Warning! Contains Spoilers For Two-Face #4!
In the latest issue of his solo series, DC just revealed the absolutely horrific origin of iconic villainTwo-Face,as the perennialBatmanadversary’s backstory is further explored, with added context and insight offering readers an unparalleled look at the transformation of Harvey Dent from hero to villain, and at times back again.
Two-Face#4 – written by Christian Ward, with art by Fabio Veras – expands on the tragedy of Dent’s origin. This issue findsTwo-Face putting Harvey Denton trial inside their shared mind, judging him harshly for the latter’s selfish treatment of the former.
As part of producing evidence, Two-Face goes over his origin, which includes the very first time he was created. After a particularly nasty bicycle accident,Harvey’s mother gave him advice to create a box and seal his pain away inside of it, which is ultimately where Two-Face, originally referred to as Harvey’s “shadow,” came from.
Two-Face Started Out As A Container For All Of Harvey Dent’s Pain
Two-Face#4 – Written By Christian Ward; Art By Fabio Veras, Ivan Plascencia & Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
As a child, Harvey Dent was often terrorized by his abusive father, who flipped a coin to decide whether he should beat Harvey or not. These brutal beatings only made Harvey rely on his shadow, a personality he came to call “Scarvey” more and more –with “Scarvey” absorbing every bit of pain or abuse that Harvey suffered, leaving Harvey himself relatively untouched, but taking a dramatic toll on his alter ego. It was his way of retreating from the trauma that his abusive father was putting him through, his way of simply passing the pain onto someone else.
Watch It, Batman. Two-Face Just Got His Own Robin
Two-Face is officially taking a page out of Batman’s book by recruiting a sidekick of his own—one whose origin parallels that of Tim Drake’s Robin.
Eventually, Harvey’s mother couldn’t stand the abuse that Harvey was clearly going through. Wanting to save her son from any more pain, she quickly whisked him away from his abusive father. This is when the Harvey personality returned, and Scarvey, having served his purpose, was sealed away inside of Harvey’s mind, left alone in the darkness. It’s an incredibly tragic backstory for Two-Face, and it’s no wonder the personality has been so ridiculously violent every time it surfaces. After being createdsolelyto be abused, it makes sense that he would want to hand out some abuse of his own.
“Scarvey” Was Completely Abandoned By Harvey Dent, But Eventually Came Back To Haunt Him
Left All Alone In The Darkness Of Harvey’s Mind
Two-Face has alwaysranked among Batman’s more compelling antagonists, andHarvey Dent and Bruce Wayne’s originshave been tied together a lot in comics. With a character so intrinsically close to Batman, it’s no surprise that his own backstory would be equally ascomplex as the Dark Knight.While Two-Face started out as just an insane lawyer who got acid splashed on his face, over the decades, his origin has become so much more. He was just a scared little boy who created an alternate personality to deal with the trauma he was going through, much like Bruce Wayne did.
For a long time, comics treated Two-Face as the bad personality and Harvey as the unilaterally good personality, butTwo-Face#4 has now proven that things aren’t so simple.
TheTwo-Facecomic has been fantastic so far,as it has now provided updated origins for both the Two-Face personality and the iconic coin that he has used for decades. It’s doing everything that a villain solo book should do, which is deeply fleshing out the character’s history and motivation. For a long time,comics treated Two-Face as the bad personalityand Harvey as the unilaterally good personality, butTwo-Face#4 has now proven that things aren’t so simple, and thatTwo-Faceis a lot more complicated than people first thought.
