Two-Face
Two-Face is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis, Earth-2
Harvey Kent was a male human born in the modern age on Earth. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
By adulthood, he came to work as a lawyer where he rose to the position of District Attorney in Gotham City. At this point, he came to be famous and well known figure to the media for his numerous prosecutions. He also became involved with a sculptress named Gilda who became his fiancée. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
As one of the most dedicated and committed attorneys, Harvey 'Apollo' Kent was assigned to handle the murder case of mob boss 'Boss' Moroni. In the trial, Batman was called as a witness as the masked vigilante had been fighting Maroni's gang. Harvey was able to prove the guilt of Moroni by having access to the mob boss's silver coin at the scene of the crime which had his fingerprints. This resulted in Moroni deciding to take his revenge on Harvey by throwing a vial of concentrated vitriol solution which Batman attempted to deflect. Despite that, the vial shattered and splashed on the left side of Harvey's face and his hand. Badly injured, Harvey was taken to the hospital where he had to be bandaged up and spent a month in recovery to heal. When the bandages were removed, Harvey was horrified to see that his left side was scarred and hideous to see. Plastic surgery was deemed the only solution but only one person was deemed capable of performing such a miracle with this being a European specialist named Dr. Ekhart though during World War II the man found himself captured and placed in a concentration camp. A despondent Harvey was told to return home where comments from people simply made him resent others. This only magnified when he showed his face to his fiancée Gilda who was mortified upon seeing him. Harvey came to snap as a result as he was unable to accept the loss of his own personal beauty, sank into despair, allowing fate to determine if he was to rise above his disfigurement or sink into it. Kent scarred one side of Maroni's two-headed coin and decided to let fate decide in the form of the dual headed coin decide on whether he acted for good or evil in any situation. A month later, he conducted a crime spree alongside acts of good that kept people confused about Kent who began calling himself Two-Face. Eventually, Batman tried to stop Two-Face allowing him to take control of his life and work on the side of the law once again. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
However, Kent's fate was determined by the coin and heeding its advice, he continued his life of crime. After a few successful hits, Two-Face was finally apprehended by Batman after he was double-crossed by a member of his gang. (Detective Comics v1 #68) After a short period of time as a criminal mastermind Kent overcame his insanity after accidentally shooting his former fiancée, Gilda. Kent surrendered himself to Batman and underwent trial. Hearing of an experimental corrective 'plastic' surgery that was developed by Dr. Ekhart, a brilliant plastic surgeon that could recover his skin coloring and structure, Kent agreed to undergo the procedure. Kent's face and hand were finally repaired through the efforts of Dr. Ekhart. The surgery was completely successful and Kent left behind his criminal practices, resuming his career as lawyer. (Detective Comics v1 #80)
Some time later, Kent started dreaming about Two-Face at the same time as the criminal made a comeback and baffled the authorities with crimes. Batman and Robin investigated the case and discovered that the new Two-Face was not Kent, but rather his butler Wilkins, who impersonated Two-Face to commit crimes and lay the responsibility on Harvey. His plan failed as he was captured by Batman and Kent's name was cleared. (Batman v1 #50) Some time after, Kent was again involved with a Two-Face impersonator, this time it was a man called George Blake, who started a criminal spree disguised as Two-Face, hoping to get the blame on Harvey Kent. Batman investigated the case and captured Blake, clearing Harvey's name once again. (Detective Comics v1 #187)
Pre-Crisis, Earth-1
Harvey Dent
After his disfigurement, he started a crime spree as Two-Face until he was eventually stopped by Batman, who talked reason into him and convinced Dent to have his face restored with plastic surgery. After the successful procedure, Dent became a law abiding citizen once more, but unfortunately his face was permanently scarred after he tried to stop some thieves and came within range of a massive explosion. With his face scarred and his mind twisted once again, Two-Face returned and he started a second crime spree in which he almost succeeded on eliminating Batman and Robin, but he was eventually captured. (Batman v1 #81)
Dent somehow managed to escape and started a scheme to murder several shareholders of a company to seize their assets and get himself a reconstructive surgery with their money. He was stopped by Batman and Green Arrow, but they failed to capture him. (The Brave and the Bold v1 #106)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Harvey Dent was born to a lower-class family where he had been raised with an instinctive dislike and mistrust for the upper-class. His violent, cruel and mentally ill father frequently bullied and abused him as a child, with his favorite game being flipping his double-headed coin promising to spare the child a beating if the coin landed tails. These harsh surroundings 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 to become a lawyer and, eventually, the District Attorney. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
District Attorney Dent was later set to prosecute Dr. Rudolph Klemper who was a surgeon revealed to be the notorious Senior Slasher that as a serial killer targeting the elderly of Gotham City. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
He 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. (Batman v1 #405)
Dent would form 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. (Batman: The Long Halloween v1 #11)
Two-Face's last encounter with Jason Todd as Robin was unfortunate as Batman captured him and he was sent to Arkham. However, shortly after Todd's death, Batman broke Two-Face out of Arkham in order to locate member of his gang, who were located in one of Two-Face's hideouts in Santa Prisca. Although Batman found the wanted criminals, Two-Face escaped and remained on the loose for some time. (Batman Annual v1 #13)
In the year afterwards, he resolved to become Gotham's protector and operated as a vigilante where he stopped crime in the city. (Detective Comics v1 #817) By this point, Batman and Robin were operating in the city once again where Harvey began to question his role as a protector. It was then that he began to hear the voice of Two-Face calling on him to resume his old criminal career. (Detective Comics v1 #818)
After Batman's apparent death, Two-Face became one of the two major contenders for control of the Gotham underworld along with the Penguin. When Two-Face's arms shipment was attacked, he assumed that Penguin was responsible and declared war on him. (Batman: Battle for the Cowl v1 #2) Despite his loss, Two-Face still created chaos in the city until he was confronted by Catwoman, who wanted to apprehend him, but Two-Face managed to escape. (Battle for the Cowl: The Underground v1 #1) When the United States Army arrived in Gotham, Two-Face was forced to hide from the public eye, since most of the chaos created in the city was being blamed on him, despite the fact that he wasn't responsible. (Batman: Battle for the Cowl v1 #3)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Harvey Dent was a boy who grew up in Gotham where it was said his father was a politician. Notable for being an evil man, his father was said to had gambled and gotten drunk with him constantly abusing Harvey. It was shown that his decision to beat his son stemmed from the flip of a coin. Sometime later, he was noted to had tied his father up and left him trapped in their house for days until the police finally found him. his led to Harvey being sent to the Arkham boys rehabilitation home upstate where he came to meet Bruce Wayne who had been sent there to better handle the grief of the death of his parents. During this time, the two became good friends though neither knew the identity of the other until years later. (All-Star Batman v1 #3)
As a young man, Dent became an incredibly skilled defense attorney for criminals in Gotham and began making a name for himself in the city. Harvey was introduced to his future wife Gilda Gold by Bruce Wayne at one of his parties, who believed that the two would have chemistry. (Batman and Robin v2 #28)
When the Crime Syndicate arrived on Earth and seemingly killed the Justice League, all the criminals in Arkham were allowed to run rampant in Gotham. Two-Face, using his coin to decide that he should save the city, collected a group of low-ranking criminals in Gotham and herded them to the courthouse, where he played the part of a judge and used the coin to decide their sentences. When his quest for 'justice' was interrupted by members of the Secret Society, Two-Face angrily abandoned his mission and joined in the chaos outside instead. (Batman and Robin v2 #23.1)
With McKillen successfully captured and delivered to GCPD, Batman quickly came to Two-Face's rescue as the building he was in was set ablaze. As Batman helped Two-Face out of the burning building, Dent revealed that he had known that Bruce Wayne was Batman the whole time and blamed Wayne for his wife's death, something he thought would not have happened had Wayne never suggested he become district attorney. Making a play on Commissioner Gordon's life in the chaos, Two-Face was caught off guard when his coin, deciding whether Gordon would live or die, landed on its side instead. Dent then escaped and returned to his safehouse, spun his coin on its side, looked at a picture of his deceased wife, and shot himself in the head. (Batman and Robin v2 #28)
One of his latest plots was to turn rainwater acidic which burnt a large number of Gotham citizens until he was stopped by Batman and his new partner. Due to his growing power, the other crime bosses in Gotham were said to had helped the GCPD capture Two-Face. Around this time, Harvey Dent managed to gain control over his body where he begged Batman to perform a procedure to burn out the Two-Face persona from his brain. Batman decided to personally transport the villain though Two-Face managed to get out a message offering the fortune of three of the biggest crime families in Gotham in exchange for securing his freedom. (All-Star Batman v1 #1)
Despite shooting himself in the head, Two-Face still survived his injuries and was found by two criminals who considered selling him to the highest bidder. They kept Dent with them when they were approached by the Joker who looked to help Two-Face. The Clown Prince of Crime then called Hugo Strange and the Mad Hatter to help Harvey recover from his injuries. Once restored, Dent then went about forming the Church of the Two and began a new wave of crime in the city. (Detective Comics v1 #1022)
Afterwards, Dent looked to redeem himself and atone for his past actions. This saw him volunteering for a government program that looked to harness the power of Lazarus Resin. The substance was capable of reviving the deceased in a half dead state with the government wanting to use recently deceased villains to serve as operatives. Dent was given charge of the project that was labelled as Task Force Z where he was provided a number of deceased Gotham criminals including Mister Bloom, Man-Bat, Bane and the Arkham Knight. Following the completion of their mission, they would be given a full dose of the resin thus restoring them fully to life as a reward for their service. Establishing the Chop Shop as his headquarters, he had Task Force Z forcibly recruited the Red Hood to serve as a handler for the team in the field. Dent kept his role in this a secret where he operated under the identity of Director Crispin. (Task Force Z v1 #4)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Harvey was noted to possess handsome features. He came to be known by the name of 'Apollo' Kent. (Detective Comics v1 #66) It was said that it was during his law career that he gained such a fame for seeking justice that the media referred to him as Apollo. (Batman v1 #405) After being disfigured, he went into a life of crime where he took the name Two-Face. (Detective Comics v1 #66) As the head of Task Force Z, he came to operate under the identity of Director Crispin. (Task Force Z v1 #4)
The law was said to be his life that kept him whole and sane. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
All his life, he kept down the bad which stayed inside him where it was small, ugly and hidden. This was actually his second personality that he kept sublimated anti-social persona hidden since he was a teenager. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
Even as an adult, he would have nightmares about his father. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
After being disfigured, his world was shattered due to his once handsome features being turned so hideous. This only magnified when people would comment on how horrified they were on seeing him and how scared they had become of Harvey. Some people upon seeing his face were known to be on the verge of fainting. He would destroy any examples of his once handsome appearance as he looked to make it as ugly as his current self. Harvey saw himself as being all alone in the world at this point with him being a shameful thing and someone shunned by society. By this point, he believed he was a criminal and went into a life of crime after a coin flip. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
Two-Face was said to be like a coin itself where he had two sides as distinct as day and night. He regarded his face as being an example of a beauty and the beast with him being compared to a living 20th century Jekyll and Hyde. By this point, Harvey gave orders for no mirrors to be present to prevent him from seeing his own face. Ultimately, Two-Face let fate decide on his actions on whether he did an act of good or bad. However, if the coin failed to land on either side then Harvey was at a loss on what to do next and had to flip again to get a decision. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
The Two-Face persona believed that with his one eye he saw the real world and claimed it was beautiful. He believed everyone had a side that they hid from the world. (All-Star Batman v1 #1)
Harvey referred to his disfigured features to be his scarred side. It was shown that he would blame this side as being the one responsible for his bad decisions. With his underlings, Two-Face found them to be dangerous in criminal business and thus the bad side was used to deal with them. If the bad side won a coin flip, then Two-Face was known to murder his own men for failures which he only did on the bad side of his lair. He rationalised the murders as his underlings were criminals and had he still been D.A. then he would have made sure that they faced the electric chair. To Harvey, such men deserved to die as they were cold-blooded killers. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
After his sanity shattered, Harvey decided to settle all his decisions with a coin flip. One side was scarred to resemble his own damaged face with this representing the 'bad' decision. Thus, the coin symbolised his own face with one being beautiful and good whilst the other was ugly and bad. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
His fiancée was said to had been a sculptress who worshipped beauty. (Detective Comics v1 #66) He and Gilda had been trying to have a child themselves but had no luck. (Batman Annual v1 #14) Gilda came to be repulsed upon seeing his disfigure face and was said to no longer love Harvey. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
He was noted for being the son of Christopher Dent. (Batman: Two-Face v1 #1) His father was said to be an evil man who would never change. Harvey though by adulthood saw his father as an old and frail man where he did not think he could hurt him anymore. This led to him looking to bury their differences before it was too late. His father was noted to had given Harvey a gift which was a silver dollar. He was said to had tried to make things better but only made it worse between him and his son. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
Some accounts claimed that Harvey was a friend to the masked vigilante known as the Batman. The two had worked together to get various criminals locked away with sufficient evidence of their various misdeeds. However, Harvey becoming Two-Face saw him turning against the Batman and willing to kill the hero. On some occasions, he came to regret trying to kill his friend but blamed his bad side for being in charge and guiding his actions. Batman though believed that Harvey was a victim of a terrible misfortune and worked to help him. He even said that he would testify to help Harvey only get a light sentence for some of his crimes. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
He came to believe Batman and the first Robin worked in sync with one another. However, in contrast, he felt the second and third Robins were never as good. He believed that it was this reason that Batman came to withdraw into himself and away from others. (Detective Comics v1 #818)
Powers and abilities
Harvey was originally an ordinary human being with all the natural traits of his species. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
His life was forever changed during the Maroni trial when the crime boss threw a vial of acid at Harvey. The concentrated solution struck one side of Harveys' face which became disfigured as a result of it. As a result, the left side of his face became scarred and hideous. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
He was noted to had taken expensive sharpshooting lessons from Deathstroke where he became good in firearms. (Nightwing v2 #149)
As Two-Face, he was said to be the most bizarre and unpredictable crime-master. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
It was said that he had something on everyone which made him a dangerous foe. This stemmed from Harvey Dent's time as the D.A. where he put mechanisms in place to track criminal behaviour. Two-Face used those same mechanisms as his own private information network. Through this means, he was able to exploit others to do his bidding. Crime in Gotham was said to go up when Two-Face was in town where he tempted the people in the city with further criminal ventures. He had claimed to be privy to secrets that even the likes of Batman were unaware of with some even being held by those close to him. (All-Star Batman v1 #1)
One account said that the double-headed coin belonged to the criminal 'Boss' Moroni and it was found in a crime scene with his fingerprints on it. Harvey Kent used the coin as evidence in the trial against Moroni. Unfortunately, Kent's face was scarred in half by acid thrown at him by Moroni. Losing his sanity, Kent became the criminal Two-Face and decided to leave his decisions upon fate. For this, he scarred one side of the double-headed coin to use it as the instrument that would help him decide between good and evil. (Detective Comics v1 #66) A different account claimed that the reasoning behind the coin stemmed from his father. Christopher Dent had used to keep several double-headed coins as personal items he used to physically abuse his son, Harvey. Making the small child believe that he had a chance to avoid punishment if the coin landed on tails, Christopher abused the 'game' in order to beat Harvey senselessly. (Batman Annual v1 #14)
In Gotham City, he came to rise to the position of District Attorney. It was said that the courts remembered his fine record in this position. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
Upon becoming Two-Face, he came to resign as District Attorney and use his knowledge of crime for more illegal endeavours. This saw him gaining underlings that aided him in his various criminal ventures. (Detective Comics v1 #66)
Notes
- Two-Face was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane where he made his first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #66 (August, 1942).
- In an interview, writer Greg Rucka said, "Renee and Harvey have always had a very odd bond, as far as I’ve written them, going back to the very first Renee story I did for DC, "Two Down". It’s never been just cop-and-criminal between them. There’s a peculiar understanding between them; Renee, to me, has always been able to see the path of Harvey’s madness in a way that even Batman has never negotiated. I’m not sure I’d ever call them friends, especially after what he’s put her through, but Renee has always been sympathetic to him, at least, and that care, that guardianship, drives much of our story."
Alternate Versions
- In Batman: Gotham by Gaslight v1 #1 (1990), an alternate version of Harvey Dent appeared in the Gotham by Gaslight Earth set on Earth-19 in the Multiverse. This version was the District Attorney of Gotham City before becoming the serial killer known as the Double Man.
- In Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society v1 #1 (2007), a female version of the character named Evelyn Dent appeared in the Post-Crisis Earth-3 in the reformed Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In the DC Animated Universe, Two-Face made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Batman: The Animated Series, Harvey Dent appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Richard Moll.
- In Beware the Batman, Harvey Dent appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Christopher McDonald.
- In Harley Quinn, Two-Face appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Andy Daly.
Films
- In Batman Forever, Two-Face appeared in the setting of the 1995 live-action film where he was now portrayed by actor Tommy Lee Jones.
- In Batman: Year One, Harvey Dent appeared in the setting of the animated film where he was voiced by actor Robin Atkin Downes.
- In The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent appeared in the setting of the live-action film set in the Dark Knight Trilogy where he was portrayed by actor Aaron Eckhart.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Two-Face appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Edwin Neal.
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Harvey Dent Two-Face made a cameo appearance in the setting of the fighting video game.
Appearances
- Detective Comics v1: (1942)
- Batman v1:
- Batman Annual v1:
- Batman: Two-Face v1: (1995)
- Batman: The Long Halloween v1:
- All-Star Batman v1:
- Batman and Robin v2:
- Task Force Z v1:
- Detective Comics v1:
External Links
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