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Task Force Z #4 once again teases the possible redemption of one of Batman’s worst villains, but can he ever really be a heroic character?
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Task Force Z #4, on sale now from DC Comics.
The rogues of DC’s most iconic hero, Batman, have an interesting history with redemption. While there have been some former villains like Harley Quinn or Catwoman who’ve genuinely found their way to heroism, there’s also a litany of villains who tried — and failed — to find redemption.
One of the most common examples of this is Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, whose tragic origin makes all these attempts to become noble again even more sad. Even worse, Task Force Z #4 (by Matthew Rosenberg, Eddy Barrows, Kieran McKeown, Eber Ferreira, Dexter Vines, Adriano Lucas, and Rob Leigh) reveals that Two-Face is once again trying to redeem himself. But is there ever any chance of Harvey Dent genuinely becoming a force for good?
Harvey Dent’s history in the DC Universe has long painted him as one of Batman’s most tragic foes. Formerly a well-meaning District Attorney, his scarring and ensuing mental degradation resulted in him becoming a monstrous villain. Over the years, however, his place in the ecosystem of Gotham has been challenged. The possibility of this newest attempt at redemption for Dent lies with Task Force Z. Revealed to be “Crispin,” the team’s mysterious handler, Dent ends up being confronted by the Red Hood. As an exasperated Dent explains, he runs Task Force Z as a potential pilot program under the command of the United States Government. Dent also points out that his position with Task Force Z comes from a genuine attempt to do something good.
Dent argues with Jason about having a real sense of civic duty, and is searching for redemption. But he also knows he won’t find it with anything above board, due to his personal appearance and history. Working with the government behind the scenes gives Dent the chance to go back to being a “decent human” and do something positive with his life. He even chose Jason Todd for this assignment because he saw an unlikely kindred spirit — someone who needed the chance to improve themselves. Unfortunately for Dent, Amanda Waller arrives to more or less shoot down any plans he has for Task Force Z, leading a desperate Dent to send his team on a deadly mission to confront their rivals in Waller’s deadly Task Force X.
This isn’t the first example of Harvey Dent trying to escape his role as a villain. One of his more noble origin stories set him as Gotham’s white knight, which became one of the central themes of his most famous appearance in other media, Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight. The Post-Crisis version of Harvey Dent had multiple storylines (most notably the post-Infinite Crisis storyline “Face the Face”) in which Dent truly seemed to try to redeem himself. In Catwoman: Lonely City, a possible future endgame for Dent sees him embrace public office to become Gotham’s Mayor after helping the police and firefighters during “Fool’s Night.” His Batman ’89 incarnation was a genuinely good man, driven to a dark path by his shattered mind. However, each attempted redemption resulted in his eventual return to villainy.
Two-Face’s status as one of Batman’s most iconic villains makes it difficult for the character to ever truly escape his dark side. His history and placement among the Bat-Rogues make him a uniquely tragic but dangerous figure. Dent is also responsible for some truly terrible acts. Such a villain attempting to genuinely redeem himself, while interesting, presents serious challenges considering all the terrible crimes he has committed over the years. This places him in stark contrast to someone like Harley Quinn, who was manipulated into becoming a villain by the Joker. Dent’s actions, even defined by his neurosis, are still his own. Every past attempt to redeem him has failed, and by the end of Task Force Z #4, he appears to be falling back on his more villainous nature.
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