Last week, the trades confirmed that DC Studios is moving forward with a solo Clayface movie, with The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan on board to pen the script.
Flanagan is not expected to direct, but the project was recently given an official release date of September 11, 2026. Based on comments from James Gunn, the movie will be set in the DCU, as opposed to The Batman director Matt Reeves' "BatVerse."
"Exciting news out of [DC] Studios today as [Clayface], a DCU story from a script by Mike Flanagan, has been OFFICIALLY greenlit. Clayface premieres in 2026."
Despite this, Deadline remains adamant that Clayface will be a part of the upcoming The Batman sequel.
"Flanagan is reportedly conceiving Clayface as a horror-thriller-tragedy. He won’t be painted as a villain which has been the case with his legend in DC. The character will be a big part of Batman 2."
Does this mean we'll be getting two separate versions of Clayface for both of these universes? Honestly, we're leaning towards Deadline being mistaken on this one, as we just don't see this type of character fitting into Reeves' relatively grounded world.
At any rate, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has shared a few new details on the Flanagan script, and it sounds like Clayface is indeed going to be a full-on horror movie in the same vein as David Cronenberg's The Fly.
Depending on how much inspiration the movie takes from the '80s body-horror classic, we could see Basil Karlo (or whichever take on Clayface they go with) slowly transform into a shape-shifting monstrosity after being involved in some sort of scientific experiment gone awry.
Interestingly, Alan Tudyk recently revealed that he will voice Clayface in James Gunn's animated Creature Commandos series, meaning there's a chance he could also play the character in live-action.
What do you make of these updates? Do you have any interest in a solo Clayface DCU film, or would you prefer to see these type of villain-focused projects after we've already met our new Batman in The Brave and The Bold? Drop us a comment down below.