The facts and lore about Aaron Eckhart’s tragic role in The Dark Knight – and possibly the third Batman movie to come.
When The Dark Knight opens July 18, audiences finally get the opportunity to see an important figure in the Batman mythos that’s until now been long overdue but largely unseen. Two-Face, the hideously scarred criminal mastermind with more dramatic potential than almost any three other Batman villains combined, appears in his youthful idealism as Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent. Played by Aaron Eckhart – whose face is almost a caricature of handsome - the firebrand legal crusader even poses a rival for the affections of Bruce Wayne’s once-and-again sweetheart Rachel Dawes.
10. (Possible spoilers start here.) In the comics’ continuity, Dent becomes hidesously disfigured with toxic acid while questioning crime boss Salvatore Maroni (Eric Roberts in the new movie) in court. Half his face and hand are ruined by the burns, and the ensuing psychic pain leave him obsessed with the duality of good and evil. In time, he uses a silver coin – one side perfect, the other scarred – to determine his actions.
9. In Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, several authorities wonder whether Dent himself – muscular, passionate, undisciplined – might be the mysterious Batman. In truth, Dent collaborates and shares intelligence with the actual crimefighter.
8. Since his introduction in 1942, Two-Face has returned time and again, often redeemed of his evil impulses and with his face repaired. Inevitably (and owing to the cyclical nature of comics), he turns bad – and scarred – again. In 2006’s Face The Face storyline, a cured and repaired Dent is even trained by Batman to defend Gotham City when he, Robin, and Nightwing take an extended leave of absence.
7. An early encounter between Two-Face and Dick Grayson (the first Robin, later Nightwing) would leave Grayson emotionally traumatized and put the Batman-Robin partnership in jeopardy. Having kidnapped Batman and a Gotham judge, Two-Face executed the judge while Grayson watched, then savagely beat the young hero. Batman subsequently insisted Grayson take some time off to recuperate and regroup.
6. Though considered too “dark” for the campy 1960s television series, Two-Face was a frequent adversary on the Batman animated cartoons of the 1990s. He also appears in 1995’s Batman Forever, though Tommy Lee Jones portrays him simply as an ersatz Joker.
5. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Batman: The Long Halloween series, which heavily influenced Batman Begins, suggests either Dent or his wife Gilda may also be the serial killer Holiday. The phrase “I Believe in Harvey Dent,” prominently used in The Dark Knight, originated in the storyline.
4. The 1989 graphic novel Arkham Asylum shows psychiatrists attempting to cure Dent’s obsession with the coin by replacing it, first with dice and then a tarot deck. Their efforts leave him unable to make even the simplest decisions.
3. That same year Dent appears in Tim Burton’s blockbuster Batman, portrayed by Billy Dee Williams for some reason.
2. Dent once nursed an unrequited love for Gotham PD detective Renee Montoya, who would later become the crimefighter known as The Question. When the lesbian Montoya spurned his advances, Dent attempted to frame her for murder and outed her sexual identity.
1. Dent’s personality has become more complex as comics have grown more sophisticated. Originally simply a gimmick character reminiscent of Dick Tracy’s bizzare rogue’s gallery, in time various writers have deepened his pathos with, among other elements: multiple personality disorder, bipolar disorder, a history of childhood abuse, and obsessive compulsive disorder. The flipping of the coin to determine actions is also sometimes said to be the two sides of Dent’s personality sruggling with each other.
- Michael Kabel
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