When he returns to his cell Wesker is confronted by an angry Donnegan over taking Woody out of their cell and into the group therapy session like Woody was a toy, while Wesker tells Donnegan Dr. Quinzel had told him he and Woody had a connection and attempted to tell Donnegan how Woody spoke to him multiple times while Donnegan slept, Donnegan would shoot this down and insult Wesker, knowing Woody was just a puppet and wasn't even alive, making it impossible for him to speak. While admitting at times Woody may seem like he's alive ultimately he believes and tells Wesker he's only imagining Woody talking to him, and warns Wesker not to touch Woody again or else he would regret it.
However later that night Donnegan wouldn't let the matter rest and continued shouting at Wesker that he wasn't going to get away with taking Woody like he did, but soon becomes unnerved when, after telling Wesker the cell wasn't big enough for two of them, Woody would chime in and correct him saying the three of them, without Donnegan actually speaking through him, Woody goes on to tell Donnegan to shut up and that he was tired of him putting words into Woody's mouth, and despite Wesker's appearance Woody believed he was the right person to give Woody what he wanted the most: freedom from Blackgate and someone who was willing to help Woody fight for that freedom....a partner in crime. Later that same night Donnegan would soon be killed by Wesker, Woody telling his distraught and now new owner to stop crying and that they needed to do something about the body. The next day after Donnegan is found dead Wesker is interrogated by two TYGER guards about his cell mate's death, and getting no proper answers from Wesker Woody soon interrupts and claims Donnegan couldn't handle life in Blackgate anymore and simply committed suicide.
Eventually both Wesker and Woody are once again taken by Crane so that he could be exposed to Project Umbra, this time in Crane's secret lab in order to stop another interruption like the last time. Managing to get access to the intercom Woody would tell Batman he'll do TYGER's job for them and just kill the Dark Knight himself before being removed from Wesker by Crane. After Batman gets into Crane's lab Wesker immediately asks for Woody, and quickly relaxes once he has him in his arms again, before Batman leaves to chase Crane Woody joins Wesker in an improvised song, Wesker himself still heavily affected by Crane's "treatments". After dealing with Crane Batman later learns from Alfred Pennyworth that both Woody and Wesker had been moved to the prison infirmary thanks to Quinzel.
When the Day of Wrath finally began, and resulted in a mass riot throughout Blackgate, Woody saw the chance for him and Wesker to escape the prison, and urged Wesker to "hand" him a nearby gun which he, through Wesker, used to shoot and kill a TYGER guard trying to stop him. Ecstatic at finally seeing some "action" in Blackgate, Woody told Wesker to escape and look for a nearby boat to leave Blackgate, all while setting his sights on Gotham City.
Between Arkham Shadow and Assault on Arkham Incident[]
Eventually, Wesker, now adopting the alias known as the Ventriloquist, was recaptured and transferred to Arkham Asylum, taking Woody, now known as "Scarface", with him. At some point, Harley Quinn encountered them in prison, finding herself delighted by the actions of the inseparable duo.
Assault on Arkham Incident[]
When the Suicide Squad break into Arkham Asylum's Storage Facility, Captain Boomerang was startled upon stumbling upon Scarface.
Road to Arkham Incident[]
When Arkham was reopened Scarface was put in a glass case along with all of the other super villains' personal items.
Arkham Asylum Incident[]
Now separated from Wesker, Scarface appears in a display case in the Warden's office as the answer to the riddle, 'Isn't the Warden too old for a puppet show?' He then appears during the third Scarecrow nightmare as the new Warden of the Asylum, talking on a screen. He does this both in the cutscene and the nightmare itself.
It seems the Joker had managed to get hold of Scarface, as he was talking to himself through Scarface near the end of the game via a fictitious argument while trying to vent frustration on Batman arriving at his location, where he had managed to carve a smile on Scarface's mouth, almost like a Glasgow Smile. During this argument Joker demands to know why Scarface hadn't stopped Batman, to which the dummy rightfully points out "Me?? It was your plan you goofy clown!" before being thrown to the ground in annoyance by Joker, telling Scarface he was sending him back to Wesker where he belonged.
Between Arkham Asylum and Arkham City Incident[]
After their escape from the Asylum, Joker often played with Scarface, using the doll to insult Harley, which incensed her as she had a prior past with the doll when it was being used by Wesker and Riley.
One of the Joker's henchmen, Mugsy Binks, realized how much his boss enjoyed the doll, so he stole Scarface from the asylum. He made several copies in order to keep his boss's favor. This freed the Joker to mutilate any puppet that failed to amuse him. If he destroyed one in a fit of anger, Joker simply picked up another.
Arkham City Incident[]
Scarface appears in Arkham City in Penguin's museum in a display case in the trophy room with other thugs and villains.
Scarface in Penguin's museum
After Arkham City Incident[]
During the events of Harley Quinn's Revenge, Scarface is shown painted up like Joker laying inside a baby carriage.
Arkham Knight Incident[]
- "One ventriloquist's dummy AKA Scarface. This isn't the original Scarface; it's Joker knockoff. No-one knows why, but the clown took a liking to this creepy thing."
- —Aaron Cash's audio about the Seized Assests
A copy of Scarface was kept in the GCPD evidence archive.
Kill Arkham Asylum Incident[]
After Ventriloquist had been arrested, the original Scarface was kept in the personal effects lockup in Arkham Asylum, which later fell under A.R.G.U.S. control. Following a faux breakout, Arnold received Scarface and his suit with Harley and Scarecrow from the inmates items lockup room. Almost immediately, Scarface told Harley to get a move on, to which Harley concurred, only to call him “little buddy”, to which Scarface angrily corrected Harley and threatened to slap her if she called him anything other than “Scarface”. She would agree to this demand, but continue to call him “little buddy” behind his back. During the riot, Harley was distracted by a guard who was bearing down on Deadshot, and immediately lashed out at the guard, the brutality of which surprising Scarface, who attempted to refocus Harley, only to be immediately frozen along with Arnold before they could react, by a member of the Arkham Enhanced Defense Solder Freeze-Fire Unit, causing Scarecrow to flee. Harley accidentally knocked Arnold over shattering and killing him & destroying Scarface in the process.
Kill the Justice League Incident[]
A copy of Scarface can be seen in Batman's Batcave. It is also established that Scarface lives on in the form of one of the many duplicates made by the late Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker. This Scarface presently maintains a stranglehold on Gotham City as one of its few remaining prominent crime bosses. With Arnold Wesker killed in the Arkham riot orchestrated by Amanda Waller, however, it is presently unknown who is presently serving as his Ventriloquist.
Gameplay[]
Psychological Profile[]
Dr. Hugo Strange[]
Attributes[]
- Puppet animated with eerie verisimilitude
- Frequently wields under-sized but lethal weaponary
- When teamed with the Ventriloquist, acts as an old-style mob boss, with a sociopathic disregard for human life
Behind the Scenes[]
Gallery[]
Batman: Assault on Arkham[]
Batman: Arkham Asylum[]
Batman: Arkham City[]
Trivia[]
- Although Wesker doesn't make an appearance in the game, Scarface makes a cameo appearance in Batman: Arkham Asylum. The dummy is first seen in a glass display case in the old Arkham Mansion, in Quincy Sharp’s Office. Scarface is later, however, glimpsed on monitors and heard speaking during the third run-in Batman has with the Scarecrow in his dream-scape, during which the dummy, manipulated by Joker gives a twisted version of Sharp's welcome speech seen playing in the Intensive Treatment Center. Near the end of the game, Scarface, actually being used by the Joker in a fictional argument, is seen being blamed for Batman's success, despite, as Scarface points out, it being the Joker's plan. Losing his patience, the Joker throws the dummy away, promising to send it back to the Ventriloquist. Wesker's name appears on the party list.
- Scarface has his own 3D bio despite not being a major or normal character.
- Scarface makes an appearance at the end of Batman: Arkham VR, occupying Cell #423 at Arkham Asylum. Whenever Batman turns around, Scarface moves to a different position, probably to add eeriness.
- Scarface's new smile, as given to him by the Joker, could be a reference to the late Heath Ledger's own interpretation of the Joker. Or maybe Joker just wants to see him smile more.
- In Arkham Asylum, Scarface shares the same voice actor as the Joker. This is most likely because Joker is the only person to be seen holding him in the game.
External links[]
Scarface on the DC Comics Wiki
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