After 86 Years, An Underrated Batman Villain Is Ready To Redefine DC’s Cinematic Future

The path of the DC Cinematic Universe hasn’t followed any previous conventions since James Gunn and Peter Safran took over. The duo all but scrapped what had come before and started things off relatively fresh, giving audiences a taste of what was to come with the animated series Creature Commandos before going big with 2025’s Superman, which was closely followed by the second season of Peacemaker. This year will expand the universe in a number of ways, with Supergirl, Lanterns, and Clayface all on the way. If one thing is clear, the DCU is, like Matt Hagan, quite malleable.

Perhaps more than any of the other DCU projects, Clayface really shows just how different the cinematic universe Gunn and Safran are building is from what has come before. This isn’t just making a movie about a lesser-known supervillain, this is a movie that will, from what Gunn has suggested, swerve away from the usual superhero movie tropes and fall directly into the horror genre. While there have been some tastes of horror in superhero movies before, with Hellboy being the most prominent, even those made sure to include some old-fashioned superhero fights. But, from the trailer and what has been said by those making the movie, Clayface won’t be doing any of that. And that’s exactly what superhero movies need, but it also adds to what may be a growing problem in the DCU itself.

Clayface Opens Superhero Stories To A New Audience

There is, undoubtedly, some crossover between horror fans and superhero fans. I personally love both types of stories, though if I were forced to choose one over the other, it would be superheroes. But out there, in this wild world, there are people who would go in the opposite direction and choose horror over superheroes. Clayface has the opportunity to really pull both sides of the coin, as well as die-hard horror fans who have zero interest in superhero fare. And, if the movie proves to be successful, it may not just open up one new genre lane for DC and Marvel to play in, it could open an entire highway of possibilities.

DC has a large library of very different types of superhero stories to pull from that can play into any number of genres. Clayface’s powerset works perfectly for horror, and, if successful, can lead to a number of other DC horror movies set in the same universe as Superman and his more straightforward superhero style. But it also lends credence to DC trying out other areas. A romantic comedy featuring Flash and Iris West (or Linda Park. Or Joan Garrick. Whichever Flash you want to imagine). A musical featuring Black Canary. A classic noir with The Question. Heck, the studio nearly made a World War II Sgt. Rock movie with Luca Guadagnino behind the camera, so clearly Gunn and Safran have already thought about this very thing.

Related

How Clayface Connects To James Gunn’s DCU

DC Studios is preparing to release another movie in theaters this year, so let’s break down Clayface’s connections to James Gunn’s DCU.

Opening the gates to a larger variety of genres and stories can greatly help push away the dreaded “superhero fatigue” that gets so much talk online. And it isn’t just DC that would benefit from this. Marvel has just as many characters that can be used across genres as DC, and Star Wars can build out new characters and stories to fall into any genre it wants. Venturing outside the comfort zone of these universes and trying new things will, of course, lead to some stumbles and failures, but it will also show the world just how much each franchise has to offer. But there is one thing that could really derail it all, and DC may already be falling into that trap.

Is DC Leaving The Biggest Audience Behind?

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. And with something like Clayface happening within the same cinematic universe, DC is taking part in that idiom. But the studio may be putting too much of one spice into its cinematic universe gumbo. There is a fair concern that Gunn and Safran’s eyes are overly focused on more “mature” stories and are leaving a large swath of the audience behind. By the end of the year, DC Studios will have released six in-universe projects: Creature Commandos, Superman, Peacemaker Season 2, Supergirl, Lanterns, and Clayface. Two thirds of those releases are very adult, with nudity, graphic violence, and cursing that goes beyond PG-13 levels. In other words, aside from Superman and Supergirl, DC is making things that the whole family can’t enjoy together.

In some cases, this makes sense. Peacemaker started before the new DCU and was connected to Gunn’s R-rated The Suicide Squad, so it would be odd if the second season was suddenly toned down. And a case can be made for Creature Commandos, as it was not originally meant for this DCU, but as something Gunn wrote for fun. But why is a show about Green Lanterns so intent on having Hal Jordan run around using the f-word? It feels odd to take these characters who have, for nearly a century, been almost exclusively safe for kids and take them away from those kids.

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In comics, where the concept of Green Lantern has dozens of issues come in the average year, sliding in a “For Mature Readers Only” series if not a big deal, because there’s still something for the younger audiences as well. But with live-action, where fans will be lucky to get one story every two to three years, it seems counter intuitive to put so much focus on R-rated material. Considering the characters and the history of the company and the medium it created, the percentages should be reversed, with the majority of work being done at a PG-13 level while a project occasionally gets the R-rating.

This isn’t about box office or ratings. It’s about legacy. The drive to take the things we loved as kids and force them to grow up with us leads to the destruction of those very things. Because what drew the fans to Superman, Batman, and yes, even Clayface, in the first place was the innocent joy of seeing them on the page or in a cartoon. When you pull too far away from that, you risk damaging the very thing you love. You take away the simple fun of it and start to need answers to everything. Suddenly, we need to know who fills the tires on the Batmobile. And I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with this. They’ll say it’s fine, and that audiences will understand the difference. And they may be right. But it’s hard to ignore that DC’s first attempt at a cinematic universe was partially undone by being to “adult,” and the attempt to course correct led to a lot of, at best, lackluster stories.

Created by

Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

Cast

Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Zachary Levi, Dwayne Johnson, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Ewan McGregor, Idris Elba, John Cena, Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Xolo Mariduena

Movie(s)

Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold

Character(s)

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam