Gilda Dent is the wife of Harvey Dent and the serial killer known as Holiday.
Physical Appearance[]
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Biography[]
Marriage to Alberto Falcone[]
While studying law at Oxford university, Gilda met another student named Alberto Falcone, with whom she fell in love and got married shortly after their graduation. At that time though, the two of them had already conceived a child, and Alberto’s father, Carmine Falcone, also known as the Roman, the godfather of Gotham City, did not approve of the fact that his son’s child had been conceived illegitimately. He forced Gilda to abort the child, and forbid either of them to ever see the other one again. This broke not only her heart, but also her mind, as she was unable to accept this and move on. So she swore to take revenge on the Roman and his organisation, as well as his family. She then moved to Gotham and met district attorney Harvey Dent, who was obsessed with taking down the Falcones. She married him and used him to take her revenge, though she would soon take matters into her own hands.
The Long Halloween begins[]
On Halloween night, Gilda decided to finally take action against the man who ruined her life and began to kill one important member of Falcone’s organization on each following main holiday of a month, resulting in the newspapers calling her the "Holiday Killer". Her first victim was revealed to have been Johnny Viti, the Roman's nephew, who ironically wanted to testify against his uncle, due to Harvey’s persuasion. She broke into his apartment and shot him while he was in his bathtub. Following this, she placed her gun, for which she used a nipple as a silencer, as well as a Jack-'O-Lantern, symbolizing the holiday, next to the body and left. She then returned home fast enough for Harvey, who had come home from work, to see her sitting alone in the garden. The two of them talked for some time, but she seemed distant and cold, due to her recently committed murder. Harvey wanted to cheer her up and proposed to watch a movie together, but as soon as they saw the Bat-Signal lightning the sky, which called Harvey to go to a meeting with police captain James Gordon and the vigilante known as the Batman, they both knew it wouldn’t come to that. As Harvey left and went on to take massive actions against the Roman, Gilda was lost more and more in her own thoughts, maybe even regretting her actions, but not seriously thinking about stopping her vendetta. As her husband returned again, she seemed to have been so lost and confused, both due to her conscience as well as some alcohol she had consumed, that she barely was able to think straight. Harvey wanted to help her and lifted her up to take her into their house, but right then an explosion went off, destroying their house and injuring Harvey.
Thanksgiving and Christmas[]
While he was still unconscious in the hospital, Gilda stayed by his side and waited for him to recover. On Thanksgiving, Alberto sent flowers to Harvey’s bedside, adressed at his former wife, in an attempt to make the Falcones, who were obviously behind his asassination attempt, look less guilty, which angered Gilda. Later that night, Harvey woke up and decided to climb out of the hospital’s window, in order to go the the Falcone Tower and pay Carmine a visit. Gilda used this time to leave too, in order to ambush Mickey Chen and the other members of his gang, who were the ones responsible for the attempt on their lifes. while they were having dinner, Gilda snuck into their meeting and killed them, in revenge for planting the bomb in her and Harvey's house, and placed her gun and a pile of food, symbolic for Thanksgiving, next to their corpses. A month later, when the homicidal maniac known as the Joker escaped from the Arkham Asylum, he payed the Dents a visit in their new home. Fortunately though, Gilda was not at home at the time, instead supposedly having gone Christmas shopping, according to the clown. In truth however, Gilda was once again out in her Holiday persona and asassinated Milos Grapa, the bodyguard of Carmine Falcone, leaving behind a snow globe. Luckily for her, the Joker also visited the scene and left mere moments before she shot Grapa, leaving some of his Joker Cards behind, which made Batman think the Joker was behind the murder.
New Year’s Eve[]
A week later on New Year’s Eve, she and Harvey were attending a parade in the heart of the city, where they also meet captain Gordon and his wife Barbara. Shortly before the Joker attacked the parade in a plane, she and Harvey had a an argument about him not spending enough time at home, during which Gilda mentioned her previous husband. While Batman saved the crowd and apprehended the mad jester, before he was able to gas them, Gilda left and made her way to the yacht of the Roman, where a charity was being held by him. There, she found her next target, her former husband, and the man who had betrayed and hurt her more than anyone else; Alberto Falcone. Even though both Selina Kyle and the Batman were present, the vigilante had accused Alberto of being Holiday himself mere seconds ago, none of them saw Gilda enter the scene from behind. As soon as the clock striked twelve and the first January began, she shot her former love multiple times and let him sink to the floor of the ocean, where his body was shredded by the ship's propeller. After being chased by Batman, Gilda managed to escape on a motorboat, but not before she got the chance to leave her weapon and a glass of champagne behind.
Mother’s and Father’s Day[]
Over the course of the following months, she continued to execute members of the cities crime syndicates on every major holiday, namely Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick's Day and presumably April Fools Day, where she killed men both belonging to Falcone, as his arch rival Salvatore Maroni, leaving behind a box of chocolate and a leprechaun figure respectively. Additionally, Gilda also murdered Chong, who had been supplying her with the A.22 pistols she used during her murderous escapades, on Mother's Day and left a basket of flowers for the police and her husband to find. During this time, her relationship with Harvey continuously grew worse, as he buried himself depper into his work, while she always felt absent due to her guilty conscience. On Father’s Day, she shot Luigi Maroni, father of Salvatore, in his residence in the neck and left in time to escape his son’s wrath, though she still found the time to place a tie next to his body. This would later lead to Maroni thinking that Harvey was the real killer, and wanting revenge for his father’s death.
Independence Day and Labour Day[]
On Independence Day, Gilda, Harvey and Captain and Mrs. Gordon, along with their children James Jr. and Barbara, attended a festival at the pier, where she also met Carmine Falcone again, though only for a brief moment. Later that evening, Gilda would get attacked by an asassin, though Harvey saved her, while thinking the hit was on him, and had a fight with the asassin, which he lost and was knocked unconscious. While he was unconscious, Gilda killed the assassin and placed a Statue of Liberty next to his body. Later, after Maroni had thrown acid into her husband’s face and disfigured him for life, both mentally as well as psychologically, Harvey escaped from the hospital once again and disappeared. Gilda mostly stayed at home after that and only left to commit her final two murders as Holiday, Carla Vitti, the Roman's sister and Sal Maroni, presumably also as revenge for harming her husband, whom she killed the former in the Falcone's birthday and second on Labor Day respectively.
Holiday’s End[]
During Harvey's disappearance, the Batman came to her and asked whether she knew where he was at the time, which Gilda denied. When her husband, now calling himself Two-Face, attacked and murdered Carmine Falcone on Halloween night and therefore ended the year known as The Long Halloween, Gilda was under police surveillance by officers Pearce and Renee Montoya, and could not leave to attend that occurrence. While staying at home, Gilda also seemingly expressed sadness and guilt for killing Alberto, even saying that her husband was dead. After her current husband had been locked up in Arkham Asylum, Batman, who in the meantime had figured out the true identity of the Holiday killer, paid Gilda a visit and she explained to him in full detail why she did what she had done. After promising that this chapter of her life had ended with the Roman's death and burning her Holiday disguise, claiming Holiday was not over but rather "finished", Batman decided to let her go, uncharged for the crimes she committed, probably due the fact that it was clear that she had got her revenge and did not loathe for more. In the end though, she claimed to have truly loved Harvey, even though she had used him as a tool for her revenge. Gilda then left Gotham City, wanting to begin a new life, away from her past pain and crimes.
Abilities[]
- Law
- Marksmanship
- Deception
Equipment[]
- A.22 Pistols
Appearances[]
| Appearances | ||
|---|---|---|
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Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One | Appears |
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Batman: The Long Halloween - Part Two | Appears |
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Batman: The Long Halloween - Deluxe Edition | Appears |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Gilda Dent was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and first appeared in DC comics in Detective Comics #66 in June 1942.
- In the original Batman: The Long Halloween comic, Gilda is only one of multiple Holiday killers, as she committed the murders on Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, in order to make her husband’s work easier, by weakening Falcone. After that, Alberto Falcone, with whom she had no relationship in the comics, faked his own death, and took over as Holiday, until he was incarcerated after killing Maroni. It was also kept ambiguous whether Harvey knew about it, or even committed some of the killings himself, or not.
- When Gilda is on screen as Holiday, the character model resembles her husband Harvey more than her. This was likely done in order to conceal her real identity, until the reveal at the end of the next film.