Clayface has been one of the most surprising movies to be greenlit at DC Studios, and after Supergirl, there’s a lot more riding on it. Clayface is a B (or C) level Batman villain, and certainly not someone most fans would pick to lead a solo film. However, filmmaker Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House) has become a respected name in horror, and he felt compelled to tell a Clayface story he believed would terrify audiences, whether or not they are longtime DC fans.
Now you can judge for yourself if that gamble looks like it will pay off, as the official trailer for Clayface has been released by DC Studios, just in time to ride the wave of hype rolling in with San Diego Comic-Con 2026.
According to the latest DC Studios synopsis, Clayface explores “Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man,” which “is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting-edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.”
As we’ve previously discussed, screenwriters Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini (The Snowman, Obi-Wan Kenobi) are pulling together lore from several of the Clayface characters DC has introduced over the years. Tom Rhys (White Lines) will be playing a composite of the original Clayface (an actor-turned-madman named Boris Karlo) and Clayface II, Matt Hagen (an adventurer who is transformed into a living mound of clay). Some of the sci-fi elements borrow from Clayface III, Preston Payne (a scientist transformed into a flesh-melting monster after testing himself with Matt Hagen’s DNA). This trailer makes one lingering question fans had abundantly clear: we are definitely going to see the full monstrous form of Clayface in this movie, before the end.
Clayface also stars Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice) as Dr. Caitlin Corr, an experimental scientist and Matt’s love interest, who gives him the radical procedure that transforms him. Max Minghella (The Social Network, Spiral) plays Gotham City police detective John Pearlman, who is actually dating Caitlin and starts to investigate Matt’s crimes. Also appearing in the film are Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan), David Dencik (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Nancy Carroll (The Diplomat), Joshua James (Andor) and others.
So far, there is no confirmation that Batman will appear in Clayface in any capacity. In fact, it’s currently unclear whether or not James Gunn and the DC Studios/Warner Bros. team have even cast an actor to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in the DC Universe franchise.
That said, Previous DCU projects have side-stepped the Batman issue by featuring the Dark Knight in silhouette (Creature Commandos – which also featured Clayface) or making indirect references to him and/or Gotham City. Clayface could do the same kind of thing to tie Matt Hagen’s story back to the larger DCU, without the tricky issue of revealing the new Batman actor.
Clayface will be in theaters on October 23rd. Discuss the DCU with us on the ComicBook Forum!
