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Two - Faceis one of the most interesting villains in comic strip because he makes every important decision based on the event of a coin toss . However , the unpredictable nature of his actions only produce striking tenseness when writers remember that the consequence can also lead to Harvey Dent performing act of genuine valiance .
Before his hideous transformation into Two - Face , Harvey Dent was a devoted civic retainer . Throughout his professional calling as District Attorney , Harvey was committed to fair-mindedness and queer by inequality inGotham ’s notoriously corrupted criminal justice scheme . Two - Face ’s fixation and reverence for the outcome of each coin toss preserves that foundational factor of his character . An arbitrary game of adequate probability is the ultimate avatar of fairness . Harvey ’s nickname was “ Apollo ” before his “ great forcible ravisher ” was destroyed by dot to the face .
Related : Batman ’s succeeding Two - Face Takes His Villain Name Way More Seriously
Harvey ’s “ Apollo ” nickname is bring out alongside his Two - aspect origin story inDetective Comics # 66 , written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Jerry Robison . Apollo is the Grecian God of rational thinking who appeal to logical system , whiteness , and intellect . Meanwhile , Apollo ’s buddy Dionysus is the Greek God of chaos who relies on emotions , instinct , and passion . When viewed through this crystalline lens it is clean thatHarvey Dent and Two - Face are not rival , rather Ancient Greeks would consider them as Brother entwined by nature . InThe Birth of Tragedy , a study of spectacular possibility written by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche , the Apollonian and Dionysian relationship represents “ two competing but also complementary impulses in Greek polish . ”
According to Greek mythology , human beings earlier had four arms , four legs , and two identical faces on diametrical sides of their oral sex . As punishment for presume to take exception the gods , Zeus switch off every man into two equal parts instead of merely destroying them . Apollo was tasked , like Harvey , with healing the remnants of man by stitching broken one-half to create a unexampled individual . This myth was designed to explain the construct of soulmates . Harvey Dent and Two - Face aredestined to be together forever and a day . This is best illustrated by some of the most iconic Two - facial expression instant which make up both halves of the character .
During theBatman : No Man ’s Landcomic Word of God crossover voter storyline , Two - expression abducts Commissioner Gordon and places him on test at Gotham City Hall for fail to honor his word . Gordon importune that Harvey Dent act as his defence lawyer leading to one of the heavy courtroom drama in DC Comics story . InDetective Comics # 739 , write by Greg Rucka and instance by John Floyd , Harvey ’s dedication to justness prevails and Two - Face declares Gordon as guiltless . Two - Face ’s beginning account is wildly popular , but often when it is retold , some important nuance are mislay . Even after officially move into a spirit of crime inDetective Comics # 66 , Two - Face is shown doing good title such as donating stolen loot to a brotherly love and paying off the debt of random occupant . The good side of the coin causes at least some of Gotham ’s citizen to view him as a altruist .
The duality of Harvey Dent and Two - Face has always been complicated . Any attack to simplify that arrangement by reducing his position to a simple villain , tarnish the character ’s legacy . Harvey ’s acts of heroismcan only exist alongside his villainy and any the right way secern Two - brass history should allow for either outcome in equal metre . dichotomy is the foundation of Harvey Dent ’s character which is rendered meaningless when funnies forget to show the other side of Two - Face ’s coin .
