Clayface, welcome to the DCU.
Warner Bros. brought the first footage for DC’s upcoming “Clayface” film, centered around the shape-changing Batman villain, for Tuesday’s CinemaCon presentation. Directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, the film puts a horror spin on the baddie (in this iteration, on-the-rise actor Matt Hagen), portrayed by Tom Rhys Harries.
The first teaser for “Clayface” begins by flashing between scenes of a man whose face is brutally scarred and Harries as the aforementioned Matt Hagen.
As we continue cutting to Matt, we begin to see his face losing its composure, melting and drooping as he struggles with his new powers as Clayface. A silhouetted shot shows him using his iconic spiked hand, showing that he has powers beyond simply changing his face.
The end of the trailer, set to the song “Do You Realize” (previously featured in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”) shows Matt in a bath tub before his face completely loses all features and becomes a clay-textured mess of flesh.
“Clayface” marks a big departure for the DCU — and DC Comics films as a whole. Following “Superman” in 2025 and “Supergirl” in summer of 2026, James Gunn has planted his flag by making the third movie in his fledging universe something tonally distinct.
It’s a decidedly smaller film, trading two of DC’s flagship heroes for a villain that probably doesn’t even crack Batman’s top five for many fans. Rather than being a sci-fi epic or family blockbuster like “Superman” and “Supergirl,” “Clayface” puts a body horror spin on comic book lore, leaning fully into horror territory.
There have been several iterations of “Clayface” in Batman comics, with the most prominent probably being the first, Basil Karlo. Karlo was created by Batman founders Bob Kane and Bill Finger, introduced in 1940’s “Detective Comics #40.” The Matt Hagen iteration of the character wouldn’t come around until 1961’s “Detective Comics #298,” written by Finger and drawn by Sheldon Moldoff.
Future iterations of Clayface include Preston Payne, Sondra Fuller, Cassius “Clay” Payne (the son of Preston and Sondra) and Todd Russell. Traditionally, Basil Karlo is the version of Clayface that has acting ambitions, while Matt Hagen is a treasure hunter given shapeshifting powers by a radioactive pool he stumbles upon in a cave.
“Clayface” releases in theaters Oct. 23.
