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Quote1 Who do you think I am-- the Riddler? This is no game I play! This is obsession! I do what I do because of what fate has made me-- not because I enjoy "matching wits" with the Batman! Nor do I particularly care to make his life hell-- as the Joker does! Fate has cursed me with duality-- and I decided long ago that it is my ugly, evil side which dominates! Similarly, Batman's fate-given destiny is to oppose evil and ugliness. I act and he reacts! Let him come! I never run!! Quote2
Two-Face src

Harvey Dent was the District Attorney of Gotham City, and a close, personal ally of Batman. Unfortunately, the notorious gangster, Boss Maroni, threw acid in Dent's face, severely disfiguring it on the left side, leaving the right side unharmed. Because of his new appearance, Dent underwent a mental breakdown and became the insane crime boss Two-Face.

Earth-One

Origin

Harvey Dent's origin and transformation of Two-Face on the Earth-One universe, mirrors that of his Earth-Two counterpart. 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 succesful 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.[1]

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.[2]

Criminal Activities

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Two-Face's Return

A few years later, Two-Face escaped prison and resumed his criminal activities. Two-Face gathered a small gang and started a series of robberies, with subtle relation to binary numbers. His ultimate goal was to steal a cache of gold doubloons lost in an ancient ship, and although he almost succeeded, his compulsion to obey his two-faced coin allowed Batman to stop him.[3] Two-Face was locked in Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, but he managed to escape with outside help. Once free, Two-Face used an atomic bomb to blackmail the US Government, but once again he was stopped by Batman.[4] Two-Face was soon sprung out of Arkham once again, leaving the Joker behind. This action forced Joker to escape and thwart Two-Face's plan. As they confronted each other, both criminals were promptly captured and taken back to Arkham.[5] Learning from past mistakes, Two-Face and Joker teamed-up to steal a valuable item from Oliver Queen and this attracted attention from Green Arrow, Batman and the Atom.[6]

After stealing the binary codes for a nuclear weapon, Two-Face blackmailed the American Government into giving him 22 million dollars.[7] However, Two-Face was forced to change his plans when Batman and the Federal Agent King Faraday tried to stop him.[8] Two-Face relocated his operations to New Orleans where he tried to steal the double amount of ransom money, but he was stopped by Faraday and Batman. Although his plans were thwarted, Two-Face escaped to an apparent death.[9]

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Dual Madness

In the months that he remained missing, Harvey sought the help of Albert Ekhart, the surgeon who restored his face the first time and Harvey had him restore his face a second time. With his new face, Harvey adopted a new identity and tried to earn the love of Gilda, his first wife. However, Dent challenged Batman, convinced that his new identity would protect him, but Ekhart's surgery didn't last long, and the new face started to fade.[10] Batman learned that Two-Face was responsible for killing "Boss" Moroni as a revenge after he killed Gilda's second husband, causing her grievance. During the final confrontation with Batman, Two-Face recalled the incident that turned his life and after Gilda showed him love and support, Two-Face turned himself to the authorities and returned to Arkham willingly, in hopes of being cured and eventually return to her love.[11] Later, Two-Face escaped from Arkham and created a master plan to capture Batman using his own hideout as the perfect trap.[12] His plan was successful and Two-Face held Batman prisoner for a week, time in which his plans were foiled by Robin from the outside and Batman from his prison.[13]

Once again Two-Face escaped from Arkham thanks to his henchmen working on the outside[14] and he stole a binary computer system, which he used to choose his next crimes.[15] He was soon contacted by Circe, a former associate of Black Mask, who offered Two-Face a partnership.[16] Two-Face agreed, unaware that it was all part of a plan by Batman to get to him and in the final struggle, Two-Face was recaptured by the combined efforts of Batman, Catwoman and the new Robin.[17]

New Earth

Early Years

As a child, Harvey had an older[18] brother named Murray. While Harvey was an obedient kid and the "good boy" of the two, Murray was more prone to defiant behavior, such as starting little fires and burning objects for the sake of it.[19] [20] One day, the two brothers were left home alone, and Murray dared Harvey to play with matches. Harvey reluctantly accepted, but ended up accidentally setting fire to a curtain.[20] At that point, Murray pushed his brother into setting fire to another curtain, and the flames spread to the wallpaper. Harvey rushed for a bucket of water, but inadvertently locked Murray in the room where the fire had started. Despite his brother's pleas to help him and get the door key, Harvey went into a state of shock and let Murray die. It was suggested that this incident brought Harvey to develop an alternate, "darker" persona modeled after Murray.[18] As a result of this tragedy, Harvey's mother committed suicide [18], and he was left with his father, Christopher Dent, to care for him. Christopher was an alcoholic, gambling addict, mentally ill[21], and violent man[22] who never forgave his son for what happened to Murray and his wife.[18] As a result[18], he frequently abused Harvey, with his favorite "game" being flipping a coin promising to spare the child a beating if the coin landed tails. However, the "game" was rigged from the start since the coin had two heads. Harvey convinced himself that he was bad and the abuse was his fault, developing mixed love-hate feelings towards his father. On one occasion, he even scratched the left portion of his face with his fingernails as self-punishment.[23] [22] This harsh upbringing resulted in Dent developing a mental illness of his own. At school, he was repeatedly suspended and expelled. At the time, a psychiatrist diagnosed him with Hebephrenic Schizophrenia, also known as Disorganized Schizophrenia, a serious psychotic disorder.[22] A later diagnosis stated that he suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia and Borderline Personality Disorder, or even Multiple Personality Disorder (also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder).[24] However, all this changed when Harvey took interest in law. The more he delved into it, the more his condition improved, to the point that when he entered college he appeared to be completely normal.[22] He became a lawyer and law professor, teaching classes at Gotham University. There, he met a young student named Janice Porter, who fell in love with him. When Dent married a woman named Gilda Gold, Janice relocated to Harvard, and ended up becoming a district attorney in Boston.[25]

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Harvey Dent as an assistant D.A.

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Dent hiding Batman in his office.

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Dent in court.

Eventually, Harvey took a job as an assistant D.A. at the Gotham County district attorney's office, where he was nicknamed "Apollo" for his good looks and success[26] [27]. He soon came to be known as a honest, incorruptible attorney. One of Dent's first cases involved the arrest of Mario Falcone, son of Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, head of the Falcone Crime Family and king of Gotham's underworld.[28] At a certain point, Harvey fell in love with a colleague named Carol Bermingham. However, he didn't want to break his marriage vow to Gilda, and they both decided that it would be better if Carol left Gotham.[29] Dent devoted years of his career to try and prosecute Carmine Falcone. For this reason, Falcone used his connections to hamper Harvey's carrer and keep him a simple assistant D.A. Once or twice, Harvey even came close to indicting him. However, his attempts were always frustrated when witnesses suddenly changed their testimony or vanished. Dent also fought corruption among the GCPD members, especially detective Arnold Flass and police comissioner Gillian B. Loeb. All the while, Harvey secretly worked with the new Gotham vigilante, Batman. This was even before the Dark Knight formed an enduring friendship with Jim Gordon, who at the time was still a police lieutenant. For a time, Gordon even suspected Dent of being the Caped Crusader. When drug trafficker Jefferson Skeevers was arrested by Gordon, Harvey did not oppose Skeevers' release on bail, knowing that Batman would have "paid a visit" to and convinced him to cooperate in a drug-corruption case against Flass and Loeb. In the end, Flass testified against Loeb, who resigned from his position.[30] [31] [32] Dent remained an assistant district attorney when Gillian Loeb was replaced by commissioner Grogan.[33] Eventually, Harvey was appointed district attorney, with Vernon Fields as his assistant.[34] For unknown reasons, and by his own admission, Loeb had a hand in Dent's appointment[35]. During his tenure, Dent prosecuted a man named Rudolph Klemper, a renowned doctor and serial killer who preyed on Gotham's senior citizens. The case was circumstantial, and Klemper's apparent respectability and good manners did the rest: he was acquitted. Once the verdict was read, the crowd in the courtroom raged against both Klemper and Harvey, who had failed in his task of securing a conviction. The latters found themselves stuck together in the judge's chamber, away from the turmoil. There, Klemper confessed to Dent that he had managed to get away with his deeds by compertamentalising his murderous "side", "little Rudy", and his facade as a respected medical professional. Klemper revealed that he had seen something similar in Harvey, and urged him to unleash and give free rein to his own darker side. Dent took his advice and, that very same night, rigged Klemper's house to blow up, killing him.[22]

The Long Halloween

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Dent, Gordon, and Batman make their pact on the rooftop of the GCPD headquarters.

After his appointment as Gotham's district attorney, Harvey was more determined than ever to put an end to Carmine Falcone's criminal empire. He developed a friendship with Jim Gordon, now a police captain, to the point that they played cards and got drunk together.[36] When caught noting down license plates at Falcone's nephew Johnny Viti's wedding, Dent was beaten by "The Roman"'s henchmen, and rescued by guests Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. That very same night, Gordon, Harvey, and Batman met on the GCPD Headquarters's rooftop and made a pact that they would bend, but never break the rules of law to defeat Falcone. In the meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone, Dent's wife, Gilda, decided to start a murder spree targeting Falcone's men, in order for her husband to give up his obsession with taking out the mobster and spend more time with her, so that they could build a family together.[37] On Halloween day, she entered Johnny Viti's bathroom and shot him twice in the head, leaving the murder weapon, a .22-caliber pistol with a baby bottle nipple as a suppressor, and a jack-o'-lantern. On Halloween night, Harvey and Batman set fire to a Falcone cash deposit at the docks. At that point, believing Dent to be involved in the death of his nephew, and possibly in retaliation for the money, "The Roman" arranged for a parcel bomb to be delivered to the D.A.[38] [39] Both Harvey and his wife survived the bombing, although their house was completely destroyed and Gilda was hospitalized. A nail from the bomb led to the men responsible for the attempt, Mickey "The Mink" Sullivan and his gang, "The Irish". Mickey was captured by Batman after trying to escape in the sewers, where the two crossed paths with Solomon Grundy. On Thanksgiving, Batman and Gordon interrogated Mickey, who was made to believe that Dent had died in the explosion, hoping he would have named Falcone as his employer if threatened with a murder charge. Nonetheless, Mickey kept his mouth shut. Batman provided Harvey with a mask resembling Mickey, and the latter took Sullivan's place in the cell with his accomplices. Even this trick, however, failed to obtain Falcone's name as the instigator of the bombing. Despite Dent's intention to spread the rumor that "The Irish" had struck a deal with him, and see Falcone's reaction, Gordon pushed the D.A. to press charges of attempted murder against the group, and they were all released on bail. That very same night, Gilda left his hospital bed and killed the entire Sullivan gang in a hotel room, leaving her trademark pistol and holiday trinket.[39] [37]

The press dubbed the serial killer targeting mobsters "Holiday", for obvious reasons. On Christmas day, Harvey and Gilda relocated to a brand-new house, where Dent was attacked by the Joker, who suspected the D.A. of being the "Holiday Killer" himself, and saw him as a potential "rival". That night, Carmine Falcone's bodyguard, Milos Grapa, became yet another victim of "Holiday".[40] Somehow, Harvey managed to discover that Gilda was in fact "Holiday", and decided to continue what his wife had started, mainly to destabilize the delicate balance of relationships between the Falcones and their rivals, the Maroni Crime Family, spark a war between the two, and maybe obtain an opportunity to bring “The Roman” to trial.[37] On New Year's Eve, Dent attempted to murder Alberto Falcone, Carmine's most beloved son, and returned home to find his wife celebrating with the Gordons. Harvey also began investigating a possible connection between Bruce Wayne and Carmine Falcone, after he discovered that Bruce's father, Thomas, had once saved Carmine's life after he had been shot. However, Thomas Wayne apparently never reported the fact to the authorities. Eventually, a grand jury decided Bruce had no connections with Falcone's criminal activities.[34] [21] Prompted by his motive to start a war between Gotham's crime families, Dent murdered several men working for Sal "The Boss" Maroni, on Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day, leading Maroni to believe that "Holiday" was actually backed up by none other than Falcone himself.[41] [42] On April Fool's Day, after Carmine turned to the Riddler to solve the mystery of "Holiday"'s identity, Harvey "riddled" the supervillain with .22-caliber bullets just outside Falcone's place, honoring the date.[43] On Mother's Day, he murdered his own gunsmith just before the Falcones were able to get to him.[44] On Father's Day, Dent murdered Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni, Sal Maroni's father. He also visited his own father at the welfare hotel where he now lived. Christopher gave him a present: the double-headed coin he used to beat him as a child. Eventually, Maroni offered to turn state's witness against Falcone in retaliation for the death of his father. At this point, Harvey stopped with the "Holiday Killings": now he had his chance to put "The Roman" on trial. He even manifested to Batman his intention to take some time off and leave the city once Falcone was convicted, which sounded strange to the Dark Knight, since the "Holiday" case was still active.[21] [26]

Birth of Two-Face

Sal Maroni throws nitric acid at Harvey Dent's face.

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Two-Face is born.

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Two-Face kills Carmine Falcone on Halloween.

Unexpectedly, Alberto Falcone, who had survived the original attempt on his life, decided to copycat the "Holiday Killer" to prove his intellectual superiority to his father.[45] He murdered the only other people who knew he was still alive: Gotham City's coroner, Jasper Dolan, on Independence Day[26], and his own aunt Carla Viti, on the day of Carmine's birthday: August the second.[46] Meanwhile, Sal Maroni was convinced by Sofia Falcone, Carmine's daughter, to give up his testimony against her father, and find a way to neutralize Dent instead so that he would stop persecuting Gotham's mob.[26] On the date of Carmine Falcone's birthday, Sal was escorted to court to testify. There, he was given a bottle of antacid for his ulcer by Vernon Fields, who had been a Maroni infiltrate the entire time[41]. Once on the stand, Sal threw the content of the bottle, nitric acid[22], at Harvey, horribly disfiguring the left half of his face. Batman, disguised among the crowd, watched helplessly.[46] Dent stabbed a surgeon and escaped from the hospital where he was being treated. He took refuge in Gotham's sewers, where he met Solomon Grundy.[46] Meanwhile, Alberto Falcone murdered Sal Maroni on Labor Day, was beaten and captured by Batman, and claimed responsibility for all the "Holiday" killings to impress his father.[45] [37] Now turned into Two-Face, Harvey became convinced that he shared his body with another persona, and became obsessed with duality. He also became all the more convinced that the system doesn't work, and that justice can be decided by the flip of a coin, the same double-headed coin his father gave him, now scarred on one side[37]. Two-Face orchestrated a mass breakout from Arkham, and led Gotham's "freaks", the new costumed supervillains (Grundy, the Joker, Catwoman, the Penguin, Poison Ivy, the Scarecrow, and the Mad Hatter), on a raid on Carmine Falcone's penthouse. Batman got on the scene, incapacitated all the criminals, but nonetheless failed to prevent Harvey from murdering Falcone with a .22-caliber pistol, similar to the one employed by "Holiday". Batman asked Two-Face to surrender, but the latter knocked the hero out and fled. His next stop was Vernon Fields, his former assistant who had betrayed him. Harvey murdered Vernon as well, then gave himself up on the same rooftop where he, Gordon, and Batman had made their initial pact. Lastly, he alluded to his role in the "Holiday" killings, revealing that there were actually two "Holidays". He did not include his wife, Gilda, in the count, in order to protect her. Two-Face was imprisoned at Arkham.[37] Jim Gordon was promoted to police commissioner after solving the "Holiday" case, while Janice Porter, Harvey's old student, took his place as Gotham's district attorney.[35] [47]

Dark Victory

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Two-Face during the events of Dark Victory.

After Two-Face's imprisonment, Sofia Gigante, Carmine Falcone's daughter, succeeded as leader of the Falcone criminal empire. Seeking revenge for the murder of her father, she tasked Umberto and Pino Maroni, sons of the late Sal Maroni, with carrying out a frontal assault on the Arkham Asylum, breaking out the inmates, and killing Harvey Dent. The raid took place on the anniversary of Falcone's murder: Halloween. As fate would have it, Batman was at Arkham too that night, visiting none other than Two-Face himself. The Dark Knight had offered his old ally to undergo plastic surgery and start a new life. However, Harvey took advantage of the resulting melee and confusion to escape. It was later discovered that the Maronis were working with Two-Face all along, thus it could well have been that the assault was part of Harvey's plans from the beginning.[48] Now free, Two-Face exhumed Carmine Falcone's body from his grave, put it on ice, cut off its left ring finger, and sent it to Sofia as a warning that he planned to take everything from her, piece by piece.[47] [49] Starting from Halloween night, a new holiday-based serial killer surfaced, targeting both current and former GCPD members, including Gillian Loeb and Arnold Flass. This killer was nicknamed the "Hangman", due to his habit of murdering his victims with a noose and leaving hangman puzzles on the bodies. The clues seemed to point to Two-Face as the culprit: the hangman puzzles were scrawled on Dent's old case files, recently stolen from his former office. Also, being the former district attorney, Harvey knew most of the victims. Even the puzzles' solutions seemed to point to him.[47] [35] [50] [28] [51] After his escape, Two-Face returned to his old hideout in Gotham's sewers, near where Solomon Grundy lived. There, he managed to recreate an office similar to the one he had during his tenure as Gotham's district attorney, complete with a photograph of his wife, Gilda. Knowing that that would be the first place Batman would look for him, Harvey planted bombs in the office and abandoned it. When the Dark Knight arrived, the explosives activated, but he nonetheless survived the blast. Despite Batman's further attempts to bring his former friend to his senses, Two-Face fled once again.[52] It was eventually revealed that Janice Porter, still in love with Harvey from her law school years, had been secretly entertaining a sexual relationship with him, as well as passing him information on the GCPD investigations.[53] [25] Also, she made a deal with Mario Falcone that he would have been granted protection if he would have passed her (and Harvey as a result) information on his sister Sofia Gigante's activities.[49] Janice informed Two-Face that Jim Gordon was putting together a task force to catch the new serial killer.[53]

At this point, Two-Face was hell-bent on eradicating the organized crime element in Gotham with help from the "costumed freaks", who he took under his command with the promise of giving them access to warehouses full of untraceable Falcones' money.[49] As part of his campaign, he tasked the Penguin with launching a series of hijackings of Falcones' illegal shipments, as a means to gradually loose the family's grip on the city, thus sparking a war between mobsters and supervillains.[51] On April Fool's Day, Two-Face staged a mock grand jury hearing with other supervillains in the sewers. During the course of the hearing, Harvey interrogated Calendar Man on the "Hangman"'s identity, based on the fact that he was previously able to deduce who the "Holiday Killer" really was. Calendar Man responded that the obvious culprit was Two-Face himself, but Harvey denied being responsible, to which Calendar Man reminded him that that day was a holiday, and thus the "Hangman" was going to murder another policeman. That night, Two-Face visited the GCPD headquarters' rooftop, and his quick response saved Jim Gordon's life just as the latter was about to become the "Hangman"'s next victim. Harvey reiterated to Gordon and Batman that he was not the "Hangman", but, given Two-Face's duality, this was not enough for them to completely exonerate him as a suspect.[28] Again as part of his crusade against the Falcones, Two-Face rigged their out-of-town residence with audio equipment, drugged Alberto Falcone with fear gas, and asked Janice Porter to make sure Alberto was released on house arrest and confined to the residence. Then, he tasked Calendar Man with tormenting Alberto, who convinced himself that he was hearing the voice of his revived father.[35] [35] [50] [53] [28] [25] On Mother's Day, Two-Face sent the Joker to attack the Maronis, Mario Falcone, Sofia Gigante, and Alberto. Before he could murder Sofia, however, the Clown Prince of Crime was stopped by Alberto and Batman. On the very same day, the "Hangman" murdered one of Gordon's new task force's members, Henry Gustavson. After one more task force member, Mark O'Connor, fell victim to the "Hangman" on Father's Day, the police commissioner became more determined than ever to catch the killer.[54] [55] Based on the assumption that Two-Face was either the "Hangman" or had to be involved in the murders in some way, Gordon and the remaining members of his task force stormed Gotham's sewers on Independence Day, looking for Harvey and his gang of supervillains. Despite Mr. Freeze's attempts to block his way, and with help from Batman, Gordon managed to reach Two-Face, who was standing near the hanged body of task force member David King. Two-Face held another task force member, Lauren Wilcox, at gunpoint, but denied having anything to do with King's death. When threatened by Gordon with a gun, Harvey chose to surrender and be arrested.[56]

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Two-Face escapes from courtroom while on trial for the "Hangman" murders.

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Two-Face kills Sofia Gigante.

On the day of Carmine Falcone's birthday, while on trial for the "Hangman" murders, Two-Face escaped from the courtroom with help from Poison Ivy, Mr. Feeeze, and Solomon Grundy. In fact, he had planned to give himself up and be tried in advance, in order to obtain all the evidence the GCPD had accumulated on the "Hangman" until then. That night, Lauren Wilcox was murdered by the "Hangman".[48] Later, Janice Porter visited Harvey in his lair, but the latter shot her in cold blood when she claimed that they loved each other, to which Two-Face responded that "Harvey Dent is a married man". Janice's body was preserved, and then placed on Alberto Falcone's bed while he was slepping. When Alberto woke up with a gun in his hand and Janice's body, "his father's voice" suggested that he committed suicide. However, this allowed Alberto to realize that he was being manipulated, since Carmine Falcone would never tell his son to kill himself. At that point, Alberto discovered where Calendar Man was hiding in his house, and the latter shot him.[25] Meanwhile, Batman was finally able to solve the "Hangman"'s mystery. The serial killer was none other than Sofia Gigante, whose motive was to get revenge on everyone who, either directly or indirectly, helped Harvey Dent build his career as a district attorney. The task force members were murdered for the simple reason that they were investigating on her, except for Lauren Wilcox, who was actually her infiltrate in the group. Sofia, her secret now exposed, beat Calendar Man to a pulp and fled with Alberto to the family graveyard, where she smothered her wounded brother with a pillow for dishonoring their father's legacy.[25] [49] On Columbus Day, Two-Face and the other supervillains launched their final assault against Gotham's five families, killing Umberto and Pino Maroni, Lucia Viti, Edward Skeevers, and Bobby Gazzo. Eventually, in order to flush Two-Face and the rest of his gang out of the sewers, Sofia opened Gotham's gas lines and set them afire. She then attempted to hang Harvey, who was only saved by the timely intervention of Batman. The latter engaged Sofia in a scuffle, but eventually Two-Face decided to take matters in his own hands, and shot the crazed woman in the forehead. Two-Face and the other supervillains fled from Gotham's sewers, now turned into a blazing inferno. By an amazing coincidence, however, their escape route ended in the Batcave. There, the group was confronted by Batman's new sidekick, Robin. When the Dark Knight joined the fight, Two-Face held him at gunpoint, proclaiming that Gotham was now his city. However, the Joker had not the slightest intention of letting Two-Face have all the city for himself, and he shot Harvey, who fell to an (only) apparent death.[49] All in all, Two-Face's actions had the effect of permanently shifting the balance of power in Gotham's underworld from the mob to costumed supervillains.

Reunited with Gilda

After the events of The Long Halloween, Gilda Dent disappeared from Gotham City[52] and, for unspecified reasons, was locked up at the Squire Institute for the Criminally Insane, in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Later, in the aftermath of Dark Victory, Gilda escaped from the asylum and returned to Gotham City to reunite with his beloved husband, Harvey, on Halloween. All the while, Calendar Man launched a string of jewel heists to regain the notoriety that "Holiday" had stolen from him, attracting the attention of Batman and Jim Gordon. While Two-Face and Gilda were having dinner together at their old house, Calendar Man interrupted the couple and kidnapped Gilda, threatening to hurt her if Harvey did not join his gang by midnight. Desperate, Two-Face decided to ask his former ally, Batman, for help. The Dark Knight accepted, on the condition that Harvey did not kill anyone and turned himself in once it was all over.[27]

Batman disguised himself as Two-Face and met Calendar Man at a church the latter used as a some sort of recruitment center. When "Harvey" asked the villain to return Gilda, Calendar Man responded that first he had to do something for him: help him steal the world's rarest birthstone from the Gotham museum. Once there, however, Batman revealed himself and he and Robin defeated Calendar Man and his goons. Meanwhile, Two-Face and his "bodyguard", Solomon Grundy, assaulted Calendar Man's hideout, murdered the remaining members of his gang, and saved Gilda. Eventually, Grundy sacrificed himself to save the couple from a bomb planted inside the church. Breaking the other condition of the pact he had made with Batman, Harvey fled with his wife and disappeared. In the end, Batman deduced that the main reason why Calendar Man kidnapped Gilda in the first place was that she was the original "Holiday".[27]

History with "The Boy Wonder"

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

Later, Two-Face killed a henchman by the name of Willis Todd who happened to be the father of Jason Todd, the second Robin.[57] In the wake of Todd's career as Robin, Two-Face came in conflict with the new Boy Wonder, who helped Batman put an end to Dent's new criminal spree.[58]

A Lonely Place of Dying

 Main article: Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying

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.[59]

Eventually, Two-Face resurfaced and carried out a number of obviously two-related crimes, following a voice he thought was his own subconscious, but who in fact was the Joker, manipulating Two-Face's fragile sanity. Batman became increasingly obsessed with catching him and Two-Face became fixed on taking down Batman. Meanwhile, Tim Drake tracked down Dick Grayson and attempted to convince him to return to his position as Robin for Batman's safety. Nightwing refused and followed various clues left by Batman, meeting up with him for the attack on Two-Face's base. Two-Face has prepared a trap for the heroes and learning about the peril, Tim adopted the Robin identity and confronted Two-Face to rescue his idols. Tim's intervention saved Batman and Nightwing and helped them apprehend Two-Face, leading Batman to accept him as the third Robin.[60]

Knightfall

 Main article: Batman: Knightfall

When Arkham Asylum was partially destroyed by Bane, Dent was among the various inmates that managed to escape the place in the ensuing chaos. Two-Face went to the old Gotham City Courthouse, which was about to be demolished and he planned to eliminate Batman. For this purpose, he tracked down and killed a crime boss in order to get his people work for him. Leaving the corpse of the gangster as a clue for Batman, Two-Face lured the hero into a trap.[61]

Two-Face then staged a trial for Batman at the old Courthouse, where he acted as judge, jury and prosecutor. Two-Face blamed Batman of betraying his trust before the accident with Sal Maroni that scarred his face and therefore, he blamed Batman for him turning into Two-Face. Batman managed to free himself during the trial and after a long chase and a battle in a nearby construction site, Batman defeated Two-Face thanks to Robin's timely arrival. Afterwards, Two-Face was arrested by the GCPD and taken to prison.[62]

No Man's Land

 Main article: Batman: No Man's Land

In the aftermath of the earthquake that left Gotham City in shambles and declared a "no man's land," Two-Face kidnapped Commissioner Gordon and put him on trial for his actions, 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 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.

Hush

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Dent's face is restored

 Main article: Batman: Hush

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.[63] 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, the former D.A. 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.[64]

One Year Later/The Return of Two-Face

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Two heads are better than 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.[65] 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.

The Great Leap

 Main article: Nightwing: The Great Leap

Shortly after this, Dent went to New York City and summoned Nightwing to ask him for help keeping her former colleague and love interest, Carol Bermingham, safe from harm.[29] Two-Face kept track of Nightwing and his past love by calling to her phone, and a few moments later, he discovered Nightwing's safe place and broke inside.[66] Two-Face forced Nightwing to fight several henchmen while under the influence of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. As Nightwing discovered Two-Face's scheme, Carol tried to talk to Dent, but he shot her and left him to be saved by Nightwing. However, hours later when he met the people who hired him to eliminate Carol, he learned of Carol's death and in a burst of anger he killed the criminal, blaming Nightwing for the situation.[67] Two-Face's revenge materialized when he planned a massive attack that would've destroyed half of Manhattan, but he failed at the last minute after being stopped by Nightwing.[68] Two-Face is taken to Arkham, where he promises Nightwing that he will get out and get his revenge.[69]

Two-Face escaped from prison and went to Gotham, where he was allowed to stay on Gracchus's hideout. However, Gracchus betrayed Two-Face's trust when he impersonated Two-Face and scarred a famous actress and beautiful woman, Millicent Mayne. Dent decided to leave the place, sparing Gracchus's life.[70]

Battle for the Cowl

 Main article: Batman: Battle for the Cowl

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.[71] 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.[72]

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.[73]

Two-Face soon realized that there was another person under the Batman's cowl. He hired a teleporter and managed to infiltrate the Batcave. When the new Batman investigated the cave, he was ambushed by Two-Face with tranquilizer darts, and in a hallucination saw Dent in a red and black Two-Face themed Batman costume. However, Alfred Pennyworth saved the hero from Two-Face's torture after he subdued his accomplice. With Alfred's help Batman convinced Two-Face that he was the real, original Dark Knight 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 midst, 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.

Powers

Two-Face 0008

Abilities

  • Genius Level Intellect: Two-Face has proven to be a genius in criminal planning and has constantly demonstrated a high-level of intelligence in plotting heists as a brilliant and respected mastermind in the criminal underworld.
  • Law: He was a successful attorney and is proficient in nearly all matters pertaining to criminal law.[46]
  • Weaponry: Two-Face is a skilled marksman and proficient in most weapons, and regularly used a variety of weapons such as pistols, shotguns, grenade launchers, Tommy guns, knives and rocket launchers during his battles with Batman.
  • Firearms: After accepting a heavy fee Deathstroke the Terminator has trained him to become an excellent sharpshooter.[67] Due to his training by Deathstroke, Dent is a trained sniper with extensive skill in accuracy.
  • Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Dent has been extensively trained by Batman in Hand-to-Hand combat.[75] He was able to demonstrate his ability when he defeated Killer Croc in a fist fight. He was also able to block some of Nightwing's strikes using his training, which impressed Grayson. Even before his training from Batman, Dent was a vicious fighter in his own right and kept in good shape, as seen in The Long Halloween and by present time, possessed skills rivaling military fighting level.
  • Kung Fu: Dent has been extensively trained by Batman in Kung-Fu.

Other Characteristics

  • Multiple Personalities: 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 incapacitate Two-Face on his coin such as by making him lose it or stopping him from seeing the result.[75]
  • Monstrous Appearance

Equipment

  • 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.[22]

Weapons

  • Automatic Handgun: Typically Two-Face uses a variety of automatic and semi-automatic handguns to conduct his criminal affairs. He usually carries two. Sometimes he carries his pistols with acid bullets.[68]


  • Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
  • In one possible future, Two-Face was said to be rehabilitated, but was still incarcerated. In captivity, he became good friends with the also-rehabilitated Joker.
  • Left side of the face disfigured, often seen as brownish pink. Hair is white on the disfigured side. As Two-Face, the left side of Dent's face and left hand are mutilated and discolored. Dent also suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder.
  • 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).
  • Sometimes, the guns tie into his motif, such as wielding dual .22 semiautomatics or a double-barreled shotgun.
  • Harvey Dent is also known as Apollo, and One-Face.

Related

Footnotes

  1. Batman #81
  2. The Brave and the Bold #106
  3. Batman #234
  4. Batman #258
  5. The Joker #1
  6. The Brave and the Bold #129
  7. Batman #312
  8. Batman #313
  9. Batman #314
  10. Batman #328
  11. Batman #329
  12. Batman #346
  13. Detective Comics #513
  14. Detective Comics #563
  15. Batman #397
  16. Detective Comics #564
  17. Batman #398
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Batman: Jekyll and Hyde #6
  19. Batman: Jekyll and Hyde #2
  20. 20.0 20.1 Batman: Jekyll and Hyde #4
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Batman: The Long Halloween #9
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 Batman Annual #14
  23. Batman: Two-Face
  24. Batman: Jekyll and Hyde #1
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 Batman: Dark Victory #12
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Batman: The Long Halloween #10
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 Batman: The Long Halloween Special #1
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Batman: Dark Victory #7
  29. 29.0 29.1 Nightwing (Volume 2) #147
  30. Batman #404
  31. Batman #405
  32. Batman #407
  33. Batman and the Mad Monk #2
  34. 34.0 34.1 Batman: The Long Halloween #4
  35. 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 Batman: Dark Victory #2
  36. Batman: Dark Victory #0
  37. 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 37.5 Batman: The Long Halloween #13
  38. Batman: The Long Halloween #1
  39. 39.0 39.1 Batman: The Long Halloween #2
  40. Batman: The Long Halloween #3
  41. 41.0 41.1 Batman: The Long Halloween #5
  42. Batman: The Long Halloween #6
  43. Batman: The Long Halloween #7
  44. Batman: The Long Halloween #8
  45. 45.0 45.1 Batman: The Long Halloween #12
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 Batman: The Long Halloween #11
  47. 47.0 47.1 47.2 Batman: Dark Victory #1
  48. 48.0 48.1 Batman: Dark Victory #11
  49. 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 Batman: Dark Victory #13
  50. 50.0 50.1 Batman: Dark Victory #3
  51. 51.0 51.1 Batman: Dark Victory #6
  52. 52.0 52.1 Batman: Dark Victory #4
  53. 53.0 53.1 53.2 Batman: Dark Victory #5
  54. Batman: Dark Victory #8
  55. Batman: Dark Victory #9
  56. Batman: Dark Victory #10
  57. Batman #410
  58. Batman #411
  59. Batman Annual #13
  60. Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying
  61. Showcase '93 #7
  62. Showcase '93 #8
  63. Batman: Hush
  64. Batman #619
  65. Detective Comics #817
  66. Nightwing (Volume 2) #148
  67. 67.0 67.1 Nightwing (Volume 2) #149
  68. 68.0 68.1 Nightwing (Volume 2) #150
  69. Nightwing (Volume 2) #151
  70. Detective Comics #851
  71. Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2
  72. Battle for the Cowl: The Underground #1
  73. Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3
  74. Batman: Dark Victory #11
  75. 75.0 75.1 Batman #653


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