Gotham has loads of causes to make an individual lose their thoughts. Town runs on corruption, criminals deal with homicide like a enterprise expense, and even the nice guys have bother holding their arms clear. However Harvey Dent has an issue that goes a lot deeper than Gotham’s ordinary issues. His obsession with a easy coin isn’t only a gimmick that makes his crimes extra fascinating. There’s one thing genuinely disturbing behind it, and the story makes his eventual transformation into Two-Face significantly extra tragic.
That’s an angle The Batman Half II shouldn’t overlook. Matt Reeves already understands {that a} superhero’s best enemies typically carry wounds that return lengthy earlier than they placed on a dressing up or choose up a weapon. Bruce Wayne is aware of what childhood trauma can do to an individual. Harvey provides a special and significantly darker model of that story. The key behind his coin might make their eventual battle way more private.
The Batman Half II Ought to Adapt Eye of the Beholder to Reveal Harvey Dent’s Disturbing Childhood Trauma
There’s a Batman comedian from 1990 that provides Harvey Dent one of the vital unsettling origins within the character’s historical past. Batman Annual #14 encompasses a story referred to as Eye of the Beholder by author Andrew Helfer. It reveals that Harvey’s father subjected him to a merciless childhood sport involving a coin flip. If Harvey misplaced the toss, his father beat him. The issue? The coin had two heads. Harvey by no means had an opportunity. His father merely needed his son to imagine that the abuse got here all the way down to unhealthy luck. That’s a fairly sick approach to train a toddler about equity—or to do, interval.
Considered one of Harvey’s most memorable quotes is from Nolan’s The Darkish Knight when he says, “You both die a hero otherwise you stay lengthy sufficient to see your self change into the villain.” Now, looking back, these phrases are literally a rigged assertion. On the floor it seems like a 50/50 cut up, however in actuality, no human hero is immortal. Plus, there’s loads of different decisions. For instance, a hero might merely retire sooner or later and stay a standard life. Harvey even mentions that Batman is on the lookout for somebody to take up his mantle.
The actual horror comes when grownup Harvey discovers the reality. He has spent years carrying the coin as a reminder of his father and the childhood he endured. Studying that the sport was rigged brings all that buried anger again to the floor. Out of the blue, his obsession with likelihood makes a horrible sort of sense. Harvey doesn’t belief equity as a result of the one that ought to have protected him turned it right into a merciless joke. The acid assault that scars his face finally provides that buried rage a brand new outlet. Two-Face turns into greater than a villain with a theatrical obsession. He’s a person who by no means escaped the sport his father compelled him to play. If Reeves needs a genuinely disturbing character research, that is the fabric to discover to create a darkish Batman villain.
Harvey Dent’s Two-Face Transformation May Mirror Bruce Wayne’s Childhood Trauma
There’s one more reason this origin would work so nicely in The Batman Half II. Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent have extra in widespread than both man would most likely wish to admit. Each carry the injury of childhood experiences that by no means actually depart them. Bruce misplaced his mother and father and grew up surrounded by the reminiscence of what occurred. Harvey had a father who turned one thing as harmless as a coin toss into an excuse for violence. One man turned obsessive about stopping tragedy. The opposite grew up believing that life was by no means truthful to start with. That’s an fascinating basis for a rivalry between Batman and Two-Face.
I’d like to see Reeves take his time with Harvey at the beginning falls aside. Let audiences meet the revered legal professional first. Present us the person who genuinely needs to make Gotham a greater place. Perhaps there’s an occasional tragic glimpse of that previous coin, however no one fairly understands why he carries it. Then the reality begins to emerge. Nightmares. Glimpse into actions and selections that show one thing darker is lurking—and that Harvey’s battling it. There’s one thing particularly unhappy a few man who spends his life preventing corruption when his personal childhood taught him that the world was rigged from the beginning. Bruce would possibly acknowledge a few of himself in Harvey, which makes their eventual battle all of the extra painful. Gotham has a behavior of breaking the individuals who attempt to repair it. Harvey Dent might change into its most tragic instance.