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EspañolTWO-FACE
:''This article is about the DC comics villain. For the Nigerian musician, see 2face Idibia. For the American music producer, see Dave Jonsen (alias Harvey Dent).''
'Two-Face' is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of Batman in the . Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, he first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942).
Bob Kane was inspired by a movie poster advertising the Spencer Tracy film ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' and conceived the idea of a villain with a dual personality. Two-Face was once 'Harvey Dent', District Attorney of Gotham City and close ally of Batman. After a criminal disfigured half of his face with acid, Dent became the insane crime boss Two-Face who would choose to do either good or evil depending upon the results of flipping a coin — a device which was taken from the 1932 version of ''Scarface''.
Originally, he was one of many gimmick-focused comic book villains, plotting crimes based around the number two, such as robbing Gotham Second National Bank at 2:00 on February 2. In recent years, writers have portrayed his obsession with duality and his criminal behavior as the result of multiple personality disorder and a history of child abuse. He obsessively makes all important decisions by flipping a two-headed coin, one side of which is scratched.
Although too gruesome for the 1960s television show that popularized Batman and much of his rogues gallery, Two-Face has been a prominent foe of the Dark Knight and was played by Tommy Lee Jones in the 1995 film ''Batman Forever.'' The Harvey Dent character will also play a part in the upcoming film ''The Dark Knight'', portrayed by Aaron Eckhart.
''.]] When he first appears in ''Detective Comics'' #66, the character's name is Harvey Kent, but his name was changed to Harvey Dent. At 26, he is the youngest district attorney ever to serve Gotham City, and is nicknamed "Apollo" for his good looks. He is elected about six months before Batman begins his war on crime, as depicted in the events of ''.
His campaign against crime ends tragically during the prosecution of crime boss Sal "Boss" Maroni for murder. At a climactic moment in the trial, Dent produces Maroni's good luck charm, a two-headed coin he was well-known for carrying, which had been found at the murder scene with Maroni's fresh fingerprints upon it. Enraged, Maroni throws sulphuric acid in Dent's face, horribly scarring and discoloring his left hand and the left half of his face while leaving the other half undamaged; in some versions of the story, Dent is only saved from a full faceful of acid by Batman's quick but, regrettably, only partial deflection of Maroni's hand. Tormented by his hideous reflection, Dent scars one side of Maroni's coin and lets tosses of the coin decide whether he acts for good or evil in any situation.
Before the Knightfall storyline, it was shown that Two-face was escaping Arkham. In the Knightfall storyline, parts 13 and 14. He sets a trap for Batman and later puts Batman on trial, claiming his transformation into Two-Face was Batman's fault (presumably since Batman was only half-successful in stopping Maroni's actions). After finding him guilty, he tries to kill Batman but is stopped by Robin. Later, Batman captures Two-face and is sent back to Arkham. These events were in Showcase `93 #7 & 8. Two-Face is next seen in the Prodigal storyline which is after KnightsEnd.
The comic book limited series '' elaborates on these events, with some changes. In it, Dent, Captain (later Commissioner) James Gordon, and Batman forge an alliance to rid Gotham of crime. Mafia chieftain Sal "The Boss" Maroni is still the criminal who disfigures Dent with help from the corrupt Assistant District Attorney Vernon Field, who provides him with the acid (concealed in an antacid bottle). Dent gets his trademark coin from his abusive father, who is referred to as being in some form of mental institution (his relationship with his father was earlier introduced in ''Batman Annual'' #14). Gilda Dent, who had been Dent's fiancée back in ''Detective Comics'' #66 and 68 (1942), is instead his wife in ''The Long Halloween'' (1998). By the end, Two-Face is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.
Dent's disfigurement brings out his latent multiple personality disorder and transforms him into the villainous Two-Face. Obsessed with duality and opposites, Two-Face's trademark is crimes involving the number two. Furthermore, his related obsession with opposites reveals itself in such "quirks" as wearing clothes with dramatically different materials on each side.
Another of Two-Face's trademarks is that he does not consistently go through with his evil deeds; every time he contemplates committing a crime, he flips a two-headed coin, one side of which is scratched. Only if the coin comes up scratched-side does Two-Face commit the crime, never questioning the result of the toss. Recent interpretations portray this compulsion as a struggle between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self.
The character only made three appearances in the 1940s, and appeared twice in the 1950s (not counting the impostors mentioned below). By this time, he was dropped in favor of more "kid friendly" villains, though he did appear in a 1968 issue (''World's Finest Comics'' #173), in which Batman declared him to be the criminal he most fears. In 1971, writer Dennis O'Neil brought Two-Face back, and it was then that he became one of Batman's arch-enemies.
In in the wake of Frank Miller's 1987 revision of Batman's origin (see ''), Andrew Helfer rewrote Two-Face's history to match. This origin, presented in ''Batman Annual'' #14, served to emphasize Dent's status as a tragic character, with a back story that included an abusive, alcoholic father, and early struggles with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. It was also established, in '', that pre-accident Dent was a major heroic figure working as one of Batman's earliest allies. Dent had clear ties to both Batman and Commissioner Gordon, making him an unsettling and personal foe for both men.
During the same period, Two-Face is revealed to have murdered Jason Todd's father, who had been one of his henchmen. Todd later has Two-Face at his mercy and chooses not to kill him, embracing Batman's ideal of justice. This storyline is later mirrored in the animated series of the late 1990s with Tim Drake substituting for Jason Todd.
During the Batman daily comic strips published from 1989 to 1991, his origin is slightly altered. In this version, Harvey Dent is scarred by a vial of acid thrown by an unnamed bystander, and intended for the Joker.
In 1989, writer Grant Morrison portrayed Dent's dependence on his coin in ''. The doctors in the asylum attempt to destroy his evil personality by taking away his coin and replacing it with a die and eventually a tarot deck, effectively giving him 78 options. The treatment fails, however; with so many options, Dent can no longer decide on what to do. At the end of the graphic novel, Batman gives Dent his coin back, telling him to use it to decide whether to kill him. The coin lands scarred face up, but he nevertheless lets Batman go.
Throughout the history of the Batman franchise, attempts have been made to repair his facial scars, but they have not yet cured his insanity; he simply destroys the one side of his face and becomes Two-Face once again.
During the aftermath of the earthquake that leaves Gotham City in shambles, Two-Face carves out a sizable portion of the ruined city for himself. He takes up residence in Gotham City Hall, maintaining a relatively sophisticated lifestyle. His empire is eventually brought down by Bane, who, in the employ of Lex Luthor, devastates Two-Face's gang during his destruction of the city's Hall of Records. Two-Face kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and puts him on trial for his activities after Gotham City was declared a No Man's Land, with Two-Face as both judge and prosecutor. Gordon plays upon Two-Face's split psyche to demand Harvey Dent as his defense attorney. Dent cross-examined Two-Face and wins an acquittal for Gordon, determining that Two-Face has effectively blackmailed Gordon by implying that he had committed murders to aid the Commissioner.
In the ''Gotham Central'' series, Two-Face meets detective Renee Montoya. Montoya reaches the Dent persona in Two-Face, and is kind to him. He falls in love with her, though the romance is one-sided. Later, he outs her as a lesbian and frames her for murder, hoping that if he takes everything from her, she will be left with no choice but to be with him. She is furious, and the two fight for control of his gun until Batman intervenes, putting Two-Face back in Arkham.
In the ''Two-Face'' one-shot book, Two-Face leads a crusade against Gotham City, culminating in the capturing of his own father to humiliate and kill on live television for the years of abuse he suffered. This story revealed that, despite his apparent hatred for his father, Dent still supported him, paying for an expensive home rather than allowing him to live in a slum. At the end of the book, Dent and Two-Face argue in thought, Two-Face calling Dent "spineless." Dent proves Two-Face wrong, however, choosing to jump off a building and end his life just to put a stop to his alter ego's crime spree. Two-Face is surprised when the coin flip comes up scarred, but abides by the decision and jumps. Batman catches Dent, but the shock of the fall seems to (at least temporarily) destroy the Two-Face side of his psyche.
In ''Two-Face Strikes Twice'', Two-Face is at odds with his ex-wife Gilda, as he believes their marriage failed because he was unable to give her children. She later marries Paul Janus, a reference to the Roman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward. Two-Face attempts to frame Janus as a criminal by kidnapping him and replacing him with a stand-in, whom Two-Face "disfigures" with makeup to make it look as if Janus has gone insane just as Two-Face had. Two-Face is eventually caught by Batman and sent away, and Gilda and Janus reunite. Years later, Gilda gives birth to twins, prompting Two-Face to escape once more and take the twins hostage, as he had erroneously believes them to be conceived by Janus using an experimental fertility drug. The end of the book reveals a surprise twist; Batman learns from Gilda that Janus is not the father of Gilda's twins - Dent is. Some of his sperm had been frozen after a death threat had been made against him, and she used some of it to get pregnant. Batman uses this information to convince Dent to free the twins and turn himself in.
In the storyline '', Dent's face is repaired once more via plastic surgery. This time around, only the Harvey Dent persona exists. However, he takes the law into his own hands twice: once by using his ability to manipulate the legal system to free the Joker, and then again by shooting the serial killer Hush. He manipulates the courts into setting him free, as Gotham's prosecutors wouldn't attempt to charge him without a body.
In ''Detective Comics'' #817, as part of DC's ''One Year Later'' storyline, it is revealed that, at Batman's request and with training, Dent becomes a vigilante protector of Gotham City in most of Batman's absence of nearly a year. He is reluctant to take the job, but Batman assures him doing good would serve as atonement for his past crimes. After a month of training, they fight Firebug and Mr. Freeze, before Batman leaves for a year. Soon, Dent finds himself enjoying his new role, but his methods are seemingly more extreme and less refined than Batman's. Upon Batman's return, Dent begins to feel unnecessary and unappreciated, which prompted the return of the "Two-Face" persona (seen and heard by Dent through hallucinations). In ''Face the Face'', his frustration are compounded by a series of mysterious killings that seem to have been committed by Two-Face; the villains KGBeast, Magpie, The Ventriloquist, and Orca are all shot twice in the head with a double-barrelled pistol, implying that Dent was the perpetrator. When Batman confronts Dent about these deaths, asking Dent to confirm that he was not responsible, Dent refuses to give a definite answer. He then detonates a bomb in his apartment and leaves Batman dazed as he flees.
Despite escaping the explosion physically unscathed to a motel, Dent suffers a crisis of conscience and a mental battle with his "Two-Face" personality. Although evidence is later uncovered by Batman that exonerates Harvey Dent for the murders, it is too late to do anything to save him. Prompted by resentment and a paranoid reaction to Batman's questioning, Dent scars half his face with nitric acid and a scalpel, becoming Two-Face once again. Blaming Batman for his return (despite Batman's having consistently defended him to the authorities), Two-Face immediately goes on a rampage, threatening to destroy the Gotham Zoo (having retained two of every animal - including two humans) before escaping to fight Batman another day.
Two-Face is generally depicted with the left side of his face a twisted, discolored mess, with his lips and eyelids pulled back and his hair discolored or burned off. His left hand matches in some interpretations, while it is undamaged in others. The coloration of his deformity also seems to be at the whim of the colorist at the time, though green or purple seem to be the most common.
The severity of the disformations also vary. Most early versions of Two-Face depict his hair, ear, and lips as mutilated, but intact. ''Long Halloween'' and ''Dark Victory'', however, depict Dent's scarred side with no hair, and the skin burned so badly that he no longer has his ear lobe, eye lid, or lips. What remains is colored pink. This look has also been adopted somewhat for his current disfigurement as part of ''One Year Later'': although he retains his eye lids and lips, his ear lobe and hair are gone. His skin is also a dark red. His left hand may or may not be scarred to match his face, depending on the artist. There is also some question as to whether he retains vision in his left eye or is partially blind due to the acid strike (depending on the colorist, his left eye may not match his right).
★ Duela Dent is originally depicted as the daughter of Two-Face. Creator Bob Rozakis stated, "It didn't take too long to decide whose daughter she would turn out to be. After all, the only married villain was Two-Face. I convinced Julie (and associate editor E. Nelson Bridwell, the acknowledged keeper of DC's historical consistency) that Harvey and Gilda Dent had a daughter, that Harvey had been disappointed because she wasn't a twin, and that they'd named her Duela." [1]
As one of Batman's most recognizable and popular opponents, Two-Face has appeared in numerous comics which are not considered part of the regular DC continuity, including:
★ In the alternate future setting of '', plastic surgery returns Dent's face to normal, but at the unforeseen cost of permanently destroying the good-hearted Harvey Dent personality, leaving the monstrous Two-Face in control forever. As he puts it when Batman captures him, "At least both sides match."
★ Two-Face also appears in the ''Elseworlds'' Batman/Daredevil crossover book, partnered with Marvel villain Mr. Hyde for the purpose of using Hyde as an "incubator" to grow an organic microchip, giving Hyde drugs to speed up this process (regardless of the fact that this would kill him). It is also revealed in this book that Harvey Dent had once been friends with Matt Murdock, who is secretly Daredevil. Prior to his disfigurement, Dent believed in giving criminals a chance at rehabilitation, while Murdock believed in final justice; having reversed his outlook to what Dent had once believed, Murdock talks Two-Face out of killing Hyde without Two-Face using his coin to decide. Two-Face, however, insists that act is merely "the last of Harvey Dent."
★ In the Elseworlds comic '', a pastiche of ''The Phantom of the Opera'', Harvey Dent takes the role of the hideously scarred musical genius.
★ In Amalgam Comics, Two-Face is combined with Spider-Man's foe Green Goblin to create Two-Faced Goblin. He appears in ''Speed Demon'' #1 and ''Dark Claw Adventures'' #1.
During Two-Face's third appearance in the 1940s, his face and sanity are restored. Although there was a demand to use him again, the writers did not want to retcon his last story, so they had other characters assume the role. The first imposter is Wilkins, Dent's butler. The second of the impostors is Paul Sloane, an actor who was set to star in a biography of Harvey Dent. However, an accident on the set disfigures him in a manner similar to Dent. Sloane's mind snaps, and he begins to think he is Two-Face. The third and final impostor is a thug named George Blake, who is easily identified as an impostor because the wrong side of his face is scarred. Also noteworthy is a 1968 story where Batman himself is turned into Two-Face. Aside from a 1962 reprint of the Sloane storyline, this was Two-Face's only appearance in the 1960s. [2]
Another Two-Face appears in the Batman Sunday strips. Actor Harvey Apollo is scarred with acid when testifying against a mobster in court, and becomes a criminal. He only makes a few appearances before accidentally hanging himself after slipping on the silver dollar piece he uses as Two-Face.
As mentioned above, Harvey Dent does return as Two-Face in the 1970s. With the establishment of the DC Comics multiverse, however, the Two-Face of Earth-Two (i.e. the character seen in the original Golden Age stories) is said to be Harvey Kent, who had not relapsed following his cure. The last appearance of this version of Two-Face was in ''Superman Family'' #211 (October 1981), depicting him as a guest at the marriage of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (Catwoman). He meets Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and his shared name with the latter creates confusion.
Paul Sloane is eventually introduced into post-Crisis continuity as Paul Sloan, the Charlatan, in ''Detective Comics'' #777 (Feb 2003). In this incarnation, the actor had been hired by Gotham's costumed criminals to take Two Face's place in a scheme to kill Batman, Harvey's coin having come up unscarred. When the real Two-Face learns about this, he captures Sloan and gives him the same acid burns he had. The Scarecrow then experiments on him with fear toxins. Driven insane, the charlatan becomes obsessed with both getting revenge on the criminals who hired him and completing his mission to kill Batman.
In the 1989 - 1997 ''Batman'' film franchise, Billy Dee Williams appeared as a pre-disfigurement Dent in ''Batman'' (1989). Apparently, Williams signed for this role knowing that Dent was to become Two-Face in further installments of the franchise. To ensure that he would be given the role, Williams negotiated a "pay or play" contract guaranteeing that Warner Brothers would have to cast him as Two-Face or buy him out. However, when Two-Face was to become the main villain in the third movie, director Tim Burton had abdicated to Joel Schumacher, who decided to hire Tommy Lee Jones, and agreed to pay Williams for his cooperation allowing them to use the character.
The post-disfigurement Two-Face (and pre- in a brief scene showing the acid attack responsible on a TV) was played by Tommy Lee Jones in ''Batman Forever'' (1995) portraying the villainous equal to Jim Carrey's Riddler. This "Harvey Two-Face" is a campier character, with no trace of the inner emotional struggle between his good and evil personalities that the post-Miller comics had emphasized. The movie instead has him cod-philosophizing on the unfairness of fate, and plays up the "two" gimmick to the point where Two-Face even refers to himself in the plural. In ''Batman Forever'', Two-Face is responsible for the origin of Robin, as he kills the rest of Dick Grayson's family. Like the Joker and the Penguin in the previous movies, Two-Face appears to get killed off at the end of the movie: He flips a coin to decide if he will shoot Batman, and Batman tosses a handful of identical coins into the air. Two-Face panics and tries to find his coin, stumbling and falling into a watery bed of spikes. His real coin falls into the palm of his hand as his body sinks. In the movie, he learns Batman's secret identity after being told that he has two minds about everything in his life.
In ''Batman & Robin'', when Bane breaks into Arkham Asylum's storage room to get Mr. Freeze's cryogenic suit, both Two-Face and Riddler's costumes are visible in the background.
In a June 2005 interview with ''Premiere'' magazine, screenwriter David S. Goyer said that in ''The Dark Knight'', Harvey Dent would help Batman and policeman James Gordon bring down the Joker, whose presence is hinted at the end of ''Batman Begins''. Goyer went on to say that in the third film, the Joker would go on trial and scar Dent in the process.[3]. In October 2006, director Christopher Nolan confirmed that Harvey Dent would be introduced in the sequel.[4] In February 2007, Aaron Eckhart was confirmed to play Harvey Dent.[5] Eckhart has stated that the Two-Face persona will make an appearance in the film. [6] Goyer, however, has suggested this is not the case. [7] The first picture of Eckhart as Harvey Dent was released on May 17, 2007 in the form of a faux campaign poster with the phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" (a line from ''The Long Halloween''). [8]. In an interview with MTV.com, Eckhart said “I play Harvey Dent. Harvey Two-Face. They are both in the movie.”[9] While the appearance of Two-Face will have some make-up, a majority will be computer generated.[10] In a series of clips shown at Wizard World 2007, one particular scene shows Harvey Dent in shadow, to which one character says "Dent! I thought you were dead." Dent responds, "Half."
The Two-Face of the DC Animated Universe was praised by many fans. Some were upset that his scarring took place in a chemical plant instead of being scarred by a crime boss in court, but according to Timm, this was changed to fit the storyline. Timm has stated that he wanted Two-Face/Harvey Dent to have a Sicilian accent; Al Pacino was actually offered to voice the character at one point, but declined.
''.]]
In '', Harvey Dent/Two-Face, voiced by Richard Moll, suffers from deep-seated psychological trauma resulting from years of repressing anger. As a result, he develops an alternate personality, "Big Bad Harv", who is as evil as his outer appearance is noble. "Big Bad Harv" would sometimes come out in the form of violent bursts of anger. Eventually, Gotham City crime boss Rupert Thorne gets his hands on Dent's psychological records and threatens to blackmail him with it. During an encounter with Thorne in a chemical plant, Dent loses his temper, putting his "Big Bad Harv" personality in control. He then goes on a violent rampage, which eventually results in a massive explosion in the plant. The explosion severely damages the left side of his face (with damage quickly spreading to the entire left side of his body), and the stress of the events leaves "Big Bad Harv" in largely permanent control of Dent's personality. Batman, who as Bruce Wayne is Dent's best friend, is tormented by having to apprehend him again and again, gradually losing hope that he could ever be cured.
In the episode "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", Two-Face unknowingly protects Batman's secret identity after Hugo Strange discovers it and attempts to auction it off to Gotham's top criminals. He says, "''I know Bruce Wayne! If he's Batman, I'm the King of England!''"
Prior to his disfigurement, Harvey Dent is only featured twice. In "On Leather Wings", he plans to prosecute Batman if the police can apprehend him for crimes that are in fact being committed by the Man-Bat; and in "Pretty Poison", Poison Ivy woos her way into Dent's life as a possible fiancee in an attempt to kill him, as revenge for Dent's nearly killing off an endangered breed of flower by breaking ground on the construction site for Stonegate Penitentiary.
In the final episode of ''The New Batman Adventures'', Dent's personality fragments a second time, creating a superego personality called "The Judge", a violent court-themed vigilante that attempts to crush the id that is Two-Face. Dent, looking to eradicate this new threat to him, has no idea that he himself is The Judge. While using this identity he previously attempts to eliminate Killer Croc, the Riddler and the Penguin. A similar storyline appears in the comic books - however, in the books, Dent's third persona is called Janus, a reference to the Roman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward.
As in ''Batman Forever'', this animated version of Two-Face is also directly connected to the origin of a Robin: Tim Drake, whose father was Two-Face's henchman. This combined the origin and personality of the Post-Crisis Jason Todd with the name of Tim Drake, Todd's comic book successor. Tim's father was trying to hide the binary components of a toxic chemical Two-Face planned on using to hold the city hostage. Suspecting that Drake knew where the chemicals were hidden, Two-Face scours the city looking for him. Fleeing for his life, Tim eventually crosses paths with Batman and helps him bring Two-Face to justice, paving the way for his transformation into Robin.
In ''Batman Beyond'', Two-Face only appears in a training simulator used by Terry McGinnis, and again as a mannequin in the Batcave. In the beginning of the unedited version of '', Bruce Wayne decapitates the Two-Face mannequin with a batarang.
The final appearance of this version of Two-Face is a cameo in ''Justice League''. In the episode ''A Better World, Part 2'', an alternate-reality Two-Face appears as the janitor of Arkham Asylum. He has been lobotomized by that world's Fascist Superman.
Neither Two-Face or Harvey Dent have appeared in the animated series ''The Batman''. However, elements of the character, including the concept of a law-enforcing friend of Bruce Wayne being turned into a horribly defaced villain, are present in the show's original interpretation of Clayface.
Two-Face has also appeared in several Batman-related video games. A pre-disfigurement Harvey Dent appears as a hostage of Poison Ivy in the video game ''Batman: The Animated Series'' (which carries Ivy's vendetta against Harvey for being indirectly responsible for the destruction of an endangered plant in the episode ''). As Two-Face he is a boss in ''The Adventures of Batman & Robin'' for the Super NES, ''The Adventures of Batman & Robin'' for the Sega Genesis, the video game adaptations of ''Batman Forever'' and '' (in which he is the final boss).
Main articles: Bibliography of Two-Face
★ ''The Long Halloween''
★ ''
★ ''No Man's Land (comics)''
★ Gilda Dent
'Two-Face' is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of Batman in the . Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, he first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942).
Bob Kane was inspired by a movie poster advertising the Spencer Tracy film ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' and conceived the idea of a villain with a dual personality. Two-Face was once 'Harvey Dent', District Attorney of Gotham City and close ally of Batman. After a criminal disfigured half of his face with acid, Dent became the insane crime boss Two-Face who would choose to do either good or evil depending upon the results of flipping a coin — a device which was taken from the 1932 version of ''Scarface''.
Originally, he was one of many gimmick-focused comic book villains, plotting crimes based around the number two, such as robbing Gotham Second National Bank at 2:00 on February 2. In recent years, writers have portrayed his obsession with duality and his criminal behavior as the result of multiple personality disorder and a history of child abuse. He obsessively makes all important decisions by flipping a two-headed coin, one side of which is scratched.
Although too gruesome for the 1960s television show that popularized Batman and much of his rogues gallery, Two-Face has been a prominent foe of the Dark Knight and was played by Tommy Lee Jones in the 1995 film ''Batman Forever.'' The Harvey Dent character will also play a part in the upcoming film ''The Dark Knight'', portrayed by Aaron Eckhart.
Fictional character biography
Origin
''.]] When he first appears in ''Detective Comics'' #66, the character's name is Harvey Kent, but his name was changed to Harvey Dent. At 26, he is the youngest district attorney ever to serve Gotham City, and is nicknamed "Apollo" for his good looks. He is elected about six months before Batman begins his war on crime, as depicted in the events of ''.
Two-Face from ''Detective Comics'' #66
His campaign against crime ends tragically during the prosecution of crime boss Sal "Boss" Maroni for murder. At a climactic moment in the trial, Dent produces Maroni's good luck charm, a two-headed coin he was well-known for carrying, which had been found at the murder scene with Maroni's fresh fingerprints upon it. Enraged, Maroni throws sulphuric acid in Dent's face, horribly scarring and discoloring his left hand and the left half of his face while leaving the other half undamaged; in some versions of the story, Dent is only saved from a full faceful of acid by Batman's quick but, regrettably, only partial deflection of Maroni's hand. Tormented by his hideous reflection, Dent scars one side of Maroni's coin and lets tosses of the coin decide whether he acts for good or evil in any situation.
Before the Knightfall storyline, it was shown that Two-face was escaping Arkham. In the Knightfall storyline, parts 13 and 14. He sets a trap for Batman and later puts Batman on trial, claiming his transformation into Two-Face was Batman's fault (presumably since Batman was only half-successful in stopping Maroni's actions). After finding him guilty, he tries to kill Batman but is stopped by Robin. Later, Batman captures Two-face and is sent back to Arkham. These events were in Showcase `93 #7 & 8. Two-Face is next seen in the Prodigal storyline which is after KnightsEnd.
The comic book limited series '' elaborates on these events, with some changes. In it, Dent, Captain (later Commissioner) James Gordon, and Batman forge an alliance to rid Gotham of crime. Mafia chieftain Sal "The Boss" Maroni is still the criminal who disfigures Dent with help from the corrupt Assistant District Attorney Vernon Field, who provides him with the acid (concealed in an antacid bottle). Dent gets his trademark coin from his abusive father, who is referred to as being in some form of mental institution (his relationship with his father was earlier introduced in ''Batman Annual'' #14). Gilda Dent, who had been Dent's fiancée back in ''Detective Comics'' #66 and 68 (1942), is instead his wife in ''The Long Halloween'' (1998). By the end, Two-Face is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.
History and analysis
Dent's disfigurement brings out his latent multiple personality disorder and transforms him into the villainous Two-Face. Obsessed with duality and opposites, Two-Face's trademark is crimes involving the number two. Furthermore, his related obsession with opposites reveals itself in such "quirks" as wearing clothes with dramatically different materials on each side.
Another of Two-Face's trademarks is that he does not consistently go through with his evil deeds; every time he contemplates committing a crime, he flips a two-headed coin, one side of which is scratched. Only if the coin comes up scratched-side does Two-Face commit the crime, never questioning the result of the toss. Recent interpretations portray this compulsion as a struggle between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self.
Second printing of ''Detective Comics'' #818. Art by Simone Bianchi.
Publication history
The character only made three appearances in the 1940s, and appeared twice in the 1950s (not counting the impostors mentioned below). By this time, he was dropped in favor of more "kid friendly" villains, though he did appear in a 1968 issue (''World's Finest Comics'' #173), in which Batman declared him to be the criminal he most fears. In 1971, writer Dennis O'Neil brought Two-Face back, and it was then that he became one of Batman's arch-enemies.
In in the wake of Frank Miller's 1987 revision of Batman's origin (see ''), Andrew Helfer rewrote Two-Face's history to match. This origin, presented in ''Batman Annual'' #14, served to emphasize Dent's status as a tragic character, with a back story that included an abusive, alcoholic father, and early struggles with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. It was also established, in '', that pre-accident Dent was a major heroic figure working as one of Batman's earliest allies. Dent had clear ties to both Batman and Commissioner Gordon, making him an unsettling and personal foe for both men.
During the same period, Two-Face is revealed to have murdered Jason Todd's father, who had been one of his henchmen. Todd later has Two-Face at his mercy and chooses not to kill him, embracing Batman's ideal of justice. This storyline is later mirrored in the animated series of the late 1990s with Tim Drake substituting for Jason Todd.
During the Batman daily comic strips published from 1989 to 1991, his origin is slightly altered. In this version, Harvey Dent is scarred by a vial of acid thrown by an unnamed bystander, and intended for the Joker.
In 1989, writer Grant Morrison portrayed Dent's dependence on his coin in ''. The doctors in the asylum attempt to destroy his evil personality by taking away his coin and replacing it with a die and eventually a tarot deck, effectively giving him 78 options. The treatment fails, however; with so many options, Dent can no longer decide on what to do. At the end of the graphic novel, Batman gives Dent his coin back, telling him to use it to decide whether to kill him. The coin lands scarred face up, but he nevertheless lets Batman go.
Throughout the history of the Batman franchise, attempts have been made to repair his facial scars, but they have not yet cured his insanity; he simply destroys the one side of his face and becomes Two-Face once again.
During the aftermath of the earthquake that leaves Gotham City in shambles, Two-Face carves out a sizable portion of the ruined city for himself. He takes up residence in Gotham City Hall, maintaining a relatively sophisticated lifestyle. His empire is eventually brought down by Bane, who, in the employ of Lex Luthor, devastates Two-Face's gang during his destruction of the city's Hall of Records. Two-Face kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and puts him on trial for his activities after Gotham City was declared a No Man's Land, with Two-Face as both judge and prosecutor. Gordon plays upon Two-Face's split psyche to demand Harvey Dent as his defense attorney. Dent cross-examined Two-Face and wins an acquittal for Gordon, determining that Two-Face has effectively blackmailed Gordon by implying that he had committed murders to aid the Commissioner.
Renee and Two-Face. Art by Michael Lark.
In the ''Gotham Central'' series, Two-Face meets detective Renee Montoya. Montoya reaches the Dent persona in Two-Face, and is kind to him. He falls in love with her, though the romance is one-sided. Later, he outs her as a lesbian and frames her for murder, hoping that if he takes everything from her, she will be left with no choice but to be with him. She is furious, and the two fight for control of his gun until Batman intervenes, putting Two-Face back in Arkham.
In the ''Two-Face'' one-shot book, Two-Face leads a crusade against Gotham City, culminating in the capturing of his own father to humiliate and kill on live television for the years of abuse he suffered. This story revealed that, despite his apparent hatred for his father, Dent still supported him, paying for an expensive home rather than allowing him to live in a slum. At the end of the book, Dent and Two-Face argue in thought, Two-Face calling Dent "spineless." Dent proves Two-Face wrong, however, choosing to jump off a building and end his life just to put a stop to his alter ego's crime spree. Two-Face is surprised when the coin flip comes up scarred, but abides by the decision and jumps. Batman catches Dent, but the shock of the fall seems to (at least temporarily) destroy the Two-Face side of his psyche.
In ''Two-Face Strikes Twice'', Two-Face is at odds with his ex-wife Gilda, as he believes their marriage failed because he was unable to give her children. She later marries Paul Janus, a reference to the Roman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward. Two-Face attempts to frame Janus as a criminal by kidnapping him and replacing him with a stand-in, whom Two-Face "disfigures" with makeup to make it look as if Janus has gone insane just as Two-Face had. Two-Face is eventually caught by Batman and sent away, and Gilda and Janus reunite. Years later, Gilda gives birth to twins, prompting Two-Face to escape once more and take the twins hostage, as he had erroneously believes them to be conceived by Janus using an experimental fertility drug. The end of the book reveals a surprise twist; Batman learns from Gilda that Janus is not the father of Gilda's twins - Dent is. Some of his sperm had been frozen after a death threat had been made against him, and she used some of it to get pregnant. Batman uses this information to convince Dent to free the twins and turn himself in.
In the storyline '', Dent's face is repaired once more via plastic surgery. This time around, only the Harvey Dent persona exists. However, he takes the law into his own hands twice: once by using his ability to manipulate the legal system to free the Joker, and then again by shooting the serial killer Hush. He manipulates the courts into setting him free, as Gotham's prosecutors wouldn't attempt to charge him without a body.
In ''Detective Comics'' #817, as part of DC's ''One Year Later'' storyline, it is revealed that, at Batman's request and with training, Dent becomes a vigilante protector of Gotham City in most of Batman's absence of nearly a year. He is reluctant to take the job, but Batman assures him doing good would serve as atonement for his past crimes. After a month of training, they fight Firebug and Mr. Freeze, before Batman leaves for a year. Soon, Dent finds himself enjoying his new role, but his methods are seemingly more extreme and less refined than Batman's. Upon Batman's return, Dent begins to feel unnecessary and unappreciated, which prompted the return of the "Two-Face" persona (seen and heard by Dent through hallucinations). In ''Face the Face'', his frustration are compounded by a series of mysterious killings that seem to have been committed by Two-Face; the villains KGBeast, Magpie, The Ventriloquist, and Orca are all shot twice in the head with a double-barrelled pistol, implying that Dent was the perpetrator. When Batman confronts Dent about these deaths, asking Dent to confirm that he was not responsible, Dent refuses to give a definite answer. He then detonates a bomb in his apartment and leaves Batman dazed as he flees.
Despite escaping the explosion physically unscathed to a motel, Dent suffers a crisis of conscience and a mental battle with his "Two-Face" personality. Although evidence is later uncovered by Batman that exonerates Harvey Dent for the murders, it is too late to do anything to save him. Prompted by resentment and a paranoid reaction to Batman's questioning, Dent scars half his face with nitric acid and a scalpel, becoming Two-Face once again. Blaming Batman for his return (despite Batman's having consistently defended him to the authorities), Two-Face immediately goes on a rampage, threatening to destroy the Gotham Zoo (having retained two of every animal - including two humans) before escaping to fight Batman another day.
Physical appearance
Two-Face is generally depicted with the left side of his face a twisted, discolored mess, with his lips and eyelids pulled back and his hair discolored or burned off. His left hand matches in some interpretations, while it is undamaged in others. The coloration of his deformity also seems to be at the whim of the colorist at the time, though green or purple seem to be the most common.
The severity of the disformations also vary. Most early versions of Two-Face depict his hair, ear, and lips as mutilated, but intact. ''Long Halloween'' and ''Dark Victory'', however, depict Dent's scarred side with no hair, and the skin burned so badly that he no longer has his ear lobe, eye lid, or lips. What remains is colored pink. This look has also been adopted somewhat for his current disfigurement as part of ''One Year Later'': although he retains his eye lids and lips, his ear lobe and hair are gone. His skin is also a dark red. His left hand may or may not be scarred to match his face, depending on the artist. There is also some question as to whether he retains vision in his left eye or is partially blind due to the acid strike (depending on the colorist, his left eye may not match his right).
Family
★ Duela Dent is originally depicted as the daughter of Two-Face. Creator Bob Rozakis stated, "It didn't take too long to decide whose daughter she would turn out to be. After all, the only married villain was Two-Face. I convinced Julie (and associate editor E. Nelson Bridwell, the acknowledged keeper of DC's historical consistency) that Harvey and Gilda Dent had a daughter, that Harvey had been disappointed because she wasn't a twin, and that they'd named her Duela." [1]
Other comic book appearances
As one of Batman's most recognizable and popular opponents, Two-Face has appeared in numerous comics which are not considered part of the regular DC continuity, including:
★ In the alternate future setting of '', plastic surgery returns Dent's face to normal, but at the unforeseen cost of permanently destroying the good-hearted Harvey Dent personality, leaving the monstrous Two-Face in control forever. As he puts it when Batman captures him, "At least both sides match."
★ Two-Face also appears in the ''Elseworlds'' Batman/Daredevil crossover book, partnered with Marvel villain Mr. Hyde for the purpose of using Hyde as an "incubator" to grow an organic microchip, giving Hyde drugs to speed up this process (regardless of the fact that this would kill him). It is also revealed in this book that Harvey Dent had once been friends with Matt Murdock, who is secretly Daredevil. Prior to his disfigurement, Dent believed in giving criminals a chance at rehabilitation, while Murdock believed in final justice; having reversed his outlook to what Dent had once believed, Murdock talks Two-Face out of killing Hyde without Two-Face using his coin to decide. Two-Face, however, insists that act is merely "the last of Harvey Dent."
★ In the Elseworlds comic '', a pastiche of ''The Phantom of the Opera'', Harvey Dent takes the role of the hideously scarred musical genius.
★ In Amalgam Comics, Two-Face is combined with Spider-Man's foe Green Goblin to create Two-Faced Goblin. He appears in ''Speed Demon'' #1 and ''Dark Claw Adventures'' #1.
Other Two-Faces
During Two-Face's third appearance in the 1940s, his face and sanity are restored. Although there was a demand to use him again, the writers did not want to retcon his last story, so they had other characters assume the role. The first imposter is Wilkins, Dent's butler. The second of the impostors is Paul Sloane, an actor who was set to star in a biography of Harvey Dent. However, an accident on the set disfigures him in a manner similar to Dent. Sloane's mind snaps, and he begins to think he is Two-Face. The third and final impostor is a thug named George Blake, who is easily identified as an impostor because the wrong side of his face is scarred. Also noteworthy is a 1968 story where Batman himself is turned into Two-Face. Aside from a 1962 reprint of the Sloane storyline, this was Two-Face's only appearance in the 1960s. [2]
Another Two-Face appears in the Batman Sunday strips. Actor Harvey Apollo is scarred with acid when testifying against a mobster in court, and becomes a criminal. He only makes a few appearances before accidentally hanging himself after slipping on the silver dollar piece he uses as Two-Face.
As mentioned above, Harvey Dent does return as Two-Face in the 1970s. With the establishment of the DC Comics multiverse, however, the Two-Face of Earth-Two (i.e. the character seen in the original Golden Age stories) is said to be Harvey Kent, who had not relapsed following his cure. The last appearance of this version of Two-Face was in ''Superman Family'' #211 (October 1981), depicting him as a guest at the marriage of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (Catwoman). He meets Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and his shared name with the latter creates confusion.
Paul Sloane is eventually introduced into post-Crisis continuity as Paul Sloan, the Charlatan, in ''Detective Comics'' #777 (Feb 2003). In this incarnation, the actor had been hired by Gotham's costumed criminals to take Two Face's place in a scheme to kill Batman, Harvey's coin having come up unscarred. When the real Two-Face learns about this, he captures Sloan and gives him the same acid burns he had. The Scarecrow then experiments on him with fear toxins. Driven insane, the charlatan becomes obsessed with both getting revenge on the criminals who hired him and completing his mission to kill Batman.
In other media
Films
Batman (1989 film)
Harvey Dent in ''Batman'' (1989), played by Billy Dee Williams.
In the 1989 - 1997 ''Batman'' film franchise, Billy Dee Williams appeared as a pre-disfigurement Dent in ''Batman'' (1989). Apparently, Williams signed for this role knowing that Dent was to become Two-Face in further installments of the franchise. To ensure that he would be given the role, Williams negotiated a "pay or play" contract guaranteeing that Warner Brothers would have to cast him as Two-Face or buy him out. However, when Two-Face was to become the main villain in the third movie, director Tim Burton had abdicated to Joel Schumacher, who decided to hire Tommy Lee Jones, and agreed to pay Williams for his cooperation allowing them to use the character.
Batman Forever
Two-Face in ''Batman Forever'', played by Tommy Lee Jones.
The post-disfigurement Two-Face (and pre- in a brief scene showing the acid attack responsible on a TV) was played by Tommy Lee Jones in ''Batman Forever'' (1995) portraying the villainous equal to Jim Carrey's Riddler. This "Harvey Two-Face" is a campier character, with no trace of the inner emotional struggle between his good and evil personalities that the post-Miller comics had emphasized. The movie instead has him cod-philosophizing on the unfairness of fate, and plays up the "two" gimmick to the point where Two-Face even refers to himself in the plural. In ''Batman Forever'', Two-Face is responsible for the origin of Robin, as he kills the rest of Dick Grayson's family. Like the Joker and the Penguin in the previous movies, Two-Face appears to get killed off at the end of the movie: He flips a coin to decide if he will shoot Batman, and Batman tosses a handful of identical coins into the air. Two-Face panics and tries to find his coin, stumbling and falling into a watery bed of spikes. His real coin falls into the palm of his hand as his body sinks. In the movie, he learns Batman's secret identity after being told that he has two minds about everything in his life.
In ''Batman & Robin'', when Bane breaks into Arkham Asylum's storage room to get Mr. Freeze's cryogenic suit, both Two-Face and Riddler's costumes are visible in the background.
The Dark Knight
Harvey Dent's district attorney campaign poster from ''The Dark Knight''.
In a June 2005 interview with ''Premiere'' magazine, screenwriter David S. Goyer said that in ''The Dark Knight'', Harvey Dent would help Batman and policeman James Gordon bring down the Joker, whose presence is hinted at the end of ''Batman Begins''. Goyer went on to say that in the third film, the Joker would go on trial and scar Dent in the process.[3]. In October 2006, director Christopher Nolan confirmed that Harvey Dent would be introduced in the sequel.[4] In February 2007, Aaron Eckhart was confirmed to play Harvey Dent.[5] Eckhart has stated that the Two-Face persona will make an appearance in the film. [6] Goyer, however, has suggested this is not the case. [7] The first picture of Eckhart as Harvey Dent was released on May 17, 2007 in the form of a faux campaign poster with the phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" (a line from ''The Long Halloween''). [8]. In an interview with MTV.com, Eckhart said “I play Harvey Dent. Harvey Two-Face. They are both in the movie.”[9] While the appearance of Two-Face will have some make-up, a majority will be computer generated.[10] In a series of clips shown at Wizard World 2007, one particular scene shows Harvey Dent in shadow, to which one character says "Dent! I thought you were dead." Dent responds, "Half."
DC Animated Universe
The Two-Face of the DC Animated Universe was praised by many fans. Some were upset that his scarring took place in a chemical plant instead of being scarred by a crime boss in court, but according to Timm, this was changed to fit the storyline. Timm has stated that he wanted Two-Face/Harvey Dent to have a Sicilian accent; Al Pacino was actually offered to voice the character at one point, but declined.
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Batman: The Animated Series
In '', Harvey Dent/Two-Face, voiced by Richard Moll, suffers from deep-seated psychological trauma resulting from years of repressing anger. As a result, he develops an alternate personality, "Big Bad Harv", who is as evil as his outer appearance is noble. "Big Bad Harv" would sometimes come out in the form of violent bursts of anger. Eventually, Gotham City crime boss Rupert Thorne gets his hands on Dent's psychological records and threatens to blackmail him with it. During an encounter with Thorne in a chemical plant, Dent loses his temper, putting his "Big Bad Harv" personality in control. He then goes on a violent rampage, which eventually results in a massive explosion in the plant. The explosion severely damages the left side of his face (with damage quickly spreading to the entire left side of his body), and the stress of the events leaves "Big Bad Harv" in largely permanent control of Dent's personality. Batman, who as Bruce Wayne is Dent's best friend, is tormented by having to apprehend him again and again, gradually losing hope that he could ever be cured.
In the episode "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", Two-Face unknowingly protects Batman's secret identity after Hugo Strange discovers it and attempts to auction it off to Gotham's top criminals. He says, "''I know Bruce Wayne! If he's Batman, I'm the King of England!''"
Prior to his disfigurement, Harvey Dent is only featured twice. In "On Leather Wings", he plans to prosecute Batman if the police can apprehend him for crimes that are in fact being committed by the Man-Bat; and in "Pretty Poison", Poison Ivy woos her way into Dent's life as a possible fiancee in an attempt to kill him, as revenge for Dent's nearly killing off an endangered breed of flower by breaking ground on the construction site for Stonegate Penitentiary.
''The New Batman Adventures'' and other DC animated appearances
Two-Face as ''The Judge''
In the final episode of ''The New Batman Adventures'', Dent's personality fragments a second time, creating a superego personality called "The Judge", a violent court-themed vigilante that attempts to crush the id that is Two-Face. Dent, looking to eradicate this new threat to him, has no idea that he himself is The Judge. While using this identity he previously attempts to eliminate Killer Croc, the Riddler and the Penguin. A similar storyline appears in the comic books - however, in the books, Dent's third persona is called Janus, a reference to the Roman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward.
As in ''Batman Forever'', this animated version of Two-Face is also directly connected to the origin of a Robin: Tim Drake, whose father was Two-Face's henchman. This combined the origin and personality of the Post-Crisis Jason Todd with the name of Tim Drake, Todd's comic book successor. Tim's father was trying to hide the binary components of a toxic chemical Two-Face planned on using to hold the city hostage. Suspecting that Drake knew where the chemicals were hidden, Two-Face scours the city looking for him. Fleeing for his life, Tim eventually crosses paths with Batman and helps him bring Two-Face to justice, paving the way for his transformation into Robin.
In ''Batman Beyond'', Two-Face only appears in a training simulator used by Terry McGinnis, and again as a mannequin in the Batcave. In the beginning of the unedited version of '', Bruce Wayne decapitates the Two-Face mannequin with a batarang.
The final appearance of this version of Two-Face is a cameo in ''Justice League''. In the episode ''A Better World, Part 2'', an alternate-reality Two-Face appears as the janitor of Arkham Asylum. He has been lobotomized by that world's Fascist Superman.
The Batman
Neither Two-Face or Harvey Dent have appeared in the animated series ''The Batman''. However, elements of the character, including the concept of a law-enforcing friend of Bruce Wayne being turned into a horribly defaced villain, are present in the show's original interpretation of Clayface.
Video games
Two-Face has also appeared in several Batman-related video games. A pre-disfigurement Harvey Dent appears as a hostage of Poison Ivy in the video game ''Batman: The Animated Series'' (which carries Ivy's vendetta against Harvey for being indirectly responsible for the destruction of an endangered plant in the episode ''). As Two-Face he is a boss in ''The Adventures of Batman & Robin'' for the Super NES, ''The Adventures of Batman & Robin'' for the Sega Genesis, the video game adaptations of ''Batman Forever'' and '' (in which he is the final boss).
Bibliography
Main articles: Bibliography of Two-Face
See also
★ ''The Long Halloween''
★ ''
★ ''No Man's Land (comics)''
★ Gilda Dent
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