James Gunn on Why Clayface Must Join DCU, Not 'The Batman'

DCU co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have recently shed light on the highly anticipated movie, Clayface, confirming its inclusion in the DCU canon and its R rating. Clayface, a notorious villain from Gotham City with the unique ability to morph his clay-like body into any shape or form, is one of Batman's most iconic adversaries. The character, initially introduced as Basil Karlo in Detective Comics #40 back in 1940, has captured the imaginations of fans for decades.

Last month, DC Studios officially announced that the Clayface movie is slated for release on September 11, 2026. The decision to bring Clayface to the big screen was influenced by the success of HBO's The Penguin series. The film will be penned by horror maestro Mike Flanagan, and produced by Lynn Harris in collaboration with Matt Reeves, the director of The Batman.

Confirmed DCU Projects

11 Images

During a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn and Safran elaborated on why Clayface was chosen to be part of the DCU rather than Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga. "Clayface is totally DCU," Gunn affirmed. Safran added, "The only thing that's in Matt's world, his Crime Saga that he's telling, is the Batman Trilogy, the Penguin series, that's in that lane. So still under DC Studios, still under us. We have an incredible relationship with Matt, but those are the only things."

Gunn emphasized the importance of including Clayface in the DCU, stating, "It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It's an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world." He further explained that Clayface wouldn't fit well within the more grounded narrative of The Batman Epic Crime Saga, saying, "It was very outside of the grounded non-super metahuman characters in Matt's world."

Safran revealed that DC Studios is currently negotiating with James Watkins, the director of Speak No Evil, to helm Clayface, with filming set to commence this summer. "This summer, cameras are going to roll on Clayface, an incredible body horror film that reveals a compelling origin of a classic Batman villain, and this is another title that we added to the slate on the strength of an exceptional screenplay by Mike Flanagan," Safran stated.

He added, "I think some of you are probably aware that we're in negotiations with James Watkins now to direct, and we'll start casting this as soon as we have the director deal done and we'll shoot this summer. It's slated for a fall 2026 release. Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those."

Throughout the presentation, Safran described Clayface as "experimental," noting that it deviates from the traditional superhero blockbuster format, labeling it an "indie style chiller." Gunn echoed this sentiment, describing the film as "pure f\*\*\*ing horror, like, totally real. Their version of that movie, it is so real and true and psychological and body horror and gross."

Gunn confirmed that Clayface will be rated R, stating, "I think that one of the things Peter and I talked about when we first got the script is if we were producing movies five years ago when we were doing Belko Experiment and all of that stuff, and somebody had brought us this horror script called Clayface about this guy, we would have died to have produced this movie, because it was just a really excellent body horror script, and the fact that it's in the DCU is just a plus."