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|alliances=None |
|alliances=None |
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|previous_alliances=[[Injustice Gang]], [[Enemies of Batman|assorted Batman rogues]] |
|previous_alliances=[[Injustice Gang]], [[Enemies of Batman|assorted Batman rogues]] |
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|aliases=[[Janus (mythology)|Janus]] |
|aliases=[[Janus (mythology)|Janus]] Gotham's Protector |
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|relatives=Gilda Dent (ex-wife), unnamed twin sons |
|relatives=Gilda Dent (ex-wife), unnamed twin sons |
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|powers=None;<br>suffers from [[dissociative identity disorder]];<br>hand-to-hand combat training. |
|powers=None;<br>suffers from [[dissociative identity disorder]];<br>hand-to-hand combat training. |
Revision as of 03:10, 30 July 2006
- This article is about the DC comics supervillain. For the Nigerian musician, see 2face Idibia. For the American music producer, see Dave Jonsen (alias Harvey Dent).
Two-Face | |
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File:Batmanannual14.png | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Detective Comics #66 (August 1942) |
Created by | Bob Kane Bill Finger |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Harvey Dent |
Team affiliations | None, Injustice Gang, assorted Batman rogues |
Notable aliases | Janus Gotham's Protector |
Abilities | None; suffers from dissociative identity disorder; hand-to-hand combat training. |
Two-Face is a DC Comics supervillain, an enemy of Batman. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942).
Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 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.
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 years of being a victim of child abuse. He obsessively makes all important decisions by flipping a double-sided coin, with one of the “heads” side of which is scratched. While Dent claims his Two-Face persona is a result of his disfigurement, his face has been restored several times, only to be damaged once again by his own doing.
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.
Origin
When he first appeared in Detective Comics #66, the character's name was Harvey Kent, but his name was changed to Harvey Dent in order to avoid unnecessary association with Clark Kent/Superman. The media nicknamed the young district attorney "Apollo" Kent for his good looks. His campaign against crime ended tragically when "Boss" Moroni, a crime boss whom Dent was prosecuting, threw vitriol (sulfuric acid) in Harvey's face, horribly scarring his left hand and the left half of his face while leaving the other half undamaged. Tormented by his hideous reflection, vain Harvey scarred one side of Moroni's two-headed coin and let tosses of the coin decide whether he acted for good or evil in any situation.
The comic book limited series Batman: The Long Halloween elaborated on these events, with some changes. In it, Dent, Commissioner James Gordon, and Batman forged an alliance to rid Gotham City of crime. Mafia chieftain Sal "The Boss" Maroni was still the criminal who disfigured Dent. Harvey gets his trademark coin from his abusive father, who is referred to as being in some form of mental institution (his relationship with is father was earlier introduced in Batman Annual #14). Gilda, who had been Harvey's fiancée back in Detective Comics #66 and 68 (1942), was instead his wife in The Long Halloween (1998).
History and analysis
The scarring of half his face brought out his latent multiple personality disorder and transformed him into the villainous Two-Face. Obsessed with duality and opposites, Two-Face's trademark was 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 was that he did not consistently go through with his evil deeds; every time he contemplated committing a crime, he flipped a two-headed coin, one side of which was scratched. Only if the coin came up scratched-side did Two-Face go ahead and commit the crime, never questioning the result of the toss. A particularly interesting example of this occurs when Two-Face, along with the Joker and the Penguin, poisoned Batman; when Robin suggested a coin-toss to decide whether Two-Face should give the Dark Knight the antidote, Dent attacked the Penguin to get the vial in question when the coin came up heads. Recent interpretations portray this compulsion as a struggle between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self. It is also, as Two Face himself implies in The Long Halloween as well as other stories, a mockery of the law that he lives by and fights for prior to his disfigurement. Essentially viewing his own scarring as a karmatic unfairness considering the great sacrifices and work he has made, Two-Face often views justice as arbitrary; if true justice existed, he would not be scarred and would not exist. His coin is therefore the only apparent justice in the world - averages.
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. In 1971, writer Dennis O'Neil brought Two-Face back, and it was then that he became one of Batman's arch-enemies.
In the 1980s, Frank Miller rewrote Two-Face's origin, making him a victim of bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. Miller also introduced a much stronger aspect to the dual nature, using Two-Face as a metaphor for the charitable and hostile sides of human nature. In this incarnation, Two-Face/Dent was reimagined as a tragic character, with a back story that included an abusive, alcoholic father and struggling through law school. Miller further expanded on the character by making the pre-accident Dent a major heroic figure in Batman: Year One. Dent's past actions and ties to both Batman and Commissioner Gordon make him an unsettling and personal foe for both men.
During the same period, Two-Face was revealed to have murdered Jason Todd's (the second Robin) father for failing him in some way, after the man was forced to turn to crime following his wife's death from cancer. Todd later had Dent at his mercy and chose not to kill him, embracing the ideals of Batman. This storyline was later mirrored in the animated series of the late nineties with Tim Drake substituting for Jason Todd.
During the Batman weekday comic strips published during the 80s, the origin-story was given a slight adjustment. In this version, Harvey Dent was scarred by a vial of acid intended for the Joker, thrown by a unnamed bystander.
In 1989, writer Grant Morrison showed Dent's dependence on his coin in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. The doctors in the asylum decided to break down Dent's psychotic behavior by taking away his coin and replacing it with a die and eventually a tarot deck. Effectively giving him 72 options, Dent could no longer decide on what to do. At the end of the graphic novel, Batman gives Dent his coin back, telling him to decide his (Batman’s) fate with the flip of the coin. Harvey Dent lets Batman go, despite the scarred side of the coin being face up.
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 left Gotham City in shambles, Two-Face kidnapped Commissioner Gordon and put 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 played upon Two-Face's split psyche to demand Harvey Dent as his defense attorney. In what is arguably one of the most powerful sequences of the storyline, Harvey Dent cross-examined Two-Face and won an acquittal of Gordon, determining that Two-Face had effectively blackmailed Gordon by implying that he had committed murders to aid the Commissioner.
It was also during this time that Two-Face met the detective Renee Montoya. Montoya was able to reach the Harvey persona in Two-Face, and she was kind to him. He fell in love with her, though the romance was one-sided. Later, in the series Gotham Central, he 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. She was furious, and the two fought for control of his gun until Batman intervened, putting Two-Face back in Arkham Asylum.
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. It was in this story that we learned that, despite his apparent hatred for his abusive father, Harvey still loved him, paying for an expensive home for him rather than allowing him to live in a slum. However, this abuse was what made Two-Face, and even Two-Face admitted that the scarring was not the key event in his creation. At the end of the book, Harvey and Two-Face argue in thought, Two-Face calling Harvey "spineless." Harvey proves Two-Face wrong, choosing to jump off a building and end his life just to put a stop to Two-Face. Two-Face was surprised when the coin flip came up scarred, but abided by the decision and jumped. Batman caught Dent, but the shock of the fall seemed to (at least temporarily) destroy the Two-Face side of his psyche.
Harvey is also at odds with his ex-wife Gilda, as Harvey believes their marriage failed as he was unable to give her children. She later married Paul Janus (the events of Two-Face Strikes Twice), whom Two-Face had attempted to frame as a criminal by kidnapping him and replacing him with a stand-in, whom Two-Face "disfigured" with makeup to make it look as if Janus had gone insane just as Two-Face had. Eventually caught by Batman, Two-Face was sent away and Gilda and Janus reunited. Some time later, Gilda gave birth to twins, prompting Two-Face to escape once more and take the twins hostage, as he had believed them to be conceived by Janus using an experimental fertility drug. They were not, however, to the disappointment of the black market doctor with whom he was working. The end of the book reveals a surprise twist - Batman learns from Gilda that Janus is not the father of Gilda's twins - Harvey is. Some of Harvey's sperm had been frozen after a death threat had been made against him, and was used to give birth to the twins. Batman is able to use this information to convince Harvey to free the twins and turn himself in.
In the storyline Batman: Hush, Dent's face was repaired once more via plastic surgery. This time around, only the Harvey Dent persona exists. However, he ended up taking 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 Hush (Thomas Elliot), but managing to manipulate the courts into setting him free, as Gotham's prosecutors wouldn't attempt to charge him without a body.
Template:Spoilerabout In Detective Comics #817, as part of DC's "One Year Later", it was revealed that, at Batman's request and with training, Harvey Dent had become a vigilante protector of Gotham City in most of Batman's absence of nearly a year (about ten months). He was reluctant to take the job, but Batman assured him doing good would atone him of his past crimes. After two to three months in training, they fought Firebug and Mr. Freeze, before Batman left for nearly a year. Dent found himself enjoying his new role, but his methods were seemingly more extreme and less refined than Batman's. Upon Batman's return, Dent began to feel unnecessary, which prompted the return of the "Two-Face" persona (seen and heard by Dent through hallucinations). His feelings of uselessness were compounded by a series of mysterious killings that seemed to have been committed by Two-Face; the villains KGBeast, Magpie, The Ventriloquist, and Orca were all shot twice in the head with a double-barrelled pistol, implying that Dent was the perpetrator. When Batman confronted Dent about these deaths, asking Dent to confirm that he was not responsible, Dent refused give a definite answer regarding his involvement in these deaths. He then detonated a bomb in his apartment.
Despite escaping the explosion physically unscathed to a motel, Harvey suffered a crisis of conscience and a mental battle with his "Two-Face" personality. Although evidence was uncovered by Batman that exonerated Harvey Dent for the murders, it was too late to do anything to save him. Prompted by resentment and a paranoid reaction to Batman's questioning of him, Harvey scarred half his face with nitric acid and a scalpel, becoming Two-Face once again. Blaming Batman for his return (despite Batman having consistently defended his innocence to the authorities), Two-Face immediately went on a criminal rampage, threatening to destroy the Gotham Zoo (having retained two of every animal - including two humans) before escaping to fight Batman another day.
Recently in Batman 655, Batman went on a long crusade to round up the villains loose in Gotham. However, after he caught the Joker, Batman did say that Two-Face was still loose, though did not seem to be too concerned about it. Template:Endspoiler
Physical appearances
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.
Harvey Dent is about 6'2 feet tall, has blue eyes, weighs 195 lbs, and has dark brown hair. He is estimated to be somewhere around 32 to 37, given the fact that he became District Attorney at 27 before Batman (then 25) appeared for the first time, in "Batman: Year One".
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 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Dent's face was returned to normal, but at the unforeseen cost of permanently destroying the good-hearted Harvey Dent personality, leaving the monstrous Two-Face in control forever.
- Two-Face also appeared 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 was also revealed in this book that Harvey Dent had once been friends with Matt Murdock, the secret identity of Daredevil. In earlier times, Dent had 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 managed to talk Two-Face out of killing Hyde without Two-Face using his coin to decide. Two-Face, however, insisted that act was merely "the last of Harvey Dent."
Other Two-Faces
During Two-Face's third appearance in the 1940s, his face and sanity were 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 was Wilkins, Dent's butler. The second of the impostors was Paul Sloane, an actor who was set to star in a biography of Harvey Dent. However, an accident on the set caused him to be disfigured in a manner similar to Dent. Sloane's mind snapped, and he began to think he was Two-Face. The third and final impostor was a thug named George Blake, who was easily identified as an impostor because the wrong side of his face was 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. [1]
There was another Two-Face who appeared in the Batman Sunday strips. Ham actor Harvey Apollo was scarred with acid when testifying against a mobster in court. He only made a few appearances before accidentally hanging himself after slipping on the silver dollar piece he used as Two-Face.
Note that, considering DC Comics history prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the original Harvey Dent Two-Face who was cured may have lived on Earth-2, the setting for the Golden Age Batman's stories, which would be a separate world from any of the later Harvey Dent representations (in a similar manner, Alfred Pennyworth was known as Alfred Beagle during the Golden Age).
Two-Face in other media
Two-Face was never depicted in the 1960s Batman movie or television series, although prior to the series' demise in 1968, Clint Eastwood was proposed for the role, reimagined as a news anchor who was disfigured when a television exploded in his face.
In the 1989 - 1997 Batman film franchise, Billy Dee Williams (an African American actor) appeared as a pre-disfigurement Dent in Batman (1989). Apparently, Williams signed for this role knowing that D.A. Dent was to become Two-Face in further installments of the franchise. He wrote his contract so that, should the character appear in a sequel, Williams was to play it or he would receive an amount of money. However, when Two-Face was to became 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) and seemed largely to be second fiddle, villain-wise, to Jim Carrey's Riddler in the final edit. This "Harvey Two-Face" was a campier character, with no trace of the inner emotional struggle between his good and evil personalities that the post-Miller comics had emphasised. The movie instead had him cod-philosophising on the unfairness of fate, and played up the "two" gimmick to the point where Two-Face even referred to himself in the plural. In Forever, Two-Face is indirectly responsible for the origin of Robin/Dick Grayson, as he and his henchmen cause an accident that kills the rest of 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 pit. This portrayal of Two-Face upset many fans, particularly in one scene where he is shown repeatedly flipping his coin to achieve a desired result he wants. That particular scene has irked many Batman fans, because it is Two-Face's mentality that accepts the result that has been given.
According to some internet sources, Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Lucas are rumored to be in talks to portray Harvey Dent in the next Batman Begins Sequel, followed by playing Two-Face in the third sequel to Batman Begins. Both have expressed interest in the role, particularly Lucas, who seems to be the front-runner for the role.
In Batman: The Animated Series, Harvey Dent/Two-Face, voiced by Richard Moll, suffered from deep-seated psychological trauma resulting from years of repressing anger. As a result, he developed an alternate personality, known as "Big Bad Harv", who was as evil as his outer appearance was noble. "Big Bad Harv" would sometimes come out in the form of violent bursts of anger. Eventually, Gotham City crime boss Rupert Thorne got his hands on Dent's psychological records and threatened to blackmail him with it. During an encounter with Thorne in a chemical plant, Dent lost his temper, putting his "Big Bad Harv" personality in control, and went on a violent rampage, which eventually resulted in a massive explosion in the plant. The explosion severely damaged the left side of his face (with damage quickly spreading to the entire left side of his body), and the stress of the events left "Big Bad Harv" in largely permanent control of Dent's personality.
Batman, who as Bruce Wayne was Dent's best friend, was tormented by having to apprehend him again and again, gradually losing hope that he could ever be cured. Ironically, however, Two-Face once unknowingly protected Batman's secret identity after Hugo Strange discovered it and attempted to auction it off to Gotham's top criminals: "That's absurd! I know Bruce Wayne. If he's Batman, I'm the King of England."
In the follow-up series, Dent's personality fragmented a third time, creating a superego personality called "The Judge", a violent court-themed vigilante that attempted to crush the id that was Two-Face. Dent, looking to eradicate this new threat to him, had no idea that he himself was The Judge. A similar storyline appeared in the comic books - however, in the books, Dent's third persona was called Janus, a reference to the Roman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward. In Batman Beyond, Two-Face appears in a training simulator used by Terry McGinnis, and again as a mannequin in the Batcave. The only other appearance of this version of Two-Face was a cameo in an episode of Justice League.
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 scoured the city looking for him. Fleeing for his life, Tim eventually crossed paths with Batman and helped him bring Two-Face to justice, paving the way for his transformation into Robin.
This version of Two-Face was praised by many fans, as the writers and Bruce Timm had captured the core of the character. Some were upset that his scarring took place in an chemical plant instead of being scarred by a crime boss in court, but this was changed, according to Timm, to fit the storyline. The character appears to be of Italian descent, as his non-scarred side is darker skinned, and 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.
Neither Two-Face or Harvey Dent have appered in the new animated series The Batman, although 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 interpretation of Clayface. However, rumors persist that Two-Face will appear on The Batman in a version of Batman: The Long Halloween.
Two-Face has also appeared in several Batman-related video games. A pre-Two-Face Harvey Dent appeared as a hostage of Poison Ivy in the video game Batman: The Animated Series (which carried Ivy's vendetta against Harvey for being indirectly responsible for the destruction of an endangered plan in the episode Pretty Poison). As Two-Face he was 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 Batman: Chaos in Gotham (in which he is the final boss).
Future incarnations
Reportedly, director Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer have expressed interest in utilizing the character in the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Due to the nature of Nolan's films, the character will take a darker turn than previous silver screen incarnations, and this version will be more akin to Billy Dee William's interpretation in the 1989 original than that of Tommy Lee Jones' in Batman Forever. According to Goyer's script treatment, he will appear pre-disfigurement in the film and post-disfigurement in its follow-up, and will serve as the main villian.
Trivia
- Duela Dent was originally intended to be 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 twins, and that they'd named her Duela." [2]
- Two-Face's burnt side is usually depicted as either green (first appearance), purple (Batman Forever, The Long Halloween), or blue. (Batman: The Animated Series)
Cultural references
- In a 1997 episode of Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza have the following exchange about a woman Jerry is dating:
- GEORGE: So, attractive one day - not attractive the next?
- JERRY: Have you come across this?
- GEORGE: Yes, I am familiar with this syndrome -- she's a two-face.
- JERRY: Like the Batman villain?
- GEORGE: If that helps you.
- Captain Planet villain Doctor Blight has the left side of her face scarred in a similar manner, though keeps the scars covered with an overgrowth of long hair. Her hair is also a split color, blonde on the right and white on the left. She lacks the duality, though she appears to have already gone completely insane.
- Transformers Armada villain Sideways was named "Double Face" in Japan, a possible variation of "Two Face." The character had a dual nature, playing both Autobot and Decepticon.
- Father Ted In the Father Ted episode Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep, Father Ted puts one side of is face into wet mud and resembles Two Face near the end of the episode