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Right now, Caped Crusader fans are eating well: the Penguin Matt Reeves spinoff Batman turned out to be a monster hit and the acclaimed director is hard at work on his second superhero outing. Meanwhile, even more Batman movies are on the horizon thanks to James Gunn, the DCU visionary whose Superman the movie trailer gives us an idea of what he and his team could do with the Dark Knight. But the best upcoming movie won’t be about Batman: Mike Flanagan’s Clayface has been greenlit and as Penguin show, will serve as a deep dive into one of the greatest bats.
The Penguin movie led to the Clayface movie
It’s understandable that Warner Bros. they were waiting to see how the audience would receive it Penguin was a pre-launch feature film focusing on a completely different Batman nemesis. First, Penguin it looked quite haphazard; doing a Batman villain show without Batman seemed as crazy as Sony making a series of Spider-Man movies without the popular webhead. Fortunately, Penguin was a monster hit with fans and critics alike, and gave the studio the confidence to greenlit the Mike Flanagan-penned Clayface.
The Horror History of Mike Flanagan
Right now, Flanagan is the only name attached to the project and will only handle the script. For horror fans, however, it’s Flanagan’s involvement on any level that makes this Clayface film so exciting: on the big screen, he’s responsible for directing such haunting hits as Oculus, Shut upand Doctor Sleep. He was a must-see showrunner on the small screen streaming TV included The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight mass.
We don’t have many official details about the Clayface movie yet other than its release date: Warner Bros. plans to release the film on September 11, 2026. But Flanagan’s involvement strongly suggests it’s a horror film. In addition to the aforementioned genre resume, his other major upcoming projects include directing a new one The Exorcist film and creation and Carrie show for Amazon based on the novel by Stephen King. Smart and moody horror is what the man does, and it’s honestly a relief to know that James Gunn’s upcoming DCU will explore other genres rather than using the DCEU strategy (aka “make it like Miracle but infinitely worse”).
Is the Clayface movie in the DCU?
Speaking of Gunn, it’s not yet clear if the Clayface movie will take place in the DCU itself or what Penguintake place in a separate universe Batman. We also don’t yet know the exact comic book version of Clayface the film is adapting, though it’s likely to be based most directly on the pathos-tinged version from Batman: The Animated Series. This incarnation was played to hilarious perfection by Alan Tudyk in an excellent Harley Quinn animated series, but we can’t help but look forward to a horror film that focuses on the more serious aspects of this shape-shifting actor-turned-criminal.
That is possible Clayface and others DC of course, the James Gunn-supervised films will fall flat, and the actors involved may want their own shape-shifting powers if this latest attempt at a cinematic universe crashes and burns. Right now, though, Warner Bros. a huge success recently Batman and Penguinand they have a horror legend writing a film about the Caped Crusader’s most misunderstood nemesis. As huge fans of the Dark Knight, we are beyond excited and can only hope for a cinematic superhero renaissance that will make the DCEU a distant and painful memory.
Source: Variety
