Harvey Dent is a negative character from Batman comics. The former prosecutor of the city of Gotham, whose face was disfigured, hates Batman with his whole nature and always speaks out against him. The character has appeared in many film adaptations of the Batman story. What happened to the fate of Dent in the comics? Who played the supervillain in Hollywood films?
Character Creation History
Harvey Dent was created by authors Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Dent first appeared in 1942, in the 66th edition of Detective Comics.
Mr. Dent was originally supposed to bear the surname of Kent. However, then the capital letter was changed, as the surname Kent already belonged to Superman.
The story of Dent began as a principled and intellectual prosecutor of Gotham City, who selflessly fought crime. But everything in Dent’s life changes when half his face is mutilated with acid. Together with half his face, Dent lost a part of his mind.
After this incident, Harvey gets the nickname Two-faced and turns into a sophisticated villain - the leader of one of the goths of Gotham. The former prosecutor begins to use all his intellect, leadership qualities, hand-to-hand combat and shooting skills for evil.
Harvey Dent, Gotham in the comics
After the accident that happened with Dent, the former prosecutor begins to terrorize Gotham. Harvey Dent opposes Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Batgerl, Spoiler and Commissioner Gordon. But it collaborates with the villains Joker, Riddler, Clayface and Poison Ivy.
When Dent finds his victim, he determines her fate with a silver coin disfigured like his face. If the dollar lies with the deformed side, the victim dies immediately, if intact, it dies anyway, but later.
Two-faced wears such a pseudonym not only because of the duality of his face, but also because of the duality of his nature: good and evil are constantly fighting in Harvey Dent.
One day, a villainous surgeon named Khash performed Dent's surgery to restore the second half of his face. After that, his sanity returned to Dent. Without surrender, he surrendered to Commissioner Gordon, and then served his term in prison.
After his release, Dent meets with the Dark Knight and he offers him to take his post as defender of the city. After much training, Harvey Dent took over as Batman, and Batman himself left the city briefly. A year later, the Dark Knight returns and Harvey Dent is again out of work.
Batman does not completely trust Harvey, so when someone in the city starts killing petty crooks, suspicion falls on the former Two-Faced. Dent was so offended by suspicions that he again doused half of his face with acid and turned into a former villain.
When Batman dies, Harvey begins to compete for power in Gotham with the Black Mask and Penguin. But in the end, Manhunter manages to catch him.
Dent abilities
Before receiving the nickname Two-Faced, Dent was one of the best prosecutors Gotham had seen. He was called the White Knight of Gotham. Accordingly, Harvey had a deep knowledge of forensics and jurisprudence.
Dent managed to imprison many criminals. And during the exposure of one of them - Holiday - he gets injured and turns into Two-faced. Soon, Two-Faced becomes the boss of one of Gotham's criminal gangs thanks to his intelligence, hand-to-hand fighting skills and good command of weapons.
"Batman": Harvey Dent performed by Billy Williams
In 1989, the action movie about the Dark Knight, which was filmed by director Tim Burton, was released. The role of Batman was entrusted to actor Michael Keaton (Birdman). The entire film was dedicated to the confrontation between Batman and the Joker performed by Jack Nicholson. In the episode, Harvey Dent also appears on the screen.
The actor who played the role of the prosecutor of Gotham is a black American
Billy Dee Williams. Williams is also known to viewers for his role as Calrissian in Star Wars by George Lucas.
Harvey Dent in the Tim Burton film appears before the viewer during that period of his life when he was still a normal person and served in the prosecutor's office. Dent did not take a special part in the development of the plot.
It is believed that the Tim Burton film about Batman 1989 made a great contribution to the development of the genre of superhero action movies.
Dent performed by Tomi Lee Jones
In 1995, Joel Schumacher’s film "Batman Forever." Tim Burton was the producer of this picture, and Harvey Dent appears on the screens again. The film seems to be considered a continuation of Burton’s previous films about the Dark Knight, but, unfortunately, the integrity of the series is violated by the fact that the role of Batman was constantly performed by a new actor. So this time, the main role went not to the familiar Michael Keaton, but to Val Kilmer. Jim Carrey also appeared in the frame as The Riddler, Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Drew Barrymore as Snowflakes and Nicole Kidman as Dr. Meridian.
According to the plot, Harvey Dent considers Batman to blame for the misfortune that happened to him: supposedly he could save him from Salvatore Maroni, but did not. After that, Dent aims to destroy the Dark Knight. For the sake of this, he unites with the Riddler. But in the finale of the picture, Batman manages to outwit Dent, and the latter dies.
Tommy Lee Jones did a good job with his role. For the role of Dent, the actor was nominated for the MTV Movie Awards.
Aaron Eckhart and Two-Faced
To date, the best films about Batman are paintings made by Christopher Nolan. In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent (Two-Faced) becomes one of the main characters in the script.
Christopher Nolan slightly changed the original Dent story described in the comics. In his film, Harvey works as a district attorney and allies with Commissioner Gordon and Batman to deal with crime in the city. But the psycho Joker appears on the horizon, who kidnaps Dent and his bride, blackmailing Batman.
Batman does not have time to save both - only Dent. However, after the explosion launched by the Joker, the prosecutor loses half his face. After that, he begins to avenge the death of his bride to all who did not have time to save her. Trying to save Commissioner Gordon's family from revenge, Batman kills Dent. But in order not to break the faith of the people of Gotham in goodness, Batman takes upon himself all the crimes of Two-faced, and Harvey is buried with all honors as a hero.
Nicholas D'Agosto as Harvey Dent
In 2014, the American television channel Fox began broadcasting the television series Gotham, which collected all the heroes of the superhero comic books about Batman. The role of Harvey Dent went to Nicholas D'Agosto - the star of the TV series Ambulance, Doctor House, Supernatural, and Anatomy of Passion.
The series affects the period in the history of Gotham, when Bruce Wayne was still a teenager and experienced the death of his parents. The plot focuses on the activities of Commissioner Gordon and his partner. Harvey Dent in this series appears as a young idealist who wants to completely clear the streets of the city from crime.
Two-faced in animated films
A lot of animated films have been released about the Gotham universe.
Harvey Dent is featured in the 2011 animated film Batman: Year One. True, the character appears only in the episode.
In 2012, the two-episode cartoon "Batman: The Return of the Dark Knight" was released, in which the struggle of Harvey Dent and Batman is given the main place in the plot. Only Dent here does not suffer from his disfigured appearance, but makes a successful plastic surgery, while remaining a villain.