Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Batman: The Long Halloween, Part 2 and the graphic novel Batman: The Long Halloween.
Content Warning: This article contains descriptions of violence against women in a fictional film setting.
The ending of Batman: The Long Halloween, Part 2 varies wildly from the twist ending of the original graphic novel. While the ultimate identity of the true killers at the heart of the story remains largely the same, the motivations are completely different. Additionally, the film does a better job of allowing the audience to figure out the mystery on their own.
Originally published as a 13-part mini-series in 1996, Batman: The Long Halloween is widely regarded as one of the best Batman stories ever told. Set immediately after the events of Batman: Year One, the story details how GCPD Captain James Gordon, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Batman entered into an alliance to bring down the empire of Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, the leader of the organized crime families that were the true power in Gotham City. Their plans were complicated by the emergence of a new serial killer dubbed Holiday, who targeted members of the Gotham mob on major holidays, starting with the murder of Carmine Falcone's nephew, Johnny Viti, on Halloween Night.
The mystery of the Holiday killings drove the plot of Batman: The Long Halloween, even as Harvey Dent sunk deeper into depression over his inability to build a case against Carmine Falcone. By the end of the story, Harvey Dent was transformed into the villain Two-Face and abandoned blind justice for blind chance, leading a mob of supervillains he freed from Arkham Asylum to murder Carmine Falcone in his home. These events still play out in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two, but the film's resolution is quite different from the book.
Two-Face surrendered himself to Jim Gordon and Batman on the rooftop of GCPD headquarters, confessing not only to the murder of Carmine Falcone but all of the Holiday killings. This seemingly confirmed a theory that Batman had developed that Harvey Dent was Holiday, after searching the basement of his home and finding a pair of modified .22 pistols - the exact type of gun used to carry out the Holiday killings. This seemingly solved the case and Two-Face was committed to Arkham Asylum, but there was one thing that troubled Batman about his former ally's confession.
This led Batman to approach Harvey Dent's wife Gilda, whom he found in the basement of their home burning the hat, coat and gun of Holiday in the furnace, along with a collection of photos. Gilda dispassionately told Batman about how, years earlier when she was in college, she had fallen in love with Carmine Falcone's eldest son, Alberto, and how the two had eloped when Gilda discovered she was pregnant. Their romance did not please The Roman, who would not abide a child born out of wedlock in his family, or his son marrying a woman that he had not chosen for him. While his code of honor would not allow Falcone to kill a woman, he did have the marriage annulled and forced Gilda to get an abortion. This built off a conversation in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, where Alberto Falcone spoke to Batman about how much he hated his father for taking away the only woman he had ever loved, just before he was murdered by Holiday.
Years later, Gilda moved to Gotham City, where she married Harvey Dent, figuring that he had the best chance of anyone in bringing down Carmine Falcone's criminal empire and that she could push him towards that end. However, as Harvey began to focus more on battling his own inner demons, Gilda took matters into her own hands and became Holiday, killing Falcone's family and associates off, including her lost love, Alberto. Gilda asked Batman if he intended to arrest her or tell Jim Gordon that Harvey had lied to protect her. Batman declined to answer, beyond confirming that Harvey did not give her up, at least "not knowingly," and that he suspected that Harvey knew who Holiday was after Two-Face acted to cover Holiday's escape following Holiday's murder of crime boss Sal Maroni.
The clue that tipped Batman off as to Harvey Dent not being Holiday was an Oxford University banner hanging in the same basement workshop where he found the matched .22 pistols. Jim Gordon confirmed that Harvey Dent had never attended Oxford, having pursued all of his formal education locally at Gotham University. Knowing that Alberto Falcone had attended Oxford led Batman to the conclusion that Gilda Dent was the lost love that Alberto Falcone mentioned and, logically, the real Holiday killer.
The penultimate chapter of the original Batman: The Long Halloween miniseries ended with Alberto Falcone gunning down Sal Maroni. This was a shocking development, as Alberto Falcone was presumed to be the fourth Holiday victim, having apparently been shot before falling overboard at a New Year's Eve party held on his father's yacht. Alberto Falcone confessed to all the Holiday killings and was committed to Arkham Asylum, just before his father, Carmine Falcone, was murdered by Two-Face.
When he surrendered himself to Jim Gordon and Batman in the final chapter, Two-Face asked them if they had figured out that there were two Holiday killers. They presumed that he was referring to the fact that, having killed Carmine Falcone on Halloween Night, one year after the first Holiday murder, that Two-Face himself was also Holiday, in a way. The truth was revealed in the book's final scene, as Gilda Dent was shown burning the hat, coat and gun of Holiday while talking to herself about how she had committed the first three Holiday murders only for Harvey to have taken over for her after he figured out what she was doing. She also explained to the audience that she did it all for Harvey, hoping that once Falcone was dealt with that they could focus on having a family together without Harvey working the long nights that the Falcone case demanded.
For all the wonderful character moments Batman: The Long Halloween had and how much it has influenced other Batman adaptations (particularly The Dark Knight) it has also drawn criticism from some mystery fans for not giving the audience a fair chance to solve the Holiday murder case on their own. The revelation that Alberto Falcone faked his own murder comes out of nowhere and there is nothing to indicate his involvement beyond the fact that the last two Holiday victims before Sal Maroni were a random coroner and Carmine Falcone's sister, Carla Viti, who was murdered while digging through the records in the Gotham City Coroner's Office. Alberto also had no apparent motive for the Holiday killings apart from wanting to prove to his father that he was capable of helping out in the family business. The idea that Gilda Dent committed the first three murders is equally random, particularly when she was depicted as being hospitalized throughout November and December following the bombing of her and Harvey's house on Halloween Night.
The film version of Batman: The Long Halloween eliminated this plot hole, making it Harvey Dent who was hospitalized following the bombing of the Dent home rather than Gilda. It definitively eliminated Alberto Falcone as a suspect at the end of Batman: The Long Halloween, Part 1, by having Holiday murder him in front of Batman and Catwoman. The Oxford banner clue gave the audience a chance of connecting Gilda to the lost love that Alberto mentioned and the movie also gave Gilda a stronger motivation for murder than merely wanting her workaholic husband to quit chasing after a mob boss and focus on their life together. Additionally, the film's ending does a better job of affirming Batman's abilities as a detective and gives Gilda someone to confess to besides the audience, with it being left completely open as to whether or not Batman will see Gilda punished for her crimes or honor the last noble sacrifice Harvey Dent made before Two-Face took over.
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part 2 has a post-credits scene, which seems to have been included to set up the next DC Comics animated film. The brief scene sees Alfred answering the door of Wayne Manor, a bowl of candy at the ready, expecting trick-or-treaters. Instead of costumed children, he finds costumed men, specifically The Flash and Green Arrow. The brief scene ends with Alfred calling for his employer, saying "It's for you, sir." There was nothing elsewhere in the movie to indicate that this version of Batman was already part of the Justice League or a similar group, so this could be setting the stage for a new animated Justice League movie about the team's earliest days. It may also be setting up the animated adaptation of Injustice, another classic graphic novel series in which Green Arrow and The Flash played major roles.
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