Clayface is a Batman villain through-and-through, but rather than showing up in Elseworlds’ The Batman 2, he’s making his DCU debut with a standalone movie – James Gunn has now explained why.
With Superman in cinemas now, the future of Batman hangs in the balance. There’s a strong case to be made for Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves’ Caped Crusader crossing over to Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DCU, but there’s no indication that this will happen.
The upcoming DCU slate includes The Brave and the Bold, a standalone film set to introduce a brand new Batman, separate from Reeves’ continuity. This could change down the line, but for now, Gunn is sticking to his, well, guns.
Before then, we’ve got the anticipated Supergirl, followed by Clayface – the DCU’s first R-rated movie. Even though Reeves will serve as a producer, it’s not connected to The Batman in any way.
Why Clayface is in the DCU and not The Batman
At a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn and Safran explained why Clayface is headed to the DCU rather than Reeves’ The Batman universe: it’s all down to tone.
Essentially, due to the latter’s more grounded approach to superhero storytelling, they felt the shapeshifting supervillain – whose body becomes malleable like clay – made more sense in their cinematic universe.
As Gunn explained, “Clayface is totally DCU… It was very outside of the grounded non-super metahuman characters in Matt’s world.”
Safran continued, “The only thing that’s in Matt’s world, his Crime Saga that he’s telling, is The Batman Trilogy, The Penguin series, that’s in that lane.
“So still under DC Studios, still under us. We have an incredible relationship with Matt, but those are the only things.
“It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It’s an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world.”
There are a lot of reasons to be excited about Clayface, including the fact that it will be a body horror and the first R-rated movie in the DCU.
In a separate interview with CBS Mornings, Gunn said it’s “a totally different thing. Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film.”
“There’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is going to be like Superman,” he added. “The artists and the directors and the writers that create each one will bring their own sense to it.”
In Clayface’s case, it has some incredible talent behind it. Firstly, horror icon Mike Flanagan has formed the basis for the script, while Safran said they are close to confirming See No Evil remake director James Watkins to helm the project.
“I think some of you are probably aware that we’re in negotiations with James Watkins now to direct, and we’ll start casting this as soon as we have the director deal done and we’ll shoot this summer,” Safran added.
“It’s slated for a fall 2026 release. Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those.”
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