James Gunn Explains Why the Clayface Movie Had to Be a Part of the DCU and Not Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga

James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-heads of DC Studios, have confirmed the upcoming Clayface film as a canon entry within the DC Universe (DCU), carrying an R rating. Clayface, a long-standing Batman adversary with the ability to alter his clay-like body into any form, first appeared as Basil Karlo in Detective Comics #40 (1940). DC Studios announced a September 11, 2026 release date last month. The project reportedly stemmed from the success of HBO's The Penguin series. Horror maestro Mike Flanagan penned the script, with Lynn Harris producing alongside The Batman director Matt Reeves.

Confirmed DCU Projects

11 Images

During a DC Studios presentation to IGN, Gunn and Safran explained Clayface's place within the DCU, distinguishing it from Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga. Gunn confirmed, "Clayface is totally DCU." Safran clarified, "The only thing that's in Matt's world...is the Batman Trilogy, the Penguin series...still under DC Studios, but those are the only things. It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It's an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world.” Gunn added that Clayface wouldn't fit Reeves' more grounded approach: "It was very outside of the grounded non-super metahuman characters in Matt's world.”

Negotiations with Speak No Evil director James Watkins to helm Clayface are reportedly nearing completion, with filming slated to begin this summer. Safran described the film as "an incredible body horror film that reveals a compelling origin of a classic Batman villain," adding, "This is another title that we added to the slate on the strength of an exceptional screenplay by Mike Flanagan…we'll start casting this as soon as we have the director deal done and we'll shoot this summer. It's slated for a fall 2026 release." He further emphasized that while Clayface might be less familiar than The Penguin or The Joker, his story is equally compelling and terrifying.

Safran described Clayface as "experimental," not a traditional superhero film, but more of an "indie style chiller." Gunn described it as "pure f***ing horror…totally real. Their version of that movie, it is so real and true and psychological and body horror and gross.” Gunn confirmed the film's R rating. He further elaborated, "I think that one of the things Peter and I talked about when we first got the script is if we were producing movies five years ago…somebody had brought us this horror script called Clayface…we would have died to have produced this movie, because it was just a really excellent body horror script, and the fact that it's in the DCU is just a plus.”