‘Clayface’ Trailer Puts a Batman Villain in the Spotlight

Is Clayface the most obscure DC Comics character to ever get his own live-action movie?

Maybe, although there are a few other contenders. There’s Steel with Shaquille O’Neal as the Superman ally in a suit of armor. There’s Jonah Hex, with Josh Brolin as the western cowboy. There’s Constantine, with Keanu Reeves as the magician and supernatural detective.

But at least those characters have all had their own comic series at various times. And they’re all heroes (or at least anti-heroes). Clayface is a Batman villain. Outside of a stray one-shot here or there, he’s never had his own comic series. But now he’s got a movie, Clayface, directed by James Watkins and starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role.

There have been a bunch of Clayfaces in DC Comics through the years; Harries is playing the Matt Hagen version, an actor whose beautiful, camera-ready face gets ruined. He’s eventually desperate enough to try an experimental cure that turns him into a clayface. (I hate when that happens.)

Watch the Clayface trailer below:

After Supergirl’s disappointing performance, DC needs a hit. I am not sure Clayface is going to give it to them. Then again, its fall release is prime for a horror movie. If the same group of moviegoers who were sold on Backrooms and Obsession can be convinced that Clayface is the next cool horror movie, rather than the next building block of the DC Universe, it could perform surprisingly well.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

DC Studios’ “Clayface” is a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the cult favorite villain from Gotham’s rogues gallery. Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.

Clayface is scheduled to open in theaters on October 23.