The upcoming DC Studios film Clayface, which is currently in production, will tell an R-rated body horror story about Matt Hagen. As the first DC Universe movie set in Gotham City, it will also have an opportunity to immerse audiences in a new take on the classic location and flesh out some of the shared universe’s history. As Clayface set photos make their way online, fans are getting a better idea of how this iteration of Gotham stands apart, spotting Easter eggs to the larger Batman mythology. The latest image teases the debut of the Dark Knight’s famous sidekick.
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On X, the account DCU PRIME TV shared a new photo from the Clayface set. The image features a flyer for the Flying Graysons stuck on a brick wall. In DC Comics, the Flying Graysons are a group of trapeze artists. They’re a key part of Robin’s origin story; after John and Mary Grayson were murdered, Bruce Wayne adopted their son Dick Grayson and took him under his wing. Check out the image in the space below:
What Clayface‘s Flying Graysons Poster Could Mean for the DCU
At first glance, a Flying Graysons poster on the Clayface set raises some questions about the DCU timeline. Some might take this to mean the group is active in Gotham City and promoting an upcoming performance. That has the potential to be confusing, since the in-development Batman feature The Brave and the Bold is set to revolve around the dynamic between Bruce Wayne and his son Damian. By the time Bruce learned of Damian’s existence, he had already trained several sidekicks as part of a larger Bat Family, including Dick Grayson. So, by the time The Brave and the Bold picks up, Dick’s biological parents should already be dead.
There are a couple of explanations for this, however. One is that Clayface is set years prior to The Brave and the Bold and takes place at a time when all members of the Grayson family are still alive. After all, Clayface appears in Creature Commandos as a fully formed metahuman, so it’s possible the film will be a prequel origin of sorts showing how he came to be. Another theory, one that’s arguably more plausible, is that the Graysons died a long time ago and this flyer was just never removed. Looking at the image, the flyer appears to be a bit weatherd, indicating it’s been hanging on the wall for some time. Its presence in Clayface could just be a bit of visual storytelling to inform fans about what’s transpired in the DCU’s Gotham.
Flyers for the Flying Graysons are present in the Batman: Arkham video game series, even though Dick Grayson operates as Nightwing in that franchise (meaning his parents died long before the games’ events). Clayface could be doing something similar; it’s important for fans to keep in mind that the existence of a flyer does not mean the Graysons are currently alive in the DCU. There’s still so much we don’t know about Batman’s corner of the franchise, and hopefully Clayface will provide a little bit of clarity.
Ultimately, the flyer is probably just an Easter egg meant to be a fun reference for longtime DC fans. The DCU is throwing audiences into the action in medias res, eschewing retelling the well-known origin stories for heroes like Superman and Batman. Metahumans and superheroes have been around for 300 years when Superman picks up, meaning a lot has transpired in this universe already. Incorporating references like a Flying Graysons poster is efficient shorthand to underscore major events in the DCU’s history without needing to dedicate a significant amount of screen time to them.
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