A very different Clayface nears release, James Gunn hints
James Gunn is signaling a left turn for DC — and it involves pushing one of the universe’s strangest characters straight into the spotlight.
James Gunn kept it short and spooky in a late-night post on X, dropping a single line about Clayface and confirming when we’ll see it on the big screen.
“You’ve never met anyone like him.”
The filmmaker added that the DC Universe entry will play exclusively in theaters on October 23, 2026 , a fitting slot for a movie he’s been framing as a full-on horror story, not just a darker superhero detour.
This one wasn’t part of the original DCU slate. Director- writer Mike Flanagan brought the idea to DC Studios, and Gunn has said the script was compelling enough that he and Peter Safran would’ve chased it even if it weren’t a DC character. On the DC Studios Showcase Official Podcast, Gunn called it “an amazing body horror film ,” per Popverse.
Flanagan ultimately stepped aside from directing because of scheduling, with James Watkins (Speak No Evil) taking over behind the camera. The screenplay credits include Flanagan with Hossein Amini (Drive), and Gunn has pushed back on chatter about a page-one overhaul, saying Flanagan’s core story is still the reason they’re making the movie.
Body-horror turn
The film centers on Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, an ambitious actor whose life implodes after a brutal disfigurement. A cutting-edge procedure restores his face—but with a monstrous catch that sets off a gruesome transformation. Gunn has openly tied the movie’s DNA to his own horror roots (think Slither), and Flanagan drew from the classic Batman: The Animated Series two-parter “Feat of Clay,” giving the character a clear comic-book lineage.
Early trailers have leaned into the genre, spotlighting melting flesh, warped features, and the sickening physical fallout of Hagen’s metamorphosis—squarely in body-horror territory rather than standard cape-and-cowl beats.
- Director — James Watkins
- Writers — Mike Flanagan, Hossein Amini
- Star — Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen
- Tone — Horror thriller/body horror
- Release — October 23, 2026
- Where to watch — Theaters only
It also fits Gunn’s broader push to keep the DCU stylistically flexible. After bouncing from animated Creature Commandos to a classic-hero take with Superman , the R-rated swagger of Peacemaker Season 2, and cosmic and street-level corners with Supergirl and Lanterns, Clayface is his starkest genre swing yet.
Clayface opens in theaters October 23, 2026.