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Two-Face's Coin is an item owned and used by the criminal Harvey Dent, better known as Two-Face. Once a double-headed coin, it was scarred on one of its sides and used by Dent to aid his weapon of choice: decision making. The coin has often been used by Dent to decide whether his actions will be good or for bad. In recent years, Dent has become increasingly reliant on the coin to make his decisions, something that both Batman and other villains have used in their favor.

History[]

In Pre-Crisis continuities, the coin once belonged to mob boss Sal Maroni. After he found the coin at a crime scene, and had his face disfigured by Maroni, Dent took the coin and defaced one of the heads. As Two-Face, he would flip the coin when making any significant decisions. If the coin lands on the scarred side, Two-Face will pursue acts of evil; if the coin lands on the unmarked side, he will be compelled to commit acts of good.

Coin Gift

In Post-Crisis continuities, the coin previously belonged to Dent's father. Using it, he would "decide" whether a young Dent would be beaten or not - the coin always landing on heads. When Dent obtained the coin, he learned that it was double-headed, leading to a mental breakdown. He had the coin in his possession during Maroni's trial and it, like him, was defaced by the acid.

Dent often defers to his coin in choices of life and death, to the point that he will rely on the coin even if a subsequent flip jeopardizes his own plans. He once collaborated with the Joker and the Penguin to poison Batman, but when Robin suggested a coin-toss to decide the final outcome of the plan, Dent attacked the Penguin to get the antidote. During No Man's Land, Two-Face put James Gordon on trial for his 'illegal' alliance with Two-Face during an earlier plan to protect Gordon's territory, but when Renee Montoya noted that Gordon needed a defense, Two-Face tossed the coin to confirm that Harvey Dent would act as Gordon's defense lawyer, Dent's cross-examination of himself leading to Gordon's acquittal.

At one point, Two-Face was so dependent on the coin for any of his criminal acts that he could be easily defeated by taking the coin away from him or preventing him from seeing the result of the flip. Harvey Kent (Earth-Two) was usually shown at this level of dependency. Dent has since lessened his dependency on the coin flip to whether a situation should be implemented, rather than each individual act; for example, during Prodigal, he set up a plan where he would disrupt all criminal records of those currently awaiting full sentencing, but still relied on a coin toss to decide whether he put the plan into action by flicking the final switch or not even after setting everything up for the plan to go into action.

Elseworlds[]

The Dark Knight Returns[]

A decade after Batman's retirement, Dent is treated by Dr. Bartholomew Wolper and presumed 'cured' after plastic surgery repairs his face. He appears on television presenting a restored version of his double headed coin with a grin. Shortly after Dent is released from the Arkham Home for the Emotionally Troubled, he instead suffers a final psychotic break, scarring both sides of his coin to reflect his new darker approach to crime.

Batman: Crimson Mist[]

In Earth-43, Two-Face relied on a coin-toss to determine how he, Killer Croc and their gang would respond to the threat of the vampire Batman, stating when the coin landed scarred side up that they would 'extend this alliance to [their] opposites'. Croc noted that he felt the coin should be good side up to make that decision, but Two-Face said that he would see what that meant later. Working with James Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth, the villains were apparently able to shoot Batman with a wooden arrow during a confrontation in the Batcave, but after Batman was presumed dead, Two-Face turned on Gordon and Alfred, explaining that this was what the coin-toss meant (With this in mind, it suggests that Two-Face always planned an alliance as the only solution to the vampire Batman and the coin-toss just determined whether he would honor the alliance afterwards or betray his 'allies' immediately).

Injustice: Gods Among Us[]

In a world where the Joker's actions led to the destruction of Metropolis and Lois Lane's death at Superman's hands, Two-Face is drawn into the resulting 'debate' over Superman's more violent, 'pro-active' approach to crime, taking over a Gotham news station, only for Superman to vaporize his coin with heat vision before Dent can decide which news anchor he will kill.

In Other Media[]

Film[]

Batman Forever[]

"His coin, it's his Achilles heel. It can be exploited."
Chase Meridian[src]
Forever Two-Face Coin

Two-Face's Coin from Batman Forever.

Two-Face's signature coin appeared in Batman Forever. Dent defaces the left side of the Lady Gotham statue by crashing a helicopter into it, matching its depiction on his double headed coin and his own disfiguration. Instead of being totally dependent on the coin for what he should do next, on at least one occasion, when he was faced with an opportunity to shoot Bruce Wayne after he learned that Bruce was Batman and had rendered him unconscious in an attack on Wayne Manor, Dent decided what he wanted to do himself and just kept flipping the coin until he achieved his desired result (although the Riddler stopped him from actually shooting Wayne, as he preferred to defeat their foe more directly rather than just catching him by surprise).

Later on when the Riddler was defeated, Dent seized the opportunity to kill Batman once and for all, but the Dark Knight made him decide with his coin once again. When he tossed it, Batman threw a handful of identical decoys at him, confusing Two-Face, making him lose his balance and fall to his death. However, as the criminal sunk to his watery grave, the coin landed one last time in his open hand, with the unscarred side up. Kenner included a full scale replica of the coin in the packaging of their Two-Face action figure.

The novelization gives an origin story of why the coin has two heads. The coin was a 100 year celebration of the Lady Gotham statue, with a number of coins being struck with Lady Gotham’s visage on both sides. Dent had one such coin and scarred it on one side. He treated the coin with reverence, viciously beating one of his henchmen for questioning their coin.

The Dark Knight[]

Tdkcointwoface

Two-Face's Coin from The Dark Knight.

Before his accident, Harvey Dent used the coin to trick criminals into confessing, such as when he kidnapped Thomas Schiff and informed him, "Heads, you get to keep your head. Tails, not so lucky". But because both sides were heads, Dent never killed. After Dent's accident that turned him into Two-Face, one side of the coin was badly burnt while the other side was fine. Two-Face then used the coin to actually decide whether his target would live or die. Dent stated that the coin was a keepsake from his deceased father, which he implied was also the reason that he managed to ask Rachel Dawes out. He would often flip the coin when he wanted to take on a case, or to self confirm any decision he made, stating “I make my own luck”.

The Dark Knight novelization expanded a bit on the coin's backstory, where it was revealed to have been his father’s lucky coin. Unlike in the comics, Dent’s father did not use the coin to trick Harvey. Harvey used the coin to get a date with Rachel, flipping heads so he would pay for the date.

Television[]

Gotham[]

In Gotham, the pre-disfigured Harvey Dent uses the double-headed coin toss in talks with young offenders and other minor criminals, claiming that he will let them pick a side and then leave it up to fate to determine if he sends them to jail or lets them off with promises that they won't repeat their actions, musing that the strategy works as most teenagers pick 'Heads'.

Video Games[]

Batman: The Telltale Series[]

Two-Face's coin appears in the game as his lucky coin. Unlike other versions, it appears to be a regular coin or possibly scarred before he becomes Two-Face. Dent also uses the coin to make decisions prior to its usage in his criminal plans. If the player confronts him during "City of Light", Bruce uses Harvey/Two-Face's reliance on the coin to subdue him, either by pocketing it (leaving him indecisive) or throwing it away, causing Dent to injure himself trying to get it. Should Harvey not be disfigured in "Children of Arkham", the coin appears in Batman's Batcave display for the criminal in the sequel, Batman: The Enemy Within.

Batman: Arkham Knight[]

Two-Face's coin appears in the GCPD Evidence room after completing his side mission

Behind the Scenes[]

  • Some viewers have decried that in live-action movies, Two-Face wasn't dependent enough on the coin to make his decisions, and if the coin dictated that he couldn't kill his target, then he'd find a way around it. For example, when Two-Face met Sal Maroni in his car and the coin dictated that Maroni couldn't be shot, Two-Face shot his driver instead, and caused Maroni to possibly die in the following car crash. Two-Face may have already thought ahead, however, and ensured that Maroni would live but would be severely injured and possibly be unable to inform anyone of his actions. In Batman Forever, Two-Face puts a security guard in danger despite his coin deciding he would live. Also, he flipped his coin to get the outcome he wanted in killing Bruce Wayne, and showed frustration at the outcomes. In the comics, Two-Face blindly followed the coin toss whatever the result.
  • While previous versions of Two-Face's Coin were based on silver dollars, the coin that was used in The Dark Knight was a replica of an actual 1922 Liberty Head Silver Dollar.
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