Did 'Clayface' originate in Matt Reeves’ Batman Universe? James Gunn responds

Asked point-blank on Threads whether Clayface was ever being built for Matt Reeves’ Gotham, James Gunn jumped in himself. The question came from a user going by “james.always,” and Gunn answered in the comments — the latest in his habit of popping into fan chats to straighten out DC chatter.

“No. From the first draft it was in the DCU,”

The confusion didn’t come out of nowhere. The Clayface project traces back to the period when Reeves was mapping spin-offs from The Batman’s rogues’ gallery. Filmmaker Mike Flanagan had pitched a tragic horror-thriller take on the shape-shifting villain years before Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios, and Reeves later came aboard as a producer. That early swirl, plus a darker tone, led some fans to assume the movie lived in Reeves’ corner of Gotham.

Why it’s DCU

As reported by IGN, Gunn said the team wanted Clayface inside the new DCU because the movie tells the origin of a classic Batman foe they plan to use in that continuity. He also reiterated that the character’s fantastical side never really fit the “epic crime saga” approach of Reeves’ films.

“It was very outside of the grounded non-super metahuman characters in Matt's world,”

Gunn added that the one thread connecting Reeves’ universe to the 2026 Clayface movie is The Penguin, noting the film shares continuity with DC’s villain-centric projects. Set photos have reportedly included environmental Easter eggs nodding to the Max series.

• Director — James Watkins
• Star — Tom Rhys Harries
• Producer — Matt Reeves (later joined the project)
• Tone — body-horror origin story of a Batman villain
• Universe — firmly in the DCU, not Reeves’ The Batman saga
• Release — set for 2026

The Penguin streams on Max; Clayface is slated to arrive in 2026.