Two-Face


 * For other uses, see Two-Face (Disambiguation)

Harvey Dent was Gotham City's district attorney, but after being scarred for life, moved to a life of crime. Dent was once one of Batman's strongest allies in Gotham City until a criminal threw acid into Dent's face, hideously scarring him. The wounds fractured his psyche, and he was reborn as a schizoid criminal mastermind, obsessed with duality. His former good luck charm, a "two-headed" silver dollar, was damaged on one side during the attack that ruined half his face, and Dent has seized on it as a reflection of his half-scarred visage. He flips it to decide the fates of his victims. Despite Batman's efforts to reform his former ally, Dent is consumed by his fixation on chance and his crimes are designed to prove out his diametric philosophy.

History
Harvey Dent was born into a life of hardship. Growing up in a lower-class family, Dent was raised with an instintive dislike and mistrust for the upper-class. His violent, cruel and mentally-ill father frequently bullied and abused him as a child, with his favourite game being flipping his double-headed coin promising to spare the child a beating if the coin landed tails. These harsh surrondings resulted in Dent developing repressed mental-illnesses of his own, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. His hard work ethic however allowed him to rise up to become a lawyer and, eventually, a District Attorney.

Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent was nicknamed "Apollo" by the media, because he was charming, good-looking and seemingly untouchable. He was dedicated to his job of upholding law and order, and became one of the first supporters, allies and even friends of the Batman. At the time of his job as D.A., the worst criminal threat in Gotham was nigh omnipotent mafia boss Carmine Falcone, "The Roman." He forged a triumvirate with Batman and Commissioner James Gordon to bring the man down within the law, no matter what the cost. His slightly angrier temperament led Batman and Gordon to distrust him slightly, believing there was a possibility he might be the mysterious "Holiday" killer who was gunning down mob members at the time. The alliance ended tragically when Sal Maroni, believing Dent to be responsible for the death of his father, threw acid in his face during a trial. Dent was horribly scarred on the left side of his face and his left hand.

Dent escaped from the hospital and descended into madness. He became obsessed with duality and opposites, and developed a second persona, the villainous Two-Face, to compliment the law & order obsessed Harvey Dent. As Two-Face, his trademark was crimes involving the number two. His obsession even shows in his clothes, which are usually composed of two halves made out of very different materials. At all times, he carries a double-sided coin with one side scarred, which he constantly flips to make any choices. Two-Face flips the coin at critical junctures: The scarred side would usually result in a crime, but the clean side would allow Two-Face to do the right thing, such as returning his loot or restrain from a murder.

Early Career
After his first few encounters with Batman, Two-Face attempted to abandon all ties with his past life, including his loving wife, Gilda. This, however, proved too much for the good side of his personality, and he began attempting to visit Gilda, claiming he had regained his face through plastic surgery. Gilda, however, soon saw through the fabrication, and this unhinged Dent even more. Finally, he was apprehended by Batman, with the help of his partner, Robin.

Shortly after, a certain Dr. Ekhart performed plastic surgery on Dent's face, seemingly repairing it for good. While the facial reconstruction managed to partially heal Two-Face's fractured mind, Ekhart's assistant, Mr. Wilkins, began to place suspicion on Harvey Dent once more by committing crimes disguised as Two-Face. Batman, however, saw through the disguise and helped Two-Face clear his name. For two years, Dent led a normal life until actor Paul Sloane, scarred in the same manner as Dent had once been, was driven mad, beginning to think he was really Dent as Two-Face. Batman arrested Sloane for several attempted robberies and had his face restored, in the same manner Harvey Dent's had once been.

Dent, however, was caught in an explosion a few years later, which undid the plastic surgery and scarred his face once again. Maddened again, the revived Two-Face hired the Crime Doctor to kidnap Paul Sloane and scar the actor's face again, to mirror the transformation that had occurred in Dent. Although restored as Two-Face's twin, Sloane proved more fortunate, and had his face repaired again after being rescued by Batman. Dent, meanwhile, was bought to justice again and placed behind bars, with his renewed mental and physical scarring seemingly more permanent this time.

Post-Cataclysm
In the aftermath of the earthquake that left Gotham City in shambles during Cataclysm, Two-Face escaped custody and kidnapped Commissioner Gordon to put him on trial for his actions during No Man's Land, with Two-Face as both judge and prosecutor. Gordon played upon Two-Face's split psyche to demand Harvey Dent as his defense attorney. Dent cross-examined Two-Face and won an acquittal of Gordon.

It was also during this time that Two-Face met GCPD detective Renee Montoya. Montoya was able to reach the Dent persona in Two-Face, and was kind to him. He fell in love with her, though the romance was one-sided. After the earthquake that ravaged Gotham, Two-Face outed her as a lesbian and framed her for murder, hoping that if he took everything from her she would be left with no choice but to be with him. Montoya was furious, and the two fought for control of his gun until Batman intervened, putting Two-Face back in Arkham Asylum.

A short time later, Two-Face met the brilliant surgeon, Dr. Thomas Elliot. Although Elliot specialized in neurosurgery, he was competent enough to repair Dent's face via plastic surgery. Dent's sanity was restored, and the menacing "Two-Face" persona seemed to be gone forever. Thomas Elliot was also the villain known as Hush, and he had hoped to manipulate Dent into acting as one of his many pawns in a campaign against Batman. With renewed sanity, Dent stood by the side of law and order and betrayed Hush, catching him in enough time to save Batman's life, and shooting him into the Gotham river.

One Year Later
Having regained his trust, Dent was trained and conditioned by Batman to act as Gotham's primary vigilante protector when he, Robin and Nightwing all took a one-year hiatus to train during the Lost Year. When Batman returned, a series of murders occurred implicating Harvey and involving Two-Face's M.O.. When confronted on the issues by Batman, in his anger at being distrusted, the Two-Face persona resurfaced, and talked Dent into scarring his face and returning to his life of crime.

Harvey Dent has returned to his Two-Face identity and committing crimes.

In Justice League of America #13 (Vol.2), Two-Face joins the new Injustice League, headed by Lex Luther, The Cheetah, and the Joker. After the Injustice League was captured by Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad, Two-Face was exiled to a distant planet with most of the other villains. Upon escaping with his life, Dent returned to Gotham City to reestablish himself.

Two-Face soon carved out a piece of Gotham's local mobs for his own, sharing an underworld empire with The Penguin. He appears in Battle for the Cowl: The Underground, which shows the effects of Batman's death on his enemies. A returning Black Mask, however, soon topples Two-Face's criminal empire, claiming it for his own.

Dent is forced into hiding, but ponders the possible death of the original Batman when Batman seemingly reappears, being caught on security footage to let Gotham City know that the Dark Knight lives on. Two-Face studies recent video tapes of Batman and notices that he is smiling. Dent’s henchmen notes how rare it is for Batman to grin, and Two-Face reluctantly agrees. He deduces that there is a new person under the cowl, which is in reality Dick Grayson.

Two-Face then searches for a person with teleporting abilities he can hire who can take him to the Batcave. Two-Face selects three candidates, and when he locates the one who is willing to hire himself out to him, murders the other two.

Two-Face is teleported into the original Batcave, although his intrusion is soon discovered by Alfred Pennyworth. When the new Batman investigates the cave, he is ambushed by Two-Face. The hero discovers that the giant penny in the Batcave is covered with deep scratches across the surface. Two-Face then shoots Dick with several high-powered darts that pierce his inferior costume, since Grayson had sacrificed the body armour of the Batsuit for better mobility. In a hallucination, the poisoned Dick is affected by the drugged darts and sees Dent in a twisted, red and black version of Batman's original costume.

Two-Face beats Dick brutally, and Grayson realizes that the villain's darts had been coated with the Scarecrow's fear toxins. Two-Face continues to beat the fallen crimefighter angrily, shouting that he could never replace the original Batman. He also reveals that he had been trying to infiltrate the famed Batcave for years, but had no success until that day, because the original Batman would never leave himself open to attack. Alfred Pennyworth saves Dick by giving him an antidote for the toxin, careful to stay in the shadows so as not to be recognized by Two-Face. Dick recovers and slips into the inner depths of the cave, disappearing from Two-Face's view. Dent starts to panic and starts firing his gun at every shadow, and Dick then retaliates by administering a savage beating. Defeated, Two-Face admits he really believes that Dick is the original Batman, but has changed in major ways.

In Streets of Gotham, Dent has been at odds with Gotham's latest district attorney, Kate Spencer, also known as the vigilante Manhunter, before being driven out of Gotham City by the second Black Mask.

Madness
Two-Face is not consistently evil; every time he contemplates a crime, he flips his two-headed coin. Only if the coin came up scratched-side did Two-Face go ahead and commit the crime, never questioning the result of the toss. This compulsion is a compromise between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self. Over the years, he has been shown to rely on the coin to different degrees. Sometimes to decide whether or not to commit a crime, sometimes to decide whether or not to do something good, like save someone. He will even go out of his way to do good deeds if the coin mandates. Since Two-Face is hideously scarred on the left half of his face, he plays up to it with clothing that is differently styled and materialed on one side. Two-Face also carries his obsession with the number "two" in his choice of weapon, twin .22 automatics, with which he is extremely skilled. His psychotic obsession with duality and his designing crimes around the number two often leads to his downfall. In the questionable "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" one-shot, the doctors at Arkham were shown to have weaned him off of the coin, and onto a die, then a pack of tarot cards. With the die, instead of only good and evil, he is given six different options, and with the tarot, seventy-eight. Two-Face is shown to be completely dependent, and is unable to even decide to go to the bathroom before sorting through the cards. However, he did end up getting his coin back, and also showed a rare case of giving a different fate than the coin fortold: He set Batman free despite the coin landing bad side up. During Countdown, when he is being deported to the "Hell Planet" along with the other villains in Salvation Run, Pied Piper and the Trickster offer to break him out of Belle Reve after defeating his escorting guards. Two-Face flips the coin, and it comes up un-scarred, so he declines, and instead simply waits patiently in the middle of the hallway for more security guards to show up.

Over the years, various attempts have been made to repair his facial scars, but none have successfully cured his insanity long term; although he has briefly returned to his Dent persona, he has ended up simply destroying one side of his face and becoming Two-Face once again.

Rivalries
Over the years, Two-Face had many rivalries with other DC characters, especially the following three:

Batman-- Although it was the crimelord's fault, Dent had blamed Batman for his facial scarring. He and the Batman had fought each other in over 50 issues of Batman and Detective Comics.

The Joker-- It is unknown why the two supervillains hate each other. Maybe because they had rivalry in the past, perhaps when they were younger. Either way, these two always feud and compete on defeating Batman. In The Nolan films continuity, however, It's revealed that Two-Face hates the Joker since he was indirectly responsible for his fiancee, Rachel's death, as well as his disfigurement (since it was the Joker who plotted the entire thing). The Joker also has some hints at not really being amiable towards Two-Face and only viewing him as a pawn, due to the fact that he forcibly gives a sympathetic smile, while sighing in annoyance before, and also mentioning that Harvey Dent was nothing more than his "ace in the hole" in the film's climax.

Poison Ivy-- A rivalry or sense of hatred exist between Two-Face and Ivy in Batman: The Animated Series due to Ivy attempting to murder Harvey Dent with plant toxins some time before his incident. Future interactions between the two shows that the only thing keeping Two-Face from killing Ivy out of revenge is a lucky coin flip. Both sides of Dent's personality have expressed a desire in killing her though in which "Dent" wanted to strangle her and "Big Bad Harv" wanted to hit her with a truck.

Facial Appearance
Two-Face's face has been altered over the years.

In Harvey Dent's first appearence in Detective Comics #66, the deformed portion of Dent's face is light green.

In the newer comics, as well as the motion picture Batman Forever, Dent's deformed part of his face is a bright red, although the version played by Tommy Lee Jones is the only one to not feature an eye bulge and exposed teeth. As depicted in Batman: The Animated Series, it is a sky blue.

In The Dark Knight, Two-Face is disfigured by fire rather than acid. As such the deformed side of his face lacks hair and is charred and bloody, revealing the muscles, tendons and bone structure beneath.

Batman: The Animated Series
See: Two-Face (BTAS)

"Batman: The Brave and the Bold"
Two-Face appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Legends of the Dark Mite." This version is modeled after his first appearance in the Golden Age comics. He, along with the Joker, Catwoman, the Riddler, Killer Moth, Mr. Freeze, Kite Man, the Mad Hatter, the Penguin, Catman, and several other villains are shown briefly in Bat-Mite's imagination. Bat-Mite even falls into an oversized coin that lands on bad heads. In a later appearance in "The Fate of Equinox!", Two-Face voiced by James Remar, orders his henchmen to try and kill Batman. After flipping his coin with a good heads result, he ends up teaming up with him against the henchmen. Before he could make his next flip, he is knocked out by Batman.

Batman
See: Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)

Batman Forever
See: Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones)

The Dark Knight
See: Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart)

Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City
Two-Face is mentioned at both the beginning and the end of Batman: Arkham Asylum. He is first mentioned by the Joker shortly after he takes over the island. Batman yells Joker's name to which Joker responds "Who were you expecting, Two-Face?" He is then mentioned at the end of the game after the GCPD liberates Arkham Island from the Joker's takeover of the asylum, a call comes in over the police radio scanners that Two-Face is robbing the Second National Bank, having killed two policemen to escape in a squad car. Batman then cuts a conversation with Commissioner Gordon short in order to pursue the criminal. Two-Face's empty cell is also seen in the Penitentary with a poster advertising a "Vote Dent" campaign. Being a part of Harley Quinn's 'party' list, he was one of the first freed when the Joker released the more unsettled mental patients from their cells. Another reference to Two-Face appears in an abandoned security guard booth in the northern part of Arkham Island, which is plastered with old political posters promoting Harvey Dent for DA.

The possibility of Two-Face being a villain in the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum is implied. In advertisements and the introduction to the game's official website, an Uncle Sam poster is seen with his face torn off, but further observation reveals that the left side of the "Uncle Sam's" clothes is old and worn, with his left hand scarred. Voice actor Kevin Conroy finally confirmed Two-Face for the sequel, Batman: Arkham City. It is revealed in the plot of Batman: Arkham City that Two-Face plans to execute Catwoman to gain respect of the inmates.

Trivia

 * In K.A. Applegate's young adult book series, Remnants, a female character named 2face appears. Like Harvey Dent, this 2Face had half her face serverely burned. In the beginning of the series, she is one of the main characters, and tries to survive; However, she later becomes more of a villain. The author has stated that 2face is indeed based on Two-Face from the Batman mythos.


 * All of Two-Face's incarnations followed a certain design scheme when it came to the scarred left half of his face. The left eye always appeared to be bulging, sometimes due to the fact that the eyelid was burned away, while the teeth were exposed due to the lips also being burnt away. The only Two-Face to break this pattern was the one played by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever. This incarnation's left eye was not bulging, while the teeth were not exposed.
 * Though the giant penny is considered to be canonically known as an item that Two-Face attempted to use to crush Batman; it was in fact first used by Penny Plunderer, a villain who has since been ret-conned out of Batman's rogue gallery.