Changes: Harvey Dent (New Earth)

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 and schizophrenia. His hard work ethic, however, allowed him to raise to become a lawyer and, eventually, a District Attorney.

Maverick 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." After striking several blows to the Roman's Empire, Falcone hired the likes of Mickey "The Mink" Sullivan to eliminate the D.A. However, the attempt by Mickey's gang to take out Dent failed. 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 (including Mickey and his gang). 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. Harvey was horribly scarred on the left side of his face and his left hand.

Harvey 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. He carries a double-sided coin with one side scarred at all times.

His first crimes as Two-Face was killing his corrupt Assistant District Attorney Vernon Fields and Carmine Falcone (Maroni has already been assassinated by this point by Falcone's son Alberto). By the end, Two-Face is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.

Two-Face next escaped from Arkham Asylum on the following Halloween, stole his old case files, and began the dismantling of the Falcone crime family. A new killer began following the holidays pattern, only this time not killing mobsters but cops. Harvey saved Jim Gordon from the Hangman, as the new murder was called, and told him he was not the Hangman. He continued using his alliance to the rest of Batman's Rogues Gallery to dismantle the mob. It was during this time he was having an affair with his successor as District Attorney, Janice Porter, a person he used to meet back at Gotham University when he was a professor. Porter was soon killed by Two-Face when she sayed she loved him. Over the the course of the year, he finally succeeded in eliminating Carmine Falcone's successor, his daughter Sofia Gigante Falcone who was revealed to be the Hangman the entire time, and even though he was taken in, Two-Face had permanently shifted the balance of power in Gotham's underworld from the mob to the so-called "costumed freaks".

History with "The Boy Wonder"

Two-Face is famous for being the reason Bruce Wayne fired Dick Grayson, then Robin, from being his partner. After a failed attempt to rescue the then DA from Two-Face, who also had The Dark Knight captive as well, Two-Face brutally beat Dick, scaring Batman into firing Dick.

It's revealed later on that Two-Face is the cause of Jason Todd's, the second Robin, father's death!

Modern Age

In the aftermath of the earthquake that left Gotham City in shambles during the events of "Cataclysm," Two-Face kidnapped Commissioner Gordon and 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. Harvey Dent cross-examined Two-Face and won an acquittal of Gordon.

It was also during this time that Two-Face met GCPD detective Renée Montoya. Montoya was able to reach the Harvey 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.

File:HarveyDentHush.jpg

Two-Face surgically erased, right after he double-crossed Hush by shooting him into the Gotham river

A short time later, Two-Face met the brilliant surgeon, Dr. Thomas Elliot. Although Elliot specialized in neurosurgery, he was competent enough to repair Harvey's face via plastic surgery. ^[1] Harvey 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 Harvey into acting as one of his many pawns in a campaign against Batman. With renewed sanity, Harvey 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.^[2]

One Year Later/The Return of Two-Face

File:FaceToFaceTwoFace.jpg

Two heads are better then one

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.^[3] 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 the Two-Face identity and committing crimes.

Following the supposed death of Batman during the Final Crisis, Two-Face became one of the two major contenders for control of the Gotham underworld, fighting with the Penguin. However, a new Black Mask made his own play for power, recruiting a number of Arkham inmates and play his attacks on the two as attacks made by the other.

File:Two-FaceBatman1.jpg

Recently

Two-Face realizes that there's another person under the cowl. He hires a teleporter and manages to infiltrate the Batcave. When the new Batman investigates the cave, he is ambushed by Two-Face with tranquilizer darts, and in a hallucination he sees Dent in a red and black Two-Face themed Batman costume. However, Alfred Pennyworth saved the hero from Two-Face's torture after he subdues his accomplice, and with his help Batman convinces Two-Face that he is the real, original Darknight Detective.

Two-Face has been at odds with Gotham's latest district attorney, Kate Spencer, also known as the vigilante Manhunter.

Since the arrest of Black Mask, Two-Face has been working at regaining his former power over Gotham. However, his plans have garnered the attention of the FBI. After he discovers a mole in his midsts, he flees only to be stabbed by his own henchmen. Two-Face is left for dead, his body dumped off a bridge. Sometime later, two fishermen in the middle of a lake reel in Two-Face's water-logged body.

Madness

File:Two-Face Mirror.jpg

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. In the questionable "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" one-shot, the doctors at Arkham were shown to have weened 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, wetting himself. 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 guards to show up.

Two-Face 008 — Two-Face flipping the coin

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.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Two-Face does not possess any superhuman capabilities.

File:Two-Face Coin Toss.jpg

Abilities

Suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder, Two-Face is obsessed with duality. He is also a successful attorney, and is proficient in nearly all matters pertaining to criminal law. However, Deathstroke the Terminator, after accepting a heavy fee has also trained him to become an excellent sharpshooter. Dent has also been extensively trained by Batman in Hand to Hand combat.

Weaknesses

Two-Face does things according to chance and therefore relies heavily on his coin to make decisions, making the coin his Achilles' heel. Batman has managed to incapitate Two-Face on his coin such as by making him lose it or stopping him from seeing the result.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

File:Two-Face Cops.jpg

Double-Headed Coin: Two-Face uses a two-headed silver dollar, one side of which is defaced, the other side clean. Flipping the coin dictates Harvey when making any significant life decisions. If the coin lands on the scarred side, Two-Face will pursue acts of evil. If the coin lands on the unmarked side, he is compelled to commit acts of good. At one point, Dent as Two-Face was so dependent on the coin for any of his criminal acts that he could be easily defeated by taking the coin away from him or preventing him from seeing the result of the flip. The original Earth-Two Two-Face was usually shown at this level of dependency Kent. Dent has since lessened his dependency on the coin flip to whether an situation should be implemented, rather than each individual act.

Transportation

Various automobiles. Occasionally, Two-Face will drive a "getaway" vehicle painted to reflect his personality (i.e., one side is painted green, while the other may be painted white).

Weapons

Typically Two-Face uses a variety of automatic and semi-automatic handguns to conduct his criminal affairs. He usually carries two.

External Links

Footnotes

↑ Batman: Hush
↑ Batman #619
↑ Detective Comics #817

Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

[1] Batman: Hush

[2] Batman #619

[3] Detective Comics #817

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 Two-Face has been at odds with Gotham's latest district attorney, [[Kate Spencer]], also known as the vigilante [[Manhunter]].
+Since the arrest of [[Jeremiah Arkham (New Earth)|Black Mask]], Two-Face has been working at regaining his former power over Gotham. However, his plans have garnered the attention of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]. After he discovers a mole in his midsts, he flees only to be stabbed by his own henchmen. Two-Face is left for dead, his body dumped off a bridge. Sometime later, two fishermen in the middle of a lake reel in Two-Face's water-logged body.
 ==Madness==