Did anyone anticipate that Clayface would talked about so much as we wound down 2024 and entered 2025. I certainly didn’t, yet here we are thanks to the announcement last month that Mike Flanagan is writing a Clayface movie that will be set in the DC Universe. Granted, we knew beforehand that Creature Commandos would introduce the Batman villain into this shared universe, and that appearance has now left me even more intrigued about what’s in store for him in his upcoming DC movie.
Clayface doesn’t come out until fall 2026, so we have a long way to go until we learn things like how he’ll look in “live action” and how specifically the character “won’t be painted as a villain,” as has been reported. In the meantime, those of you who enjoy this shapeshifting villain would be wise to read the recently-released book Batman: Resurrection, as it delivers a great version of Clayface that reminds me of another recent adaptation of the character.
Fair warning, there will be minor SPOILERS for Batman: Resurrection ahead, but rest assured, no major plot beats or twists will be discussed.
How Batman: Resurrection Uses Clayface
Written by John Jackson Miller, Batman: Resurrection is set between Batman and Batman Returns, i.e. the two Caped Crusader-centric movies that Tim Burton helmed in 1989 and 1992, respectively. Though the book primarily takes place up several months after The Joker’s reign of terror across Gotham City came to an end, Resurrection’s prologue actually introduces us to its Clayface, born Karlo Babić, as the events of the first movie are going on. More specifically, it’s after Joker has tainted various products in Gotham City with Smylex, but before he throws the big parade to gas as many citizens with the poison as possible.
Karlo starts out as a hapless actor who’s been trying to perform on stage for years, but has only been able to contribute to his theater troupe in behind-the-scenes ways, and he’s frequently looked down upon. One night, it looks like he’s finally caught his big break when he’s tapped as a last-minute replacement to play Caliban in a production of The Tempest. He decides that his stage name will be Basil Karlo, i.e. the first character to go by Clayface in the comics.
Unfortunately, Karlo never gets his chance to shine before an audience because the lead actor coerces him into testing the makeup that Karlo acquired for him on the street. The shady guys who sold Karlo the product claimed they’d gotten the product had come from out of town, so it wouldn’t be tainted with Smylex, but that ended up not being the case. However, rather than suffering a laughing fit and dying with a grin on his face, Karlo instead falls into a coma and languishes that way for a handful of months. Upon awakening, he’s horrified to learn that his face has become a malleable mess, and while fleeing the hospital where he’d been kept, he draws the attention of Michael Keaton’s Batman.
However, rather than being doomed to spend the rest of his life living in the shadows, Karlo learns that thanks to his exposure to this specific variant Smylex, he can reshape his face to look like anyone he sees, as well as mimic their voice perfectly. Combined with his own acting abilities, this makes Karlo the perfect master in disguise, but he understandably wants to return to his old self. He eventually comes into contact with Dr. Hugh Auslander, who’s running Gotham General’s Smylex Ward and claims he can heal Karlo if he has the proper resources, resulting in the two agreeing to work together.
Why Batman: Resurrection’s Clayface Is So Great
Oftentimes when Clayface is adapted for film and TV, he’s shown in his natural form as this hulking monstrosity who, in addition to being able to disguise himself as anyone, can also transform his body into various kinds of weapons, regenerate when the various “clay” parts of himself are separated, and is superhumanly strong. That’s not the Clayface Batman: Resurrection give readers. Although there are moments in the novel when Basil Karlo demonstrates slightly enhanced strength, the shapeshifting is his main ability and he’s still human-sized, though sadly disfigured when not disguised as someone else. Here’s an visual representation of Resurrection’s Clayface that arises Joe Quinones came up with:
n this sense, not only is the Burtonverse’s Clayface harkening back to the earliest depictions of Basil Karlo in the comics (albiet with actual powers), but he’s also quite similar to the Clayface we got last year in Batman: Caped Crusader, which can be streamed with a Prime Video subscription. But this Clayface gets extra points in my book for being more of a tragic figure, as Caped Crusader’s Basil Karlo was fell into the straightforward villain mold who started killing the co-stars from the movie he was in after his advances towards the lead actress were rejected. Resurrection’s Karlo, however, was just a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and is reminiscent of the classic Universal movie monsters played by actors like Basil Karloff or Lon Chaney. In fact John Jackson Miller admitted on Instagram he was influenced by them when he was thinking of the character in his head.
In that sense, I could envision see a Clayface movie following this version of the character where he’s depicted as a more human character. That’s not to say I think the DC Universe’s Clayface movie will be bad in any way, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how he’s portrayed more sympathetically after the violent rampage he went on in Creature Commandos. But I like the idea of watching a more old school, pulp-y take of Clayface who’s coping with the unfortunate hand life dealt him in a cinematic story that’s like the aforementioned monster movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Clayface opens in theaters on September 11, 2026, but you can check out the villain’s Creature Commandos appearance now with your Max subscription. Batman: Resurrection can be purchase wherever books are sold, and a sequel titled Batman: Revolution will be released this fall.
