THEORY: Two-Face's Coin Tosses are RIGGED! (Batman Month) || Comic Misconceptions || NerdSync

Two-Face is an iconic Batman villain focussed on fairness and random chance. He even uses a coin toss to decide if someone lives or dies. But how fair is this exactly? Is Harvey Dent secretly manipulating the outcomes? Is this DC Comics villain using a rigged system of justice in Gotham City? Let's find out as we explore a TwoFace theory that pulls from The Dark Knight, Batman Forever, and Batman: The Animated Series!

Every Wednesday, Comic Misconceptions explores the incredible stories, fascinating ideas, and mind-blowing theories regarding comic books and the rich history and culture that surrounds them!

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Dynamical Bias in the Coin Toss
Lifelong debunker takes on arbiter of neutral choices
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[Medquill]

The skewed bias of the coin toss is a perfect mirror though, for Harvey's working within the justice and political system. As Harvey, he placed his faith in a system that was 'supposed' to be fair and unbias...but wasn't. As two-face he places his faith in the flip of a coin - a system that's 'supposed to be' random and fair...but isn't.

[carlosco]

Two face: get out of my face clown
Joker: which one

[TheyDarthElmo]

I think what's more important is that Harvey thinks it's 50/50 and fair.

[NerdSyncProductions]

This video is 11 minutes long, which is HALF of 22. I think Harvey would be proud!

[mesogot]

The coin is unbiased, Two Face is not. Two Face is a gambler, and like any good gambler Two Face is well aware of some tricks to push the luck in his favor, like, let say, spinning the coin knowing that there is a bigger chance that the face that will punish the other player because is the lightest, or putting extra weight in one side of the coin raising up the posibilities for the heavier side to go down.

[ghostofrecon]

I think the word you're looking for is "politician"

[MaraRhodus]

If Harvey believes the coin is fair, then it's fair, at least according to how he views the world. It's only when he sees that the coin is unfair that he can break from the Two-Face persona and make a decision as Harvey.

[sobrii]

Heads, the coin is enough, tails, it's not.







Tails.

Sorry Harvey, you're gonna have to invest in a quantum computer

[Malicious_Hero]

Did you ever read the Arkham Asylum comic? The staff tried to move Harvey to objects with more and more possibilities, to help him get over seeing everything in black and white. They went from the coin, to a die, to a deck of tarot cards. That gives him 72 options. The downside though, was that at that point, he couldn't even make a decision like going to the bathroom or not.

[NerdSyncProductions]

Wanted to clarify about the *coin tossing machine* from the animated series. Even though it would only be smart to test it before Batman got there, let's assume Two-
Face didn't. Is the outcome still random? No. It does not matter if Harvey knows which side it's going to land on. Heck, he probably thinks this whole machine is 50/50, but it's not. The real-life coin tossing rigs only needed "careful adjustment" to start heads up and lands heads up specifically. Two-Face's rig does not need those adjustments. It can just be let loose. It doesn't matter which side it lands on. The point is that it will likely land the same way each time regardless.

Are there other variables to consider? Sure. Batman could wiggle and such. But if he's strapped down tight without the ability to create enough momentum to change the direction of the enormously heavy coin in the air, then likely it won't matter. We get a dozen Batmen on a dozen coins, and the machine will very likely toss them all the same way. Even if it's not 100% the same, it's far from 50/50, and that's all we need to say it's not Two-Face's ideal "fairness".

[timogul]

One other factor is, with a hand flipped toss, if Two-Face ever wants to cheat, he can cheat. Easily.

The reason is because when you flip a coin and catch it, do you open your hand to show the result on your palm, or do you flip your hand down onto the back of the other and display the result? Two-Face has likely done both in the past, and if he's playing fair, it doesn't matter which you do, but if he wants to cheat, the "scarred" side would have a clear sharp texture to it, if he catches it, he should know the result through touch alone, so if he wants the scarred side, and feels the scars in his hand, he can just flip it onto his other hand. If he feels the smooth side, he just opens his palm. Nobody's going to call him on it.

[mr.honeycomb]

I don't think Harvey is actually concerned with fairness. He likes to profess fairness as some sort of justification for his crimes, but ultimately he does his best to set up scenarios where his coin toss lets him win whatever the outcome.

[brokenquill]

I like BTAS origins for two, Harvey already having schizophrenia and stress and trauma pushing him over the edge. Not to mention Batman causing him to be permanently scared.

[unicorndoublet]

I think that the coin is random. If you don't look that far into it. Historically his coin flip has been mostly 50/50. If you see the dark knight when Two-Face goes on a killing spree, it swaps from
heads to tails 7 times until it finally lands heads twice. In comics, it has historically been 50/50 for the most part, as to if Harvey wants it to be rigged, probably not, but this could be a little thing left by writers. Good catch!

[Loiner_Leftie]

If one side is all scratched, he could flip it without looking and still know the orientation

[meadebe]

I'd say the coin flip is random enough, at least for Harvey, seeing as how he probably doesn't know all the sciences and whatnot being the probabilities.

[ThethSnake]

What if you held the coin vertically and threw it in the air? There's no bias based on the side facing up, but I wonder if the hand you're holding it in and which side is held by the fingers or thumb would make a difference.

[paulo]

dent should just ask batman for a device to give him absolute 50/50 chance with the click of a button

[themichael]

It's fair enough. It's not like he could roll a dice. Remember the Robot Chicken episode that had Two Face get more faces? Can't do that, now can he?

[jetstreamjackie]

I absolutely LOVE the lighting trick at the beginning, where you illuminated one half of your face and kept the other half in darkness. Really subtle, but REALLY effective