DC Just Dropped a Huge Clayface Mystery Ahead of his DCU Movie

It’s a good time to be a Clayface fan. The unique classic Batman villain will be headed to the big screen in the film of the same name opening in theaters on October 23rd and if a solo film starring Tom Rhys Harries wasn’t enough, he’s back on the pages of DC Comics as well. Hitting shelves this week is Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1 and it’s giving fans their best Clayface story in ages with an intriguing mystery about the character’s very identity. But the best thing about it might not be that it’s Clayface with a solo book or even that it’s a great mystery for the character, but it’s how the book is bringing back one specific Clayface and before we see him on screen.

Warning: Spoilers for Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1 beyond this point. In Clayface: Celebrity Dirt, we catch up with Basil Karlo, the original Clayface who is currently behind bars (if you can call containment for Clayface being “behind bars”) at Arkham Towers. The problem with this is that his therapist doesn’t believe he’s Basil Karlo but instead, a different Clayface named Todd Russell. Basil objects and insists he’s really the actor, but the therapist has a response for that as well, not only referencing a different Clayface who “likes to impersonate actors” but also notes that Basil Karlo is a working movie star while this guy, well, he’s stuck in Arkham Towers. Obviously, he gets out (we wouldn’t have a story if he didn’t) and finds there is indeed someone who seems to be Basil Karlo out in the world which calls a lot into question and that is the big mystery—and it’s perfectly timed.

Will the Real Clayface Please Stand Up (And Could It Have Movie Ties?)

What Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1 seems to be setting up here is a mystery of who this supposedly “real” Basil Karlo actually is. Right out of the gate the story disorients us with some questions about our narrator. Is he really Basil? Or is he actually delusional or is there someone out there pretending to be Basil Karlo and, from what we see in the issue, doing some pretty horrific things in the process. We’re only one issue in and I’m already leaning towards the latter (and I’m already on our narrator’s side here) but the thing that I find particularly interesting here is that blink and you’d miss it reference to the Clayface that liked to impersonate actors.

That’s a reference to Matt Hagen, identified by the image that we’re shown in the comic with the dripping mouth and distorted face. If Celebrity Dirt unfolds that there really is someone out there impersonating Basil and living a redeemed life and being a star, and it could very well end up being that the imposter is a delusional Matt Hagen. From what we’re already seeing, this potentially false Basil is doing some heinous things, which is also what is referenced when the therapist mentions the Clayface that impersonates actors.  We’re on a collision course in comics of Clayface against Clayface, but it could also be giving us an opportunity to meet a delusional Matt Hagen who, in this story would already be a villain. The movie coming out this October would then, in a sense, offer us a backstory for how he got there and maybe an explanation for why he’d want to become Basil Karlo.

It’s all speculation of course. We don’t know where Celebrity Dirt is going just yet except for its setting the stage for a seriously good mystery and we also don’t know what direction the movie is going to take with Matt Hagen. It could merely be he’s a great version of Clayface to utilize on the big screen. But right now, it feels like we might be laying some interesting connections and even if they don’t end up being anything, we’re still getting more Clayface and really, that’s a win no matter what.

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1 is on sale now.

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