On the red carpet of last night’s Golden Globes, MTV News caught up with Aaron Eckhart and brought up his portrayal of Harvey “Two-Face” Dent. Apart from his past rhetoric, he had something new to say. And that “something new” could be something big for the chapter after The Dark Knight.
[Spoiler Alert: If you're one of the three people that haven't seen this movie yet, do not read any further. If you are, I'm sorry. And if I could suggest a small piece of advice, go see the movie!]
Contrary to his previous interviews and statements, Eckhart had a different answer to the Two-Face question. He said the following after quite a bit of laughing and a few “knowing” smiles.
|
|
“I think Harvey — if he’s not dead — is in a serious coma,” stated Eckhart, “and I’m not sure he’s coming out. They might pull the plug on him.”
Please note that although Eckhart does play the character in question, he is an actor and probably does not have any insight into development of the third film. And even if he had an idea, it’s still a bit early to say this is anything more than wild speculation.
And although many fans will hope against it, it’s quite clear in the script as it reads: “Dent lies at the bottom of the hole, his neck broken. DEAD.” Exactly as it’s printed here, “DEAD” is in all CAPS.
But now with this latest comment, I find myself wanting to be behind a semi truck–grumbling “Harvey, Harvey, Harvey Dent. Ohh, excuse me, I want to drive!” and hollow through this plume of smoke before it runs rampant.
Although it is ambiguous to many, Harvey Dent’s demise is obvious at the end of The Dark Knight. His completed story arc is a rare occurrence in comic book movies, which is part of the reason why the story has transcended the genre. Dent’s slip is both literal and figurative, as he’s labeled throughout the movie as Gotham’s White Knight but he eventually becomes the villain he alludes to at the dinner table with Rachel Dawes, Natascha, and Bruce Wayne.
From his first scene to his last, we witness his fall from grace. At the beginning, the newly elected District Attorney is fighting the good fight and going after the accused head of the Falcone crime family, Salvador Maroni. But this is one of the few great moments he has left. From unorthodox methods in attaining a suspect to using force and gun point to get the answers he wants, Harvey Two-Face finally emerges after losing his “blushing bride to be” in a massive explosion.
Egged on by The Joker, the Clown Prince gives him that little push to send him over the edge. He goes on to be judge, jury and (often) executioner to Detective Wuertz, Sal Maroni, his driver and Det. Anna Ramirez. He becomes the irrational villain and agent of chaos he once fought against. In his search for fairness, he leaves all of his decisions to a coin flip–50/50. The code of law he once believed in, is replaced by “unbiased, unprejudice, fair.” The Joker and the events leading up to the final scene are the last moments of Harvey and Two-Face is all that remains.
During The Joker infamous speech while hanging, he says:
“I took Gotham’s White Knight and brought him down to our level. It wasn’t hard. Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!”
Fearing the worst, Batman rushes to find Two-Face threatening Commissioner Gordon’s son. In a twist of Russian Roulette, Two-Face points the gun “at those responsible” for the death of Ms. Dawes. After flipping the coin, Batman isn’t so lucky and is hit with a bullet from Two-Face’s revolver. Two-Face isn’t at fault, nor is Commission Gordon (or his son) as the coin lands heads for the both of them. Before Gordon’s son is truly exempt, Batman pushes Two-Face and his captive off the edge. Two-Face lies without movement and his eyes are sightless, DEAD. Batman, after returning Gordon’s son to his father, has also fallen. He is the enemy Gotham now faces, though not the villain Two-Face or The Joker were, he is the common antagonist the city can rally against.
Even with Eckhart’s recent comments (or lack thereof), there is little room for Two-Face in the next installment of Batman. Although I once believed there was room for him as a puppet master of sorts, pulling the strings of a horde of villains, it is more fitting for him to have died here. The act of pushing his once ally and last hope at a normal life to his final resting place will undoubtedly be burned in his memories, haunting the masked vigilante. Batman will always stand between enemies and the citizens of Gotham, in his endless caped crusade.
Besides, wouldn’t you prefer a new villain anyway? Isn’t that what Nolan did after Batman Begins?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or if you want more frequent updates follow us on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
Loading ...
20 Comments
It doesnt mean anything.
But many people will see it as “evidence”
Dent survived.
Dent, and Two-Face, are dead. I seriously doubt Nolan would bring him back in any form.
If Two-Face were to survive, and (I have no idea how) not be in jail, Batman can have his own personal mission to bring Two-Face back to the good side. In a lot of ways, this’ll resemble Batman trying to understand the Joker in The Dark Knight, and their conflicting philosophies, only now Batman will be doing it with someone who 1. just recently was on the “good side”, and 2. can argue on the basis of his individual, though emotionally enormous, loss that any immoral act disproves all morality and/or delegitimizes the pursuit of morality.
I don’t know if Two-Face should be on an ego trip trying to PROVE this, however; that would make him a slightly revised Joker. Rather, he should be motivated by revenge, personal pride (somehow directed at someone other than the Joker, but still personally wronged him, so he can have that personal quest but the Joker doesn’t have to be in the movie), and MAYBE greed, so that the plot can involve him leading organized crime.
Further, if he is leading a gang of criminals, he would be the highest authority over a community, in a very real way. In the black market, powerful criminals are the power-holders. Personally, this would give Two-Face the ruthless, simplistic moral authority that he now desires. Of course, Two-Face should also have the greed motivation to be involved in crime in the first place; who the hell is motivated to lead a gang just because of the fun of being the leader? (Actually, I wonder if that’s a psychological concept that could be explored, if success in our society is more about pride and social standing than the importance of the earnings that come from our labor.)
As much as I admired Eckhart’s portrayal, I still think I have yet to see Two-Face done fully effectively. Having someone good have a serious dark side until the accident triggers the split personality, and then Batman’s encounters with him – trying to defeat Two-Face while appealing to Harvey.
I’ve always felt Two-Face was a different kind of criminal from the rest. He is someone Batman cares for and respects.
But that said the movie clearly told his story and was done. I think it would be insulting to what we saw to have Two-Face somehow survive. I completely agree that the movie is about falling from grace and Harvey was the main example.
I really felt the movie was about three men – Batman, Dent and Gordon. Early on we have the three of them on a roof discussing how to save Gotham, and then at the end we have them on the ground, one dead, one now a fugitive. Gordon is the only one who comes through in a position to help the city, but he is tried hard through the movie.
So the next one needs to move on. We had Batman be born, aiming to give the city hope, and then realising he inspired the wrong thing and so choosing to defame himself. I’m fascinated so see what comes next.
There are some interesting villians to be picked, but I’m much more interested in the developing story of Batman, Gotham, Gordon and the fight.
Heres what i think, i think that Dent was originally supposed to be killed off, and the Joker would be the one to return(obvious if youve seen the movie) But due to the tragic death of Heath Ledger, Nolan might consider returning Dent for the next film.
I believe that the actor could be back as Harvey Dent and/or Two-Face.
“But, Darren” you might say “We saw Dent die-and even his Two-Face injuries alone was so severe that even if he did survive the fall, he would have died shortly after”
And I say, gosh, aren’t we so quick to rule out flashbacks or a back story relating to another crook or new Bat foe? Or how about that debated “fifth” victim attributed to Dent?
So, please don’t say the actor can’t come back for the part when there may be other ways to bring him back storywise. Not to mention folks he did say “if”.
I am satisfied with how the character was done overall. We have heard speculation that Joker would be back just recast (not a tough thing to do; the late Ledger, aside from a brief few moments, was in his white facepaint and green hair dye. Once cleaned, all that’s left is a scar, correct?) but I’d much rather see characters either re-introduced (such as Catwoman) or untapped (Hugo Strange or Jean Paul Valley)
That’s my Two-Face sense.
I am not a Bat-fan only saw DK because I am an Eckhart admirer, but Didn’t Harvey ‘die’ after the burn and re-emerge as Two-face? So we know there is no more H. Dent. I mean aren’t they two separate characters? So we should only be asking if Two-face is dead not Dent? That’s why Eckhart gives a laugh, Harvey IS dead but no-one asks him about Two-face. Whom I think will bounce back up and be in Batman-3.
@Oscar!
I’m not so sure The Joker was meant to be return. Like Nolan has said, I don’t think a third movie was planned. I do believe Ledger had an option if the role for The Joker came up again, but it wasn’t “part of the plan”
And yes, the “we’re destined to do this, forever” line makes sequel talks interesting, but that’s they’re story right from “The Killing Joke”–something along that line is delivered by The Joker and repeated later on by Batman.
@Carl Lee
Ledger I believed was signed on for a third movie but died before that could be fufilled. I could be wrong, dont take my word for it.
no to harvey dent. get some new villains for batman 3. preferably someone who can actually give bats a physical beating requiring him to use some brains to fight back.
Aaron would be the very first to know about Batman 3. I think they would ask him about another movie before writing a whole script about him, don’t you?
Ever heard of “comic book death”? People can always come back, and I mean ALWAYS.
I believe that we have seen the last of Harvey Dent/Two Face, IMO, it does not make sense to bring back Two Face. I think that they should delve into the vast gallery of Batman villains, and give us one that is fresh, never been used and can match up with Batman on every level. My own thought is if that does not work, there should be no danger in inrtoducing a brand spankin new villian into the Batman universe overall and bring him into the mix.
If they do bring Harvey/Two Face back into the 3rd film, it should be subtle, and short, to tie loose ends, we don’t want him to distract from the devloping sstory of whatever villian they chose to use.
As for The Joker, there is a little bit of conflict. On the one hands, it would be simple to recast The JOker, and use him again, as he not only an key villain in all the Batman universe, but I felt that there is more to the story that needs to be told. Recasting may prove a bit tricky, because you want to find someone who not only resemble Heath Ledger, but ahve the same acting prowess that Ledger had. It really would biol down to finding someone who is talented enough to play Heath Ledger, playing The Joker, without adding any personal touches of their own. So herein lies the other Hand, do you really want to see someone replace Heath Ledger as The Joker? Will people pay the same money they did for TDK, to see someone else playing The Joker. Its really a tough call IMO. And there will be backlash from both sides of the fence. My opinion, as much as I would love to see The Joker again, no one will be able to match Heath s performance and portryal, leave it alone, tight up what loose ends there are and move on to another villian.
Well said Metallicat!
Dent is dead (at least I hope his is, there are plenty of villains to choose from) Bringing the Joker back would be too difficult, too tricky. Ledger recieved a lot of praise for his performance, and deservedly so. Those would be HUGE shoes to fill. And I don’t think Nolan would want to bring the character back just because it was a popular character. Also, and this is just me, but I think it would be more respectful to Ledger to just leave it be. Hard to imagine the character being any better than it was in TDK. I love the Joker, my all time favorite villain (Marvel and DC) I would’ve loved to see more Joker, and while Nolan didn’t plan for a 3rd film, I think the ending left open the possibility to toy with ideas for including the Joker in a 3rd film if they wanted to do one. Just leave it be.
There are so many ways to go with Batman now. My favorite idea, and I can’t remember who said this and where it was said, but here goes:
There is a comic storyline involving the Riddler where Riddler is a good guy, a detective, hired by Gotham PD. He became obsessed with finding out who the Batman was. Now, I’ve never read the story, so I could be wrong on the details. Batman fans, I’m sorry!
Anyway, since Batman assumed the role of the hated man in Gotham at the end of TDK, we could include a modified version of the Riddler storyline. Namely, Gordon’s superiors and or the public, call for Batman to be brought to justice. Edward Nigma (The Riddler) is the brilliant yet odd detective hired to track down the Bat so they could bring him to justice. Trying to solve this riddle proves to be too difficult for Nigma, and he starts to go insane. He sets up test/riddles for the bat to solve in order to stop something bad from happening (Public building exploding, innocent people dying) All the while he observes the bat and tries to deduce who he is. The city does not know Nigma is behind all of this. In the end, Nigma’s falls into the depths of complete and total insanity, and exposes himself as the Riddler, in a last ditch plot to catch/kill the bat so he could ultimately find out who he is. Nigma puts innocent lives in the line of fire. Batman comes in, cue climatic battle, Batman saves the day and redeems himself in the eyes of Gotham.
They could also twist it to have Nigma discover Wayne is the Bat, but I don’t have any good ideas for how to do that and keep the plot interesting. They should probably have a minor villain in the beginning, keeping Batman busy until Nigma goes insane, so maybe Black Mask, Deadshot, or Victor Zsasz.
Any thoughts?
I like the Riddler story, I think it fits perfectly in The TDK realm. I vote Deadshot, I really enjoyed the Deadshot clip from The Gotham Knight Anime.
Yeah, that was pretty cool. The only thing that I can think of that could be a problem with Deadshot is that the Gotham Knight was supposed to take place in Nolan’s Batman universe, in the time period between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So maybe they want to go with something different. Personally I’d pick Zsasz, because he could be done in such a way as to eliminate him early on, so the movie doesn’t suffer from having 2 long villain story lines bogging it down.
“You either die as a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
I think that’s the clue..
Gordon decide to “announce” that Harvey is dead as a hero, because he don’t want Gotham loses their hope..
So, Two Face could be still alive (or coma) somewhere, but all that the people of Gotham know is Harvey Dent is already dead.
just my sick theory..
joseph gordon levitt to play the joker since he kinda looks like heath..lets give that a shot!
“And although many fans will hope against it, it’s quite clear in the script as it reads: “Dent lies at the bottom of the hole, his neck broken. DEAD.” Exactly as it’s printed here, “DEAD” is in all CAPS”
Carnies and rubes. Carnies and rubes.
What's your opinion? Leave a Reply!
Go to Gravatar.com and upload your own (we'll wait)!