The Batman 2: Fans Speculate On What A Grounded Clayface Would Look Like
"The Batman" proves that you can pull off the same trick twice, so long as you double down on what worked the first time. While Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy brings Batman into the real world by grounding him with more believable depictions of his rogue's gallery and sensible reasoning for all of his training and gadgets, Matt Reeves' film goes one step further.
With a Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) who's younger and more inexperienced than any other live-action iteration yet, "The Batman" also makes underworld figures like The Penguin (Colin Farrell) and Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) feel more convincing and down to earth than ever. Furthermore, the film turns the often-campy character The Riddler (Paul Dano) into a terrifying force to be reckoned with.
Deadline reports that DC may be considering sending Clayface to the big screen, possibly as an addition to "The Batman" sequel. However, this raises the question as to how "The Batman 2" can bring an outlandish character like Clayface to life. On the r/TheBatmanFilm subreddit, u/Usual-Improvement539 laid out three different approaches on how to bring this over-the-top character into Reeves' grounded universe: making him a simple serial killer with a knack for disguising himself, the outright monster that most fans know him as, or some combination of the two.
Could The Batman really contend with such a powerful threat?
Intriguingly, u/Usual-Improvement539 offered this idea for the character: "The ballsiest way to go is just have him be a giant clay monster from the very beginning and lean into how absolutely f***ed up and out of place it is, and have Batman be completely out of his element."
Given the tone of "The Batman," it seems very possible that if Clayface shows up in the sequel, he'll simply be another serial killer who challenges The Caped Crusader. In this case, it would be as a master of disguise who makes everyone look twice as he uses camouflage and subterfuge to infiltrate his way into even the most secure environments.
However, given that The Riddler already took his political vendetta all the way up to the top of Gotham's elite, maybe Clayface will have a different agenda. "Honestly, he should be like the Earth one Clayface where he might be a meta-human, but we don't really know," suggested u/Crimson32.
Would the hypothetical introduction of an outlandish villain like Clayface end up breaking the rules of the previous film? While this would definitely be a hugely shocking development, it would also change the tone of the "The Batman" sequel in a way that fans of recent "Batman" films might not be too keen on.
A more grounded approach to Clayface seems most likely
Redditor u/HItide69 offered a compromise where Clayface is the muscle behind Scarecrow, a character known for his fear toxin and how it distorts the reality of its victims. "Pair him up with Scarecrow somehow and have Clayface's monster form appear to people who have been poisoned," they suggested.
However, with Riddler, The Penguin, and Joker (Barry Keoghan) already expected to return in "The Batman" sequel, this could lead to a very overstuffed movie. With this in mind, u/shauner111 offered a much more realistic approach to the character that takes inspiration from classic Hollywood actors like Lon Chaney. "It will never be a CG monster in this universe," they asserted. "So folks need to move on from that idea. He's going to be a master of disguise."
Regardless of what form Clayface takes if he's ever confirmed to be a part of "The Batman 2," he would definitely shake up the established order of Gotham City. After all, Clayface is not only a Batman villain that's never made it to the silver screen but also someone who could make The Dark Knight look twice at his already short list of allies.