Cinematical

The "obviously" was used in the novelization. Script says "DEAD". I go with the script. To paraphrase John Cleese: "Dent's fucking snuffed it!"

Reply

Just from a standpoint of having a film rooted in realism (wacky cell-phone sonar notwithstanding), there's no way a man could live for very long with half of his face burned to s**t like that. The potentially biggest factor would be risk of infection--without skin to keep bacteria out, his face would be ripe for it.

I think the shortness of his villainy is the price you pay for going so extreme with him visually--if it had been acid scarring or something like that, you could get more mileage without stretching that paper-thin boundary of believability. But even then, what more could he do? Dent's character arc was complete--he was a ruined man. How do you transition from a destroyed human seeking vengeance to a genuine crime boss without it being clunky and awkward?

Or would he just get a Cillian-Murphy-style reprisal?

No, while his character is certainly endearing (so to speak), he just doesn't have shelf life. The two-headed coin, the mangled face, it's all very shocking in a short but intense dose, but how long can that stay interesting? He's a flash-in-the-pan bad guy (unlike the slow-boiling menace of Ledger's Joker), and I think he's best left dead--a star that exploded before it collapsed.

Reply

I hope he's dead. Dent and Dawes were unwatchable blights in an otherwise entertaining film.

Reply

Enough about the short distance fall Two-Face had. It was a much diffrent fall than Maroni's. Batman dropped Maroni purposely so that he won't die and only his legs were injured. Dent fell on his back and could have easily broke his neck, like the script says, or hit his head hard on the ground. And like Kurt says, Two-Face's body had just endured major trauma.

Also, have Dent live would totally destroy the ending message and story developments. Batman could not take the blame for Dent's murders if Dent was alive. And don't give us that "Well, Gordon and Batman could have hidden Dent away." That is completely stupid. First of all, Batman took off, so Gordon would have had to have hidden Dent's body all by himself and rather quickly since the police began to storm area. Then on top of that, he would have to find a secure location to stash Dent away and be able to give Dent the proper medical care for all of his injuries himself since he wouldn't be able to trust anyone else with the information that Dent was alive. And stashing him away in Arkham would not be an option either since there are certainly corrupt officials there, not too mention other criminals, who would leak word that Dent was alive. Face it, Dent is dead. The memorial was real, not part of the "faking" of Dent's death by Gordon and Batman.

So in short, Dent is dead. The script says so. The film says so.

P.S. - Had Heath Ledger not died, this wouldn't even be an issue. No one would care that Dent was dead because everyone would be looking forward to the Joker returning. But since that won't happen now, some of the audience wants to see Dent back.

Reply

Well, it was obvious that Commissioner Gordon was dead, they even had a funeral and with Heath dead for real they might have to revisit the whole Two-Face issue. Dent could be locked up with an "Iron Mask" (sorry couldn't resist) in Arkam Asylum but we would not see him in three, probably in 4 when we have given up all hope. If the idea will make money at the box office, Two-Face will be back with a vengeance.

Reply

He is dead, dead, dead, dead! I would take Nolan seriously. Your writing made me think about the third though.

Let's say somehow there was a vulnerability in the system that batman used to track the joker. You know that stupid big computer with a thousand screens or something?

See i thought it was incredibly stupid, but like all good writer/directors it has to have more of an importance. so someone finds the signal on this thing, finds the recording of batman and gordon's final talk, and contacts batman directly to out him.

batman needs to figure out what to do, either tell gotham the truth, that dent went mad - or try and keep everyone calm with the secret. I can see riddler doing that, or i dont know there are tons of villains i have no idea about.

Reply

This is actually a pretty big debate amongst me and my friends. I personally believe he's alive. One, even though the script says that he's dead, the movie does not really point towards this and a lot can happen between script and the final product. Two, the next film is obviously going to be based on the theme of "redemption" and while the main part will involve Batman redeeming his name, who else could fit so well into the idea of redemption better than Harvey Dent?

Reply

He might be alive, but he sure as hell ain't coming back soon.

Reply

I really hope he is dead. If you fake the death of one character in one movie, it's okay. Two fake deaths? No. Besides, what the hell would he do in the next one? Return to Gotham and do the same thing over again? We need a new villain for the new movie.

Reply

He's pretty dead.
Nolan is a better storyteller than to not leave him dead. The film portrayed the ideas it wanted with the character and ended it.
What's the point of keeping him alive, to tell a story about him seeking revenge on Gordon and Batman.
Or he starts robbing banks? That sounds worse than Batman Forever's twoface.

Reply

Simply put I know this would work, so read it and reply:

Dent goes to Arkham because the other cops knew how important his message was so they send him to Arkham for rehabilition and keepign him hidden, however since he was caught in the last film Joker is being held there as well. Joker learns about Dent being there because of crooked cops and he knows what Dent looks like since the other criminals haven't seen him since the fire incident. Joker could be played by Daniel Day Lewis and be in solitary confinement because he was too dangerous for general populace and Dent could be kept in the criminally insane area where they try to rehab him but it doesn't work and while in their respective places they meet anothe rinmate they keeps being sent back and forth because of his warped mental state(Bane played Vin Diesel), together they convince Bane to help them break out and go after the Batman. Batman could be broken like the Knightfall series had him and that could title the film but they can't kill him because Gordon shows up and starts shooting, subsequently injuring Bane. While Batman is on the shelf Two-Face and Joker could run rampant on the city and the city would be screaming for his return. He could return after Gordon pleads for his assistance in helping get his son back from the badies because they kidnapped him to bring the bat back and kill him off. When he returns Batman tries to save the boy but Joker kills him in front of Batman and the entire city thanks to the news crew watching this all go down on the roof of Wayne Enterprises. Dent could've had some tissue transplanted and look some what different but not totally different, so he keeps his face away from the cameras, Two-Face could reveal his face at this moment to the rest fo the city and they can learn that Dent lived. Dent sees the boy dead and Batman coming towards Joker when Dent himself tackles Joker off the building to keep Batman from killing the Joker and in the process redeems himself by removing the cities most dangerous man.

Reply

Let's hope he's dead. We had to endure the painfully ridiculous and pedantic 4th act of the film (sorry felt the film should have ended with Dawes dead, Joker free and two-face created), so at least we can hope one of the "bad guys" is dead.

Why is is so few people were bothered by the awful last 30 minutes of that movie? Runty little Joker beats up Batman? A whiny two-face roaming around, the stupid ferry boat crap and finally the commissioner annoy moralizing at the end? i wanted to blow off my own head to make the pain end...

Reply

Even though all the evidence points to him being dead, personally I hope he's alive.
I enjoyed Two Face in Dark Knight more than I did joker.

Reply

i hope he's alive. aaron eckhart put on such an amazing performance that i can't believe people want him to be dead. c'mon people... just imagine what we can see if two-face was given an entire movie to work with. that last twenty or so minutes when he was two-face was amazing.

there's no way they can top ledger's joker, but the next best thing would be eckhart's two-face.

Reply

I also have thought that if anyone could follow Ledger as the Joker it would be Daniel Day Lewis. Think of his role in Gangs of New York. If he follows Ledger's blueprint he could definitely make it work. The makeup would pretty much hide the age difference. The big question would be if DDL would actually do it. TDK raised the bar enough that maybe he could be successfully pursued. Probably not gonna happen, but it would be pretty cool....

Reply

Are you guys kidding me? Daniel Day Lewis is a freaking awesome actor, certainly one of the greatest of his generation, but what kind of hell does Arkham have to be for the Joker to enter there as a 28-year-old and exit (if the next filmed was shot today) as 51-year-old?????

Reply

yea it would be nice to see him again but its not gonna happen.........they killed him off stupidly.......

at least Tommy Lee Jones fell a few hundred feet onto some spikes

Reply

Yeah, I thumbed through both the novelization and screenplay and they both spoil the speculation by stating right in your face that Harvey is dead.

I mean, they COULD retcon this if they wanted to. After all, Jim Gordon did fake his own death -- and that did come across as kind of illogical.

Maybe not in the third film, but maybe if there's a fourth, they could say that Two-Face has been in a coma and locked away in Arkham.

Reply