10 Things DC Comics Want You To Forget About Two-Face

8. He Disappeared For Twenty Years

Two-Face wasn't always such a vital part of Batman's shadowy cabal of enemies. In fact, Harvey Dent was almost entirely absent from DC Comics for over a decade. Following his introduction in 1942's Detective Comics #66, the character only appeared a handful of times in the forties and fifties before disappearing entirely. The creative team didn't really know what to do with the character once they'd figured out his gimmick (which was noticeably less nuanced than it is nowadays, as we'll find out later), and so simply didn't use him as much. They were also bound by changing trends in the world of comics publishing, itself inspired by the strict censorship of the Comics Code Authority which controlled the content of all mainstream funnybooks. A violent, chaotic and hideous villain such as Two-Face would probably have failed to pass the CCA's checklist of suitable content for kids, and DC were skewing more towards that younger demographic anyway. He was dropped in favour of more "kid friendly" villains, because we guess The Joker is somehow less terrifying to a toddler than a guy with a weird face flipping a coin. He did make one brief, notable appearance in 1968's World's Finest #173, the Superman-Batman team-up book, where the caped crusader copped to him being his most feared enemy, due to his unpredictability. It wasn't until the early seventies that the character was fully revived, however, as Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams took control of the Batman titles and returned them to their darker, pulpier origins, installing Two-Face as one of the character's arch enemies. We're glad he made it through the wilderness (he made it through-oo-oo-oo).