James Gunn's DCU has a new Batman spin-off movie coming to theaters soon, and it has officially received an R rating. Since Gunn's DC reboot commenced in 2024, several of its streaming projects have earned TV-MA ratings, while the theatrical releases have stuck to the PG-13 rating typical of superhero blockbusters. Before the year ends, though, the DCU will take its biggest swing yet with its first R-rated theatrical release, centered on a famous Batman character.
DC Studios' upcoming Clayface, arriving October 23, received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association, joining an exclusive club of DC Studios releases to earn such a mature classification. The MPA cited "strong bloody violence, gore, language, some nudity, and brief drug use" as the reasons for the rating. This comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with Clayface's premise. Long before the rating arrived, the movie had been marketed as a body horror built around the character. Comic book fans know the first Clayface as Basil Karlo, but the DCU is bringing the Matt Hagen iteration to the screen. Clayface has always been a violent character, so it's fitting that his big-screen debut carries a mature rating, one that can properly show general audiences how vicious the Gotham rogue is.
In the Clayface movie, Matt Hagen is a fast-rising actor whose face is disfigured by a Gotham gangster wielding a knife. The gruesome nature of the wound is shown in the movie's trailer, which again makes the MPA rating unsurprising. Desperate after the attack, Hagen seeks help from Naomi Ackie's Dr. Caitlyn Corr, a fringe scientist who introduces him to an experimental drug that could fix his face. Unfortunately for Hagen, the procedure has adverse side effects.
His skin starts to sag and melt like candle wax, and the condition gradually strips him of his humanity as he descends into villainy. Since the story is set in Gotham and Clayface is a major Batman villain, the movie has been classified as a Batman spin-off, or at least a Batman-adjacent movie.
The violent nature of Hagen's attack, the dangerous experimental drug he's treated with, and the gory transformation of his skin into clay sum up Clayface's mature rating. DC Studios co-president Peter Safran compared the film to David Cronenberg's The Fly, one of the most iconic body-horror movies ever made, which also happens to be rated R. Gunn himself predicted the movie's rating back in June of last year, saying, "It's most likely rated R. It's pretty intense," as he expressed his love for the film.
Clayface will also be quite short, with a runtime of 1 hour and 48 minutes, typical for an intense horror film. In fact, it matches Supergirl as the shortest DCU movie yet. The film's director, James Watkins, clearly wants to put audiences in a state of terror, and pairing a tight runtime with a mature premise helps him do so.
With Clayface locking in a mature rating, it makes one wonder which ratings DC Studios' upcoming Batman-related projects will get. It's worth noting that not every project under the DC Studios banner belongs in the DCU continuity. The films and shows outside DCU canon fall under the Elseworlds designation.
Every Upcoming Batman Project and Its Expected Rating
The Batman Part II - PG-13
Matt Reeves' The Batman sequel is filming now in England and Scotland, with Robert Pattinson back under the cowl. Numerous photos and videos from the set have surfaced online, and it looks like the sequel will pack plenty of hard-hitting action when it arrives in theaters.
Reeves announced the film's February 18, 2028 release date in July, nearly six years after the original, alongside the first camera test footage of Pattinson in the suit. Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Charles Dance, Brian Tyree Henry, and Sebastian Koch join the cast, while Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, and Andy Serkis return.
The characters the new cast members are rumored to be playing already hint at how dark this movie could get. Stan is reported to be playing Harvey Dent, Gotham's district attorney who becomes Two-Face, a Batman villain nearly as violent as Clayface.
The film is also rumored to draw from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's "The Long Halloween", a pretty mature storyline. Even so, The Batman Part II is a highly anticipated blockbuster aimed at general audiences, so a PG-13 rating is the likeliest outcome despite its dark, brooding tone and violent characters.
The first film earned a PG-13 rating for strong violent content, drug material, and language, and it pushed that rating to its limits. The sequel is expected to do the same, serving up plenty of violence but not so much that families are shut out of theaters.
Dynamic Duo - PG-13
DC under Gunn and Safran seems very interested in Batman characters. The studio is bringing another Batman-adjacent movie to theaters without the Caped Crusader himself after The Batman Part II releases. Dynamic Duo is an animated collaboration between DC Studios and Swaybox Studios, an animation studio famed for blending puppetry, stop-motion, and CG. Arthur Mintz, the studio's co-founder, is set to direct.
The film follows Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, the first two Robins, whose friendship is put to the ultimate test as they mature and take diverging paths. Dick Grayson takes the side of good and joins Batman, while Jason Todd is drawn to the dark side and joins the Red Hood gang.
Dynamic Duo was initially set to release on June 30, 2028, but has since been delayed to September 22, 2028, with Warner Bros. reportedly repositioning it as a back-to-school animated feature for teens and college students.
With the Red Hood gang involved, the film is likely to feature a lot of violence. At the end of the day, though, it's a theatrical animated movie, and those are typically aimed at families, so a PG-13 ceiling makes sense, and a PG rating remains possible as well.
The Brave and the Bold - PG-13
Among DC Studios' Batman projects, the most important one is The Brave and the Bold, as it's the DCU's canon Batman film. Word on the movie has been scarce, but the few details revealed so far give a fair idea of where it might land with the MPA. The movie will pair Bruce Wayne with his son Damian Wayne as Robin, taking inspiration from Grant Morrison's comic run, which introduced the character. Andy Muschietti, who directed the DCEU's The Flash, is still officially on board to direct.
Christina Hodson was also recently brought on as the film's scribe, a decision Gunn has defended after it faced heavy backlash from fans over her work on The Flash and the canceled Batgirl movie. It's unclear when exactly Brave and the Bold will release, with Gunn saying he doesn't want to "cloud the Batsphere" before The Batman Part II arrives.
As the flagship Batman of the DCU, this film needs as much reach as possible, just as Superman got. Damian's League of Assassins background brings violence to the table, but PG-13 will be the likeliest classification. An R rating for the franchise's main Batman would cut out the younger audience the DCU wants to grow, so a PG-13 rating makes the most sense.
Absolute Batman - TV-14/TV-MA
DC Studios is also working on an Absolute Batman series. The show was announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June, where it was classified as an adult animated series currently in development. It adapts Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta's hit Absolute Batman comic, with Snyder serving as executive producer and showrunner and Dragotta as producer.
The top-selling book reimagines Bruce Wayne as a working-class hero, stripping him off his original wealthy background. Anyone who has read the Absolute Batman run knows how gritty it is, and that grittiness is set to translate to the screen in the animated adaptation.
This places the series in TV-MA territory, the same designation the DCU's Creature Commandos received when it premiered in December 2024 and kick-started the DCU. The comic's brutal fights and terrifying villains make a mature rating the best way to properly bring the source material to life. It could still land a TV-14 rating if the series softens the violence for a wider audience, but given the nature of the comic, TV-MA is much more likely.
For those unfamiliar, TV-MA is the most restrictive rating for television and streaming programming, marking content as unsuitable for viewers under 17. In a sense, it's the R rating of TV. TV-14, on the other hand, covers material unsuitable for children under 14, making it roughly the PG-13 of television.
Untitled Deathstroke/Bane Movie - PG-13/R
DC Studios has another Batman villain movie in the works, and it will likely skip the Dark Knight himself once again. This untitled film is centered on Deathstroke and Bane, two of Batman's most notorious rogues.
According to reports, the villain team-up became a priority at DC Studios over the summer, with the studio lining it up to shoot next now that Man of Tomorrow has wrapped. Matthew Orton, who wrote an episode of Marvel's Moon Knight, was tapped to pen the screenplay as far back as 2024, and Greg Mottola emerged as the frontrunner to direct in May. Mottola is best known for comedies like Superbad and Adventureland, but he's already part of the DC Studios family after helming episodes of Peacemaker.
A movie pairing two of DC's deadliest villains invites the possibility of an R rating. Clayface already proved that the DCU has the guts to deliver R-rated films revolving around Batman's rogues. Depending on where the script goes, this film could easily land in either R-rated or PG-13 territory.
Teen Titans - PG-13
A Teen Titans movie is another key film in Gunn and Safran's ten-year plan for DC storytelling. Ana Nogueira signed on to write this live-action film in 2024. However, it's currently unclear when it will arrive, especially now that Nogueira has shifted her attention to writing the DCU's Wonder Woman movie first, leaving the Titans on the back burner.
Whenever it arrives, PG-13 is the likeliest rating the movie will get. The team traditionally forms around Batman's sidekick Robin alongside young heroes like Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg.
These are heroes general audiences adore because of the popular animated Teen Titans adaptations most people grew up on. A PG-13 designation is a no-brainer, as DC would not want to alienate part of its fan base from one of the most family-friendly superhero groups it has.
Joker: Laugh Riot - TV-14
DC Studios' first anime series, Joker: Laugh Riot, was officially greenlit at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, with DC animation veteran Jim Krieg executive producing and Yasuhiro Aoki directing. The premise is intriguing, flipping Batman and Joker's rivalry on its head. In the series, which is not set in the DCU, Batman is murdered, sending Joker on a vengeful crusade through Gotham's underworld to find the killer who took his greatest adversary from him.
That murder mystery premise, paired with Joker's infamous methods, could push the show toward TV-MA. Still, DC's animated action fare typically gets a TV-14. The anime format suggests DC wants to attract a broader fanbase, so a TV-14 rating with enough violence to do the premise justice seems like the best option.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
