The Clayface movie trailer has given the world its first look at one of the most unlikely DC characters to get their own movie. For longtime DC fans, there was plenty of familiar imagery in the trailer that calls back to everything from some acclaimed DC comic book story arcs, to famous shows like Batman: The Animated Series. However, for many casual viewers, the Clayface trailer may not carry any real signifiers that this movie is based on a Batman villain.
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Writer Mike Flanagan (Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) and director James Watkins (Speak No Evil) are clearly going for a body-horror tone with this film, but that’s only the surface level. Clayface is a character with a long history of lore behind him, and knowing more about it will only make the experience of the movie that much better.
Batman Has Faced Multiple Clayfaces
“Clayface” is the alter-ego of at least eight different characters who have appeared in DC lore, going back to 1940. It started wth Basil Karlo, a washed-out B-list actor who goes insane and uses the disguise of a villain he played, Clafyface, to commit a series of serial killings, based on his old films, until he was foiled by Batman.
Introduced in 1981, the second Clayface was Matt Hagen, a treasure hunter who found a radioactive protoplasmic substance in a cave pool. After falling in, Hagen becomes a lumpy clay monster able to morph his entire body into almost any form, with the only catch being the need to return to the pool now and again to revitalize his form. Third came Preston Payne, a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist suffering from a rare disease, who takes a sample of Matt Hagen’s blood and tries to cure himself, only to end up destabilizing his own physical form, requiring a containment suit to hold himself together. Payne was also cursed with a corrosive contagion that eats at him unless he regularly transmits it to others, via touch. He was a sci-fi creation fitting for the era of the late-1980s.
In the 1990s, Batman: The Animated Series changed the character of Clayface forever by mashing up the Basil Karlo and Matt Hagen versions of Clayface into a composite character: An actor who was in a car accident that leaves him disfigured. He starts using an experimental face cream called “Renuyu” to rearrange his facial features at will and maintain his good looks. Hagen is forced by his supplier, the ruthless industrialist Roland Daggett, to use Renuyu to impersonate Bruce Wayne and lure Lucius Fox into an ambush, framing Bruce for the crime. After the job, Hagen tries to steal a massive stock of Renuyu to get out from under Daggett’s thumb; he’s caught and drowned in the substance, which transforms his body into a lump of clay he can change and mold at will, including impersonating anyone by morphing into them.
The Batman: TAS version of Clayface became so famous that during the 2010s “Rebirth” initiative, DC retconned the comic version of Boris Karlo to be like the TAS version of Matt Hagen. That included Karlo using a cream to change his facial features.
Which Version of Clayface Is The Movie About?
Clayface, the movie (2026), seems like it will be doing a composite of the first three Clayface characters, with some Animated Series influence mixed in. The film will follow Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a rising actor who gets his face disfigured by a gangster. Desperate, he turns to a scientist for an experimental treatment, which gradually transforms him into a clay-like monster.
Again, while the film is doing its own take on the character, there are definitely elements of Boris Karlo, Matt Hagen, and Preston Payne’s lore involved with this movie adaptation. Hopefully, the best bits of character and lore from each version get distilled together into a compelling new vision.
Is Clayface in the Same DCU Universe As the Superman Movie?
Clayface is indeed set in the same DCU franchise as James Gunn’s Superman (2025) movie. Even with its horror tones, the actual character of Clayface will coexist with David Corenswet’s Superman and other DC heroes and villains, including the upcoming film Supergirl, and the upcoming HBO series, Lanterns. In fact, Clayface has already appeared in the DCU, as part of the Creature Commandos animated series. So the crossover work is technically already done.
Is Batman In The Clayface Movie?
James Gunn and everyone involved with Clayface have downplayed any Batman appearance in the film, much to the chagrin of a lot of fans. While surprise cameos are always possible, behind the scenes, DC Studios has not (yet) announced the actor who will play the DCU version of Batman; Clayface doesn’t seem like it will be the launchpad for such a pivotal franchise character.
If anything, the villain’s film could be an origin that leads up to his life of crime and encounters with the Dark Knight. Creature Commandos got around this hurdle with a silhouetted appearance from Batman (see above); a shadow silhouette of Batman on the wall (a visual theme in the film’s trailer), or a rear shot of the Cape Crusader’s cowl and cape would be easily doable, without the need to confirm any particular actor for the role. But in terms of marketing, Clayface is following Joker (2019) by presenting itself as a Batman villain origin story, with no Batman in it.
Clayface has a release date of October 23rd. Discuss the trailer with us on the ComicBook Forum!
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