Two-Face is a well-known Batman villain who is well-liked by fans. Harvey Dent’s genesis narrative is marred by misfortunes caused by his abusive father’s antics, which led to his horrible mental trauma and bipolar disorder, which is the fundamental cause of his duality.
However, he persevered and went on to become a lawyer, only for things to go apart once more after an acid attack damaged his face and set off his journey into madness. Harvey Dent took on the identity of Two-Face and began a life of crime. He went on to become a criminal genius in Gotham City’s underground.
In 1942, Harvey Dent made his first appearance in Detective Comics #66. His diverse portrayal quickly gained popularity, making him a fan favorite as he plagued Gotham. He was developed by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and his eclectic characterization quickly gained popularity, making him a fan favorite as he terrified Gotham. His fantastic design and coin-flipping gimmick, which has a terrible history, have solidified him as a member of Batman’s rogue gallery.
During the 1940s and 1950s, he only made five appearances. After his character was reintroduced in World’s Finest Comics #173 in 1968, he was given more prominence. By 1971, Two-Face had established himself as a regular in DC Comics. He had multiple backstories in various continuities, as is usual for DC characters. Before Crisis on Infinite Earths, following Crisis, and in DC’s New 52 reboot, the tale of Harvey Dent was retold in many ways, never straying too far from his main characterization.
In this video, we will talk about Two-origin Face’s tale, or rather, the origin stories that have helped to shape his persona.
Before we get started with the programming, we have a tiny request for our viewers. Please consider being a Marvelous Videos subscriber. Like and comment on our videos, and click the bell button to get notified when we add new ones. We would be grateful, and we hope to provide you with the greatest nerdy stuff possible. So, without further ado, let us get started with this video.
Heart-Wrenching Origin of Harvey Dent
DC doesn’t explore his story beyond his origin story, leaving much to be desired from this good guy gone bad. We get to learn how and why he lost his mind but it also makes fans eager to learn more about an antagonist who is set up so well. With his obsession with duality, a face that literally has two sides to it, a mind of madness, and someone who had put his trust in Batman, there’s a lot more than can go down with the character.
Harvey Dent was born and bred in Gotham. He was from an extremely violent, lower-class family. His father was a raging alcoholic who would physically abuse Harvey on the regular. He was so terrible that he would flip a coin to give Harvey a chance to escape from his beatings but the coin he would use would be a double-headed coin.
So, it did not matter whether Harvey chose heads or tails as the coin would always land where Harvey’s father wanted it to. Naturally, Harvey developed several mental issues in his childhood, most notably paranoia and bipolar disorder.
However, Harvey was able to sustain a good academic rep for himself despite the obstacles and acquired a degree in law. He decided to help Gotham become a better place and ran for the position of District Attorney. After winning, he dedicated himself to justice and acquired enough political power to become untouchable.
In the previous continuities, Bruce Wayne began his stint as Batman around half a year after Harvey had assumed office. Instead of being against the vigilante, Harvey became his supporter as Batman worked on the side of Gotham’s law.
During the trial of mob boss Sal Maroni, the mobster attacked Harvey by throwing acid at him, scarring half of his face beyond repair or recognition. Harvey then lost his mind and embraced a life of criminal activity where he struggled with duality as Two-Face.
In the present continuity, Harvey used to be a defense attorney before being elected as the District Attorney. While he worked with Batman and Gordon, one of his former clients from his time as a defense attorney, Erin McKillen, targeted him.
She was a mob boss who had been sent to Blackgate by Harvey after he had become the District Attorney. McKillen took this betrayal into consideration and sought revenge against Harvey so when he escaped from prison, she killed his wife, Gilda Dent, and scarred his face with acid, following which he descended into madness.
The Dark Knight, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: The Telltale Series and the comic continuation of Tim Burton’s Batman has re-told Harvey Dent’s origin story.
The Holiday Killer
Two-Face opts for plastic surgery and goes back to his old life by the time Detective Comics #80 comes out. He then proposes to his girlfriend and gives up on his life as a criminal. Following the events of Crisis, his story is altered again, which we relive in Batman: The Long Halloween.
Here, fans get a peek into Harvey’s life with his abusive father, who would flip a two-headed coin to give him an option between a beating and an escape, pushing Harvey into a checkmate situation no matter where the coin landed. The trauma makes Harvey repress his mental issues such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia but he manages to get a degree in law eventually.
The Long Halloween story arc takes place during the earlier stages of Bruce Wayne’s stint as Batman, more specifically almost two years after he assumed the job of protecting Gotham as a vigilante. In this storyline, Harvey Dent works alongside Batman and James Gordon on the Holiday Killer case – a case where a serial killer targeted the members and associates affiliated with the crime families of Gotham.
Harvey’s disregard for the lives of the criminals turns his relationships with his allies sour. He joins Batman in the burning of a warehouse that was full of Carmine Falcone’s money. However, soon after, he almost dies alongside his wife after a bomb that had been planted in his house explodes.
He investigates the Holiday Killer and begins to suspect that Bruce Wayne is involved in the fiasco, even though this turns out to be a false suspicion. He eventually winds up in front of the mobster Sal Maroni during the trial and is subjected to his acid attack as Maroni believed that Harvey had gotten Maroni’s father killed. He is taken to a hospital where he stabs a doctor, flees, and hides in the sewers of Gotham.
There, he comes across Solomon Grundy. He escapes from Grundy’s attack after calming him down but his former allies begin to suspect that Harvey himself is the Holiday Killer. Shortly after, the allegedly original Holiday Killer is captured.
With his face now disfigured, he turns into Two-Face and begins to use the two-headed coin used by his abusive father. However, he is completely reliant on the coin for his decisions. On Halloween, Harvey re-surfaces and frees the inmates held at Arkham Asylum.
Interestingly, when he was being treated at the Asylum, the doctors replaced his coin with a die and a deck of tarot cards but it pushed him into a state where he could not make any decisions by himself, even if they were centered around his basic needs.
After his comeback, he bands up with the other villains and goes to his home of Falcone to murder him. Batman fails at stopping him. Two-Face also kills Maroni’s former assistant who aided Maroni in the acid attack. He then turns himself into the police and it is also revealed that there were two Holiday Killers.
His crimes as Two-Face during this era were a result of the trauma he had endured as a child. His acts revolved around fathers, with him killing Jason Todd’s father and then holding his own father hostage for revenge. The plan was to kill him but we also get a weird revelation about Harvey supporting his father financially throughout.
To figure out what the fate of his abusive father should be, Harvey Dent and Two-Face argue with each other to reach a decision. After his argument with himself, Harvey emerges victorious and he attempts suicide but Batman rescues him.
In Batman: Hush, Harvey Dent fixes his appearance with plastic surgery and protects Gotham temporarily during Batman’s absence. However, Batman’s return makes him succumb to jealousy and he goes insane once again but here, he hallucinates his other persona of Two-Face instead of being the same person dealing with duality.
What Makes Two-Face So Dangerous?
Considering how his storyline is mostly centered around his backstory and origin, Two-Face does not get to boast a wide arsenal of abilities acquired over the course of time. However, that does not make this insane antagonist any less dangerous. Not only does he have the abilities that make him a man to be feared, but he also has feats.
Toxic Immunity
Two-Face seems to be immune to Poison Ivy’s pheromones which can make people act according to what she wills.
Genius-Level Intellect
This is a common trait in several non-superpowered villains and as we already know, in DC, the genius is not one to undermine as we have nonsuperpowered characters such as Batman having marvelous feats or Lex Luthor being one of Superman’s greatest adversaries.
Two-Face excels at criminal planning and plotting heists. His intellect has allowed him to be a criminal mastermind in Gotham’s criminal underworld.
Law
With a degree in law, Harvey Dent has been a successful attorney in the past and he is proficient with almost every aspect of criminal law.
Weaponry
You cannot stand against The Caped Crusader without some expertise in handling weapons and Two-Face does not fall short. He uses a variety of weapons such as knives, Tommy guns, rocket launchers, shotguns, grenade launchers, and pistols, proficiently when fighting Batman.
Firearms
Two-Face paid Deathstroke a heavy fee to learn how to be an excellent sharpshooter. He happens to be a skilled marksman and has extensive skill when it comes to accuracy.
Hand to Hand Combat (Advanced)
Dent was trained to fight by Batman himself and is excellent when it comes to Hand-to-Hand Combat. He has taken down Killer Croc in a fistfight, blocked Nightwing’s strikes, and managed to impress Grayson. He was always quite the vicious fighter and at the moment, is skilled enough to rival those in the military. He is also adept at Kung Fu, thanks to Batman.
With this wide range of abilities, he is able to exploit his power and assert his dominance in the criminal world. As a result, he has done some terrible things.
Murdering Jason Todd’s father
Even though Jason Todd is far from being everyone’s favorite Robin, his tragic origin makes everyone empathize with him. In the pre-crisis continuity, Jason’s parents were acrobats who had been killed by Killer Croc.
Following the reboot, DC changed the perpetrator of the murder and Jason’s persona, turning him into a headstrong street kid who tried to steal the wheels from Batman’s Batmobile. Here, his parents weren’t acrobats either. His mother was an alcoholic, who was presumed dead, and his father worked under Two-Face.
After Jason turns into Robin, it is revealed that his father was killed by Two-Face i.e. his employer which Batman had kept as a secret as he did not want Jason to work as Robin for revenge.
Two-Face Terrorized His Ex-Wife And Her Present Husband
In Batman: The Long Halloween, there is somewhat of emergence of supervillains with Joker developing an interest in Harvey Dent and his family.
In this story, Harvey’s wife Gilda dearly wished to start a family with her husband. After her life going south and her involvement in the Holiday Killer’s rampage, she was able to pull it back together. She also got remarried. Harvey Dent was extremely jealous at her newfound love so he kidnapped the guy and carried out a mock disfiguration. Things subside after Batman’s intervention and Gilda births twins but it is later revealed that the children were Harvey’s.
He Nearly Killed Dick Grayson
The Year One namesake is a tradition for DC with several characters getting an issue. One of those characters is Dick Grayson’s Boy Wonder, which stands out to be a brilliant segment in an already fantastic series.
Dick Grayson’s first adventures as Boy Wonder are illustrated here. During this time, he encountered Two-Face which turned out to be almost fatal for Grayson. Harvey had captured him and had beaten him to death, almost, as he seeked revenge against Batman for failing to prevent the disfigurement of Harvey’s face.
However, Grayson nearly killed Two-Face later as the act triggered him to prove his worth to Bruce, he had begun to consider letting go of having sidekicks for safety.
He Attacked Grayson Once Again After Breaking Into The Batcave
Following Bruce Wayne’s death, we got Batman: Reborn, where Dick Grayson stepped into the shoes of the Caped Crusader while Damian Wayne worked as Robin. In Judd Winick and Mark Bagley’s short-lived series named Long Shadows, Grayson adjusts in his new life as the Dark Knight. Two-Face is quick to notice that the man under the mask is different as he sported a smile – something his predecessor never did.
Two-Face broke into the Batman and caught Grayson off guard. He then tortured him to prove his deception. Thankfully, Alfred rescued him but he had a very hard time trying to convince Harvey about Grayson being the new Batman.
Creative And Terrifying Versions Of Two-Face In Various Forms Of Media: Explored
Two-Face has appeared in several animated series and live-action films throughout the years.
Animation
He has been a recurring character in the iconic Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. He also had a cameo role in the Justice League episode. He appears in Batman: Black and White in one episode while he plays a more prominent role in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
He plays a very prominent role in Beware the Batman, where his shenanigans with Anarky and Deathstroke are explored for a bit during his obsession with wanting to take down Batman.
He appears in his pre-disfigurement form in Batman: Year One. He is also present in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, The LEGO Batman Movie, and has a cameo role in Batman: The Killing Joke among several others.
Live-Action Films
Harvey Dent appears as a minor character in Tim Burton’s Batman, where he is played by Billy Dee Williams. In Joel Schumaker’s Batman Forever, Two-Face (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is a major villain alongside Riddler. In this storyline, he is the man who killed Dick Grayson’s parents.
He also appears in Christopher Nolan’s legendary Dark Knight series in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Returns. Played by Aaron Eckhart, his origin story is different here, with his face getting burnt during one of Joker’s murder attempts which ends up claiming the life of his lover Rachel. He becomes Two-Face to avenge Rachel. He has a minor appearance as Two-Face in The Dark Knight Returns where he is voiced by Wade Williams.
Batman: Year One got a live-action adaptation where Two-Face was a minor character, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.
Does Two-Face Deserve His Own DC Black Label Comic Series?
Several Batman books have been published under this imprint, which makes it strange that Two-Face does not have a DC Black Label Series. Two-Face is a super popular villain who shares the ranks with DC heavyweights such as Joker, Harley Quinn, and Penguin. It is about time that this villain gets his own title.
With DC Black Label being more mature in nature, writers get more freedom with their creative exploration. Considering Two-Face’s dark origin, it kind of makes sense why his arcs have never revolved too much beyond his origin.
The writers would need to refer to his horrible past and play around with his dual personality and trauma responses for his storylines, which can be too mature for DC’s target audience. This would not be a problem with the Black Label. It can also transcend the restrictions that come with continuity and having to stay true to the canon, so the possibilities are endless.
His sense of justice and decisions that require a coin to be flipped, the story behind that coin, and his opinion of himself as he does not think he is a villain are several interesting plot points that fans would love to dive deeper into. He thinks his antics are as admirable as Batman’s but there’s also the lingering voice in his head – the voice of the former District Attorney, Harvey Dent. In Batman: The Long Halloween, it was proved that Two-Face was capable of leading his own title as he fit right into the Hall of Fame of Batman’s gallery of rogues.
Considering the several re-structurations of his origin story, the Black Label series would omit those problems in continuity and stick to whichever they seem to prefer for their story. But ideally, it wouldn’t be another origin story and instead, it would put Two-Face in exciting arcs since the idea of an ex-DA who is now insane and suffers from a split personality could put him in several testing situations as he battles over concepts such as fairness and justice with two very different viewpoints.
Meanwhile, Batman may be able to draw Harvey out of Two-Face preventing him from committing a heinous crime. Alternatively, Harvey might trick others with his DA persona only to be a puppet to his alter ego.
With so many possibilities, fans would love to see Two-Face with his own DC Black Label Comic Book series.
What did you think of Harvey Dent A.K.A. Two-Face? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, don’t forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a nice one!