The official teaser trailer for Clayface has arrived, offering a first unsettling look at DC Studios’ horror spin on one of Batman’s most intriguing villains. Watch the teaser above, then read on for everything to know about the story, cast, the character’s comic book history, and release.

A Body Horror Origin Story With A Disturbing Edge

This first teaser leans hard into discomfort. We open on Tom Rhys Harries’ Matt Hagen, a rising actor, battered and bandaged in a hospital bed after a brutal attack. From there, things quickly spiral. A mysterious experimental procedure promises a fix, but the results are anything but clean.

Faces and features warp, skin moves in ways it absolutely shouldn’t. The footage leans fully into body horror, with a streak of brutality running through it. The final beats push it even further, with Hagen seemingly wiping away his own face in a bathtub… a bathtub that could also… be part of him?

Cast, Director, and Creative Team

Clayface is directed by James Watkins, no stranger to horror with credits that include Speak No Evil, Eden Lake, and The Woman in Black. The screenplay comes from Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House) and Hossein Amini (Drive), with Flanagan also credited on the story, a combination that points to both psychological and character-driven horror elements.

Tom Rhys Harries leads the film as Matt Hagen, a version of Clayface rooted in the character’s actor origins. His previous credits include White Lines, The Gentlemen, and Suspicion. He’s joined by Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, and Eddie Marsan, alongside Nancy Carroll and Joshua James.

Behind the camera, Watkins is supported by cinematographer Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris, visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton, costume designer Keith Madden, and casting director Lucy Bevan. The film is produced by James Gunn, Matt Reeves, Peter Safran, and Lynn Harris.

Clayface’s Comic Book History Explained

Clayface isn’t a single, fixed identity. It’s one of those DC mantles that’s been passed around, reshaped, and reinterpreted over decades, usually with one constant: a connection to Batman and a body that doesn’t obey normal rules.

The original version dates back to 1940, when Basil Karlo was introduced as a struggling actor who snapped and began committing crimes while adopting the persona of a horror character he once played. It was a grounded, almost theatrical idea at the time, more disguise than superpower.

That changed in later iterations. By the late 1950s, the character evolved into something far stranger, with Matthew Hagen introducing the now-iconic shapeshifting abilities after a science experiment gone wrong. From there, Clayface became less about masks and more about transformation, with a fully malleable, unstable body.

Subsequent versions pushed the concept even further. Some leaned into science gone wrong, others into outright body horror, with characters like Preston Payne and Sondra Fuller adding new variations to the mythology. The result is a villain that’s constantly shifting, both literally and creatively, depending on the era.

Outside of comics, Clayface has remained a familiar presence across animation and television, including standout voice work from Ron Perlman in Batman: The Animated Series and Alan Tudyk in Harley Quinn. Even so, this film marks the character’s first proper big-screen spotlight.

How Clayface Fits Into The New DC Universe

While Clayface stands apart tonally as a horror film, it’s firmly set within the new DC Universe. This Gotham City is expected to be the primary DCU setting going forward, separate from the world seen in The Batman.

The teaser hints at a brighter, more lived-in city on the surface, with something far darker lurking underneath. It’s the kind of place where someone like Hagen can fall apart in full view, even without Batman stepping into frame.

Clayface Release Date

Clayface is set to hit cinemas on October 22 in Australia and October 23 in the United States, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

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