Clayface was always going to be an interesting project, especially because it wasn’t restricted to being part of the rest of the DCU. It’s its own thing; an Elseworlds story similar to Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux. But considering how campy everything else in the DCU has been so far, nobody would have expected that James Watkins and Mike Flanagan would get to go so dark and scary with their adaptation of the Clayface story.
The first teaser trailer is here, and the studio has kept it simple by only giving us glimpses into the life of Matt Hagen (played by Tom Rhys Harries). We see him lying in bed and reflecting on the events that have occurred, as we see flashes of his past and his future as a mutant being.
Hagen was a rising star until his face was ruined by a gangster. Desperate to regain his looks, the actor turns to a scientist portrayed by Naomi Ackie, and things quickly go from bad to… well, his body begins to morph into clay… and he gets a clay face. It’s really in the name of the film.
James Watkins (Speak No Evil) directs. And it’s pretty clear from this teaser that he understands the character and why it’s genuinely scary. Clayface is described as a body horror film, which means you can expect a lot more uncomfortable mutations when the film releases on October 23, 2026.
This isn’t a story about a hero. It’s about the rise of one of Batman’s arch-nemesis. A villain that clearly didn’t fit the world James Gunn’s DCU is building. Could it have worked for Matt Reeves’ The Batman? Probably. But it’s too early to tell if we’ll even get to see that crossover.
As Peter Safran put it: “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.” Gunn doubled down, calling it “totally real” and “psychological and body horror and gross.”
So, yes, the DCU officially has its first horror superhero/villain film. This is the type of comic book movies fans have been hoping for!
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