| Gilda Dent | |
|---|---|
 Interior artwork fromBatman #712 (July 2011), art by Andy Smith. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | As Gilda Dent: Detective Comics #66 (August 1942) As Holiday: Batman: The Long Halloween #1 (December 1996) |
| Created by | Gilda Dent: Bill Finger (writer) Bob Kane (artist) Holiday: Jeph Loeb (writer) Tim Sale (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Gilda Gold, sometimes "Grace" |
| Species | Human |
| Partnerships | Two-Face |
| Notable aliases | Holiday |
Gilda Dent (néeGold), occasionally referred to asGrace, is a fictional character who has appeared inBatmancomic books sinceDetective Comics #66 (August 1942). Associated with her fiancé (later husband) Harvey Dent, who becomes the criminal mastermindTwo-Face, she has since been a recurring character throughout various Batman stories involving him.[1] Her largest role is in theJeph Loeb andTim Sale collaborationBatman: The Long Halloween, where she became the criminal known asHoliday, a serial killer who killed members ofGotham City's crime families in correlation with holidays in the yearly calendar.
She was voiced byJulie Nathanson in theanimated film adaptation ofBatman: The Long Halloween.
In her first appearance,[2][3] Gilda Gold[4] is the fiancée of Harvey Kent (later renamed Dent), the brilliant and handsomedistrict attorney ofGotham City. GangsterBoss Maroni throws acid in Harvey's face during Maroni's trial, scarring half of his face and warping his mind. Because Gilda is asculptor, Harvey believes that she worships beauty; therefore (in Dent's mind), neither she—nor anyone else—could ever love or accept a person with such a monstrously "hideous" face as his. Gilda creates a bust of Harvey, which he smashes with a mallet to symbolize his new, ruined self. Even as Two-Face begins a dual career of crime andRobin Hood-stylephilanthropy, however, he still longs passionately for Gilda, and she for him.
InDetective Comics #80 (1943),[5] she is in the audience when Two-Face and his gang try to rob aclassical concert. Gilda follows Two-Face to his hideout, just as Batman andRobin burst in. When Two-Face, having the drop on the Caped Crusader, pulls his gun and opens fire upon his former ally, Gilda leaps in front of the bullet. Pleading to Harvey that she had to make him "understand… before it was too late…", she passes out, shocking Two-Face into thinking he's killed her. Two-Face turns himself in and Gilda is sent to the hospital.
When Two-Face learns from the doctors that Gilda has lost the will to live, he vows to give up his life of crime. After a final tussle with the last of his men, he undergoesplastic surgery and is released from jail after one year. His face and sanity restored, Harvey Kent promises to finally marry Gilda.[6]
InSuperman Family #211, Harvey Kent (causing confusion with the name ofClark Kent) and Gilda attend the wedding of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (the now-retiredCatwoman). It is presumed that this version of Harvey and Gilda live happily ever after.
Gilda did not return to comics again until the late 1970s inTeen Titans #48 (June 1977), where Harlequin (Duela Dent) claims to be her daughter, conceived apparently during the brief period seen inBatman #234 where Harvey Dent is cured.[7] After Dent's reversion to Two-Face (also seen in flashback inBatman #234), Gilda leaves Dent. She is seen carrying baby Duela in one hand and a suitcase in the other.
InBatman #328,[8] it is revealed that Gilda remarried Dave Stevens, Harvey Dent's former assistant. Stevens is murdered by Maroni, who is subsequently killed by Two-Face as revenge for causing Gilda pain. Two-Face disguises himself as a man named Carl Ternison and courts the newly widowed Gilda, trying to have a normal life with her.
When Gilda discovers the truth, Two-Face's madness escalates, and he eventually traps Batman inside an abandoned courthouse. However, before he can pull the trigger, Gilda intercedes, swearing that if he kills Batman, she will think of him only as a murderer and never forgive him. She gives him an ultimatum: "Will it be vengeance or hope?" Torn apart, Two-Face breaks down and begs her for help. He is arrested, but Gilda promises to be there for him as long as he wants to get better.
Gilda does not reappear untilSecret Origins Special #1,[9] where she (here named Grace) appears on a TV talk show focusing on Gotham's villains. She talks about a time when one of the criminals Dent put away as D.A. returned for revenge by taking her hostage. Two-Face eventually rescued her, beating the ex-con to the point of death, but holding off because Grace demanded he stop. This represents a rare case where Two-Face is not influenced by the coin, but rather by someone else's welfare. She tries once again to appeal to his "good" side, but fails. At the end of the interview, she professes her belief that, one day, Dent would return to her.
Her role in Harvey Dent's past was updated into the currently prominent Two-Face origin:Batman Annual #14 (1990), a story called "Eye of the Beholder".[10] In this story, it is revealed that Dent's father was an abusive alcoholic who would nightly play a game with his young son: "I'll flip a coin: if it's heads, I beat you. Tails, I don't". Dent spends a lifetime burying his rage and resentment, only to discover that the coin was two-headed all along. While Dent is torn between loving and resenting his father, Gilda clearly despises him; she scoffs that after a lifetime of abuse and cruelty, the only thing Dent's father ever gave him was a coin.
Gilda tries to comfort Dent as his sanity deteriorates. She pleads with him when, upon awakening from a nightmare, he races out of their bed in the middle of the night and goes to his office, "where it's safe". After Harvey is disfigured, Gilda visits him in the hospital to try to give him back the coin. It was in his pocket during the trial, and was also hit by some acid, scarring one side of the coin. She last appears in this story right after Two-Face murders his corrupt former assistant, Adrian Fields, tearfully explaining Dent's abuse history to Batman.
Gilda returns inBatman: Two-Face Strikes Twice.[11] Here, she finds herself at odds with her now-ex-husband, as he believes their marriage failed because he was unable to give her children. She later marries Paul Janus, a reference to theRoman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward. Two-Face attempts to frame Janus as a criminal by kidnapping him and replacing him with a stand-in, whom Two-Face "disfigures" with makeup to make it look as if Janus has gone insane just as Two-Face had. Two-Face is eventually caught by Batman and sent away, and Gilda and Janus reunite. Years later, Gilda gives birth to twins named James and Luke, prompting Two-Face to escape once more and take the twins hostage, as he erroneously believes them to be conceived by Janus using an experimental fertility drug. The end of the book reveals a surprise twist; Batman learns from Gilda that Janus is not the father of Gilda's twins - Dent is. Some of his sperm had been frozen after a death threat had been made against him, and she used some of it to get pregnant. Batman uses this information to convince Dent to free the twins and turn himself in.[12]
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After the events ofZero Hour: Crisis in Time, Gilda's entire history has been revised. She has a larger role and story arc inThe Long Halloween,[13] a maxi-series that is part of Two-Face's origin inBatman Annual #14. During the nearly year-long story, a serial killer calledHoliday systematically murders prominent gangsters. During the series, Gilda's marriage to Dent shows signs of strain; she wants to settle down and start a family, while he is obsessed with capturing Holiday. In a private monologue at the end, Gilda states that she was the original Holiday killer, having committed all of the murders up untilNew Year's Eve. Gilda indicates that Dent murderedAlberto Falcone on New Year's Eve, taking her place, and that he was the one responsible for the crimes from that point on. The confession is only known to readers, since Alberto confessed to all the Holiday murders upon his capture. Gilda destroys the evidence of her crimes and leaves Gotham City.
Due to the success ofThe Long Halloween, it has been accepted as the "official" story of Batman's early years afterBatman: Year Two was rendered non-canonical.
DuringDick Grayson's tenure as Batman, Gilda appears standing over a wounded Harvey Dent. TheRiddler reveals that she faked her death and was institutionalized followingThe Long Halloween, where she met Mario Falcone, who suffered a similar breakdown following the event ofDark Victory. After getting involved upon their release, Falcone kept Gilda like a prisoner, and she conspired with the Riddler to steal Two-Face's coin and entice him to rescue her. Knowing that Falcone was on Dent's tail, Gilda faked Harvey's death by appearing to shoot him at point-blank range. When they were finally reunited, she explained how much she missed him, and that she now believed in Two-Face as well as Harvey Dent. Feeling betrayed and manipulated, Two-Face tried to kill her, but hesitated, only to be stopped by Batman. To save Harvey, she shot Batman with a .22, knocking him out and allowing them both to escape. Her ultimate fate remains unknown, and Dick even expressed doubt that she was in fact the real Gilda Dent.[14]
InThe New 52 reboot, Gilda is a socialite that Bruce Wayne introduces to Harvey at a graduation party. She is killed in front of Harvey by Erin McKillen.
An alternate timeline variant of Gilda Dent, referred to simply as Mrs. Dent, makes a minor appearance inFlashpoint, where she is married to Harvey, who is a prominent judge in Gotham, and has two children with him named Dexter and Debbie. Their children are kidnapped bythe Joker and later rescued byBatman.[15]
InFlashpoint Beyond, in which the universe continues in a snow globe afterthe Flash resets the main timeline, Gilda was driven insane from the trauma she endured and murdered Debbie, with Harvey committing her to Arkham Asylum and claiming Debbie died from suicide. When Batman confronts her while investigating the Clockwork Killer, she smashes her face into her shattered cell window and becomes this timeline's version ofTwo-Face. It's revealed that she was working with Joker, who murdered Harvey as the Clockwork Killer, to help her acquire a time machine that Thomas and Martha could use to go back in time and prevent Bruce's death, which she agreed to after learning Harvey's supposed to be Two-Face instead of her.
After realizing her son Dexter would cease to exist if they time-traveled and they'd be no different than the man who killed Bruce, Thomas destroys the machine. Martha kills Gilda when she attempts to kill Thomas and Dexter. Dexter became this universe's Robin, and works alongside Batman to prepare for an incoming Kryptonian invasion.[16]
A character analogous to Gilda Dent namedGrace Lamont appears in theBatman: The Animated Series two-part episode "Two-Face", voiced by Murphy Cross.[17] She is engaged to marry Harvey Dent until he is disfigured while fightingRupert Thorne and becomes Two-Face.
Grace Lamont appears inThe Batman and Robin Adventures.[20]
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