DC's Clayface Movie Is Clearly Borrowing From One Of The Best Batman Stories Ever
by Devin Meenan · /FilmWho could've predicted that the third movie in James Gunn's relaunched DC Studios, coming off of logical picks like "Superman" and "Supergirl," would be... "Clayface," a solo movie for a B-list Batman villain. Actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) loses his career after he's attacked and horribly scarred by a criminal. Desperate to restore his old life, he takes a mutagen that makes his body malleable like clay.
Rather than adapting a "Batman" comic book, "Clayface" is primarily inspired by "Feat of Clay," the villain's debut appearance on "Batman: The Animated Series," where Matt Hagen was voiced by Ron Perlman. Horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who first pitched a "Clayface" movie and retains a co-writing credit, outright called "Feat of Clay" his main influence (via Popverse). Even if he hadn't, any Batman fan could tell that from the newly released "Clayface" trailer.
"Feat of Clay," directed by Dick Sebast (Part 1) and Kevin Altieri (Part 2), and co-written by Marv Wolfman and Michael Reeves, also depicted Hagen as an actor. Disfigured in an accident, he was visited in a hospital by corrupt industrialist Roland Daggett (Ed Asner). Daggett asked Hagen to become the test subject for his experimental anti-aging skin cream, Renuyu, and a desperate Hagen accepted. An overdose turned him into the mud-ball monster that is Clayface and destroyed his sanity.
The opening shot of the trailer shows Hagen in the hospital with a bandaged face, echoing the shot from the episode where he first accepts the Renuyu. From there, the trailer shows flashes of similar beats to "Feat of Clay," along with some frightening body horror (like Matt wiping his face). Can director James Watkins ("Speak No Evil") and Flanagan do justice in remaking one of the best "Batman: The Animated Series" episodes?
Why Feat of Clay is an animated Batman masterpiece
Over 30 years after its debut, "Batman: The Animated Series" remains widely regarded as the definitive Batman series. I could rattle off two dozen episodes and make an argument for each as one of the best Batman stories in any medium. What makes "Feat of Clay" stand out? It was produced early in the show's run and was a sign of its ambition. "Batman" was a cartoon with such maturity and narrative craft that it could sustain an hour-long two-parter with mystery and character, not just action.
The episode also refined Clayface's character. Originally, the villain was actor Basil Karlo, who only dressed up as the Clayface character from one of his movies. (Karlo-Clayface featured in animation on "Batman: Caped Crusader.") Later, Batman comics introduced Matt Hagen, a treasure hunter mutated into living mud. "Feat of Clay" streamlined the two Clayface origins into a superior one. ("Clayface" using the name Matt Hagen over Basil Karlo is another mark of its influences.)
"Batman" had many tragic villains, and Clayface is the one who best walks the line of sympathetic and loathsome. He's a tragic villain, one you can pity, but his mistakes are self-wrought, and he keeps making choices that only worsen things. In the sequel series "New Batman Adventures," Clayface even murders a child onscreen.
"Feat of Clay" boasts some of the series' best animation. Key animator Hiroyuki Aoyama worked on the sci-fi body-horror classic "Akira," and it shows in the episode's beautiful depiction of Clayface's monstrous shapeshifting.
The episode ends with Clayface faking his death, closing on his false human face as its eyes turn a demonic yellow. That ending is one of the few "Batman: The Animated Series" moments that still scares me as an adult.
DC Studios' Clayface looks like Feat of Clay minus Batman
"Clayface" won't be the first time a Batman villain starred in a movie without Batman; actor Joaquin Phoenix led the mega-successful movie "Joker," as well as the less successful sequel "Joker: Folie à Deux." While I understand the financial incentive for giving a character as popular as the Joker a starring role, it's always struck me as creatively misguided. The Joker only works as a character if he exists in contrast to Batman. Think of another famous line from "Batman: The Animated Series" by Mark Hamill's Joker: "Without Batman, crime has no punchline."
On the other hand, I have cautious optimism that "Clayface" can work without Batman, especially if it's following "Feat of Clay." Imagine you had no clue Clayface was a Batman villain; he's a character right out of a sci-fi horror B-movie. He's an actor given the ability to literally turn into other people, but that ability destroys his dreams rather than restoring them. Matt Hagen's arc is a downward spiral of self-destruction, so he can be his own worst enemy in this movie, no Dark Knight required.
"Feat of Clay" was a mystery story; Matt Hagen is introduced disguised as Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) and framed for a crime. Batman, who obviously knows it wasn't Bruce Wayne who did that, investigates. He unravels the mystery of how Roland Daggett and Renuyu created Clayface, with him and the audience only learning Hagen's backstory as the episode proceeds. "Clayface" will reframe the story with Hagen as the protagonist, allowing us to see his transformation into Clayface all from his POV. No Batman may seem like a subtraction, but it can let "Clayface" stand on its own feet of clay.
"Clayface" is scheduled for theatrical release on October 23, 2026.