Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any mid- or post-credits scenes in Clayface. The answer is no.
Full SPOILERS for the movie follow!
The new movie Clayface marks the live-action film debut of the classic Batman villain but fans are obviously wondering if the film also introduces the DCU’s incarnation of the Caped Crusader. It does not.
We’re gonna dive into how Clayface ends, how the character’s design was created for the film, and yes, the Batman of it all… so read on!
Is Batman in Clayface?
While Batman is never even mentioned here, the movie does feature a scene set at the Wayne Community Centre. But let’s be clear: Batman already exists in Clayface’s Gotham City and in the DCU at large.
Remember, the DCU’s Batman already popped up in animated form for a cameo in Creature Commandos. Matt Hagen’s Clayface also made his animated DCU debut in that show, where he was voiced by Alan Tudyk. (The live-action version of Matt Hagen doesn’t quite jibe with the animated version. Hagen also appeared to have been killed off in Creature Commandos, but DCU Studios co-boss James Gunn later confirmed that Clayface survived.)
Of that version of the Caped Crusader, Gunn already confirmed last year that “this is the DCU Batman,” but the character was kept in silhouette because he was not yet ready to commit to a final costume design. Gunn said the animated cameo was “just a way to introduce that Batman is a part of this universe, he's an important part of this universe, and he has an impact on it.”
And if there was still any doubt after all that, Clayface director James Watkins told me at the film’s press junket, “I would say Batman exists in this world [of Clayface], but it's just not his story. It's Matt Hagen's story. So, it's just like in Joker. It's a city of several million people, and we're telling one person's story within it.”
So we likely won’t see the DCU’s Batman in live-action until Batman: The Brave and the Bold finally makes it to the screen (unless, of course, Gunn sneaks him into next year’s Man of Tomorrow, but that lineup already seems pretty stacked).
It’s also worth noting the timeline of events so far in the DCU. Both Clayface and Creature Commandos take place before the events of Superman, which is set in 2025. Lanterns only references Batman in its sequences set in 2026, so it’s possible that the DCU’s Batman started operating in Gotham City sometime after 2016 and before 2024.
Clayface Ending Explained
While there’s no post-credits scene, fans will have to wait until the final scenes of DC Studios’ new movie Clayface to see a comics and cartoon-accurate depiction of the monstrous Batman villain.
After finally attaining his revenge on all those who wronged him – from the mobsters who carved up his face to the money manager who stole his fortune and the best friend who betrayed him – former actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) turns his sights on Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie).
Matt fell hard for Caitlyn while she was treating him with her experimental nanobot regenerative process, tech that restored his face but also caused his shape-shifting affliction. Despite being engaged to Gotham Police detective John Borrelli (Max Minghella), Caitlyn also developed feelings for Matt. Ultimately, though, she chose not to betray John and become romantically involved with her patient. Caitlyn comes home to the apartment she shares with John to reveal the truth about Matt’s condition, her role in how it happened, and his involvement in the killings. Then she notices the real John’s corpse lying in the next room, having been slain by Matt, who suggests he could stay in John’s form forever if she wants to be with him.
Matt is clearly off his rocker at this point. Caitlyn grabs the taser from John’s belt and zaps Matt, lighting him up and sending him crashing through the window to the street below. As Matt writhes in pain while electricity surges through his nanobot-infested body, Caitlyn retrieves her tablet computer so she can access the destruct sequence for the nanobots, which would also kill Matt in turn. (It should be noted that electricity is one of Batman's preferred weapons against Clayface in other media.)
Outside, Matt transforms into the giant Clayface form that fans will recognize from the comics and animated series, terrifying Caitlin. Tom’s eyes plead with her, his humanity returning briefly enough for him to beg to die. Caitlyn initiates the self-destruct sequence and watches as Matt melts into puddles that drain into the sewer.
Later, Caitlyn is at her lab where she shares all her materials related to Matt with the police. (How and why she isn’t arrested as an accessory to all the murders or for unlawful human experiments is never addressed.) Walking home, she is unnerved looking at strangers’ faces, haunted by Matt’s ability to become anyone in an instant. She stops to buy a newspaper from a vendor. The front page cover story is about Matt’s downfall and death. A homeless man asks her for some money and does a familiar actorly bow when accepting it, a gesture Caitlyn recognizes as one that Matt once did.
We then follow the homeless man back to his dwelling where, as suspected, he’s revealed to actually be Matt. Caitlyn appears behind him, holding the newspaper. He asks her how the reviews are and she tells me he received rave notices. That’s when we see Matt has created both her form and his own from the pool of clay. He cries out in anguished despair once his romantic fantasy life with Caitlyn physically recedes into his monstrous true form.
How Clayface’s Gruesome Final Form Was Realized
I recently chatted with director James Watkins and stars Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie about what went into the filming of Clayface’s final, comics-accurate form. Watkins said it was a lengthy process to settle on the final look, which was not achieved entirely through CGI alone.
“We went through 13, 14 iterations trying to get that [final form] right,” said Watkins. “I wanted to honor the comics and look at that and have something that was true to that. But at the same time, it's got to play as live-action and real and grounded. But also, I wanted to not lose sight [of Harries]. I remember his eye I was most focused on. Not [to] lose sight of the pain, the heartbreak, the man inside the monster, as it were. And that was really, really important to me from when I first read Mike Flanagan's script, the sort of tragedy of that character and that journey.”
Watkins added, “I don't like horror movies that are just clockwork. I like horror movies where they have an emotional connection or a soul or whatever. And that was something that I was most focused on achieving at the end.”
The director said various things were tried on the set to accomplish that, which were then digitally augmented. Ackie recalled “there was a giant man in a suit … he was like 6’10”” who served as Clayface’s in-person stand-in. Ackie clarified that the man was not in a motion-capture suit but rather one that better resembled the character.
For the final interaction between the fantasy Caityn and Matt, who transforms during it, Ackie revealed “it wasn't actually Tom at that point. So without giving anything away, things happen and then the giant man comes in and then he took over, but we were very excited for the giant man.”
“That day was a pretty cool day,” Harries recalled about filming that scene. “We've been shooting for maybe six or seven hours and it was near the end of the whole shoot. And Naomi and I had maybe gone a bit – we lost the plot. So then we were very impatient for this guy to come.”
Harries added that “there'll be photos and (behind-the-scenes materials) that will come out at the appropriate time. But it was huge discussions with so many different departments about how you achieve that and where you get to. And I think the thing that I find really interesting about Matt throughout this whole (film) is that … he has no concept of Clayface and he doesn't anticipate where this is going. He's just met somebody who might be able to help him and inadvertently falls in love with this person. He thinks he's on a completely different trajectory to the one he ends up going down.”
Clayface is now playing in theaters. For more coverage, be sure to read IGN’s Clayface review and learn what DC Studios’ Peter Safran said about DC’s next film and television projects.