It won’t be long before the world at large is introduced toClayface, Batman’s most malleable and horrifying foe.Having aClayfacemovieas the third entry in the DCU is an odd move, but it’s an intriguing one, especially with horror master Mike Flanagan attached as the writer for the big-screen debut of Clayface.
Fans unfamiliar with Batman lore may find themselves confused and wondering who Clayface is. While the simplest answer isthat Clayface is Basil Karlo, a former actor turned into a shape-shifting monster made of clay, the truth is the DC Universe has seen as many as 10 different Clayfaces, each with their own unique origin and motivation.
While Basil is certainly the number one Clayface, there’s something special about all of them from the Cassius Payne, the child of two previous Clayfaces to Clownface, a sentient piece of Clayface that was Jokerized. Read on to discover all of the Clayfaces from DC history and learn all about the star of the upcoming DCU body horror movie.
10Basil Karlo
First Appearance:Detective Comics #40
When it comesto the Clayface legacy, Basil Karlo is the cream of the crop. Once a rising actor, Karlo’s life changed forever after he was doused in Renu, a toxic chemical that radically altered his body, changing him into a living, breathing lump of malleable clay that has haunted Gotham for years.
As the longest-serving Clayface, Karlo has a complete mastery of his powers. Not only canClayface change shape and size, he can mimic anyone down to their cellular level, even copying their powers if they have any. While Clayface lived as a villain for years, he tried to atone for his sins and even fought alongside the Bat-Family.
9Matt Hagen
First Appearance:Detective Comics #298
Matt Hagen is the second Clayface and while there was a degree of tragedy with Karlo, Hagen is much less empathetic. He gained his powers after falling into a pool of protoplasm while searching for treasure, endowing him with similar abilities to Karlo. While Basil saw his power as a curse, Hagen viewed it as an opportunity.
The second Clayface could similarly impersonate people, and would often disguise himself to stage robberies in order to enrich himself. Interestingly enough, Hagen’s powers were actually temporary,meaning he had to revisit the protoplasm pool to continue as Clayface(which he did until Hagen synthesized the protoplasm).
8Preston Payne
First Appearance:Detective Comics #478
Preston Payne was the third Clayface and, like Karlo, a fairly tragic tale. Payne was born with acromegaly that no one was able to fix. Desperate, he turned to Matt Hagen and got a sample of his blood hoping to fix his facial features. It worked temporarily, but it came at an extremely deadly cost.
Payne’s experiment causedthis Clayface to develop a virus that would corrode and melt anything he came into contact with. Payne was forced to wear a containment suit until he could find a cure, which he was never able to find thanks to being manipulated by the villain Prometheus as part of a plot to kill the Justice League.
7Sondra Fuller aka ‘Lady Clay’
First Appearance:The Outsiders #21
Sondra Fuller was the first woman to gain Clayface powers in the DCU, and gained them thanks to an experiment she received while working for Kobra. Though she was intended to be one of the terrorist group’s greatest weapons, Fuller defected to live out her own life(or rather, other people’s lives).
Lady Clay had powers similar to Matt Hagen and Basil Karlo, but unlike the former,she didn’t require a protoplasmic source to keep her powers going. Sondra disappeared from the DC Universe and wasn’t seen for quite a long time, but she eventually re-emerged and ended up becoming one of Catwoman’s allies.
6Cassius ‘Clay’ Payne
First Appearance:Batman: Shadow of the Bat #27
Cassius ‘Clay’ Payne is an interesting part of Clayface history as he’s the only Clayface who is the child of two previous people to use the title. Payne is the only son of Sondra Fuller and Preston Payne. But as a new generation of Clayface, he had a power neither of his parents were privy to.
Clay had the unique ability where he could shed pieces of himself that, when separated from his body, could actually become living entities on their own. These pieces could also attach themselves to people and turn them into ‘claything’ abominations, which is unfortunatelywhat wound up bringing the sixth Clayface into the world.
5Peter Malley aka ‘Claything’
First Appearance:Batman #550
Tragedy seems inherently baked into the Clayface legacy. Peter Malley was a doctor that worked for the DEO and had the bad fortune of being assigned to analyze a piece of Cassius Payne’s tissue. This bit of tissue affixed itself to the doctor, transforming him into a mutated Claything which lacked most forms of higher thinking.
While Claything didn’t have much in the way of brains, it also had a unique power. Similar to Preston Payne,Claything could corrode and melt things, albeit by staring at them instead of touching. However, Claything’s body was destroyed and what was left of him was shelved at the DEO, never to be seen again.
4’Todd Russell'
First Appearance:Catwoman #1
When it comes to Clayfaces and tragedy, few had it worse than the seventh one. This version of Clayface was once in the Army, but due to an experiment he went under, his mind fractured and he lost his memories. He eventually ended up in Gotham where he began hunting sex workers, which attracted the attention of Catwoman.
Not only did this Clayface have all the standard powers as his predecessors,he also had military training. But despite his trauma and villainous origins, he actually worked with Catwoman later and helped her defeat Hugo Strange by using his shape-shifting abilities to pose as her and fake her death.
3Johnny Williams
First Appearance:Batman: Gotham Knights #60
Johnny Williams was the last ‘official’ Clayface and had an equally sad backstory. He was a firefighter whose body was transformed after being caught in an explosion at a chemical plant. After gaining the usual collection of Clayface abilities, he was manipulated by Bruce Wayne’s old friend Thomas Elliot as part of a plot against Batman.
In addition to shape-shifting and enhanced size and strength,Johnny also had the ability to infect others with a mind-controlling virus(which Hush used to force Alfred to commit murder). However, Johnny eventually betrayed Elliot and helped Batman cure Alfred before Williams finally perished in a final confrontation with Hush.
2Clownface
First Appearance:Arkham Manor #2
While Cassius Payne was the Clayface known for sentient pieces of his body, Basil Karlo eventually developed this power. And a piece of Karlo once detached and began living in Arkham Manor. However, this piece eventually ran into the Joker and infected the separate piece of Clayface with Joker’s patented Venom.
Dubbed ‘Clownface’ by the Joker, this monster was the worst parts of Joker and Clayface. Not only was it just as powerful as Clayface, but it had all the demented thoughts and feelings of the Joker. Clownface disappeared for a few years before it was later killed by Harley Quinn, who melted it with formaldehyde.
1Glory Griffin aka ‘Mudface’
First Appearance:Detective Comics #943
Glory Griffin is one of the last additions to the Clayface line, although she prefers the name ‘Mudface’. Griffin was once a production assistant who used to work closely with Basil Karlo before his transformation into Clayface. During Karlo’s debut as Clayface, he doused her with Renu,giving her similar powers to Clayface, albeit considerably less powerful.
Mudface eventually returned as part of the Victim Syndicate, a team composed of other people hurt by Batman rogues who blamed the Dark Knight for failing to stop his villains. While Mudface has powers like Clayface, they’re not as strong, and she has nowhere near the same amount of control as Basil Karlo does.
