The DC Cinematic Universe - despite its infancy - has seemed to be in quite a rocky place, as of late. While Superman rocketed the franchise to incredible heights, its latest entries have lacked much of that same momentum. Luckily, the Lanterns TV show was received just as well as James Gunn’s 2025 baby, attracting people’s eyes to Clayface, leaving this as the decider on how the DCU can continue. The big question is: does DC have legs? My answer would be a yes, though possibly not as stable as it once seemed at its birth.
First, I commend Gunn and Safran for taking a chance on an R-rated body horror villain origin story while this universe was still fresh. This displays a real trust in its filmmakers, as well as showing the audience that DC is willing to experiment with their productions. In a world of every MCU movie - a franchise that seems to have occupied the superhero genre almost entirely for years - feeling much the same, causing the genre as a whole to feel quite stale, DC seems intent on showing what this medium can really display, in all its different tones throughout the entire universe, at least so far.
Does Clayface work the entire time? No, but that’s somewhat par for the course with a franchise this new. The experimentation and not strictly sticking with what audiences seem to flock to is what I believe will give the DC Universe legs - contrary to what it may seem. The majority of the time, Clayface feels like no DC movie - or superhero movie, for that matter - that I’ve ever seen before, and that’s what I love. I want to walk into a DC Studios production with no idea what I’m about to be served, aside from the fact that it’ll be different from last time, and that’s exactly what Clayface is.
I find the concept of a newly disgraced actor, now developing the ability to be anybody he wants, only to lose himself, to be incredibly interesting, and this executes that idea perfectly. Where this really hits its stride in these themes is the finale, in which Matt pleads with Caitlyn, willing to mould himself into whoever she wants him to be because she’s all he knows now.
This can occasionally become somewhat shaky in its dialogue, though it never delves into laughable territory. No line or interaction will take you out of this movie completely, though you can see a few cracks form throughout. I give this grace, though, since ‘not laughable’ is unfortunately more than you can say for much of the recent superhero genre.
One thing this had to get right, and delved into entirely, is the distrust that begins to form in anybody that you see on screen. Throughout, you begin to look closely at every single character, wondering if one of them could be Matt in disguise. The filmmakers have a lot of intentionality in this, using it to their advantage. Any time you think you’ve pegged who’s who, they throw you a curveball and take you right back to square one. Whether that’s making us think Caitlyn is being followed, to one of Szabo’s goons being multiplied, to the final scene in which they’re actually both Matt, this will constantly keep you guessing, never letting you know the answers - even if you think you do.
When you think about the ‘final form’ of Clayface, the big dripping monster, you wonder how that could possibly be adapted to live action without taking you out of the experience completely. What comes to mind, for me, is Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’s MODOK. While you likely weren’t exactly locked into that movie, the reveal of MODOK is just silly and brings you out of any immersion you could have possibly had.
Luckily, this pitfall is no problem for Clayface, and I believe that’s down to 2024’s The Substance. Obviously, this design is inspired by DC Comics, though that gives you no inkling as to how this could be shown to a live-action audience. Luckily for James Watkins, Coralie Fargeat essentially did the work for him. This hulking figure, begging to be put out of its misery, feels ripped right from the Demi Moore / Margaret Qualley amalgamation that we saw two years ago, though it still makes it its own.
I’ve hinted at it throughout, but possibly my favourite scene is the final one. After all the horrible things we’ve seen Matt do throughout the last two hours, we find ourselves empathising with him - in a way. Somebody who was once on top of the world, up for an Academy Award, and in the prime of his career is now cast into the sewers, nothing but his own creations to keep him company. I believe the final scene is always one of the most important, one to leave the audience with a clear reminder of the movie’s core themes and tone, allowing them to walk out with some sense of satisfaction. Clayface knocks that out of the park, leaving you with a larger sense of horror and melancholy than you had throughout the entire picture beforehand.
I will say, my one big issue with Clayface is simply the progression of Matt’s state of mind and how quick it seemed to be. I felt as if Matt had accepted his life as a homicidal monster much quicker than he should have - or I thought he would. There was much less of a slow burn; I would have liked to have seen slightly more of Matt desperately trying to hold on to his life as ‘Matt Hagen the movie star’, especially when that’s all he had left.
However, what does receive this treatment is Matt’s slow loss of identity. While he may become comfortable with murder too quickly, we see an incredibly gradual turn from trying to be himself - the person he believed everybody loved - to whoever he thinks the people around him want him to be. This only escalates when it truly has to, becoming something horrifying and unrecognisable.
Finally, while Clayface may not succeed in every facet, it definitely shows the uniqueness of what the superhero genre can be, as well as the direction DC Studios is going - that being all of them, in the best possible way. Even if the DCU may occasionally falter, I have full faith in Gunn and Safran to produce a truly special franchise, and Clayface has only cemented these thoughts.