Clayface: 5 Pertanyaan Terbakar yang Kami Miliki Tentang Film DCU

Warner Bros. has a busy year planned for the fledgling DCU in 2026. Not only are we getting the Supergirl movie and the Lanterns series on HBO, but we can also look forward to a very different sort of superhero project in the form of Clayface, a dark body horror film focused on the titular Batman villain. And now we’ve gotten our first good look at Clayface, with the studio releasing the first teaser trailer for the film online.

Naturally, there are a lot of questions surrounding this new DCU movie, not the least of which being - where is Batman? Are we really going to do a project set in Gotham City without the Dark Knight? Is this film just doomed to repeat the mistakes of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? Let’s explore these and other burning questions surrounding Clayface as we wait for the film to hit theaters in October 2026.

Why Did They Go With the Matt Hagen Version of Clayface?

Comic book fans will know that there have been a great many characters to wear the mantle of Clayface over the decades. They even recently formed a supervillain team together called the Fraternity of Mud. But the Clayface movie doesn’t focus on the original and best-known incarnation of Clayface, Basil Karlo. Instead, star Tom Rhys Harries has been cast as the second Clayface, Matt Hagen.

In the comics, Hagen is depicted as a treasure hunter who discovers a pool of radioactive protoplasm in a cave. Bathing in the pool temporarily grants Hagen the ability to reshape his body. Naturally, Hagen turns to a life of crime and becomes the second Clayface.

Hagen is most notable not for his comic book appearances, but for his recurring role in Batman: The Animated Series. That cartoon reworked the character significantly, drawing in elements of the Basil Karlo version of the character and depicting Hagen as an actor who is disfigured in an accident. Hagen is given an experimental beauty cream called Renuyu by crooked businessman Roland Daggett, but after being force-fed massive amounts of Renuyu, Daggett transforms into Clayface.

The trailer makes it clear that the film is drawing its inspiration more from the animated series than the comics. Based on the limited plot descriptions released so far, we know that Harries’ Matt Hagen is not a treasure hunter, but an up-and-coming actor whose face is disfigured after a run-in with the Gotham mob. With his career in shambles, Hagen turns to radical scientist Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who uses her research to transform him into a being of living clay. It appears that we’ll see Hagen try to cling to his humanity even as he uses his newfound powers to punish those who wronged him.

We have to wonder why writers Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini and director James Watkins specifically landed on Hagen as the protagonist of this story. Why not the original Clayface, Basil Karlo, or one of the many Clayfaces who came later? Is it simply a question of recognition factor? Clayface’s Batman: The Animated Series appearance was the villain’s real mainstream breakout, so it does make sense to lean on that story. But is that all there is to it, or is there something about Hagen’s personality or backstory that makes him the best fit for this movie?

It’s also worth wondering how the film might tie into James Gunn’s Creature Commandos animated series. That’s where Clayface technically already made his DCU debut (voiced there by Alan Tudyk). That series also specifically featured the Matt Hagen version of Clayface rather than one of the many other versions of the villain, so there’s clearly a reason the DCU is focused on him.

Will Batman Appear at All?

Clayface has the dubious honor of being a Batman-adjacent movie that seemingly won’t feature the Dark Knight himself. That’s because it’s hitting theaters years ahead of the debut of the official DCU version of Batman, which will happen in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Until that film defines the look and personality of Batman and actually introduces the next actor playing Bruce Wayne, these early DCU projects are pretty limited in how they can make use of the character.

The lack of Batman in a Gotham City-based horror movie could easily wind up working against the film (and we’ll get more into that in a bit), but should we assume the character won’t appear at all? Is it possible we’ll get some sort of Bat-cameo? We certainly hope so, because it seems bizarre not to feature Batman at all in a story about the origin of one of his major villains. What does it say about his detective skills if Batman doesn’t respond to the rise of a super-powered being wreaking havoc on the criminal underworld?

Creature Commandos showed us one option for including Batman. The Caped Crusader appears in a single shot during Season 1, silent and heavily silhouetted but instantly recognizable all the same. Ideally, Clayface can do something similar. It’s probably too much to hope that this film will serve as the stealth debut of The Brave and the Bold’s Batman actor, but we can at least get a stunt double in a Batsuit to remind us that the Dark Knight is out there and maintaining a watchful eye over his city.

Sometimes, that’s all you really need in a Batman story. Clayface could draw inspiration from a comic like Gotham Central, which focuses on the men and women of the GCPD rather than Batman himself. There, the Dark Knight’s appearances are few and far between, and he’s treated more like a chilling force of nature looming over the more grounded events of the story at hand.

Will Other Gotham City Characters Appear?

We shouldn’t be expecting much, if any, presence from Batman in the Clayface movie, but what about the other denizens of Gotham City? As we’ve seen from previous DCU projects like Superman and Creature Commandos, this shared universe already has a well-established cast of heroes and villains. Superman himself has been active for over three years now, and some characters (like Kyle Chandler’s Green Lantern) have been around for far longer.

It stands to reason that the same holds true for Gotham, and that Batman has a developed supporting cast and rogues gallery by now. Surely some of them have the potential to appear in Clayface, right?

For now, we only have confirmation of two other characters in the film, and both appear to be original creations. As mentioned, Ackie is playing Dr. Corr, and Max Minghella is playing Bates’ boyfriend, an as-yet-unnamed GCPD cop. The cast also includes Eddie Marsan, David Dencik, and Emily Florence, but we don’t know which characters they’re playing yet.

It’s possible that most of the film’s main cast will be new characters rather than ones drawn from the comics, but we’d like to think that there’s some room to include a few familiar faces from the world of Gotham. If Minghella is playing a GCPD cop, that leaves room to include colleagues like Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, or even Commissioner Gordon. We could see familiar gangsters like Sal Maroni or corrupt businessmen like Roland Daggett.

And what of the other Bat-villains? The trailer suggests we’ll at least see some Easter eggs and nods to these characters. One shot shows Hagen walking away from a sign advertising the circus, so clearly the film is evoking the Joker (or possibly Dick Grayson) here. There’s plenty of room to show off other Gotham landmarks like the Iceberg Lounge or include henchmen from gangs serving villains like Two-Face and the Riddler. Anything to create the sense that this is a version of Gotham with a thriving criminal underworld.

That said, James Gunn himself has said not to read too much into the sets in Clayface. Gunn told IGN that the film isn’t necessarily an indicator of where things are heading with The Brave and the Bold and other future Batman-related projects, saying, “We have a guy, Phil, who is now in charge of the DCU Bible of keeping everything consistent and making sure that the cities are the same and the maps are the same and the celebrities are the same, all the stuff that they need to keep consistent. And I don't think he's OK’d all the art department stuff on that movie.

Why Is This a DCU Movie?

Given the limitations looming over Clayface because of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, we have to wonder why Gunn opted to greenlight a Batman spinoff in the DCU before Batman has been established. Why specifically tie the project to the DCU rather than, say, Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe? Why not follow the example of 2019’s Joker and set the film in a completely standalone DC Universe? It certainly worked for Joker (the first time, anyway).

In the case of Reeves’ The Batman universe, we have to assume the director wasn’t eager to allow others to play in that sandbox. Reeves seems to specifically want to have his own, self-contained world to work with, free from the constraints of the larger DCU, and adding spinoffs from other writers and directors only muddies the waters. Plus, The Batman is about as grounded as it gets for the franchise, and we don’t know that this universe has room for legitimate metahuman characters like Clayface.

That still leaves the question of why Clayface is specifically a DCU film and not a Joker-style standalone project. We can’t imagine this film is going to contribute significantly to the larger narrative of the DCU, and going the standalone route would free it from the constraints imposed by being a cog in a much more complex machine. That route would allow the filmmakers to include Batman and his other rogues without worrying about stepping on the toes of The Brave and the Bold.

Maybe the disastrous reception to 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux has soured the studio on the prospect of another standalone, Batman-adjacent film. Maybe they assume the ties to the larger DCU will attract a wider audience who might otherwise ignore an R-rated horror movie. Or maybe Clayface is more important to the DCU puzzle than we realize. This opening phase is called “Gods and Monsters,” after all.

Can Warner Bros. Succeed Where Sony’s Spider-Man Villain Spinoffs Have Failed?

It’s impossible not to draw comparisons between Clayface and Sony’s recent slate of Spider-Man spinoff movies like the Venom trilogy, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter. In both cases, you have a popular superhero franchise where the focus shifts from the main hero to one of his villains. That villain is the subject of an origin story movie where the hero plays little to no role.

It’s hard to argue that this approach has worked very well for Sony, at least over the long term. 2018’s Venom may have been a hit, but the sequels were a clear case of diminishing returns. And the rest of the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe crop have been both critical and commercial duds. It’s gotten bad enough that Sony is looking at rebooting the whole enterprise.

With Clayface, can Warner Bros. truly succeed where Sony failed? That’s probably the biggest question surrounding this project after the whole “Is Batman in it?” thing. Audiences don’t seem to have much tolerance for these superhero spinoffs that lack the heroes in question.

On the other hand, let’s not pretend the lack of Spider-Man was the only thing bogging down films like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter. Yes, the almost total lack of Peter Parker was frustrating, but these films also had deep, fundamental storytelling problems beyond the lack of Spider-Man. As odd as the prospect of a Clayface solo film without Batman may seem, a good movie is a good movie. If the quality is there, and Clayface delivers on the body horror front, audiences may happily excuse the absence of Batman.

Do you think a Clayface movie can work without Batman? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And for more on DC’s cinematic future, brush up on every DC movie and series in development.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.