Clayface film avoids Batman, focuses on Gotham

The new DCU horror film Clayface premiered on October 23, 2026. Director James Watkins said he deliberately left Batman out of the story, focusing instead on Matt Hagen, an aspiring Hollywood actor who becomes disfigured. Watkins compared the film’s singular focus to Todd Phillips’s Joker, saying that a single character can carry a story in Gotham. He also said he did not want a “cutesy” reference to the Dark Knight, and wanted the narrative to stay honest to Hagen’s journey.

Character Focus

Matt Hagen’s plot follows a night out that turns into a brutal attack by a mobster, leaving him scarred and desperate. The film shows Hagen turning to a scientist who gives him nanotechnology that grants shapeshifting. Watkins explained that the story centers on Hagen’s descent, rather than on Gotham’s usual hero, and that he wanted Gotham to feel like a character itself. He noted that Gotham is a city of many millions and that the film is about one person’s experience there.

To make Gotham a character, Watkins worked with production designer James Price, known for Poor Things, and cinematographer Rob Hardy. They drew on 1930s German expressionist cinema, with looming buildings and a gritty palette. Hardy also captured the feel of New York from the 1970s to the 1990s, using dirt, neon, and what Watkins calls “dirty poetry.” The result is an oppressive city where the sky is rarely seen, contrasted with the sunny, green Coast City where Hagen begins. Cast members, including Tom Rhys Harries and Max Minghella, praised the world‑building and said it was a childhood dream to work in such a setting.

Future in the DCU

The film ends with Hagen surviving a kill switch and fully transforming into Clayface, ending in the Gotham sewers. ComicBook.com notes that the ending sets up Clayface for future appearances in the DCU, even though Batman has not yet joined the universe. James Gunn has said the film “isn’t the last we’ll see of Clayface.” The ending also shows no reference to Batman or Wayne‑owned companies, and the film contains Easter eggs that the production design team slipped in.

Tom Rhys Harries has spoken about doing extensive DC homework for the role, a point highlighted in a Nerdist interview. Max Minghella recalled holding a coffee cup from the Superman film while filming, and Naomi Ackie noted that the movie shows Gotham in daylight for the first time. The film contains Easter eggs and a darker, more oppressive atmosphere in its depiction of Gotham. Clayface’s release on October 23, 2026, marks the first appearance of the city in James Gunn’s DCU.