Harvey Dent is badly burned in an explosion, becomes Two-Face, and then dies after Batman stops him from killing Commissioner Gordon’s son. Afterward, Batman and Gordon choose to hide the truth and preserve Dent’s image as Gotham’s “white knight.”

What happens

  • Dent is caught in the chaos after the Joker’s plan collapses his life.
  • His face is scarred, mirroring the coin-flip worldview he develops.
  • He turns into Two-Face and starts hunting the people he blames.
  • Batman confronts him at the end of the film, and Dent falls to his death.

Why it matters

The big twist is that Gotham never learns Dent became a murderer. Batman and Gordon decide to blame his crimes on Batman instead, because Dent’s reputation is too important to lose. That choice sets up the darker moral ending of the movie.

In one line

Harvey Dent goes from celebrated district attorney to Two-Face, then dies, and Gotham is left with a carefully protected lie about who he really became.

TL;DR: Dent survives the explosion but not the story that follows—he becomes Two-Face, is defeated, and his legacy is covered up.