James Gunn’s DCU just pulled one of Batman’s strangest villains out of the shadows, as the first live-action look at Clayface was revealed in a nightmarish, horror-driven new teaser trailer. The upcoming film, appropriately set to release on October 23 at the height of spooky season, introduces one of the Caped Crusader’s lesser-known villains in the DCU’s boldest move yet.
Clayface stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, a rising actor whose life takes a gruesome turn before he becomes the shape-shifting Gotham monster. Rather than playing like a traditional superhero spin-off, the footage leans into full body horror, showing Hagen bandaged, bloodied, and his skin dripping, drooping, and stretching like malleable pottery clay.
Clayface follows Matt Hagen after he is horribly disfigured, pushing him toward an experimental procedure that transforms his body into clay. Naomi Ackie co-stars as the scientist tied to that transformation, while Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, David Dencik, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James round out the cast.
That setup gives the DCU something it has not had yet: a Gotham story not primarily about Batman, establishing the city even though the DCU’s Bruce Wayne has not been cast. That makes Clayface a rare kind of world-building project, one that can establish Gotham’s darker corners without the Dark Knight being present.
Director James Watkins is steering the film from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amin. The story is inspired by the "Feat of Clay" arc of Batman: The Animated Series, which established Clayface as a tragic character rather than just an everyday villain.
Clayface is the fifth Batman-related villain to surface in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU. In a way, the DCU is reverse-engineering its most famous city, allowing Gotham's criminals and superpowered baddies to populate it before introducing its most famous resident.
That approach makes Clayface feel even more important. He is not being introduced as a villain in a Batman movie or a mid-credits tease. He is headlining his own movie, one that DC Studios is pushing as a horror thriller rather than a typical masked-hero adventure.
It also shows how flexible Gunn’s DCU can be. Superman introduced the franchise with classic superhero optimism, Creature Commandos opened the door to adult-oriented animation, and Clayface is now taking a Batman villain into R-rated-adjacent nightmare territory.
Clayface may not have the Joker’s name recognition or the Penguin’s crime-boss familiarity, but he gives the DCU something different: a villain whose powers are visual, psychological, and deeply disturbing.
Other Batman Villains Revealed in DCU
Clayface is far from the only member of the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery to debut in the cinematic universe. Other Batman-related villains have appeared in recent DCU projects, spanning live-action and animation. These are the Batman villains who have already made their DCU debuts.
White Rabbit
Jaina Hudson appeared in Peacemaker, portrayed by Brey Noelle, after interviewing to join the Justice Gang. While the DCU version was framed more as a rejected hero hopeful, the comics version of Jaina Hudson is tied to Gotham City and Batman’s rogues gallery.
Doctor Phosphorus
The animated Creature Commandos introduced Alex Sartorius, voiced by Alan Tudyk, as a radioactive former scientist from Gotham City. In DC Comics, Doctor Phosphorus is traditionally a Batman villain, making his DCU debut one of the franchise’s earliest Gotham connections.
Rupert Thorne
Creature Commandos also brought in Rupert Thorne, a Gotham City industrialist and gangster, voiced by Benjamin Byron Davis. In the DCU, Thorne was responsible for Alex Sartorius’ transformation into Doctor Phosphorus.
Orca
Grace Balin, better known as Orca, appeared in Creature Commandos as a Belle Reve inmate. Her comics history connects her to Batman as a marine biologist who becomes a human-orca hybrid and eventually an enemy of the Dark Knight.
