By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Right now, fans of the Caped Crusader are eating good: the Penguin spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman proved to be a monster hit, and the acclaimed director is hard at work on his sophomore superhero outing. Meanwhile, even more Batman movies are on the horizon courtesy of James Gunn, the DCU visionary whose Superman film trailer gives us an idea of what he and his team could do with the Dark Knight. But the best upcoming film won’t be about Batman: Mike Flanagan’s Clayface movie has been greenlit, and like the Penguin show, it will serve as a deep dive into one of the Bat’s biggest baddies.
The Penguin Led To The Clayface Movie
Understandably, Warner Bros. waited to see what audience reception to The Penguin was before greenlighting a feature film focusing on an entirely different Batman nemesis. At first, The Penguin seemed quite the gamble; making a Batman villain show with no Batman seemed as crazy as Sony making a series of Spider-Man villain films without everyone’s favorite webhead. Fortunately, The Penguin was a monster hit among fans and critics alike, and it gave the studio the confidence to greenlight a Clayface movie written by Mike Flanagan.
Mike Flanagan’s Horror History
Right now, Flanagan is the only name attached to the project, and he’ll only be handling the script. For horror fans, though, it’s Flanagan’s involvement at any level that makes this Clayface movie so exciting: on the big screen, he is responsible for directing such spooky hits as Oculus, Hush, and Doctor Sleep. On the small screen, he has been the showrunner for some must-see streaming TV, including The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass.
We don’t yet have many official details about the Clayface movie except for its release date: Warner Bros. intends to release the movie on September 11, 2026. But Flanagan’s involvement heavily hints at this being a horror film. In addition to his aforementioned genre resume, his other major upcoming projects include directing a new Exorcist film and creating a Carrie show for Amazon based on Stephen King’s novel. Smart and moody horror is what the man does, and it’s honestly relieving to know that James Gunn’s upcoming DCU will explore other genres rather than using the DCEU’s strategy (also known as “make it like Marvel but infinitely worse”).
Is The Clayface Movie In The DCU?
Speaking of Gunn, it’s not yet clear whether the Clayface movie will take place in the DCU proper or, like The Penguin, take place in the separate universe of The Batman. We also don’t yet know the exact comic version of Clayface that the movie will adapt, though it’s a likely bet that it will most directly be based on the pathos-tinged version from Batman: The Animated Series. That incarnation has been played to hilarious perfection by Alan Tudyk in the excellent Harley Quinn animated series, but we can’t help but look forward to a horror movie that focuses on the more serious aspects of this actor-turned-shapeshifting criminal.
It’s possible that Clayface and other DC movies under James Gunn’s supervision will fall flat, of course, and the actors involved may want their own shapeshifting abilities if this latest attempt at a cinematic universe crashes and burns. Right now, though, Warner Bros. has a recent track record of immense success with The Batman and The Penguin, and they have a horror legend penning a film about the Caped Crusader’s most misunderstood nemesis. As huge fans of the Dark Knight, we’re hyped beyond belief, and we can only hope for a cinematic superhero renaissance that makes the DCEU nothing but a distant and painful memory.
Source: Variety
