Batman's Status During Clayface Explained By Dc Studios Co-head

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Spoilers follow.

The first movie in James Gunn's DC Universe was 2025's "Superman," followed this year by a spin-off about Kal-El's cousin, "Supergirl." From there, you'd think the logical third movie for a cinematic DC Universe would be a Batman movie, which is what DC Studios did ... sort of. Their latest project is James Watkins' "Clayface," a horror movie starring one of Batman's more famous villains, Clayface. 

While "Clayface" takes place primarily in Gotham City, Batman doesn't appear and no one ever mentions him. A viewer can be left wondering if the movie is meant to take place before Batman has debuted as a crimefighter. But DC Studios' Co-Chairman Peter Safran clarified this in an interview with Collider.

Asked if you're meant to assume while watching "Clayface" that Batman is out there fighting crime somewhere else in Gotham, Safran answered bluntly "Yes." Beyond that, he didn't offer much more  specificity beyond confirmation that, yes, Batman exists in the DCU:

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

The DCU has sat at an impasse with the Dark Knight because there's a competing, non-canonical Batman movie franchise right now. Everyone involved with DC and/or "The Batman," Batman himself Robert Pattinson included, has stressed "The Batman" franchise will not be integrated into the DCU. That preserves writer-director Matt Reeves' creative control, but it sure is a headache for the DCU that they can't cast a new Batman without the risk of confusing audiences.

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As /Film's review of "Clayface" notes, its solo-supervillain premise attracts comparisons to Sony's movies about Spider-Man villains, like "Morbius" or "Kraven the Hunter," that didn't include Spider-Man. Does "Clayface" prove something similar, that Matt Hagen's story only works when he's a enemy of Batman? 

Matt's central dynamic in the movie is shared not with Batman but with Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), the doctor who heals his face and unintentionally gives him his shapeshifting powers. Their borderline romance is the heart of the movie, but Caitlyn is already engaged to Detective John Borrelli (Max Minghella). John pulls double duty as the heroic foil investigating Matt and can't quite 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 strange that sounds. But should it? In the DC Universe, metahumans have apparently been public knowledge for a while, and Gotham has its very own vigilante. Considering the mob boss who attacks Matt, Markos Szabo (David Dencik), is supposedly the biggest in Gotham, it's also surprising Batman never looks into the attack — I can picture a scene of Batman appearing, in shadow, inside Matt's hospital room looking for answers.

I'd compare Batman's absence to 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," though Clayface returning as a villain in planned DCU Batman movie "The Brave and the Bold" would be a fun rectification.