In Creature Commandos, we were introduced to a version of Clayface who was a gun-for-hire and, honestly, not very good at his job. The bizarre, vulgar, and sleazy shapeshifter had a thing about Themyscirians being lesbians and was clearly poorly suited to undercover work.
While he seemingly died at the hands of Eric Frankenstein, James Gunn has since confirmed that Clayface survived the battle and is the Matt Hagen fans will see in the upcoming Clayface movie.
Clayface was a late addition to the "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters" slate, meaning Creature Commandos wasn't written with an upcoming origin story in mind. However, Matt's solo movie does very little to explain why he is the way he is or what's led to such a drastic personality change.
While Matt's actions become increasingly dark as the story progresses, it's not until his final confrontation with the scientist who injected him with AI-driven nanobots to heal his face that something seems to snap.
We can safely assume then that Matt became increasingly unhinged and, unable to return to his old life, he decided to use his acting skills to take the form of anyone he's asked to in return for money. It makes sense when you join the dots yourself, especially if his mind snapping is why he's so unstable in Creature Commandos.
Still, Clayface doesn't go out of its way to connect to the DC Studios animated series and rushes through its final act in a way that leaves it hard to really be sure what becomes of Matt. We'll get into that in our ending explained tomorrow.
In terms of Clayface's final form, it looks a little like the animated version, but not strikingly so. The general design is there, but by trying to make it as gross as possible and still keeping Matt's face in there somewhere, the effect is lost a little.
In our review, we concluded, "Tom Rhys Harries shines in Clayface, an uninspired and unoriginal movie that's too light on horror and lacking in comic book personality to be anything but forgettable. It should have been a game-changer for the genre; instead, it's DC's Morbius moment."
In Clayface, Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting-edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self, but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiralling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.
The movie stars Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the cult-favourite villain from Gotham's rogues' gallery. The cast includes Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James.
James Watkins directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, with Flanagan also getting a "Story by" credit. Clayface is produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn and Peter Safran, with Michael E. Uslan, Chantal Nong Vo, Lars P. Winther, Rafi Crohn and Paul Ritchie executive producing.
Watkins' creative team includes director of photography Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris and costume designer Keith Madden. Volker Bertelmann (Conclave) is the movie's composer.
Clayface will be released in theaters on October 23.