CLAYFACE Set Photo Reveals A MAJOR SPOILER (And Possibly The Movie's Ending)

Work on Clayface continues in Liverpool, England, and a massive spoiler has just found its way online. We've already seen Matt Hagen's deformed face, along with the mask he uses to cover up his injuries, but we see here that the actor is fated to die! 

A newspaper headline declares, "ACTOR MATT HAGEN DEAD!" We know he survives the savage beating that compels him to seek out a means to restore his good looks—leading to his transformation into the monstrous Clayface—but it seems the villain could be a one-and-done for the DCU.

Of course, the world might just be left to suspect that Hagen has died, freeing him to become one of Batman's rogues. Still, this feels like a pretty significant spoiler for Clayface's ending.

In the comics, Hagen was the second Clayface, and an adventurer who turned into a monster after encountering a radioactive pool of protoplasm.

That was changed in Batman: The Animated Series, where he was portrayed as an actor who used an anti-ageing cream to look younger. After getting on the wrong side of its creator, Roland Daggett, Hagen was doused in a vat of the stuff and became the "classic" Clayface we all know from the comics.

Mike Flanagan, who wrote the first draft of Clayface, previously confirmed that Batman: The Animated Series was a key source of inspiration. Specifically, the two-part episode titled "Feat of Clay."

"Of course it was. I mean that is the perfect [story]. 'Feat of Clay,' Ron Perlman, to me, that’s it," Flanagan shared. "That two-parter knocked me out. The short answer is that is absolutely that is what inspired my script."

"That is the world I wanted to live in. Batman: The Animated Series when I was growing up was my Batman. As much as [Michael] Keaton was my Batman, The Animated Series really was my Batman," he added. 

We expected Flanagan to write and direct Clayface, as DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn initially sold it as The Life of Chuck helmer's passion project. Instead, Drive writer Hossein Amini has taken a pass at the screenplay, and James Watkins (Speak No Evil) now directs.

The cast of Clayface will be led by Tom Rhys Harries, while set photos have confirmed that the movie will also star Eddie Marsan and Max Minghella. The movie is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on September 11, 2026.