Earlier today, the new trailer for Joker 2, a.k.a. the officially-titled Joker: Folie à Deux, dropped, and while the main draw was obviously all the new footage featuring Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn to enjoy, there was also a big reveal if you had the captions turned on. Some dialogue early on in the preview is attributed to Harvey Dent, a longtime player in the Batman mythos who’s better known as the villain Two-Face. Now I can’t help but wonder if on top of this upcoming DC movie showing Harley’s origin story, will it also show the creation of Gotham City’s duality-obsessed antagonist?
While it hasn’t been officially confirmed who’s playing Harvey Dent in Joker 2, there’s chatter online that Industry’s Harry Lawtey was cast in the role. Regardless of whether it’s him or another member of the Joker 2 cast, what we can say for certain is that Harvey is involved in the events of this 2024 movie, and by the below dialogue, it sounds like he’ll be the Gotham district attorney prosecuting Arthur Fleck for his crimes in 2019’s Joker:
They believe Arthur Fleck to be some kind of martyr. Well, he's not. He's a monster.
That sounds a lot like an opening statement in a courtroom, doesn’t it? Of course, Harvey Dent and the position of district attorney go hand in hand, so if the character was involved in Joker: Folie à Deux some other way, that would be more shocking. However, if we assume this is the case (pun slightly intended), then I worry that the trial of Arthur Fleck will also be where Harvey loses his handsome visage. And by the way, I’m not just saying this because of the Folie à Deux subtitle, although it would be hilarious if that was also in reference to Two-Face along with Joker and Harley’s twisted relationship.
While some projects, including Batman: The Animated Series and The Dark Knight, change the location and method in which half of Harvey Dent’s face is scarred, traditionally-speaking, it’s happens inside a courtroom when crime boss Sal Maroni throws acid onto Harvey’s face. But this is the Joker world we’re talking about; the Clown Prince of Crime already exists while Bruce Wayne is still a child and many years away from becoming Batman, so why can’t he be responsible for melting half of Harvey’s face instead?
It appears like Arthur Fleck will be handling his own defense in Joker 2, so he’ll be able to move around the main court area rather than just be confined to sitting at the table or on the witness stand. We also see in the trailer that Arthur attacks the judge with his own gavel, although given the lighting in that scene, I suspect that will be during one of the fantasy musical sequences. But the scarring of Harvey Dent in real life is something to keep an eye out for, and assuming that this assault doesn’t kill him, then the stage is set for another colorful criminal to shake things up in Gotham.
We’ll find out what’s in store for Harvey Dent in Joker: Folie à Deux when the movie opens on October 4. Stream the first Joker movie, along with the other DC movies in order, with a Max subscription.
