In the wake of Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror in Gotham, many of its citizens were justifiably
shaken. The serial murderer’s impact could not be minimized. One such affected citizen
was Harvey Dent. The county prosecutor had been in the thick of the politics during that time.
Harvey had prosecuted against his own best friend, Bruce Wayne, thus betraying the millionaire’s
trust. Harvey had ousted himself as a resentful, two-faced friend. Instead of feeling remorse for
this, Harvey’s resentment turned to a festering hatred. Despite his Calvinistic upbringing,
Harvey saw no problem with this. He had been raised on Christian concepts of predestination
and divine justice, and saw this as his true path. He carried on living his life as normal,
but he continued to treat Bruce coldly, and Bruce, in turn, responded in kind.
In spite of this, both Harvey and Bruce were involved in the new plans for the Gotham World
Fair. The fairgrounds may have been heavily damaged in the fire caused by Jack the Ripper,
but the dream for the fair lived on. Spearheaded by Mayor Tolliver, preparations went underway.
It was the hope of many that this event would bring the people of Gotham closer together.
Gilda Dent, Harvey’s wife, watched him unravel over the course of the next few months.
Harvey’s involvement with the city council proved to be a negative one.
A recent arrival to Gotham City, E.N. Ashton, hailed from England. Ashton was a wealthy man,
and he became involved with the planning of the new Fair. Ashton befriended Harvey during this
time, and the two became fast friends. They would go out together to pubs and share their woes over
drinks. During many of these outings, Ashton listened to Harvey complain about Bruce Wayne,
the trial, and Dent’s skewed perception of his former friend. Ashton encouraged Harvey - on
numerous occasions - to stand up for himself and confront the young Wayne. Harvey planned to
do just that, under the guise of asking Bruce to the Dionysus Club to catch up over drinks.
Bruce hesitantly accepted this proposal, wary of his former friend’s intentions;
and rightly so. The scene that Bruce witnessed upon his arrival to the club was a disparaging
one: Harvey was already clearly drunk, and antagonistic towards the other patrons.
Bruce calmly approached Harvey, attempting to calm him down, but this resulted in
Harvey taking a swing at Bruce. In doing so, Dent splashed his drink on the left side of his face,
dousing himself in alcohol. Harvey continued trying to strike Bruce, with Bruce lightly
fending off his drunken attacks. Harvey eventually lunged at his former friend, but missed entirely,
tripping into the fireplace within the club. The alcohol on the left side of his face ignited
almost instantaneously, burning him. Bruce grabbed a smoking jacket from a nearby chair
and attempted to smother the fire on Harvey, but the damage had already been done.
Harvey was rushed to the hospital. He had fourth degree burns on the left side of his face,
exposing his teeth even when his mouth was closed. His lower eyelid was completely gone,
which would cause his vision in that eye to blur constantly. The damage to his face was extensive;
his hair on that side was singed, and his left ear was melted beyond recognition.
Harvey was unable to feel the pain from his injuries due to the extensive nerve damage,
but the doctors instructed him that he would need to sterilize his face once every 48 hours
in order to prevent infection from setting in. They also instructed him to wear gloves in case
he should accidentally touch his face; though it would serve as more of a reminder not to.
Harvey was struck a massive blow by this incident; his ego was tied in large part to his good looks.
He became withdrawn and irritable. When his wife, Gilda, came to visit him, he hardly even
seemed to notice her. Harvey’s self-isolation continued even after he left the hospital.
He would go days without eating, and he withdrew from his responsibilities as county prosecutor.
Gilda felt helpless to assist Harvey as he had ceased to confide in her months ago.
She could swear she sometimes heard two voices coming from his room;
his own, and one much deeper and more guttural. Harvey’s behavior became increasingly erratic,
especially when Bruce attempted to visit him. Internally, Harvey was beginning to lose himself.
Horrifically enthralled with the damage to his face, Harvey became obsessed with duality. He
remembered learning the philosophies of dualism and determinism in school,
and began to make them his model for life. He began to make decisions by flipping his coin;
a possession he’d had since childhood. He and Bruce had played all sorts of games as children
involving the flipping of his coin. It had been burned badly on one side in the fire,
further playing into Harvey’s obsession with duality. Harvey did not share these
things with anyone, which is why almost no one could have predicted what happened next.
The Gotham police received a tip on a murder that had transpired.
Upon arriving at the scene, they discovered a cryptic and grisly spectacle. Two bodies were
present, and they seemed to be identical. The police discovered that they were twins,
and the address they had lived at was 22 Tucson Street. Their names were Thomas and Marcus Dugan,
members of Gotham’s socialite circle. The building they had been found in was formerly
known as Janus Casino. It had been shuttered years prior by the owners, the Sionis family.
Inspector Gordon, who was overseeing the case, thought it just strange enough to bring the
Bat-Man in on it. The number two coming into play so much seemed off to the inspector. Gotham had
just seen the defeat of one serial murderer, And Gordon wasn’t about to take any chances.
Bruce hadn’t suited up since the Ripper’s defeat, but he could see the need for the Bat was evident.
The Bat-Man joined the investigation, but without more evidence, they were unable to discover much.
Then, another event occurred: a robbery at Gotham Bank. By the time the police arrived,
the culprit had already fled, but witnesses gave a gory account of the perpetrator.
They alleged that the bank robber had wielded twin pistols and stolen a total of
$2222.22 from the bank. The robber had also been horribly disfigured on the left side of his face.
Witnesses claimed it was like he had “two faces.” The police took this into account,
and the name “Double Man” was coined due to the crimes’ focus on the number two.
The Bat-Man, on the other hand, was very concerned to hear the witnesses’ accounts.The
Bat rushed to the home of Harvey Dent. His suspicions were confirmed when he found a
very worried Gilda Dent. She told him that Harvey had gone missing. She had not seen him in a week,
which was right in the timeframe of these murders. In Harvey’s study,
the Bat discovered notes and scrawlings detailing the two crimes that had been committed thus far.
The Bat-Man’s worst suspicions were realized: Harvey Dent was the “Double Man.”
Now in a spiral, Harvey continued on his dualistic crime spree. Reason had nothing to do with it,
and the crimes seemed random. The Bat-Man saw the anger and pain in his former friend’s actions, but
he could not locate him. Predicting such random and specific crimes proved difficult with the
police and the Bat usually arriving too late. What finally led the Bat-Man to Harvey was a letter.
It didn’t arrive at the police station, and it didn’t arrive at any of the crime scenes.
It came to Wayne Manor, and it was addressed to Bruce Wayne.
Bruce was startled by this sudden development, and became very worried upon reading it.
The letter detailed Harvey’s unraveling over the past weeks. He’d begun to feel a separation
between the part of his mind that upheld the ideals of law and justice, and the part of
his mind that consisted of his darker impulses: anger, hatred, greed. He stated that he could
not account for long periods of time; gaps in his memory. He’d also begun to converse with himself,
experiencing it as if the disfigured half of his face was another person altogether. He stated
in the letter: “I feel as if my face has been split in two. Harvey Dent is no longer Harvey
Dent, he is Two-Face.” bBruce grew increasingly concerned as he progressed through the letter.
He got the sense that Harvey had written this letter while in a more lucid state of mind,
and he felt the need to answer Harvey’s call for help. Harvey had detailed his whereabouts:
the defunct courthouse north of Skinner’s End. Bruce suited up and went to the old courthouse,
but not before dispatching Dickie, Jason, and Tim to alert the police of the Double Man’s location.
The scene that the Bat-Man came upon was shocking to him. The courthouse had been divided in two,
with one side being stately and clean, and the other being marred, burned, and dirty.
Upon exploring the premises, the Bat-Man was attacked by Harvey. The former county
prosecutor was firing his dual revolvers, all the while shouting in a deep, guttural voice;
asking how the Bat had found him. In almost the same instant, he withdrew his attack and answered
his own question in his normal voice. The Bat was wary of doing Harvey any harm, and cautiously
moved towards his old friend. This caused fury to ignite in Harvey’s eyes, and he attacked again.
After a skirmish, the Bat-Man managed to disarm and restrain Harvey.
Harvey was distraught, and the Bat-Man watched his friend fall apart.
Harvey went back and forth with himself; crying, shouting, and berating himself for his failure.
The Bat-Man was torn apart to see Harvey like this. He could tell that his friend needed help.
He turned Harvey over to the police with careful instruction
to get him help from a psychologist. Professor Hugo Strange jumped on the opportunity,
but was countermanded by Bruce Wayne, who was a major donor to Arkham Asylum. Harvey’s care went
to a recent hire at Arkham, Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, a classmate of Dr. Jonathan Crane’s.
The tragedy that befell Harvey Dent would prove to be a controversial one.
On the one hand, Harvey had served dutifully as the county prosecutor in Gotham.
On the other hand, he had been a womanizer, betrayed his close friend,
and committed numerous crimes. His rehabilitation would seemingly prove to help him, but it would
really serve to make him more inclined towards his darker impulses. Dr. Quinzel’s attempt to
eliminate Harvey’s duality would inadvertently suppress the good side of him. The case of the
Double Man was one that haunted Bruce for years. His confrontation with Harvey in the Dionysus Club
had been the start of his spiral. Harvey may have been receiving what many perceived as help,
but Gotham had not seen the last of him. The Double Man - Two-Face - would strike again.