- It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair! You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time. But you were wrong. The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world... is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair.
- — Harvey Dent src
Harvey Dent was a driven and aggressive district attorney and later serial killer. Once Gotham City's righteous district attorney dedicated to rounding up Gotham's criminals with the help of Batman and Jim Gordon, he was horribly disfigured and driven mad by the Joker. He then became a serial killer obsessed with chance and began targeting those he felt had wronged him, including his former allies.
History
Early Career
Harvey Dent was an incredibly determined, aggressive, and righteous lawyer bent on taking down all major crime and corruption in his home of Gotham City. Some time after the emergence of the city's vigilante protector, the Batman, Harvey took up the position of district attorney and began an intense campaign against Gotham's major crime lords, particularly Sal Maroni. He even started dating his assistant district attorney, Rachel Dawes, and earned a reputation as a heroic political figure, or "Gotham's White Knight". Harvey was a friendly and humorous man, determined and confident in himself and his own luck, even carrying around a double-headed silver dollar that he used for jokes and party tricks.[1]
The Joker's Attacks
G.C.P.D. lieutenant James Gordon and Batman eventually decided to bring Harvey onto their investigation to eradicate the mafia once and for all. After the Batman arrested the mob's Chinese accountant, Lau, Harvey was able to squeeze a testimony out of him to incriminate Maroni and the other crime lords. The desperate mobsters then turned to an anarchistic terrorist known only as the Joker to kill Batman and give the city back to them. The Joker then went on television and demanded Batman unmask and turn himself in, and that he'd kill people every day until he did.
The night of the Joker's announcement, Bruce Wayne, a friend of Rachel's who, unbeknownst to Harvey, was secretly Batman, threw a campaign fundraiser for Harvey at his penthouse. While there, Harvey proposed to Rachel, who said she'd think about it just as the Joker attacked. Bruce knocked Harvey unconscious and hid him in safety so the Joker couldn't get at him, and he fought off the Joker and his men as Batman. When Harvey came to, he learned that he had been one of three targets of the Joker, and that his other two targets, Commissioner Loeb and Judge Surrillo, hadn't survived the attacks on them. The Joker had also left behind a threat to kill Mayor Garcia next, leaving an obituary to him in the paper.
The following day, a public memorial service was held for Commissioner Loeb, which was interrupted by the Joker, shooting at the mayor but instead hitting Gordon, who jumped in the way of the bullet. Gordon was wearing a bulletproof vest as part of a plan to capture the Joker with Batman and Harvey, but for the time being faked his death as the Joker ran around with his men, causing more panic and chaos. An enraged Harvey made his way over to an ambulance with one of the Joker's wounded henchmen, Thomas Schiff, and drove off with it. He then stopped in an alleyway and interrogated him, threatening him with a gun, but Batman stopped him, having followed him, and insisted he stop as not to damage his reputation as Gotham's symbol of hope.
Batman told Harvey of his decision to reveal his identity to stop the Joker's killings, and convinced Harvey to hold a press conference the following day to show the Joker who he was. However, at the press conference, despite Bruce arriving out of costume, Harvey instead announced he was the Batman, and was taken into police custody, giving his coin to Rachel for safekeeping. As part of his plan with Harvey and Batman, Gordon, in disguise as a guard, drove the prison van containing Harvey through Gotham, with Batman following close behind in his Batpod. As anticipated, they were attacked by the Joker in a semi-rig, and Batman chased him down to the city center. He and Gordon apprehended the Joker, and he was taken to the G.C.P.D. headquarters.
Harvey was driven home by Michael Wuertz, a corrupt cop on Maroni's payroll, who captured him and brought him to a warehouse rigged by the Joker with explosives. Tied to a chair alone with a two-way radio, Harvey was horrified to realize that Rachel was in a similar warehouse rigged to explode at the exact same time as his on the other side of the city. Back at the G.C.P.D. headquarters, Batman interrogated the Joker and got him to give the addresses of the warehouses, and went after Rachel, being closer to her, while Gordon and the police went after Harvey. Unfortunately, the Joker switched the addresses, and so Batman arrived to find Harvey, who had fallen over in his chair and knocked over a can of petroleum trying to escape. Batman managed to get Harvey out of the warehouse before the explosives went off, but the left side of Harvey's face had been coated in petroleum, and the fire from the explosion lit it, burning him horribly.
Harvey was taken to Gotham General Hospital, where his burns were treated. When he came to, he learned that Rachel didn't make it, and his coin had been returned to him from the wreckage of the explosion, with one side now scarred and burnt. The left half of his face was horribly burned and disfigured, and the pain over this combined with losing Rachel and the knowledge that the Joker had escaped the G.C.P.D. drove him insane.[1]
Harvey's Killing Spree
As Harvey recovered in the hospital, the Joker announced to the people of Gotham that he had changed his mind and no longer wanted to know Batman's identity, and that if a Wayne Enterprises employee threatening to reveal it wasn't dead in an hour, he'd demolish a hospital. Every hospital in the city, including Gotham General, was evacuated, but the Joker made his way to Gotham General and killed the people trying to take Harvey away.
Now face to face with Harvey, the Joker convinced him to take his vengeance on the people who wronged him with anarchy and chaos, as he felt that was the only fair way to live in a chaotic world. Harvey decided to use his coin by flipping it to make the choice of whether his victims live or die, and put the Joker in his trial of chance first. However, the Joker got lucky and was allowed to go free, while Harvey escaped Gotham General safely as the Joker destroyed it.
Harvey met up with Wurtz and flipped the coin for his death, before meeting with Maroni in his car and learning from him that the cop who took Rachel to the warehouse was Anna Ramirez. While Harvey flipped his coin for Maroni to live, he flipped again, which resulted in him killing his driver, sending the car crashing. After Harvey got out of the wrecked car, he confronted Ramirez and forced her to call Gordon's wife and telling her to bring their son and daughter to meet Gordon at the warehouse where Rachel was killed. Harvey flipped for Ramirez to live and knocked her out before ambushing Gordon's family at the warehouse, threatening them with a revolver.
While Gordon, who had been promoted to police commissioner, was dealing with a hostage situation instigated by the Joker, he got a call from Harvey telling him to come to the warehouse, and that he had his family. Gordon rushed to the warehouse as Batman finally defeated and arrested the Joker. When Gordon arrived on the high scaffolding Harvey was positioned with his family on, Harvey explained that he planned to make Gordon suffer for Rachel's death, making him watch as he killed the one he loved most. As he threatened his son with his gun, Batman arrived, having followed Gordon, and tried to talk him down. Harvey insisted that Rachel's death was the fault of himself, Gordon, and the Batman, and they all needed to suffer, putting all three of them in his trial of chance. Before he could shoot Gordon, however, Batman tackled him off the scaffolding, sending him falling to his death.[1]
Legacy
Harvey Dent's legacy would have been one of pain and destruction if not for the Batman and Gordon deciding to pin Harvey's killings on Batman, knowing that Harvey needed to remain a symbol of hope for Gotham if they were to truly defeat the Joker, who had driven Harvey mad as part of his plan to plunge all of Gotham City into chaos. Bruce Wayne put the Batman persona into retirement for the next several years, and Harvey was hailed as a hero in his role in the efforts against the Joker. The Dent Act was also created in his honor, making it more difficult for criminals to plead insanity and greatly reducing Gotham's crime rate.
Eight years after the Joker's reign of terror, Gotham City was attacked by Talia al Ghul and Bane, who brought the city to its knees and turned it into a demilitarized zone, cut off from the rest of America thanks to a nuclear bomb in their possession. During their takeover, Bane found a speech Gordon had written about Harvey Dent's downfall that he had decided not to read, and revealed the truth about Harvey's turn to evil, helping decrease morale and making his takeover easier. Fortunately, Bruce returned to the Batman persona and defeated Bane and Talia before retiring for good, and while Harvey's legacy was damaged for good, it still gave Gotham City eight years of peace, and in no way negated the good he did for the city.[1][2]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Other Characteristics
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Double-headed silver dollar: Harvey carried around a coin with heads on both sides to make jokes and tricks about luck and chance. After the Joker's attack, the coin was scarred and burned on one side, and Harvey then used it to decide whether he'd kill his targets or not as a serial killer.[1]
Weapons
- Smith & Wesson Model 64
Notes
- This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the Nolanverse film series and is an adaptation of Two-Face. The original character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane and first appeared in Detective Comics #66.
- Harvey Dent was portrayed by Aaron Eckhart.
- Harvey's downfall was largely inspired by the comic story The Long Halloween.
- Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer considered using Harvey in Batman Begins, but they replaced him with Rachel Dawes as they felt they "couldn't do him justice".
Trivia
- Harvey earned the nickname "Harvey Two-Face" while working as part of internal affairs.[1]
Recommended Reading
Related
- 2 Appearances of Harvey Dent (Nolanverse)
- 11 Images featuring Harvey Dent (Nolanverse)
- 2 Quotations by or about Harvey Dent (Nolanverse)
- Character Gallery: Harvey Dent (Nolanverse)
External Links
Footnotes
Batman Villain(s) |