Mike Flanagan introduces an image on Clayface to Warner Bros DC

EXCLUSIVE: doctor sleep Filmmaker Mike Flanagan has presented the studio with a feature version of Clayface, multiple sources say deadline, but no word on the green light yet – and the studio hasn’t said no. There are no offers and no deals. Although he’s normally a DC supervillain, if it were to move forward in the Flanagan picture he wouldn’t be a villain (so we hear).

Rumor has it that Flanagan and his Intrepid Pictures partner Trevor Macy had a meeting with DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran. Flangan, we understand, didn’t want the character to be part of Matt Reeves’ DC Elseworld, The Batman2 set for a release date of October 3, 2025.

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However, other sources tell us that scripts are always changing and that Clayface is a big addition to Matt Reeves’ The Batman2. Let’s wait for the dust to settle here and for things to move forward. Whether there is a connection between Clayface remains to be seen The Batman2 Elseworld and Gunn and Safrans Feature Film and Series Spreading DC’s Gods and Monsters – Chapter One.

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But Clayface got its DC introduction as part of Detective Comics #40 in June 1940. While there would eventually be a number of shape-shifting DC antagonists using this alias, the original Clayface was a moderately successful actor who assumed the identity of a character he had portrayed in a horror picture after he had turned to crime. He is a frequent antagonist of Batman with a body seemingly made of clay, and has appeared in numerous films, television series, cartoons, video games, and other forms of media portrayed in the series over the years Gotham (The CW) and Pennyworth (Epix/HBO Max) by Brian McManamon and Lorraine Burroughs. The rationale for Clayface’s appearance surfaced in 1970s comics, which developed the character into a scientist with hormonal imbalances.

Flanagan has been very vocal about his interest in a Clayface film in the past, stating in a 2021 tweet that he would approach it as a “standalone…horror/thriller/tragedy.” (He also noted there that he’s long wanted to put his stamp on Superman, although new DC boss James Gunn is currently preparing to do so himself and direct it Superman: Legacy from his own screenplay, as the first film in the opening stages of his new DC.)

Flanagan recently revealed on an episode of the Script Apart podcast that during a recent shareholders’ meeting with veteran DC producer Jon Berg, he expressed interest in a “horroristic” version of the character and also introduced characters and traits like Scarecrow, Justice League Dark and Constantine. The filmmaker added at the time that the meeting “sort of went nowhere.”

Best known for popular Netflix horror series, including The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor And midnight fairas well as its feature adaptation by Stephen King The glow follow up doctor sleepFlanagan is also currently developing a series adaptation of King’s The Dark Tower alongside Trevor Macy, as we told you back in December. He is represented by WME, Novo Entertainment and VanderKloot Law.

Justin Kroll contributed to this piece.

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