An Iconic Batman Villain’s Origin Story Is Revisited With a Surprising Twist

Batman has arguably the most recognizable rogues gallery of any superhero, and now fans can experience the origin of one of those villains in an all-new way. Batman’s villains are so popular that they’ve gone on to headline their own TV shows and movies, with The Penguin and Joker: Folie a Deux as the most recent examples. Batman comics have led the charge as well, with Two-Face as the next villain to get the spotlight. Harvey Dent’s transformation into Two-Face is one of the more tragic stories, but now fans can experience it from inside his head.

DC released a preview of Two-Face #1 by Christian Ward, Fábio Veras, Ivan Plascencia, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. The series is part of the DC All-In publishing initiative, which follows the Absolute Power event and kickstarts the new Absolute Universe imprint. The preview takes readers back to the day that Harvey Dent had his face disfigured, prompting his Two-Face persona to rise to the surface. Except this time we’re inside Harvey Dent/Two-Face’s fractured mind. The duo have come to an uneasy alliance, but Two-Face is still looking to gain full control over their body.

The Two-Face #1 preview has internal narration from the titular villain, as we go from the court room where Harvey Dent was the prosecutor over Salvatore Maroni, to the present day with Two-Face at an all-villain trial at the White Church. Everything is from Two-Face’s point of view. The description of DC’s Two-Face series teases that the villain he has to represent is Victor Zsasz, who is accused of a murder he says he didn’t commit.

“After falling in love with writing the beautiful, complicate, Harvey in Batman: City of Madness,” said Ward, “I couldn’t be more excited to be, or prouder, to be writing Two-Face’s very first solo series! Two-Face is without any hesitation not just my favourite Batman villain but my favourite character in all of Gotham, and I’m thrilled to be taking him, together with superstar artist in the making Fábio Veras and the legends that are colourist Ivan Plascencia and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, to some wild places you might not be expecting. The first of which takes Harvey Dent back to the courtroom.”

“In our series, Harvey is trying to use his criminology skills to resolve the conflicts of Gotham’s weird and dangerous criminal underground…all the while he has his eye on a return to civilized society and perhaps reconciling with his old friend, Bruce Wayne,” said Ward. “So all rise, court is in session, Harvey has tossed his coin and judgment is about to land!”

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A description of the series reads, “After years of internal conflict, both halves of Harvey Dent have reached an uneasy peace. In DC’s new Two-Face series, Harvey uses his skills as an attorney to resolve the conflicts of Gotham’s weirdest and most dangerous criminals, starting with Victor Zsasz. When Zsasz is accused of murdering a fellow member of Gotham’s underworld contingent, who better to prove a criminal’s innocence than someone who’s been on both sides of the law?”

The preview of Two-Face #1 is below. The issue goes on sale Wednesday, December 4th.