James Gunn's DC reboot has introduced many intriguing villains since it officially commenced with Creature Commandos. The interconnected universe is about to bring Clayface to live-action, and ahead of his film's release, DC Studios has teased five impressive superhuman abilities he'll be putting to use in the DCU. Clayface arrives in theaters October 23, a body horror film directed by James Watkins from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, marking the DCU's first foray into horror.
Clayface unveiled its final trailer on September 24, teasing Matt Hagen's tragic origin story and what fans can expect heading into theaters. The footage doesn't show Clayface's final form, a deliberate choice, since Watkins has said the full creature will be omitted from the marketing until release, but it does put some of his most impressive powers on display as snippets of Hagen's descent play out.
Per the footage, Hagen is an actor whose face is carved up by a Gotham crime boss, leaving him badly disfigured in one gory image the trailer doesn't shy away from. He seeks the help of Dr. Caitlin Corr, a scientist who puts him on a dangerous experimental drug meant to restore his face.
Unsurprisingly, it doesn't go as planned, and his body begins reacting to the procedure. In one shot, while on a plane, his skin starts to sag and his eyelids melt together. He rushes to the bathroom and uses a pair of scissors to slice them open before the camera cuts away. From there, Hagen's transformation into Clayface takes shape rapidly, displaying superhuman abilities very few characters in the DCU possess.
Clayface's Key Powers Revealed
In the footage, Hagen gradually accepts his situation and embraces what he's becoming. The most impressive of his new gifts is shapeshifting. It's revealed in a scene where Corr tells Max Minghella's character, Gotham detective John Borrelli, that Hagen can change his face, meaning Clayface can take the form of other people.
The character displayed this ability in Season 1 of Creature Commandos, where he killed Dr. Aisla MacPherson, transformed into her, and took her place at Terrebone University. Posing as her, he delivered a bizarre lecture to her class that drew concern and confusion from the students and Rick Flag Sr., who eventually realized MacPherson was being impersonated.
The power translates well to live-action. One shot shows Hagen shifting from Eddie Marsan's character back to himself, his features melting across his face as he rubs a hand over it. Clayface having this ability also aligns with word that the live-action version is the same one from Creature Commandos, and it's central to who he is in the comics. On the page, Clayface uses his shapeshifting cunningly. At one point, he impersonated Bruce Wayne and attempted to take over Wayne Industries, only to be foiled by a Batman who had anticipated the move.
As Hagen gains control of his newfound gifts, one of the most useful is turning parts of his body into weapons, a huge asset in close combat. In one shot, he transforms his hand into a giant mace, its silhouette reflected on the wall. Whoever he's attacking isn't shown, but it's likely Corr.
After all, she played a major role in his predicament. This ability, like shapeshifting, also showed up in Creature Commandos, during Clayface's fight with Rick Flag and Eric Frankenstein when they busted him for the MacPherson impersonation.
In that brawl, he shaped his arm into deadly objects and injured Flag so badly he nearly died. So far, the weapon transformations in the DCU aren't as diverse as the comics, where Clayface fashions everything from chainsaws to blades and drills. Perhaps we will see a much larger arsenal of weaponry when the film arrives.
Arguably the most brutal ability on display in the trailer is absorption. Thanks to his clay physiology, Hagen can absorb things into his body, including people. In the footage, he's seen pushing a man's head inside himself, suffocating the victim. It's more disturbing than most of his gory transformations, showing how far down the path of villainy he's gone.
This is one of his trademark moves in the comics, and the DCU has shown it before, in that same Creature Commandos fight, where he nearly absorbed Frankenstein whole before Eric broke free by electrocuting him. On the page, the ability is even more potent.
Clayface can absorb people whole and take their powers with them. In Wonder Woman #160, he gave Diana a surprisingly hard time by absorbing her abilities, even gaining flight. He could barely believe it himself when he started hovering in the air. Wonder Woman eventually beat him, but only with Donna Troy's help.
Another ability Hagen picks up is super strength, which isn't exactly surprising given everything else. In one scene, he smashes a mirror with his bare fists and seemingly feels nothing. Since Clayface can turn those fists into virtually any weapon, abnormal physical strength comes with the package. In the comics, he's strong enough to haul cars at his enemies, tear down doors, and lift most heavy objects.
His physiology also makes him incredibly durable. Since he's basically made of mud, he can tank most physical attacks. The trailer shows this in a scene where an assailant punches him while he's on the ground. His face simply melts like candle wax, and the blows do nothing. Simple fists are useless against a body that absorbs extreme trauma. In the comics, he's survived Superman's heat vision, explosions, and a fall into a melting furnace, so tanking punches is nothing.
Clayface Is Still Missing Some Impressive Abilities From the Comics
As impressive as his power set is so far, the character is capable of much more than the DCU has shown. One of those abilities is cloning. In the comics, pieces of the Cassius Payne version of Clayface can split off from his body and develop minds of their own. Basil Karlo, the original Clayface, later gained a combined version of the other Clayfaces' powers as the self-declared Ultimate Clayface and could use that power too.
Another ability yet to translate to the DCU is the corrosive touch, which belonged to Preston Payne, the third Clayface. It allowed him to melt people with a single touch, a deadly gift Karlo later acquired when he injected himself with blood samples from Payne and Sondra Fuller to become Ultimate Clayface. If Gunn ever gives Matt Hagen an ability like that, it would make him far deadlier than he already is.
Ultimate Clayface could also absorb people with a single touch, a level of power the DCU's Clayface hasn't reached. Beyond the movie, the character's future in this universe is unclear, but there's a chance he could play a bigger role once the DCU's Batman is introduced. When that day comes, Clayface's powers might well have expanded beyond the ones highlighted here.
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.
