The Clayface Treatment: James Gunn's DCU Should Target These 5 Other Villains

Footage and trailers for the upcoming DC Studios Clayface release present a film that definitely doesn't look as if it cost just $40 million to produce.

It's a calculated financial strategy by DC Studios that seems all the more brilliant after the colossal misfire of the $170 million Supergirl.

Based on a script initially pitched by Mike Flanagan, the James Watkins-directed pic skips the city- or world-destroying element present in most comic book movies and instead focuses on an incredibly personal origin story for actor Basil Karlo in a film that presents itself as a modern-day take on David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986).

The film focused on Karlo and his inner circle, keeping the cast small and the sets minimal. Even the VFX are limited and practical where possible, isolated to a specific body part on Tom Rhys Harries, though the trailers hint at a crazy final act reveal where Clayface will seemingly take on his monstrous comic book form.

With early tracking pointing to a solid North American debut, and the high probability that these projection figures will likely rise in the coming weeks, it stands to reason that James Gunn, Peter Safran, and their new Skydance bosses will look to replicate this winning formula, and luckily, DC Comics is rife with villains that are tailor-made for low-budget film adaptations.

Here's 5 for now, but DC's character roster is practically bottomless. If you have a favorite underrated villain you think deserves the big-screen treatment, drop your pitch in the comments!

Doctor Psycho

• Hero Counterpart: Wonder Woman
• Powers: Telepathy, Mind Control, Illusion Casting, Telekinesis, Dream Manipulation
• Backstory: Born with dwarfism and a distinctively disproportionate physical appearance, Edgar Cizko grows up facing constant mockery and social isolation due to his looks. Cizko is brilliant and goes on to become a top-level psychiatrist but the ridicule he faced growing up created a deep-seated hatred for humanity. His dormant metagene becomes active when he's betrayed by the one woman he thought cared about him, a betrayal that sends him to prison.
• The Pitch: Imagine Ex Machina meets The Invisible Man, in a sleek, suffocating psychological horror thriller where there are no good guys.  Cizko is coming after the woman who shattered his trust and the man whose fall he was forced to take. But he isn't just bringing violence, he’s unleashing a masterclass in psychological warfare. The mental mind games he constructs for them are twisted, relentless, and downright diabolical, turning their own guilt and paranoia into the ultimate trap. If you love stories where control is the ultimate weapon and trust is dead on arrival, this one will keep you up at night.

Parasite

• Hero Counterpart: Superman
• Powers: Physical touch absorbs kinetic energy, magical properties, and superhuman abilities from his victims
• Backstory: Rudy Jones is a menial janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs who is transformed into Parasite after exposure to intergalactic radioactive waste. He's essentially an evil version of the X-Men's Rogue, with one difference: Parasite actually NEEDS to absorb abilities and energy to stay alive- if he doesn't use his abilities, he dies. However, Rudy Jones doesn't reluctantly use his abilities; he becomes addicted to absorbing superpowers in particular. 
• The Pitch: Forget massive CGI alien invasions and world-ending black holes. At its core, this story is a raw, devastating look at a regular guy whose life implodes when he accidentally turns into a walking bio-weapon. It’s a tragic, claustrophobic thriller where every human connection becomes a death sentence and the toll it takes on a man who begins to lose his empathy.

Lock-Up

• Hero Counterpart: Batman
• Powers: No Superhuman Powers
• Backstory: Lyle Bolton is an Arkham Asylum prison guard who becomes tired of Batman villains always escaping and decides to take matters into his own hands. He actually appeared in Batman: The Animated Series before debuting in the comics. Disillusioned with Arkham, he often creates his own prison and has sinister plans to make sure none of Gotham's criminals escape.  The issue is that Bolton often throws in cops, judges lawyers, etc. that are not necessarily evil or lawbreakers, they're simply complicit.
• The Pitch: Think Saw, but swap out the rusty torture devices for a lineup of Gotham’s absolute worst nightmares. This brutal, single-location thriller traps a handful of corrupt politicians and low-level crooks inside Bolton’s high-tech, custom-built death factory. As Bolton kicks back and watches the chaos unfold on CCTV, the captives try to claw their way out. The twist? Escape isn't about solving a grizzly death puzzle à la Saw, they have to survive being hunted through the dark by the likes of Killer Croc, Scarecrow, and worse.

Punchline

• Hero Counterpart: Batman
• Powers: No Superhuman Powers
• Backstory: A dark counterpart to Harley Quinn, this former chemist becomes radicalized by the Joker- who she thinks represents Gotham's true nihilistic society. Wanting to become like the Joker, she began creating her own version of Joker toxin and tested it on Gotham's homeless. Unlike Harley, who started out as a psychiatrist who thought she could cure the Joker, Punchline thinks he's essentially perfect and can do no wrong.
• The Pitch: Gotham PD thinks the Joker is up to his old tricks after a wild streak of toxin-fueled crimes hits the streets. But as the bodies and the laughs pile up, the cops realize neither the Clown Prince nor Harley Quinn are pulling the strings. What starts as a chaotic, dark comedy packed with improvised weapons and slimy mob politics turns into something much more sinister and lethal when Joker starts to actually take notice of Punchline.

Intergang

• Hero Counterpart: Superman
• Powers: Advanced Alien Technology
• Backstory: Unlike typical street gangs or mafia families, Intergang is uniquely dangerous because it fuses Earth's organized crime with apocalyptic alien technology. A frequent thorn in Superman's side and the Metropolis PD, they have a close connection to Darkseid and DeSaad. It's most notable members are Bruno Mannheim, Vincent Edge, Whisper A'Daire, Frank Sixty, and Johnny Stitches.
• The Pitch: It's a low-budget mafioso film that takes traditional crime family betrayal and coups and mixes it with intergalactic weaponry and planetary invasions. Think The Wire meets Terminator and Attack the Block. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen could also potentially serves as the audience's viewpoint, as their investigation into the rise of the "Mannheim Family" uncovers something more dire as connections to Apokolips are revealed.