Cover Gotham’s most tragic villain just made things uncomfortably personal. From comic origins to future crossover plans, here is everything you need to know about Clayface in the new DC universe (Photo: IMDb)
Gotham’s most tragic villain just made things uncomfortably personal. From comic origins to future crossover plans, here is everything you need to know about Clayface in the new DC universe (Photo: IMDb)
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From comic book roots to James Gunn’s DC slate, here is how the villain Clayface fits into the new cinematic universe
DC Studios is taking a different approach to its growing superhero universe with Clayface, a film that leans into psychological horror and grotesque physical transformation rather than the usual superhero spectacle. Produced under James Gunn’s leadership, the standalone feature explores one of Gotham City’s most tragic villains: a man whose desperate attempt to save his career leaves him barely recognisable, even to himself.
Clayface has a long history in DC Comics, with several characters taking on the name over the decades. The film centres on Matt Hagen, an aspiring Hollywood star whose life takes a devastating turn after a disfiguring accident. As an experimental treatment gives him the ability to change his appearance, it also threatens to strip away his humanity. His story raises a disturbing question: what happens when the face you need to succeed becomes the very thing that destroys you?
From the character’s comic book origins to the creative team behind the film, here is what to know about Clayface and his place in the new DC Universe.
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Who is Clayface?
Above The official trailer for 'Clayface', showcasing the practical effects and psychological descent behind the villain's transformation
Clayface first appeared in DC Comics in 1940, created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. The original character was Basil Karlo, a Hollywood actor who turns to crime after learning that a film in which he starred is being remade without him. His background established a recurring theme in Clayface’s story: the fear of becoming irrelevant and the lengths someone might go to reclaim the identity they believe they have lost.
Over the years, other characters have adopted the Clayface name, each bringing a different take on the villain. Matt Hagen, one of the best-known versions, gains the ability to transform his body after exposure to a mysterious substance. Later incarnations, including Preston Payne, explore the consequences of experimental science and uncontrollable physical mutations.
Despite their different origins, these characters share a defining ability: they can manipulate their appearance, taking on other faces and forms. That power makes Clayface a particularly dangerous adversary, capable of impersonating other people and slipping past even the most careful observers. It also gives the character a deeply unsettling quality, blurring the line between a disguise and a complete loss of identity.
Why is Clayface a villain?
Clayface’s transformation is often as much a psychological tragedy as a physical one. His powers can make him formidable, but they also leave him struggling with the person he was before his body changed. Depending on the version, professional rejection, scientific experimentation, revenge and an increasingly fractured sense of self all contribute to his descent into villainy.
In the film, Matt Hagen’s story begins with a disfiguring incident that threatens his acting career. Desperate to restore his appearance, he undergoes an experimental medical procedure that alters his cellular structure. The treatment gives him extraordinary shapeshifting abilities, but the consequences extend well beyond his physical transformation.
Hagen’s ability to change his face offers the promise of getting his old life back. Yet as his body becomes increasingly unstable, so does his grasp on his identity. His desperation to reclaim his career, coupled with isolation and resentment, pushes him towards violence.
This makes Clayface a different kind of threat from a villain who simply wants power or control. His story is rooted in a personal loss that becomes increasingly destructive, with the same transformation that gives him new abilities threatening to consume him.
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Who wrote and directed ‘Clayface’?
Mike Flanagan wrote the screenplay for Clayface, bringing his experience in psychological horror to the DC Universe. He is known for projects including The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, which explore how grief, trauma and deeply personal fears can shape a character’s actions.
Flanagan’s approach is well suited to Clayface, whose story lends itself to body horror as much as conventional comic book storytelling. A character who can reshape his own flesh offers plenty of opportunities for disturbing imagery, but the more compelling question is what that transformation does to his mind and sense of self.
James Watkins directs the film, bringing the story to the screen through a different creative role from Flanagan’s work on the screenplay. Together, the writer’s interest in psychological horror and the director’s handling of the material shape a story that places a character’s physical and emotional deterioration at its centre.
Which actor plays Clayface in James Gunn’s DC Universe?
Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries takes on the lead role in Clayface, marking a major step in a career that has spanned television, film and theatre. A graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Harries has built a varied body of work, appearing in the crime drama Unforgotten, the Netflix thriller White Lines and Guy Ritchie’s crime comedy The Gentlemen. He also appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes in The Return (2024), playing Pisander in the historical drama.
His casting brings a relatively less familiar face to the centre of the DC Universe. Rather than relying on an established superhero-film star, DC Studios has placed its first solo Clayface film on an actor whose previous work spans several genres. The film opened at No. 1 at the North American box office, earning US$24 on its opening weekend. Its worldwide gross has since reached approximately US$46.5 million as of 27 October 2026. With body horror driving the story, Harries has made his mark in a role that demands considerably more than a convincing physical transformation.
Will Clayface appear in future DC films?
Clayface is part of DC Studios’ rebooted DC Universe, known as Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. This places the character in the same continuity as Superman and the upcoming Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which will introduce a new version of Batman. Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight, by contrast, belongs to Matt Reeves’ separate The Batman universe, known as Elseworlds.
Clayface’s connection to Gotham City makes a future encounter with the DCU’s Batman a natural possibility for fans of the comics. The villain has long been one of the Dark Knight’s adversaries, and his ability to impersonate other people could make him a particularly dangerous opponent in a live-action adaptation. Although DC Studios has established that Batman exists in the same universe as Clayface, a future meeting between the two has not been confirmed.
For now, the standalone film gives the villain room to develop beyond his usual role as a Batman antagonist. By exploring the desperation, mutation and fractured identity behind his powers, Clayface introduces a more intimate kind of horror to the DC Universe while leaving open the possibility of future appearances.
Chonx Tibajia is a senior editor at Tatler Asia’s T-Labs team, where she writes widely on lifestyle subjects including beauty, style, entertainment and travel. She has a long career in journalism, including roles as a columnist at The Philippine Star, and is the founder of the creative platform Pineappleversed. Beyond Tatler, her bylines appear in regional lifestyle and business publications, showcasing a broad portfolio that spans beauty trends, travel guides and culture pieces.
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