As becoming his shape-shifting talents, Clayface is considered one of DC’s most malleable characters. Showing in every part from DC Comics to the tv sequence Gotham to the latest Batman 1989 continuation novels, Clayface has modified his form, his character, and even his secret id to fulfill the wants of no matter story he’s in.
So when author Mike Flanagan pitched James Gunn a solo movie primarily based on the long-running villain, he had loads of locations to search for inspiration. And he discovered it in not simply one of the crucial universally beloved incarnations of Batman, however in maybe the best Clayface story of all time. At a Motor Metropolis Comedian Con panel (by way of Popverse), Flanagan revealed that his thought, “went all the best way again to Feat of Clay, that unbelievable [Batman: The Animated Series] two-parter with Ron Perlman voicing the character, which was so formative for me as a child.”
Written by comedian guide legend Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves, and directed by Dick Sebast and Kevin Altieri, “Feat of Clay” first aired in September 1992. The 2-parter pit Batman towards Matt Hagen (Perlman), a previously well-known actor whose profession fell off after a disfiguring auto accident. Due to an experimental and highly-addictive drug referred to as Renuyu, Hagen can reshape his facial options which, mixed along with his items as an actor, enable him to imitate virtually anybody. To take care of his Renuyu provide, Hagen goes to work for gangster Roland Dagget, however when the latter decides that he’s a legal responsibility, Clayface goes on a rampage that Batman has to quelle.
Just like the basic “Coronary heart of Ice,” “Feat of Clay” takes a formally foolish character and embues him with shocking pathos. That pathos got here shocking late in Clayface’s existence, having first appeared in 1940’s Detective Comics #40, within the Invoice Finger-penned story “The Murders of Clayface.” That story launched Clayface as Basil Karlo, a horror actor who grew to become so obsessive about a job that he started appearing out the character’s kills in actual life. Twenty-one years later, Finger launched the Matt Hagen model of Clayface in Detective Comics #298, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff as the large mud monster that has change into his commonplace look.
