University of Panels

12: Two-Face

(Harvey Dent)

 

Harvey Dent may be one of the most tragic villains on this list. Originally the proud district attorney of Gotham City, Harvey Dent was one of the few individuals to see the corruption that dominated the city, and was willing to combat it. He eventually formed an alliance with Batman and Commissoner Gordon, working together to bring down all organized crime in the city. This focus and drive was perfectly explored in both Jeph Loeb's BATMAN:  THE LONG HALLOWEEN, and Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT, which only makes his downfall all the more tragic. During a trial, crimelord Salvadore "The Boss" Maroni threw a vat of acid at the DA, severely scaring the left side of his face. This caused him to develop a severe multiple-personality disorder, and was now restricted to seeing the world in terms of black and white, good and evil, yin and yang. His obsessions with twos, as well as chance, is reflected in his double-edged coin (scared on one side) which he flips to make every decision, including determining the fate of his victims. As Two-Face, he has fallen from his former grace, and is one of the few enemies that Batman is effected by on a personal level.

 

One problem I admit I've had with Two-Face was the way writers handled the character's multiple-personality disorder. One side of his face reflected that of Harvey Dent, the strongwilled district attorney, and the other of Two-Face, the murderous criminal mastermind. Many writers had a problem with distinguishing between the two personas, making it difficult for me to know which personality was speaking. With Jeph Loeb's depiction of the character in THE LONG HALLOWEEN and DARK VICTORY, I never had that problem, as he would distinguish the two personalities by having Harvey speak in regular dialogue ballons, while Two-Face's where either wobbly along the borders, or the words were bolded and scratchy. For the first time in a comic, it  felt as if I were actually looking at a person with a multiple-personality disorder (minus the Ventriloquist and Scarface; also Batman villains)

 

All and all... Two-Face (or Harvey Dent depending on which personality of his is active) could be described as the shakespearian tragedy of Batman villains!