THE BATMAN - PART II Rumored Production Start Date Revealed; Clayface May Feature

THE BATMAN - PART II Rumored Production Start Date Revealed; Clayface May Feature

It's been a while since we had any updates on Matt Reeves' The Batman sequel, but a new rumor claims that filming is scheduled to commence next March. It's also said that Clayface will be involved...

News
By MarkCassidy - Aug 31, 2023 04:08 PM EST
Filed Under: The Batman

Matt Reeves' highly anticipated The Batman sequel was originally scheduled to begin filming this November, but we recently learned that production has been hit with a significant delay due to the WGA strike.

Now, insider MTTSH is reporting that cameras are set to begin rolling on The Batman - Part II next March, and Clayface may make his big-screen debut as one of the Dark Knight's villains.

This isn't the first time we've heard Clayface's name mentioned in connection with the project, as a previous report claimed that the classic Bat-baddie would be "a big addition" to the Caped Crusader's next big-screen outing.

We have no idea how a character like Clayface would factor into Reeves' relatively grounded interpretation of the Dark Knight's world, but we assume his shape-shifting abilities would be dropped and Basil Karlo (if that's who they go with) would be significantly reimagined.

When the new DCU slate was announced, James Gunn confirmed that Reeves' "BatVerse" will remain separate from the DCU, so this movie, along with Todd Phillips' Joker sequel, will be considered "Elseworlds" tales. A new actor will down the cape and cowl for Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright, and Colin Farrell are all expected to reprise their respective roles, and we may also see the return of Barry Keoghan's Joker, who made his sinister debut in the first movie's mid-credits scene.

Plot details are still under wraps. All Reeves would offer is that his sequel will continue this "epic crime saga."

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WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 4:36 PM
How does Clayface work in that world? Don't get me wrong, I want to see that...
ferf
ferf - 8/31/2023, 4:38 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - Hopefully he's just clayface. I don't see any reason they can't just do the story we all know. If it is something dumb like a guy who wears different masks or something, I'll vomit
dracula
dracula - 8/31/2023, 4:43 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - could take from the original version.

When he first appeared he didn't have powers, he was just a silent film star killing actors who were taking his former roles for talkie remakes. used his make up skills to disguise himself as his old roles
Timerider
Timerider - 8/31/2023, 4:46 PM
@ferf - i hope it’s not masks either. That would be like Ethan Hunt.
RedFury
RedFury - 8/31/2023, 4:48 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - I keep mulling this around in my imagination, and I can't really picture it either. But also would love to see what Reeves comes up with.

With the technology of today I feel like there could be a tech spin on clayface that could possibly get the same idea across. Deep fakes, video editing software, digital scans of victims to take over their lives, etc. While that would sort of rob the character of what's so cool about him; it could also be a close enough approach that could do the trick while still being different.

I'd be pretty okay with him actually having powers though. Even if it doesn't really fit the vibe of the first film.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/31/2023, 4:49 PM
@dracula - I wouldn’t be surprised if Reeves borrows from that version…



i feel like Reeves world is still fairly hyper stylized so something like the initial face shifting cream he had in BTAS could work…
TheGrayGhost
TheGrayGhost - 8/31/2023, 4:51 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - How does this rumor work in this world? I like rumors like this but if Hollywood is basically at a standstill and writers aren't working, then I don't see how there are new developments for rumors like these besides these people just completely making them up.
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 4:55 PM
@TheGrayGhost - Unless a script was already approved. You can still move the production pieces behind the scenes sans actors and writers.
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 8/31/2023, 4:58 PM
@ferf - I don't see any reason they can't just do the story we all know.

Tonal inconsistency?
The1st
The1st - 8/31/2023, 5:04 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - Yeah, it kinda seems like the right idea, but wrong Batman.
Baf
Baf - 8/31/2023, 5:27 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - "We have no idea how a character like Clayface would factor into Reeves' relatively grounded interpretation of the Dark Knight's world,"
Once the character is introduced it will then be factored in. Why is this so hard to understand? Every character in the film has an OMG moment about Clayface and there you go...Almost every monster movie is grounded in reality.
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 5:46 PM
@The1st - agreed.
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 5:49 PM
@Baf - true. Introduce some sort of mutagenic aspect that makes sense, go the deepfake way or base it on Lon Cheney
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/31/2023, 6:01 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - like venom but whole body
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/31/2023, 6:02 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - it doesn't. Bs rumor
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 6:10 PM
@dragon316 - exactly. Don’t shoot me when I say this, but wasn’t that how Gotham was? Isn’t that how a bunch of the rogues gallery got their powers? How else can you do a Victor Fries or Poison Ivy in a practical world?
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 6:11 PM
@McMurdo - the only BS rumor I know is that you said you were gay 😉
hainesy
hainesy - 8/31/2023, 6:24 PM
@TheVisionary25 - I love how that bio basically says he has "tard strength".
hainesy
hainesy - 8/31/2023, 6:25 PM
@dracula - it's going to be closer to this than a giant blob of clay.
kazuma
kazuma - 8/31/2023, 6:25 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - I thought The Batman was/had to be grounded but it doesn't. Batman and Detective comics are constantly moving in and out of basic detective stuff to fantasy level shit. And I see no reason why Matt Reeves has to stick to the realistic nature of The Batman.

Like, The Dark Knight is basically realistic while Beings and Rises are not.
Baf
Baf - 8/31/2023, 6:32 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - I'm just sayin', everything is grounded... until it isn't.
Baf
Baf - 8/31/2023, 6:33 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - Exactly!
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 8/31/2023, 6:36 PM
@kazuma - Matt Reeves literally directed a grounded Kaiju movie and movies about apes becoming intelligent. If he could sell Lizzy Kaplan turning into a giant blood blister and make it feel real then he can do Clayface
kazuma
kazuma - 8/31/2023, 6:45 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - Exactly. He doesn't need to stick to the realistic grounded style like nolan. Batman can and does bounce between worlds and I hope Matt Reeves does this.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 8/31/2023, 7:20 PM
@dracula - This is exactly what I was coming here to say.

I think most people don't realize what Clayface was like when he first appeared. He wasn't a giant clay monster that could shape shift.
MG0019
MG0019 - 8/31/2023, 10:24 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - Exactly what I was going to write.

They set up a Batman world where none of the fantastical elements can work. I’m betting Clayface will be some guy with a drooping skin disease.

The Batman wasn’t a bad film. But definitely felt like a imitation of Nolan. I was never into his gritty ultra realistic take either.
TheGrayGhost
TheGrayGhost - 8/31/2023, 11:11 PM
@WhatIfRickJames - That's true, good point
StSteven
StSteven - 8/31/2023, 11:28 PM
@TheVisionary25 - Yeah, see not being an avid Batman comics follower (other forms of media are a different story), my first intro to CF was in "B:TAS", so to me that approach would fit into Reeve's world pretty easily. I mean an actor whose career is fading and he does whatever it takes to try to stay on top, including using an experimental chemical (like BOTOX) to help replenish his appearance. But it has terrible side-effects and we end up with CF. Hell, depending on how dark Reeves wanted to go with it, he could draw out the transformation to CF and make it a bit of a body-horror thing (a la "The Fly" but not so much).

My point is that there is a lot that they can do with CF opposed to making him like a giant ball of clay/slime (which wouldn't work in Reeve's universe anyway).
Timerider
Timerider - 9/1/2023, 12:37 AM
@StSteven - I’d like to see Batman have to face off with a real monster, but it only last for 12 hours, then he returns to his human form. The more he uses the cream, the longer he stays as Clayface. A Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde story.
SATW42
SATW42 - 9/1/2023, 9:12 AM
@TheGrayGhost - I too personally enjoyed "but we recently learned that production has been hit with a significant delay due to the WGA strike."

recently learned? How long has the strike been going on? lol
StSteven
StSteven - 9/1/2023, 1:34 PM
@Timerider - Yeah, there are a lot of ways that they could go with it, but considering how messed up they made the Joker look in the first movie they'd have to go pretty far with CF to distinguish him, although still stay somewhat grounded. Another movie that this concept kind of reminds me of is "Death Becomes Her" (which I absolutely love) where the two women (Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep) take this magic potion to stay forever young, but in the end they can't die and end up falling apart and have to perpetually patch each other up with spray paint and such because their bodies are falling apart. Of course that's a comedy, but the concept of someone like an actor who does whatever it takes to stay young and good-looking but then it backfires horribly them and they're now cursed with it I think would make for a pretty compelling story. You could even make the character somewhat sympathetic and tragic which could pose something of a moral conundrum for Batman, as opposed to having to just straight up fight a monster.

Either way, like I said, there are a lot of different ways they could go with a character like this.
narrow290
narrow290 - 8/31/2023, 4:39 PM
Hope this is legit. Clayface is one of my fAV
GhostDog
GhostDog - 8/31/2023, 4:39 PM
"...we assume his shape-shifting abilities would be dropped..."


We need Clayface to be CLAYFACE
HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 8/31/2023, 5:31 PM
@GhostDog -

They dropped the acid bath for Heath’s Joker 🤷‍♂️
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 8/31/2023, 5:59 PM
@GhostDog -


Ideally I want them to follow the animated series but if they go too comicbooky I have a feeling Gunn might want to absorb it into his Dcu and I definitely don't want that to happen😬...


I think he can work as an actor with a disfigured face and he has amazing special effects make-up.



Remember Darkman? Like that!!!
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/1/2023, 9:07 AM
@HulkisHoly - I never found the acid bath to be that sort of immutable aspect of the Joker. Its the makeup, the anarchy, and the disfigurement; no matter how that defacement happens.

@AmazingFILMporg @HulkisHoly
I think Clayface's ability to shift his appearance in a way that is very science fiction horror. The clay aspect of his shape shifting is integral, imo. Even if he's not necessarily the large clay monster (which I would prefer) he should at least be reminiscent of what BTAS did with his early iteration with the face cream.

A Darkman scenario would definitely be cool but it would just feel like a dilution still. I think after TDK Trilogy it is high time we embrace Batman's superhuman rogues for what they are...superhuman.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 8/31/2023, 4:39 PM
No idea how that works in this type of universe but HELL YES if true!
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 8/31/2023, 6:12 PM
@TheLobster - I bet they just go with some disfigured guy who has a face with skin that looks like its melting and he gets the nickname "Clayface" and he is driven to kill or something like that.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 8/31/2023, 9:08 PM
@Shivermetimbers - that would be low key terrible if so… but you might be right. Ugh.

At that point, I’d rather have James Gunn do Clayface at some point.
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