DC Studios' first horror-leaning entry hits theaters October 23, 2026: Clayface, a body-horror origin story for one of Batman's oldest Rogues.
The story
Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is a struggling actor whose face is disfigured by a local gangster. He volunteers for an experimental medical treatment that goes wrong — transforming him into a shapeshifting, living-clay being. Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, David Dencik, and Aaron Paul round out the cast. James Watkins (Speak No Evil, Eden Lake) directs from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.
Where it fits in the DCU
Clayface is the third film in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe, part of the Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate — the same continuity as Superman and Supergirl, but explicitly separate from Matt Reeves' The Batman (2022) and its own sequel. Gunn has been clear the DCU won't have a single house style: this one leans hard into R-rated body horror rather than blockbuster spectacle.
Why it's worth a shelf mention
Clayface has a deep, strange comics history dating back to the Golden Age, and this take draws specifically on the Matt Hagen version. Halloween-season release timing plus a genuinely obscure-to-mainstream-audiences villain getting the spotlight makes this a good excuse to pull classic Clayface back issues and Batman villain-focused collections out for a display.
Details and trailer sourced from Warner Bros. Pictures' official Clayface press materials and trailer release.