History ComicBook / TwoFace

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harvey_dent_4682.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' version of Two-Face, as drawn by Creator/BruceTimm.]]

->''"I am a lawyer. Yes. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice. Insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure of the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. God bless America.''\\
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''I am a liar. No. We the acid scarred bitches of history of evil and hypocrisy exalt criminals to office. Vietnam, El Salvador, Chile with lovely missiles, roaring bombs of the rich and the white and the pious and burn children and torture women. Forever and ever, amen. God bless America."''
-->-- ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''

Two-Face is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by Creator/DCComics, and is a prominent member of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s RoguesGallery. Two-Face was originally Harvey Dent, Gotham City's district attorney and an ally of Batman. However, Sal Maroni threw acid at him during a trial, hideously scarring the left side of his face and scarring him mentally as well. Dent went on to adopt the "Two-Face" persona and became a criminal, choosing to bring about good or evil based upon the outcome of a coin flip. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942), and was created by Bob Kane.

Alongside ComicBook/TheJoker and ComicBook/RasAlGhul, Two-Face is one of Batman's greatest enemies, but not because of the threat he poses to the rest of the world. Instead, he reminds Batman of how far the greatest can fall, and how he cannot save all of his allies - Batman's feelings of guilt that he failed to save his old friends and constant attempts to 'redeem' Dent remain one of the biggest themes of the character.

The character has appeared in multiple Batman media forms, including video games, animation, and the Batman film series. Creator/BillyDeeWilliams portrayed Harvey Dent in ''Film/Batman1989'' and later reprised the role in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' (though Harvey never became Two-Face in the original film), Creator/TommyLeeJones portrayed Two-Face in ''Film/BatmanForever'', Creator/RichardMoll voiced the character in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Creator/AaronEckhart played both the district attorney and his villainous alter ego in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and Creator/WilliamShatner voiced him in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTwoFace''.
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!!This character provides examples of:

* AbusiveParents: The most common depiction of his father. ''Eye of the Beholder'' adds the wrinkle that not only did he hit Harvey, but always gave him the illusion of a 50-50 chance with the infamous coin. Half of Harvey knew the game was rigged, while the other half wanted to believe his dad.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Depending on player choices, it's possible for his [[VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries Telltale counterpart]] to never receive his iconic facial scars.
* AdaptationalHeroism: His ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' counterpart is portrayed as a WellIntentionedExtremist driven insane by several factors outside of his facial scarring (all of which is out of his control) and, depending on player choice, it's possible to talk him down by appealing to his heroic side.
* AdaptationalUgliness:
** In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Harvey's left half of his face suffered fourth-degree burns, so the movie shows his scarred face with more detail, with exposed jaw muscles and even showing the inside of his mouth. His ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' counterpart retains this detailed scarring while also making it clear that the damage goes all the way down his body, as his arm is also scarred (at one point in ''Arkham Knight'', [[spoiler:Joker]] asks him if ''[[GroinAttack everything]]'' got split down the middle).
** His [[VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries Telltale counterpart]] actually has downplayed scars (assuming he gets them at all), but it's more than made up for by the fact that it still [[{{Squick}} squelches every time he touches it]] and the fact that he's constantly bleeding.
** While several of the newer versions of Dent show his disfigurement as raw or scorched flesh, older sources like ''[[Film/BatmanForever Batman Forever]]'' give him a more cartoony image and make his scarred side a discolored and exaggerated version of his normal face instead of an accurate portrayal of acid burns.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Portrayals outside of mainstream continuity tend to make him a nasty piece of work even before the disfigurement if there even is one. This is due to the UnfortunateImplications of a character going insane or becoming a villain because of disfigurement. Examples include:
** The ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' version of Harvey is a hater of Batman, and isn't above hiring ''ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}'' of all people to take him out.
** The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamByGaslight'' version is way worse, he is a smug sexist who tries to cheat on his wife with Selina, cares little about the Serial Killer plaguing Gotham, and [[spoiler:is ok with framing Bruce without a hint of remorse]].
** ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': On top of bearing none of the sympathetic qualities that made him a TragicVillain in the comics, this version of Dent is an extremely arrogant politician who is a SlaveToPR, willing to endanger hostages just to protect his political career. The only good thing you could say about pre-disfigurement Dent is that he's charming enough to be really good buddies with Gordon and doesn't seem to be on any sort of bad terms with Batman.
* AmoralAttorney: Averted; he was an incredibly honest and hardworking D.A. before he had the little run in with the acid.
** Played straighter in the ComicBook/{{New 52}}, where Harvey was a defense attorney who specialized in getting Gotham's criminals [[OffOnATechnicality off on technicalities.]] He reformed after becoming DA, however.
* AntiVillain: Sometimes. He used to be a good guy, and his origin story is kind of tragic, but he still is a mentally unstable crime boss at the end of the day.
** His status is quite complicated, mostly because he suffers heavily on DependingOnTheWriter. Sometimes, he is written as a cheater, who commits evil no matter which side of the coin falls, other times, not only does he listen to "good" the coin falls, but actively commits acts of good.
* ArchEnemy: Batman sees him, with good cause, as his greatest failure, a point that Two-Face enjoys rubbing in. Every single one of the Robins has also had a reason to put them high on their hit lists. He beat [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] within an inch of his life on one of his first outings as Robin (handing him his first defeat in the process), orchestrated the murders of Jason Todd's parents, and in "A Lonely Place of Dying" nearly killed [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] in one of ''his'' earliest solo missions as Robin, with Dick having to save him. While the individual Robins have their own enemies, Two-Face is easily the archenemy of the collective Robin identity.
* AxCrazy: In terms of being completely unpredictable; he can switch from a vicious but well-meaning antihero to a sadistic psychopath at any given moment. All it takes is one coin flip.
* BadassNormal: Despite being one of Batman's most prominent villains, Two-Face doesn't actually have any special powers.
* BatterUp: In what is arguably his most famous achievement, he violently beat Dick Grayson (still Robin at the time) with a baseball bat. Expect this to be referenced any time the two clash.
* BeautyToBeast: As one side of his face shows, he was handsome before the acid incident.
* BeneathTheMask: He was a successful and handsome district attorney before becoming Two-Face, but he had some serous mental problems lurking underneath his charming, successful exterior. The acid incident caused them to boil over.
* BigBad: Of several of Nightwing's story arcs in his series and some of the Robin series as well. If someone is specifically targeting a Robin, it's probably Two-Face.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Two-Face is sometimes portrayed as having this as the root of his multiple personality disorder.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Downplayed in that he understands society's standards of good and evil, but whether he chooses to act on either is decided by leaving it to random chance. As in, flipping a coin. For the most part though, even his "good" acts are pretty rough around the edges.
* BreakoutVillain: In what was intended to be the last Two-Face story, Gilda [[TakingTheBullet jumped in front of Harvey's gun]] as he tried to kill Batman, and he went into a VillainousBSOD, swearing to stop his criminal ways if that was what it took to see his wife again. Although it wasn't that straightforward, by the end of the story he had sworn off crime and even gotten plastic surgery to erase his scars forever. Even when fans loved his character and wanted to see him back, the writers simply used impostors posing as Two-Face, until the very beginning of the Silver Age, where he interferes in a burglarly and [[StatusQuoIsGod gets dynamited to the face]], and falls straight back into his coin-flipping ways.
* ChildhoodFriends: With Bruce, post-Flashpoint. The two were both at a camp for troubled boys, and neither knew the other's name as it was established that only numbers be used, so the boys could open up without fear of reprisal after they left the camp. He and Bruce both look back fondly on that Summer, but when they met, neither knew who the other was until some time into their friendship.
* ChronicVillainy: No matter how many times they repair his face, Two-Face always eventually comes back. On at least one occasion, the damage was self-inflicted, using a scalpel and concentrated nitric acid.
* CombatPragmatist: In fights against Batman or Nightwing, he'll grab hold of any foreign object or get in any cheap shot he can to give himself an advantage.
* CompanionCube: If you are TheFatalist and you renounce your own free will by your habit of flipping a coin to decide what you do, the [[ExaggeratedTrope illogical extreme is to believe that]] the coin is this trope and you are [[ConsultingMisterPuppet taking its advice]].
** Once Batman found a devastated Harvey desperately flipping a coin, despairing that the coin seemed to land exclusively on the good side, asking an ArmorPiercingQuestion.
--->'''Two Face:''' Fifty times in a row! [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane What are the odds?]]
** An issue of ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures showed Two Face escaping Arkham without his coin, replacing it with any other coin, scarring a side and using it. He manages to save his fiancée Grace from a murder attempt and even the Batman himself by doing a DivingSave that left Two Face seriously wounded. It was not Two Face wanting to save Batman, ''it was the coin''.
--->'''Two Face:''' I need my older coin. This one is a ''pain!''
** ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'' deconstructs this trope: Harvey's therapy is to replace his coin (two choices) for a die (six choices). He then is given a tarot deck (78 choices). Harvey cannot even decide to go to the bathroom on time. The last scene shows Two Face with his coin again talking to the tarot cards, like they are alive.
--->'''Two Face:''' [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards.]]
* CrusadingLawyer: Back when he was Gotham City's District Attorney.
* CynicismCatalyst: He had [[FreudianExcuse plenty of problems]] beforehand (DependingOnTheWriter at least) but it was getting half his face scorched off that plunged him into nihilistic despair and the belief that only random luck governed the universe, rather than the noble and upstanding believer in the rule-of-law he had been beforehand.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Readers will be lucky if the colors of his suit and scarred side wind up staying consistent through a story arc. Sometimes he has hair on the scarred side (either bleached white or turned an odd color like green or purple by the chemicals), sometimes it's completely burnt off. Sometimes he doesn't have an eyelid or lips on the scarred side, or they're simply shriveled. Even his own hand is inconsistent, sometimes it's scarred like his face, other times it's undamaged. You'd swear that his origin was having some sort of mutagen thrown on him instead of acid/fire like it tends to be.
* DependingOnTheWriter:
** Was Harvey Dent one of Bruce Wayne's best friends or did he consider Bruce to be a useless fop? Did Harvey consider Batman to be a great ally in the war against crime, or merely a slightly more benign symptom of what was wrong with Gotham? Is Batman tortured by feelings of guilt because he couldn't save Harvey? Is Two-Face a straight criminal, or a ruthless vigilante who only associates with criminals so he can disperse his twisted brand of 'justice'? The answers to these questions depends on if you read ''The Long Halloween'', saw ''Batman The Animated Series'' or ''The Dark Knight''. The main consensus in the main comics seems to be that yes, he and Bruce were good friends, and yes, Dent grudgingly considered Batman a useful ally. The nature of his psychosis and morality changes so much it's ridiculous. The statement in Arkham Asylum about Joker's changing personality would likely better describe Dent.
** Is Two-Face an alternate persona or isn't it? The latter was more of the case up until ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. His revised origin ''Eye of the Beholder'' depicts Two-Face as the manifestation of his outrage at the unfairness of the world, ''Crime and Punishment'' makes it the guilt and self-loathing born from his father's beatings, assuming he'd done ''something'' to deserve it, and ''Jekyll and Hyde'' made Two-Face a representation of Harvey's twin brother Murray (which other writers were quick to ignore).
** Does the coin flip thus represent making a decision between morally right and wrong options, or choosing between which persona gets to make decisions, or can Two-Face cheat and re-flip it whenever he wants to?
** Do Two-Face's two sides represent good and evil or reason and rage?
** Like ComicBook/TheJoker, Two-Face can vary in how effective he is against Batman. Sometimes he'll be able to give the Dark Knight a really tough fight with nothing but his wits, brawling, and firearms. Other times, Batman can easily take him out with a single punch.
** How much control does Harvey have over everyday decisions? Some versions only have him needing the coin for his criminal activities, while some have him so dependent on the coin flip that he can't even go to the bathroom without flipping it first.
** In some stories, the Two-Face persona is so dominant and in-control that the only tiny traces one can see of the former Harvey Dent is when his coin lands on Heads and Two-Face decides not to act like a total monster. Under other writers, while Two-Face is still an unstable crime boss, both his Harvey Dent and Two-Face personas seem to exist side by side with neither personality fully overwhelming the other, sometimes even having conversations with each other or occasionally holding three-way talks between themselves and Batman.
* DiabolicalMastermind: Two-Face is a very clever opponent. He often comes up with cunning plans to achieve his goals and he has also shown some degree of skill as a detective.
* DiceRollDeath: His ''modus operandi'' is the use of a coin flip to determine his actions, which can include whether to murder someone or not. DependingOnTheWriter, he can play this trope straight or invoke it if he doesn't like the initial outcome.
* DoomedByCanon: Any appearance by Harvey Dent in a Batman adaptation (except the 1989 ''Batman'', as that would be a build-up for Two-Face in a later sequel... [[TheOtherDarrin which did occur, but with a different actor]]).
* DrivenToSuicide: Apparently in the New 52. He's alive again by ComicBook/DCRebirth.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Golden Age Two-Face can be summed up the following ways: surnamed "Kent" instead of "Dent", rejects moral responsibility and getting a legitimate happy ending.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: DependingOnTheWriter, of course:
** Most iterations share his commitment to his word; if he makes a promise, he will honor it. This includes his coin flips, where he will honor the decision of the coin even if he personally doesn’t like the outcome.
** Almost all iterations have him strictly follow WouldntHurtAChild. His ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' counterpart is rather infamous for coming incredibly close to averting this.
** On at least one special occasion, having been an UnwittingPawn for the Qwardians to take over Earth, he flipped the coin and when it came up clean he went straight to the Justice League to explain the situation.
* EvilFeelsGood: During ''52'', Harvey underwent plastic surgery to fix his face, and became a vigilante with Batman's training before the Dark Knight left for a year. When Batman returns, Harvey starts to feel irrelevant. His crime-fighting methods become more and more extreme, to the point where the dormant Two-Face personality rises once more to tempt him back to a life of evil, reminding Harvey how elated it used to make him feel, describing it as "better than sex, better than any drug." Harvey ultimately leaves his fate, once again, to a coin flip. [[spoiler: It lands scarred side up, and he goes to work on himself with acid and a scalpel, until Two-Face returns on the outside as well.]]
* EvilFormerFriend: Harvey Dent is shown as a close friend of both Batman and Commissioner Gordon before turning into Two-Face.
** In fact, some iterations of his origin have portrayed the three as a PowerTrio.
** DependingOnTheWriter: Some continuities show Two Face hating Batman, but considering Bruce Wayne a true friend.
* EyeScream: Goes hand in hand with DependingOnTheArtist. Some artists depict his scarred side without an eyelid, or with an eye that's swollen and [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]]. And a few draw a solid black circle where his left eye should be, implying that his left eye had been ''completely dissolved''.
* FacialHorror: He formerly provided the page image. However, let's just say there's a good reason his counterpart in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' currently provides the image on the film's NightmareFuel page.
* FairPlayVillain: Dent's modus operandi. He believes that chance (specifically, a coin toss) is the only fair thing in the world, and will flip a coin to make any major decisions. Of course, how "fair" this is can become skewed, such as flipping a coin to decide whether or not he should honor an agreement when the other party already held up their end of the bargain or doing multiple coin flips for every petty little thing.
** Zigzagged in ''Film/BatmanForever'' where Two Face at Wayne's manor, flips the coin on the same decision until he gets the result he desires, but at the final act agrees to flip the coin to decide Batman's death.
** Averted at ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' when the coin dictates that TheDon could live, but Harvey then uses it on the driver. They both die.
** Averted at ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''. After Two Face takes a therapy in Arkham that destroyed his personality, Batman asks to be judged by Two Face, he flips his coin, and lets Batman go. At the last scene, we see the scarred coin. Two Face let Batman go. WordOfGod says that maybe for the last time, Two Face takes his own decision.
* FallenHero: Used to be district attorney and fairly good one too.
* FashionableAsymmetry: Dent generally feeds his obsession by wearing [[DualityMotif a suit split in two down the middle]], often composed of a sedate solid color on the normal side and a garish pattern print on the scarred side. His ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' counterparts wear the suits they were in when they were scarred, meaning half the suit is clean and the other is as burned as his face.
* TheFatalist: This is Two-Face's philosophy, represented by his habit of flipping a coin to decide what he does. This is in direct opposition to the philosophy he had as Harvey Dent.
** At ''[[ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Batman: Gotham Adventures #2, Lucky day]]'' it was showed that Harvey get this trait from his father, a ProfessionalGambler who knows that ''this is his lucky day'' and [[TheMagicPokerEquation nothing can stop him to become millionaire if he gambles]], having already won a lottery and now about to officially receive his $2.2 million winner's fee. Harvey tries to get revenge on him because he was an [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]], but is stopped from actually killing him by Robin and Batgirl. Harvey’s father gloats he will become rich that day by gambling with the remaining ten grand from the explosion, only to hear from Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon [[spoiler:that Harvey's father's money is evidence for Harvey’s crime attempt on his parent and so Harvey's dad can’t use it ''that day'', and Two-Face has already confirmed that insurance companies won't refund the money as it wasn't legally his father's at the point Two-Face destroyed it]]. [[KarmicTwistEnding Cue a devastated gambler and a laughing Two Face]].
* {{Flanderization}}: In his appearance in [[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker's]] short-lived comic in the 70's, his NumerologicalMotif was played up considerably more than usual. As Joker notes, he couldn't even escape from the clown without throwing a bowl of [[StealthPun pears]] at him.
* FriendlyEnemy: Two-Face ''waited'' for Batman to come take him away after committing a murder. Harvey Dent is one of Bruce's close friends, and one of the few relationships where the Bruce-centric version of their relationship seems more important than the Batman-centric version of the relationship to him.
** Also with Jim Gordon: when Gordon [[TenMinuteRetirement retired]] after the events of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand No Man's Land]]'', Harvey crashed his retirement party, taking the whole room hostage. He then tossed his coin... and when it came down with the clean side up, made a heartfelt speech about how much Gordon had done for Gotham, hugged him and peacefully surrendered to the police.
* FreudianExcuse: Being beaten as a child by his father. In fact, several versions actually state that this is where his coin came from in the first place.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Bruce Wayne has been known for going down to Arkham to play chess with Harvey Dent. An interesting example, as Batman was once friends with Harvey Dent, who is actually insane, unlike most super-criminals in Arkham.
* GoodOldFisticuffs: Two-Face is not a particularly well-trained combatant, but is prone to bouts of absolutely savage violence in which this does not matter.
* GunsAkimbo: Much less than you'd think, but still there occasionally.
* HairTriggerTemper: With shades of ArsonMurderAndJaywalking; Two-Face often tends to explode over damn near anything, even trivial issues.
** In one issue, he and his gang are playing cards, and the rest of them are terrified that he'll set off when they start beating him, or other small stuff. He doesn't and actually laughs it off, and they let their guard down... then one of them spills some wine by accident, and he shoots the guy dead.
** For a time, he was infatuated with Detective Renee Montoya, whom he met during No Man's Land, and tried to woo her. Then she turns out to be a lesbian, and he goes ballistic and accuses her of "betraying" him.
** In one comic book adaptation of Batman The Animated Series, Bruce and Gracie - Harvey's ex-fiancee before his accident - visit him in Arkham at a point he seems to be at last on the road to recovery; he himself notes that he's not using the coin as much, and he's genuinely grateful for the visit. Then the Joker suggests that Bruce and Gracie are seeing each other behind his back... and the predictable happens.
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: His coin flips are sometimes depicted as representing two ''equally'' bad options, as was [[http://about-faces.livejournal.com/1962.html the case with Dick Grayon's most traumatizing case during his Robin days]].
* HeadsOrTails: A coin-flip is his villain gimmick.
* HeadsTailsEdge: He constantly gets screwed over by this trope.
** Sometimes justified: Batman had replaced it with a weighted coin when he wasn't looking.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Gets cured of his mental problems only for his criminal side to eventually resurface and/or physical scars.
* HelloAttorney!: A male example. Dent's incredibly good looks earned him the nickname "Apollo". Didn't last.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: His obsession with the coin is more often than not his downfall. ''Film/BatmanForever'' in particular actually had Batman defeat him by waiting until Harvey flipped the coin then throwing a bunch of coins in the air. Harvey can't tell which one is his [[spoiler:and he falls to his death while trying to figure it out.]]
* HumbleHero: During his tenure as D.A. After the accident, his self-esteem has predictably sunk even lower.
* IconicOutfit: Or Iconic ''Style'', more accurately; almost every version wears a suit which is essentially two different suits sown together in the middle to form one, with each half being a different style. Common variations are two different colours (such as the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' version as shown above), two different suit styles (such as the ''Long Halloween'' version), half well-maintained, half-damaged (such as in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and the ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamSeries'') and half normal suit, half FashionVictimVillain (such as the ''Film/BatmanForever'' version).
* {{Idiosyncrazy}}: Originally, Two-Face was one of many gimmick-focused comic book villains, plotting crimes based around the number two, such as robbing Gotham Second National Bank at 2:00 on February 2.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: He wasn't evil until one side of his face was ruined and (depending on the version) his insanity either began or became much worse
* InsaneNoMore: In ''The Dark Knight Returns'', the damaged half of his face is restored by plastic surgeons and a psychiatrist declares him cured. It doesn't work. Instead, he scratches the other side of his coin so both sides match, feeling Harvey is gone and Two Face has taken over.
* InsanityDefense: Being compelled to follow the flip of his coin, he is one of the few Bat-villains to meet the real-life qualifications for it to work, via the irresistible impulse defense.
* ItsPersonal:
** Two-Face and Batman were once close friends. Two-Face holds Batman responsible for ruining his life (or at least failing to stop the mob from ruining it), while Batman is constantly trying to reach out to his former ally and bring him back into the fold.
** Two-Face's relationship with Dick Grayson is also deeply personal, though less nuanced. The two absolutely ''hate'' each other, with Dick seeing Harvey as an irredeemable wreck, and Two-Face holding Dick responsible for the failures of several of his schemes to kill Batman.
* JekyllAndHyde: Batman creator Bob Kane claims to have been inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', specifically the [[Film/DrJekyllAndMrHyde1931 1931 film version]] which he saw as a boy. Inside the same body lives a truly heroic guy named ''Harvey'' and a truly villainous guy called ''Two Face''.
** ''[[ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Batman: Gotham Adventures #2, Lucky day]]'' showed Two-Face trying to get revenge on his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] and we see this dialogue:
--> '''Henchmen''': ''You wanna flip your coin...? To know if we're gonna do this?//
--> '''Two-Face''': ''No.'' '''Every''' ''part of me wants to do this''
* LargeAndInCharge: Sort of. He's far from being the tallest Batman villain, but he lacks any real fighting skills or training either. He is still a big, intimidating man, however, and tends to dominate his underlings - and go toe-to-toe with Batman - by relying on size and his highly volatile moral compass.
** Even the Joker, AxCrazy lunatic extraordinaire (and not exactly a small man himself) acknowledges that he has no chance of beating Two-Face in a bare handed fight.
* LargeHam: Tommy Lee Jones played him this way.
* TheMentallyIll: Two-Face is one of the few Batman villains to be genuinely sick.
%%* ManOfWealthAndTaste
* MoralityPet: (Usually) has one in the form of his wife, Gilda/Grace.
* MulticoloredHair: Usually a black/white pattern. If they don't decide to have the "bad half" of his face [[BaldOfEvil have its hair being burned off]] instead.
* NameFaceName: One of the first.
* NobleDemon: Under some writers.
* NumerologicalMotif: Guess.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Any time Two-Face doesn’t flip his coin to make a decision, such as when he [[spoiler:kills Janice Porter]] in ComicBook/DarkVictory or when he prepared to kill or ruin his abusive father in ComicBook/BatmanGothamAdventures, as that means that both sides of his personality agree on what he’s about to do.
* TheParanoiac: Two-Face, though "officially" diagnosed as having a Split Personality, probably fits this better than anything (at the very least, the "Two-Face" personality is definitely paranoiac). He has BlackAndWhiteInsanity and a [[JadeColoredGlasses bleak worldview]] down to a tee, as he literally makes nearly every decision based on a coin flip (and has a Freak Out if he ever loses said coin) because he thinks all laws and rules [[StrawNihilist are based on random chance]]; he has [[HairTriggerTemper an explosive temper]], and once killed a lackey over [[DisproportionateRetribution spilling a drink]]; he murdered his mistress, [[ComicBook/DarkVictory Janice Porter]], because "Harvey Dent is a married man" and later was livid to learn that [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Renee Montoya]], who he had been stalking, was a lesbian and [[InsaneTrollLogic accused her of tricking him]]. Works such as ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' suggest that much of this attitude was present even before he became Two-Face, as that story showed a grim and humourless Harvey Dent willing to break the law to defeat the mob, having zero time for human relationships (including his wife) and maybe-or-not being the Serial Killer who was murdering mobsters and served as the Big Bad of the plot. A drunken and abusive father is also a consistent feature of his backstory, as is the implication that Harvey is mistrusting and pitiless as a result.
* PungeonMaster: Some writers (most infamously, the ones behind ''Film/BatmanForever'') depict him as dishing out two-related puns by the truckful.
* RaceLift: Sort of. In the Creator/TimBurton films Harvey Dent is played by Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, but he never gets around to becoming Two-Face. Then, in ''Film/BatmanForever'', which may or may not be in the same continuity, [[Creator/TommyLeeJones he's back to being white]]. ''The Animated Series'' depicts him as more of a light-skinned black man or perhaps Sicilian, and since WordOfGod informs us that the character was modelled after Creator/HumphreyBogart, this suggests he is the latter.
* RageAgainstTheReflection: Typical origin story includes him awakening after the acid incident and him demanding a mirror. When he sees the grotesque scarring of half his face, he screams with horror and anger, and his transformation into the villain Two-Face becomes complete.
** The ''original'' version has him put this off until he's gone full-blown criminal, staring into it and wondering what he's become before remembering he ordered no mirrors to be put up in his headquarters, prompting him to smash it.
* RedemptionRejection: Even discounting the several times in the comics that he gets healed and turns back to crime one way or the other, Harvey tends to turn down the chances offered to fix himself.
** In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Batman seems to get through to him when he says that Joker targeted him because he wanted to show how the best of people could still be corrupted. For a second, Harvey seems to listen and realize how far he's fallen, but then he simply acknowledges that the Joker was right and continues with his plan.
** ''Film/BatmanForever'' has Batman offering to get him help if he'll simply spare himself and Robin. This version doesn't hesitate to flip his coin, [[spoiler:prompting Batman to trick him to his death]].
** In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', Hugo Strange says he will flip Harvey's coin and offers a choice: if Harvey catches the coin, he'll tell him where Catwoman currently is, but if he lets it fall to the floor, he'll do whatever it takes to get Harvey the help he needs. From the sound of the audio log, the coin almost makes it to the ground before Harvey catches it.
* ReluctantPsycho: Harvey Dent is one of the only inmates in Arkham who is actually trying to rehabilitate himself rather than treating Arkham as a second home. Unfortunately, Two-Face isn't open to rehabilitation since he knows it will ''kill'' him. Harvey's efforts always end in failure and tears.
* TheResenter: ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' portrays Harvey has having resentment towards Bruce's lot in life, thinking he doesn't care about others and thinking Bruce bought a Not Guilty verdict as Bruce is acquitted.
* {{Retcanon}}: In the New 52, his scarred side lacks hair, bringing his appearance closer to Creator/AaronEckhart's version of him in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''
* SadisticChoice: Some writers are known for depicting him as a villain who will go out of his way to force others into these - in these cases, the two sides of his coin tend to ''both'' represent "evil" options.
* SecretSecretKeeper: In the New 52, he reveals that he's known that [[spoiler: Bruce Wayne is Batman]] for at least a few years, but has repeatedly convinced himself not to kill him.
* SecondaryColorNemesis: The scarred side of his face has been depicted as both purple and green under different artists. His suits have also incorporated purple, green, orange, or all of the above.
* ShadowArchetype: He mirrors Batman's origin and obsession with double identities.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Totes a double-barreled shotgun around occasionally.
* SplitPersonality: Suffers from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and multiple personality disorder.
* StalkerWithACrush: To Renee Montoya.
* StrongButUnskilled: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]]. At the very least, he's a skilled marksman and there are some stories that show him receiving extra martial arts training under Batman. But his general portrayal all across the board throughout different television and movie mediums tends to be that of a man around the same height and build as Bruce Wayne who's as strong as can be for a non-meta, but otherwise lacks the formal martial arts training of the Bat-family.
* SuddenNameChange:
** Harvey Dent's wife is generally known as Gilda, but was renamed "Grace" in a 1989 ''ComicBook/SecretOrigins'' story and the name carried over to her animated counterpart in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. All later comic appearances switched her name back to Gilda.
** Harvey himself was originally introduced as "Harvey Kent". They changed his name so there'd be no confusion with [[Franchise/{{Superman}} that other fellow.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Post-Crisis Two-Face had Deathstroke give him a crash course in firearms and hand-to-hand combat during his brief tenure filling in for Batman. He put those skills to good use in a couple of subsequent brawls with Dick Grayson.
* TragicMonster: Played for Drama. Harvey's descent into villainy legitimately isn't his fault, and he's repeatedly shown trying to get out of Two-Face's shadow, only to fall in.
** One particular example, set in The Batman Adventures, has him physically and mentally cured and falling in love with his plastic surgeon. Except his fiancee is an identical twin whose "bad girl" sister seduces Harvey before the wedding. When he tries to end things with her, the EvilTwin promptly murders Harvey's fiancee out of vindictive jealousy. Driven by rage and grief, he scars himself with burning coals to restore Two-Face so he can seek revenge, shooting his lover even after she proclaims that she can and will still love him despite his restored disfiguration. Then he breaks down and just sits there on the docks, cradling her body and waiting for Batman to come and take him back to Arkham.
* TragicVillain: His fall from grace is the end result of one tragedy that allowed his repressed mental-issues to boil over until his mind completely broke.
* TalkingToThemself: Comes from his mental issues.
* {{Thememobile}}: In campier times, he had one just like most other Bat-villains. Most recently brought up in Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'', where it's completely pristine on one side and an utter wreck on the other.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: In ''ComicBook/GothamAcademy'' he gets attacked by a ghost of a witch [[spoiler: Amity Arkham, [[DemonicPossession in the body of the book protagonist]], Olive Silverlock]] [[SinsOfOurFathers hunting descendants of her killers]]. But once she actually gets to look at him closely...
-->'''[[spoiler:Amity]]:''' You...Your face...This burn...Who did this to you?
-->'''Harvey:''' Gotham. The city betrayed me. Hurt me.
-->'''[[spoiler:Amity]]:''' Did you suffer?
-->'''Harvey:''' Oh yeah. I suffered. I lost everything. I still suffer every day.
* TwoFaced: He serves as the TropeNamer as well as the TropeCodifier.
* TwoHeadedCoin: Harvey Dent uses one of these, but then one side gets scratched up, making it back into a fair coin. Its emotional/symbolic significance to Two-Face makes it a NumberOneDime as well. (Originally it was Boss Maroni's "lucky coin", and hence was tied to his origin. In later stories it was the coin his abusive father tossed with the assurance that if it came down tails he wouldn't be beaten. Harvey only learnt it was double-headed shortly before being scarred.)
* UnderestimatingBadassery: All the Robins have underestimated Two-Face at one point or another, and paid the price for it.
* UnscrupulousHero: Dent does have his heroic moments, but he's still horribly brutal and decides on whether to do the right thing or not from a coin flip just like he does everything else.
* VerbalTic: ''Film/BatmanForever'' had Harvey referring to himself in the plural. The idea stuck with [[DependingOnTheWriter some writers]] like Doug Moench and Andrew Helfer and has since become a common feature of the character.
* VillainousBreakdown: Often.
* WakeupCallBoss: Served as this during Dick Grayson's tenure as Robin - up until that point, Dick had only faced ordinary criminals, along with a few bush-league supervillains like Killer Moth and the Mad Hatter.
* WhamLine: In ''Batman and Robin 28'':
-->'''Batman:''' How could you let yourself fall so far?! Why couldn't you steel yourself--channel the pain--turn it into something good?!\\
'''Two-Face:''' [[spoiler:[[KnewItAllAlong LIKE YOU DID, BRUCE?!]]]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Harvey Dent used to be a legitimately heroic character. But, a string of bad luck has turned him into a monster who lashes out at the world that has hurt him so badly.
* WouldHurtAChild: Beat Dick within an inch of his life with a baseball bat when he was Robin. He later did the same to both Jason Todd and Tim Drake.
* {{Wrath}}: Two-Face's scarred side is rage personified, in many depictions.
* XanatosGambit: Two-Face’s plan against his father in ''ComicBook/BatmanGothamAdventures'' #2; either he killed the man directly, or he would blow up his father’s $2.2 million lottery winnings in a manner that means his father won’t actually get the money.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Pulled this with a {{Mook}} who was standing directly between him and someone he wanted to shoot; when he asked him to get out of the way and the mook failed to, he informed him that he couldn't afford to lose any "red shirts". When this flew over the mook's head, Dent informed him that he was far too stupid to be anything but a liability and shot him dead on the spot.
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The character has appeared in multiple Batman media forms, including video games, animation, and the Batman film series. Creator/BillyDeeWilliams portrayed Harvey Dent in ''Film/Batman1989'' and later reprised the role in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' (though Harvey never became Two-Face in the original film), Creator/TommyLeeJones portrayed Two-Face in ''Film/BatmanForever'', Creator/RichardMoll voiced the character in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Creator/AaronEckhart played both the district attorney and his villainous alter ego in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and Creator/WilliamShatner voices him in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTwoFace''.