Clayface’s New Trailer Gives Fans Their Best Look Yet at Matt Hagen’s Nightmarish Transformation
DC Studios has spent the past several months building anticipation for its strangest project yet, a horror film built entirely around one of Batman’s most grotesque villains. Rather than leaning into typical superhero spectacle, the studio has positioned ‘Clayface’ as something closer to a psychological nightmare, with marketing that has stayed deliberately unsettling rather than triumphant.
That approach has made every new piece of footage feel like an event, especially since the studio has been unusually selective about where fans can actually see it. DC Studios released a second trailer for the upcoming horror thriller, and there is only one way for fans to watch this new preview. Anyone buying a ticket for ‘Supergirl’ this month will see ‘Clayface’ new trailer first, since DC slipped the trailer exclusively into those theatrical showings, keeping it off YouTube and social media entirely.
This is the footage that fan account DCU The Direct highlighted, noting that the green band cut offers the clearest look yet at Matt Hagen’s shapeshifting transformation, alongside new images from the film. The green band version is edited for general audiences, softening some of the more graphic moments that defined the earlier restricted cut. The reel reuses several beats from April’s debut preview but finds room for new material, including one added shot showing Tom Rhys Harries as Hagen locked in a silent confrontation with his own reflection as his face begins to distort, along with another moment capturing his hand rippling and shifting as his skin loses its grip on human form.
Perhaps the most notable revelation involves how far the film is willing to go with its title character’s final form. Early buzz claimed director James Watkins would hide the creature’s final design, but test screening reports now reportedly demolish that assumption, with Hagen fully transforming into the hulking silhouette that haunted ‘Batman: The Animated Series’. No reference to the Dark Knight appears in the trailer, and insiders allege Batman stays entirely absent from ‘Clayface’, though nothing has been officially confirmed.
The film follows Hagen, a rising actor whose life takes a violent turn after a brutal attack leaves his face disfigured, prompting him to seek out a scientist played by Naomi Ackie in hopes of reversing the damage. That treatment instead pushes his body into something far less human, tying the story’s horror to the loss of identity rather than a simple monster transformation.
The project’s origins trace back further than most fans realize. James Gunn revealed that Mike Flanagan wrote to him about ‘Clayface’ early on, having been friendly with the director for years, though Gunn admitted during a conversation with Entertainment Weekly that he did not initially expect the pitch to actually become a real film. Flanagan’s take ultimately won him over, and Gunn has since described the project as a body horror story that simply happens to exist inside the DCU rather than one built around typical superhero expectations.
Directed by James Watkins from a screenplay by Flanagan and Hossein Amini, ‘Clayface’ also stars David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, with production credits including Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, Gunn and Peter Safran. The film is set to hit theaters on October 23.
With ‘Supergirl’ now serving as the unlikely gateway to this footage, how far do you think DC Studios should go in showing off Hagen’s full monstrous form before October.
