Harvey Dent was Gotham City's star district attorney until an accident brought out his dark side and turned him into the criminal Two-Face.
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DC Comics
Batman: Gotham Adventures
1998 - 2003
DC Comics
The Batman Adventures
1992 - 1995
7
DC Comics
Batman: Black and White
1996
7
DC Comics
The Batman and Robin Adventures
1995 - 1997
Personas
Two-Face
History
Gotham City's district attorney Harvey Dent was a true guardian of law and order. Well regarded as a fearless law enforcer, he had a reputation for producing results. His successful career earned him the Marshall Award, presented by the Bar Association for his distinguished service.
However, Dent had a hidden dark side. He suffered from dissociative identity disorder, which had been nascent since his childhood. As a little boy he was frequently harassed by a neighborhood bully, until one day the young Dent's anger seethed to the point where he hit the bully. He soon learned the bully was in the hospital, but the bully was actually hospitalized for an unrelated case of appendicitis. Overcome by misplaced guilt, Dent resolved not to let his anger get the better of him, and he matured into a balanced adult. His rage, however, never truly subsided, and the pent up anger formed a personality autonomous to that of his mild-mannered nature. The malevolent alternative personality Big Bad Harv often seized control in stressful situations, while Dent had no recollection of any occurrences in which Big Bad Harv dominated completely. However, as it had not been a serious issue throughout Dent's life, it was implied the instances of "Big Bad Harv" surfacing were seldom.
At some point in his life, Dent befriended Bruce Wayne, and this relationship lasted for years as both recalled events of years past. Dent also considered marriage, and courted Pamela Isley as his potential bride. By sheer bad luck, Isley was also Poison Ivy, who tried to kill him by poisoning in revenge for the near-extinction of the Wild Thorny Rose for the construction of Stonegate Penitentiary, but was saved by Batman getting the antidote to Dent in time.
Although he was able to repress his other personality (which he had become aware of by then) for many years, Dent's re-election campaign proved so stressful that the violent episodes became more frequent and any little thing could set them off, to the point where his psychiatrist recommended committal to a psychiatric ward in order to prevent a traumatic psychotic break. However, such an action would have been political suicide and Dent instead compromised, agreeing to a reduced campaign effort and increased medical treatments.
When mob boss Rupert Thorne learned of this situation and acquired Dent's medical files, he tried to use these files as blackmail. Harvey went to retrieve the files, but "Big Bad Harv" surfaced after incessant provocation from Thorne and threatened violence if he did not return the files. This proved true as Dent started assaulting Thorne's goons, then used a machine gun in an attempt to gun down a fleeing Thorne. The gunfire hit some live wires, which in turn caused an explosion that caught Dent in the blast, sending him into shock and scarring the left side of his body. The trauma and the loss of his career was powerful enough to force his alternate personality to dominate, and left him in a state where right and wrong no longer held any meaning. Instead, random chance reigned supreme.
Now known as "Two-Face," he turned to a life of crime. Using the element of chance, Two-Face attacked Thorne's multiple operations, including night clubs and gambling rings. However, the victims were always left to a coin flip from Two-Face's dreaded double-headed coin, with one side scratched. Over the course of six months, Thorne lost substantial amounts of money and the mobster put a two million dollar bounty on the former DA's head, one million for each face.
Two-Face, done with humiliating Thorne, decided to return the favor the mobster gave him, and broke into the office of Thorne's lawyer to find incriminating evidence. With that information in hand, he planned to blackmail Thorne into leaving Gotham altogether. However, Thorne's accomplice was disguised as a detective of the Gotham Police Department and contacted the ex-fiancé Grace Lamont and tricked her into contacting Thorne if she heard from Two-Face. As predicted, Two-Face arranged a meeting with her, and Grace contacted Thorne. Thorne attempted to end Two-Face altogether but Batman intervened. In the end, Thorne was left at Two-Face's mercy. When Two-Face made his coin flip to decide Thorne's fate, Batman tossed a box of coins into the air, preventing Two-Face from finding his double-headed coin. He went mad, unable to make a decision without testing chance with two heads instead of just one. Two-Face was arrested, and sent to Arkham Asylum.
Two-Face remained quiet on the crime scene for some time. Though he made a few attempts to kill Batman (one of which he described at a poker game with some other rogues), he never succeeded and either escaped or returned to Arkham. However, he began a new gang, and had his man Gil Mason infiltrate the Gotham justice system. Mason became the new deputy police commissioner, and provided quick results, courtesy of Two-Face's information. Rupert Thorne was arrested, giving Two-Face control of Gotham's seedy underbelly. However, underworld control does little good if there is still a law presence existing to bring one down, and the ever calculative former district attorney knew this. Planting evidence and staging assassination attempts, Two-Face brought Commissioner Gordon down by linking him to Thorne, and used Mason to arrest him.
However, Batgirl knew the allegations were untrue and began her own investigation, soon discovering that Mason was a corrupt official, and the trail eventually lead her to Two-Face, as well as Batman and Robin. Two-Face and Mason planned to kill Gordon at Bayshore Wharf. However, Batman, Robin and Batgirl prevented the attempt, and Two-Face and Mason were arrested.
When the Arkham inmates banded together to devise a plan to eliminate Batman, Two-Face simply wanted to kill him and end the ordeal. However, he lost the coin flip and instead served as the prosecution for the "trial" of Batman.
Bruce Wayne never gave up hope that his friend could once again return to normal society, continuously paying for counseling to subdue Two-Face's personality. After some time, doctors agreed his therapy had been effective enough to stabilize Two-Face's mind, which then allowed the opportunity for surgery upon Harvey Dent's damaged side. Just when the surgery was about to begin, masked mobsters broke into the operating room. Stating only that their "boss" wanted to handle Dent personally, two cars split from the scene. One took Two-Face to Stonegate, the Penguin's current whereabouts, while the other vehicle was registered to Rupert Thorne. Both criminals had had histories of conflict with both Two-Face and Dent, but neither claimed involvement to Batman and Robin.
In truth, Two-Face kidnapped himself to prevent his original personality from eliminating himself completely. Staging the break in, he arranged for his thugs to break him out of the operation and staged a two-pronged getaway, both to allude suspicion and to leave a trademark hint. Though Batman discovered the true kidnapper, he was unprepared for the ambush Two-Face had devised. Capturing Batman, Two-Face placed his life in the flip of the coin. During their earlier struggle, Batman switched the real coin with a trick one, designed to always land on its side. However, Two-Face could not handle the indecision, and chased that coin on to a support beam overhanging Gotham. The coin fell off and in a desperate gamble, he managed to grab it but fell off in the process and was unable to pull himself back up. Batman caught hold of Two-Face at the last second, but needed the ex-DA to pull himself up. The coin, however, could not decide for him; the choice was up to Two-Face alone. His original personality resurged for a moment, and he dropped the coin, but Two-Face took control once more and sabotaged the effort.
He plummeted, but Batman and Robin managed to save him and themselves in time. Two-Face was once again sent to Arkham for more psychiatric treatment. Still, Dent emerged once more to thank his old friend for not giving up on him.
Some time later, small time crook Steven "Shifty" Drake stole chemicals from Two-Face, whom he worked for. Using a key he stole from the crook's son Tim to a locker at Gotham Airport, the bifurcated villain planned to kill the boy after a fatal coin flip, but Batman intervened. Meanwhile, Two-Face reacquired the chemicals and held the entire city hostage, threatening to create a toxic gas unless he received 22 million dollars by 2 AM. However, the city refused to pay and after a two-minute warning, he activated the chemicals. Batman and Batgirl arrived to stop them, and shortly thereafter, Tim as the new Robin. The trio stopped the machine and apprehended Two-Face once more.
Unknown to anyone, he developed a third personality known as The Judge and operated as a ruthless vigilante. The Judge brutally attacked Gotham's criminals, including Two-Face himself, placing their lives at risk. Batman eventually deduced the Judge's true identity and captured him. Two-Face was last seen in Arkham, hearing the Judge's voice condemning him, bowing his head and repeating, "Guilty... guilty... guilty...".
