Based on the ending of The Batman, there is at one villain we can expect to see in director Matt Reeves’ follow-up to his smash hit DC reboot. However, there are a few other characters we also hope will appear alongside Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader at some point in this franchise, and one of them is Harvey Dent, who would also come to be known as Two-Face.
Instead of how Aaron Eckhart’s depiction was handled in The Dark Knight, I would like to see the next movie only explore Harvey’s days as Gotham City’s district attorney and save his tragic evolution into a murderous psycho at war with himself (and Batman) for a later sequel. It is going to take one hell of an actor to portray this good man’s descent into madness and we have a few candidates in mind, including one who has played a similar role before.
Adam Driver
Opinions regarding the more recent Star Wars movies vary, but one thing most agree on is Adam Driver’s performance as Kylo Ren - a Dark Side wannabe wrestling with an inner desire to use his Force sensitivity for good. From the opposite perspective, the arc feels a lot like how Harvey Dent struggles with his latent, menacing split personality before it is fully unlocked by his disfigurement, turning him into Two-Face. By channeling his Kylo Ren performance in reverse, the Academy Award nominee would be perfect for The Batman sequel.
Antony Starr
Someone who is also well-versed in playing two-faced individuals, as well as comic book characters, is Antony Starr - best known as Homelander in The Boys cast. The leader of The Seven is usually good at appearing heroic to the public, but is actually one of the most despicable characters on Amazon Prime’s hit show based on Garth Ennis’ truly graphic series. The New Zealand-born actor could make a great Two-Face by, once again, portraying this struggle to maintain a clean reputation, but with a more sympathetic angle.
Michael C. Hall
As the lead of the Dexter cast, seven-time Emmy nominee Michael C. Hall gave one of the most celebrated performances of his career as a homicidal two-faced individual. Of course, considering his moral code, I think most think of Dexter Morgan as more akin to Batman, but if the Dark Knight never honored his no-killing rule, that is. By playing Harvey Dent, Hall could revisit that duality he mastered on the hit Showtime series while also tapping into the more damaged psyche of an individual who is completely beyond saving.
Jon Bernthal
Jon Bernthal has played two iconic comic book characters on TV and both give off some serious Two-Face vibes. The former Walking Dead cast member played Shane as the once trusted best friend of the main hero before grave circumstances brought out his true nature, and his vengeful and homicidal Frank Castle on Daredevil and The Punisher was once a kind, everyday individual before losing his family. We also know from both of those roles that he can play unbalanced very well and I’d like to see him lay that on a little thicker in a Batman movie.
Oliver Jackson-Cohen
I think it is clear that Oliver Jackson-Cohen could pull-off Two-Face from his roles in Mike Flanagan’s Netflix miniseries. We saw him wrestle with the demons (sometimes literally) that made him an outcast on The Haunting of Hill House and, on The Haunting of Bly Manor, his character was once a sophisticated and (seemingly) well-intentioned man before he was driven to murder by a violent act committed against him. Not to mention, the Londoner is, kind of, the spitting image of how I would picture Harvey Dent in a live-action setting.
Daniel Kaluuya
Did you ever notice how Daniel Kaluuya rarely plays a character who is not relatively calm and well put-together? For instance, throughout most of 2017’s Get Out, as Chris Washington, he keeps his composure brilliantly before shit really starts to hit the fan in Jordan Peele’s horror masterpiece, at which point he allows himself to let loose and rebel. I want to see the Academy Award winner play Harvey Dent in a similar way in future Batman movies: a cool, trustworthy everyman pushed to the brink of his sanity when he (or, more accurately, the left side of his face) falls prey to a cruel injustice.
Michael Shannon
Some iterations depict Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne as old friends around the same age, such as on Batman: The Animated Series, but I am intrigued by the idea of making the DA older, more experienced, and privately disillusioned by what he has seen on the job - opening the door for his descent even wider. For this, I thought of Michael Shannon, who, surprisingly, received neither of his two Oscar nominations for his mesmerizing performance in 2010’s Take Shelter as a family man trying to keep his life together as he slowly loses his mind. I think seeing him play a Dent who struggles to internalize his maddening discontent would make for an amusing, unique take on Two-Face, which would be his second big DC role after General Zod, whom he is set to reprise in The Flash.
John David Washington
If Matt Reeves was to go with the angle that Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne are old friends, I think he should cast someone who has already proven to have good chemistry with Robert Pattinson. For this, I thought of John David Washington, who previously teamed up with the Batman actor for a mission that exceeds the bounds of time in 2020’s Tenet, from Dark Knight Trilogy helmer Christopher Nolan. Additionally, I think that his portrayal of a charismatic justice seeker in 2018’s BlacKkKlansman would translate very well to a pre-Two-Face Dent, making his post-Two-Face transformation all the more shocking.
Taylor Lautner
If Matt Reeves, instead, reimagined Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne as rivals, similar to how Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart played them in The Dark Knight, I think he should cast someone who knows what it’s like to be at odds with the Batman actor. I am talking about the Jacob to his Edward from the Twilight cast, Taylor Lautner, who has not been given the chance to really show his worth as a performer beyond his career-making role as a werewolf in the blockbuster franchise based on the YA novel series. I would be curious to see his take on Two-Face and to see if it could put him on a new career trajectory like Pattinson’s post-Twilight years.
There are so many great storytelling opportunities in the character of Harvey Dent. Maybe we will see one of the actors above portray the best depiction of the tragic DC villain yet in one of Matt Reeves' next Batman movies.
