Batman’s Status During Clayface Explained By DC Studios Co-Head

Spoilers follow.

James Gunn’s first DC Universe film was 2025’s “Superman,” followed this year by a spinoff about Kal-El’s cousin, “Supergirl.” From there, you’d think the logical third film for a DC Cinematic Universe would be a Batman movie, which is what DC Studios did…sort of. Their latest project is James Watkins’ “Clayface,” a horror film starring one of Batman’s most famous villains, Clayface.

While “Clayface” takes place primarily in Gotham City, Batman does not appear and no one ever mentions him. A viewer may wonder if the film is supposed to take place before Batman makes his debut as a crime fighter. But DC Studios co-president Peter Safran clarified that in an interview with Collider.

When asked if you were supposed to assume while watching “Clayface” that Batman fights crime elsewhere in Gotham, Safran answered bluntly, “Yes.” Beyond that, he didn’t offer much more specifics beyond confirming that, yes, Batman exists in the DCU:

“(James Gunn and I) haven’t really talked about what (Batman) is doing during the events of ‘Clayface.’ But Batman is there. This is the introduction to live-action Gotham. We showed a silhouette of Batman in ‘Creature Commandos,’ so you know he’s there, but this is the first step into the world of Gotham for us.”

The DCU is at an impasse with the Dark Knight because there is currently a non-canonical, competing Batman film franchise. Everyone involved with DC and/or “The Batman”, including Batman himself, Robert Pattinson, has emphasized that “The Batman” franchise will not be integrated into the DCU. This preserves writer-director Matt Reeves’ creative control, but it’s certainly a headache for the DCU to not be able to launch a new Batman without risking confusing audiences.

As /Film’s review of “Clayface” notes, its solo supervillain premise draws comparisons to Sony’s films about Spider-Man villains, like “Morbius” or “Kraven the Hunter,” which did not include Spider-Man. Does “Clayface” prove something similar, that Matt Hagen’s story only works when he’s an enemy of Batman?

Matt’s central dynamic in the film is shared not with Batman but with Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), the doctor who heals his face and unwittingly gives him his shapeshifting powers. Their borderline romance is the heart of the film, but Caitlyn is already engaged to Detective John Borrelli (Max Minghella). John plays dual roles as a heroic foil investigating Matt and fails to fill the Batman-shaped hole in the script.

One scene that stands out is when Caitlyn tells “John” (actually Matt in disguise) about Matt’s shapeshifting and John asks her if she knows how weird that sounds. But should he? In the DC Universe, metahumans have apparently been common knowledge for some time, and Gotham has its own vigilante. Considering that the mob boss who attacks Matt, Markos Szabo (David Dencik), is supposedly the biggest in Gotham, it’s also surprising that Batman never looks into the attack — I can imagine a scene of Batman appearing, in the shadows, in Matt’s hospital room looking for answers.

I would compare the absence of Batman to the HBO series “The Penguin”, which also never referenced Batman until the very end, when the Bat Signal appears in the sky. But it made “The Penguin” feel like it was refusing to engage with its setting. The same disconnect is felt throughout “Clayface,” although Clayface returning as a villain in the DCU Batman film “The Brave and the Bold” would be a fun rectification.