- Primary Subject: Clayface's potential appearance in The Batman: Part II and the DCU future
- Key Update: The Batman: Part II director Matt Reeves and DC Studios head James Gunn debunked rumors that Clayface was ever planned as the villain for the Batman sequel, confirming the script remained unchanged while Clayface receives his own standalone DCU project.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: July 22, 2026
- Quick Answer: Director Matt Reeves and James Gunn confirmed Clayface was never cut from The Batman: Part II because he was never in the original script.
As Matt Reeves expands his Crime Saga alongside James Gunn's newly minted DC Universe, rumors have swirled regarding which iconic members of Gotham City's rogues gallery will cross paths with Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight.
Chief among these rumors was the belief that the shape-shifting villain Clayface was originally set as the primary antagonist for The Batman: Part II, until fans began speculating that behind-the-scenes adjustments forced last-minute script changes to throw fans off their track.
The Batman: Part 2 Director Discloses Truth About Clayface's Potential Cameo
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Addressing fan speculation online, DC Studios co-head James Gunn and filmmaker Matt Reeves set the record straight regarding Clayface's involvement in the upcoming sequel.
Contrary to widespread online rumors alleging that Gunn instructed Reeves to remove Clayface from The Batman: Part II script to make room for a standalone project, Gunn clarified that the script remained consistent from the start and that no Clayface ever set foot in the story.
Replying to fans on Threads, Gunn was baffled by where the rumor came from: "What? Where does this stuff come from? No, it's the same exact script it has been from the beginning," he even pressed that there were no rumors at all except from "one guy" who asked the question.
Clayface director James Watkins offered a tease when asked if a cameo was on the table: "This is Clayface's story, it's Matt Hagen's story. If you just took one person within the world of Gotham and followed their story, it's about following the integrity of that. You don't necessarily bump into any of these people... It's just one big city."
While early discussions during the development of Reeves' Gotham universe included exploring grounded takes on villains like Clayface, Scarecrow, and Professor Pyg, Clayface was never written in as a primary villain or cameo for The Batman: Part II. Instead, Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin focused on the escalating grounded detective mystery following the aftermath of Gotham's flooding in the first film.
What Fans Can Expect From Clayface's DCU Future
While Clayface won't be tormenting Robert Pattinson's Batman in Part II, the villain's cinematic presence is far from sidelined, as DC Studios greenlit a standalone body-horror film directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan.
Produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn, and Peter Safran, the Clayface project stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, an actor whose tragic disfigurement drives him to extreme scientific measures.
As Watkins mentioned, Clayface is firmly placed within the main DC Universe, as the film blends a Hollywood horror narrative with Gotham's dark underbelly, exploring the tragic loss of humanity and identity.
Rather than diluting the character across parallel franchises, Matt Reeves' active involvement as a producer on the standalone Clayface project allows him to help shape the villain's live-action story without compromising the realism of his standalone Batman saga.
In the meantime, fans can wait until Clayface premieres in theaters on October 23, 2026. Stay tuned!
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