‘Gotham’ elects a ‘Heroes’ veteran as its Harvey Dent

Yet another one of the most famous villains in Batman lore is coming to FOX in his nascent form.

HitFix can confirm that Nicholas D'Agosto has been cast as Harvey Dent in “Gotham,” which has been a solid early success for FOX. D'Agosto will be a recurring guest star for the remainder of the first “Gotham” season with a series regular option for the second season which is, as of now, both likely and hypothetical.

If you were worried that Harvey Dent would be, like, the captain of high school debate team running for sophomore class president, worry not. This incarnation of Harvey Dent will be an idealistic Assistant District Attorney in Gotham. For now, he's committed to eradicating crime and corruption in Gotham, which we know is pretty much a lost cause. 

Of course, things aren't going to be eternally rosy for Harvey Dent. 

Do I really need to include a “Spoiler Alert” here?

Anybody with a passing knowledge of Batman mythology knows that Harvey Dent will eventually become the grotesquely deformed Two-Face. We'll see hints of his duality, but it's unlikely we're going to get to Two-Face any time in the foreseeable future, presumably.

On the big screen, Harvey Dent has been played by Aaron Eckhart, Tommy Lee Jones and Billy Dee Williams. In animated form, he's been voiced by the likes of Christopher McDonald and Richard Moll.

D'Agosto has most recently been seen TV in “Masters of Sex” and “Review.” He's no stranger to the superhero genre, having appeared on “Heroes.”

When I interviewed “Gotham” star Ben McKenzie last month, he said he was looking forward to Harvey Dent's arrival in the show's universe.

“I'm more of a geek for the more intellectual sides of these things, which is like if Jim [Gordon] is the guy on the streets enforcing the law, or where the rubber meets the road between crime and law, what does the legal system look like?” McKenzie said. “Cuz it's gotta be a mess. It's gotta be completely corrupt and totally fascinatingly broken. So Harvey and Jim, I feel like, could be on the same side, opposite sides, they could converge and diverge and converge again.”

Check out the rest of that interview here. 

“Gotham” airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.

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