While the Joker and Harvey Dent’s Two-Face are a pair of well-known villains in the Batman mythos, there is another character from DC Comics who has a connection to both of them. Duela Dent, also known as the Joker’s Daughter, has a comic book history going back to 1976. The character is getting a turn in live-action thanks to the CW’s Gotham Knights, but just who is she?

Gotham Knights comes to the CW not as part of the main timeline in the Arrowverse, but as a standalone series. The show follows Batman’s son, Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan) as he rounds up a team consisting of the children of Batman’s enemies. When Batman is murdered, they’re all suspects in his death, but Turner believes that they’re all innocent. Duela Dent (Olivia Rose Keegan) is one of those on Turner’s new team.

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Is Duela Dent Really The Joker’s Daughter?

Olivia Rose Keegan as Duela Dent in Gotham Knights

For Gotham Knights, Keegan has described her character as the Joker’s Daughter in interviews, but it’s not clear if that’s the alias Duela Dent prefers to use in the series, or if she’s actually the villain’s daughter. The original character breakdown during casting for the series described Duela as the daughter of Arkham Asylum inmates who was abandoned as a child. That would certainly lead fans to believe that she will be the child of the show’s version of the Joker.

The answer to whether or not Duela Dent is really the Joker’s daughter in comic books, however, is a complicated one. Like many comic book origin stories, Duela’s parentage changes depending on the timeline and the continuity. Her first appearance in comics in 1976, in an issue of Batman Family, had her use the alias for the first time though. After claiming that identity, she also tells Dick Grayson’s Robin that she’s the daughter of Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, and Scarecrow. There’s no shortage of villains that Duella would claim a relationship with.

In that original continuity, before the Crisis On Infinite Earths comic book event would change the timeline of DC Comics in 1985, Duela Dent wasn’t really the Joker’s Daughter though. It was simply an alias she used to gain the attention of heroes and villains. It’s Dick Grayson who was able to deduce her real identity at the time.

Misha Collins as Harvey Dent in Gotham Knights

When Dick Grayson figured out that Joker’s Daughter was really Duela Dent, that was the identity of Harvey Dent’s daughter. Harvey Dent (who will be played by Misha Collins in Gotham Knights) wasn’t interested in having a daughter since she wasn’t a twin, and didn’t have a relationship with her. The DC universe after the Crisis On Infinite Earths event, however, changed drastically. For a long time, Duela’s parentage was glossed over, with her, again, claiming numerous different villains, including Doomsday, to be her parent. She liked to keep the heroes and villains around her guessing. She also went by the alias Harlequin at times instead of the name Joker’s Daughter, a name she retired when Harley Quinn came along.

One comic book storyline featured a Duela from an alternate Earth though. On Earth-3, she wasn’t Harvey’s daughter, but instead, was the daughter of a heroic version of the Joker, and of Evelyn Dent, the world’s Three-Face, their version of Two-Face. That version of Duela Dent was killed when she ended up on an Earth that wasn’t her home. Killing her helped to preserve the correct timeline.

In the New 52 of DC Comics, Joker’s Daughter went through yet another change. That version of the character was so obsessed with the Joker and his plan for Gotham that when he was rumored to be dead, she decided to carry out plans in his name, complete with his face sewn over hers. Duela Dent has had, to say the least, a complicated comic book history.

Is The Joker’s Daughter A Hero Or A Villain?

Jokers Daughter in DC Comics New 52

Like her comic book parentage, whether Duela Dent is a hero or a villain is a complicated question. As the Joker’s Daughter, Duela absolutely commits villainous acts. She steals, picks fights, and even kidnaps members of the Teen Titans. Duela also, however, becomes an ally of the Titans in the comics, which may be a good model for her role in the live-action Gotham Knights series.

Joker’s Daughter isn’t one of the heroes to appear in the Gotham Knights video game (which has no direct correlation to the television series), but a hero’s turn isn’t out of the question. Like the Joker, and likely the reason for her choosing his name to associate herself with, Duela doesn’t mind causing a little chaos, and she loves to use clown-themed weapons to her advantage. She doesn’t always like to use them to help the bad guys though.

Duela’s chief association in the comics, more than the Joker or Two-Face, is the teenage heroes that make up the Titans. Duela wants to help and be a member of the team. She might be a little more violent than them on occasion, and she might be a little more unorthodox in her methods. She even only joins the team at one point after helping another villain torture Titans member Raven at the prison where the Suicide Squad is held - right up until Raven offers her a spot on the roster. As soon as Raven offers her a spot, Duela takes it, turns on the villains, and doesn’t look back. The best way to describe Duella in the comics might be as an opportunistic antihero.

CW’s Batwoman Had Its Own Version Of Duela Dent

Alessandra Toressani as Duela Dent in Batwoman

Gotham Knights isn’t the first time Duela Dent will appear in a live-action series. The Arrowverse has featured a version of the character in the past. Specifically, the Batwoman series sees Alessandra Torresani guest star as Duela Dent, but not as a character who uses the alias Joker’s Daughter.

Instead, Duela is the niece of Harvey Dent in the series, someone who becomes fixated on the perfect appearance. Her fixation becomes one targeted at Gotham’s elite and social media influencers. This version of Duela becomes a serial killer that Batwoman (Javicia Leslie) has to stop but not before Alice (Rachel Skarsten) has already removed the skin of her face, which is when Duela feels the freest. It’s certainly a different take on the character.

Whether Duela Dent will really be the Joker’s daughter in Gotham Knights will be one story fans will have to wait to watch unfold. New episodes air Wednesdays on the CW.

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