First Clayface Footage Has Me Thinking His Origin Story Is Being Taken From Another Batman Villain

I’m as pumped as anyone to see what the live-action Brainiac will look like in James Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow, and what kind of drunken bastiches Kara and Lobo will be in Supergirl, the upcoming DC project I’m most jazzed about is absolutely Clayface. Gunn’s history with horror is the perfect set-up for the DCU to embrace the genre, as it already has with Creature Commandos, and James Watkins gets to deliver those live-action goods to theaters later this year. Now, we finally have our first look at the amorphous antagonist.

DC Studios and Warner Bros. have unveiled the debut teaser for Clayface, which was initially shown off for CinemaCon crowds, and it’s a solid blend of setting up familiar elements while also hinting at more mayhem to come. And if I’m not mistaken, the start of all this mayhem seems to have been pulled from the origin story of a different Batman villain. Check out the video below and see if you can spot the key clue, which we’ll get into lower.

This Clayface Teaser Is Haunting Without Spoiling Much

One of the worst things about any movie’s promotional campaign is always the 3-minute trailer that pretty much lays out the story beat for beat while also featuring footage from every single set piece, leaving no surprises unturned. I can only hope that Clayface never goes that route, and that each preview is similarly limited and unnerving as the one above.

Set to the slowed and echoed lyrics of The Flaming Lips “Do You Realize?” the footage is largely locked in on the seemingly injured and bandaged face of Matt Hagen, as portrayed by Tom Rhys Harries. Harries’ uncovered face doesn’t pop up for long, and we mostly see him in…other ways. Gotta love the time-honored classic look where he’s struggling to stretch his mouth back open. That effect will always give me tiny jolts of claustrophobia at the thought of not having a mouth to breathe through.

We also get our first looks at Naomi Ackie as Dr. Caitlin Bates, who’s not only Matt’s love interest, but also a provocative scientist who has been compared to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. I can only assume that she’ll have a major part to play where Matt’s transformation into Clayface is concerned, and how it seemingly taps into other DC Comics lore.

Clayface's Story Seems To Be Tied To The Creeper's Comic Book Origins

Around the 20-second mark in the teaser, there's this quick-flash image of a computer screen and X-ray imagery:

Certainly, a number of DC Comics stories have centered on nanotechnology over the years, especially when it comes to bots and drones. But The Creeper's revised origin story for the post-Infinite Crisis era specifically involved alter ego Jack Ryder being injected (by scientist Vincent Yatz) with an experimental stem cell treatment involving "nanocells" that allowed for "smart-skin" that could be manipulated and regenerated at will.

Not all of The Creeper's origins went that way, as he's also been depicted as a literal demon from Western culture, as well as a Japanese oni. But the nanocell-created skin gave Jack various superhuman abilities, from heightened strength to powered-up senses and other oddball powers. So not exactly the same as what we're expecting from Clayface's namesake, but close enough that this has to be a knowing wink to DC Comics lore.

What's more, there's even a Joker connection here that could possibly tap into the Joker-related imagery seen in behind-the-scenes photos. It was later discovered that Joker Venom was added into the nanocell serum as a nerve agent, which is what caused The Creeper's abnormal super-skin and other abilities. It'd be a fun way to bring that iconic character's presence into this universe without the need to show him outright. (Although I'd welcome that just as quickly.)

Though Superman was about an alien who at one point in the movie fought a kaiju, James Gunn generally aims to keep the DCU fairly grounded when possible, so it makes more sense to have Matt Hagen's transformation be tied to experimental science as opposed to anything supernatural or demonic. I'm just hoping Dr. Caitlin Bates has an assistant named Jack Ryder, and that he looks directly into the camera while tapping the side of his nose at one point.

Check out one of the cool social posts DC shared ahead of the teaser's release, showing off more of the melty-face effect.

Will the upcoming horror movie feature other nods to The Creeper and more Batman villains, or will this be the most contained and reference-lite DC project yet? Considering Mike Flanagan wrote the script, I'm expecting some brilliant tie-ins.

Find Clayface in theaters (or becoming the theater itself) on October 23, 2026.