The Batman: Part II already had an incredible cast before Game of Thrones actor Charles Dance joined on. In addition to returning stars Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, and Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne, James Gordon, and Alfred Pennyworth, respectively, the film boasts the additions of Sebastian Stan and Scarlett Johansson as Harvey and Gilda Dent. Matt Reeves‘s film not only has its primary villain but also an incredible pedigree.
Although no official word has come down yet, most believe that Dance will play the father of Harvey Dent. However, who that is and what that means is a bigger question than one might assume.
The basics of Two-Face were established by his debut in 1942’s Detective Comics #66, by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Two-Face used to be a DA who was disfigured when mob boss Sal Maroni threw acid into his face. When his appearance causes even his fiancée Gilda to scream, he loses his sanity and becomes Two-Face, committing crimes whenever his two-headed coin lands on the scarred side and doing acts of charity whenever it lands on the clear side.
However, there’s one big difference between that story and the one we know today: that character was called Harvey Kent, not Harvey Dent. He’s still called Kent in Detective Comics #68, which continues the origin story. But ever since then, he’s been called Harvey Dent, with only the occasional metatextual story referring to Kent.
Such revisions are common to long-running characters, especially in the DC Universe, which has reality-rewriting events every decade or so. However, a more interesting revision occurs with Harvey’s father, the character that Dance will be playing.
1990’s Batman Annual #14, written by Andy Helfer and penciled by Chris Sprouse (with an incredible cover by Neal Adams) retells Two-Face’s origin, fully fleshing it out for the first time since Crisis on Infinite Earths. The issue establishes Harvey as a genuinely good person who suffers from a darker side, a side caused by his abusive father Christopher.
When Harvey was a child, Christopher would get drunk and play a game with the boy by flipping a coin. If the coin landed tails up, the boy could go on his way; but if it landed heads up, then he would get a beating. Of course, this was a two-headed coin, which means that Harvey always lost. When the acid attack scars Harvey and allows him to unleash his dark side, one of his first acts as Two-Face is to visit Christopher, who lives as a sad old man in a squalor. Harvey played the same game with his father and used the same coin, this time reversing the beating.
Five years later, J.M. DeMatteis and Scott McDaniel further developed Christopher Dent in the 1995 one-shot Batman: Two-Face, but that was the last time he ever appeared in comics again. The next time DC explores the life of young Harvey Dent, it’s in the 2022 one-shot Batman: One Bad Day – Two-Face, written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Javi Fernandez. Once again, we see how Harvey’s father was an alcoholic who abused his son by playing an unfair game with a trick coin. But, in this case, Harvey’s father is a rich politician named Harvey Dent, Sr., who hides his cruel behavior behind the false face of a beloved philanthropist.
As with Harvey Kent and Harvey Dent, there isn’t a huge difference between the two characters. Moreover, Matt Reeves has already shown a willingness to alter the stories of even characters with rich comic book histories, as when he changed Oswald Cobblepot into Oz Cobb. Furthermore, Deadline‘s announcement of Dance’s casting states that the actor is probably playing Charles Dent, a totally new character altogether.
Will Harvey have a totally different childhood in the Reeves movie? Or will Harvey’s cruel fate find him again, no matter who his father may be? It sure seems like the odds are against him.
The Batman: Part II is slated to release on October 1, 2027.
