James Gunn Explains Why the Clayface Movie Had to Be a Part of the DCU and Not Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga

James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-heads of DC Studios, have confirmed that the upcoming Clayface film is officially part of the DC Universe (DCU) and will receive an R rating.

Clayface, a formidable adversary of Batman, is a former Gotham City criminal with the ability to alter his clay-like body, transforming into anyone or anything. Basil Karlo, the first iteration of the character, debuted in Detective Comics #40 (1940).

DC Studios announced a September 11, 2026 release date for the Clayface movie last month. This decision reportedly followed the success of HBO's The Penguin series. Horror maestro Mike Flanagan penned the screenplay, with Lynn Harris producing alongside The Batman director Matt Reeves.

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During a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn and Safran explained why Clayface belongs in the DCU rather than Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga. Gunn confirmed, "Clayface is totally DCU." Safran clarified, "The only thing that's in Matt's world…is the Batman Trilogy, the Penguin series…still under DC Studios, still under us. We have an incredible relationship with Matt, but those are the only things. It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It's an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world."

Gunn further explained that Clayface's tone wouldn't fit Reeves' more grounded approach. "It was very outside of the grounded non-super metahuman characters in Matt's world," he stated.

Safran revealed that DC Studios is finalizing negotiations with James Watkins (Speak No Evil) to direct. Filming is scheduled to begin this summer. "This summer, cameras are going to roll on Clayface, an incredible body horror film that reveals a compelling origin of a classic Batman villain…another title that we added to the slate on the strength of an exceptional screenplay by Mike Flanagan," Safran stated. "We're in negotiations with James Watkins now to direct, and we'll start casting this as soon as we have the director deal done and we'll shoot this summer. It's slated for a fall 2026 release. Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those.”

Throughout the presentation, Safran described Clayface as "experimental," differentiating it from traditional superhero films, calling it an "indie style chiller." Gunn described it as "pure f***ing horror, like, totally real. Their version of that movie, it is so real and true and psychological and body horror and gross.”

Gunn definitively confirmed the film's R rating. He added, “I think that one of the things Peter and I talked about when we first got the script is if we were producing movies five years ago when we were doing Belko Experiment and all of that stuff, and somebody had brought us this horror script called Clayface about this guy, we would have died to have produced this movie, because it was just a really excellent body horror script, and the fact that it's in the DCU is just a plus.”