Get ready for Clayface: all the DC movies and shows to watch

James Gunn ’s DC Universe has been threading old and new from the jump, so a Gotham-set horror origin like Clayface lands in a world that already knows capes, aliens, and government black ops. If you want the connective tissue before the villain takes center stage, here’s the handful of films and shows that actually matter to this continuity — and why.

The essential watchlist

• The Suicide Squad (2021) — The handoff point. Amanda Waller’s Task Force X mission to Corto Maltese introduces (and, crucially, preserves) players who survive into the DCU. You get Bloodsport, Peacemaker, King Shark, Harley Quinn and Rick Flag back in action, a secretive Project Starfish and a towering Starro cover-up. The choice that echoes: Peacemaker kills Rick Flag to keep the U.S. secret, then gets shot by Bloodsport — and lives, as revealed in the post-credits. That death also ties Peacemaker to Rick Flag Sr., a thread that keeps running through Creature Commandos, Superman and Peacemaker Season 2.
• Blue Beetle (2023) — The carryover hero. James Gunn and Peter Safran kept Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes as canon for the DCU, positioning the film as continuity-light so you don’t need homework. The gist: college grad Jaime bonds with alien Scarab Khaji-Da, which builds a sentient suit around him. It underperformed theatrically at $130.8 million worldwide on a roughly $120 million budget, but Jaime’s survival into the DCU makes the character matter going forward.
• Peacemaker (Seasons 1–2) — The bridge and the reset. Season 1 picks up after The Suicide Squad with Christopher Smith on Project Butterfly, hunting alien parasites alongside Emilia Harcourt, John Economos, Leota Adebayo and Vigilante, while confronting his father, white supremacist supervillain Auggie “White Dragon” Smith. The finale ’s Justice League cameo is recontextualized as the Justice Gang in the DCU. Season 2 drops Peacemaker into a new status quo: he tries out for Maxwell Lord’s Justice Gang with Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl; Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. hunts him over Rick Jr.’s death; and an alternate dimension forces Chris to face another version of himself.
• Creature Commandos — The animated opening salvo of the DCU. Gunn wrote all 7 episodes, which follow Waller’s monster squad Task Force M into Pokolistan to shield Princess Ilana Rostovic from Circe. The team: Frankenstein, the Bride, Nina Mazursky, Doctor Phosphorus, G.I. Robot and Weasel. Their messy histories complicate the mission as Ilana’s true ambitions surface; Circe’s warning proves right, Nina dies trying to stop catastrophe, and Rick Flag Sr. is cemented as a major DCU mover — exactly the kind of animation- to–live action crossover DC Studios has been promising.
• Superman (2025 ) — The theatrical foundation of the new universe. David Corenswet’s Clark Kent has already been Superman for three years, with a Fortress of Solitude, a Daily Planet desk, a relationship with Lois Lane and a world used to metahumans. The conflict escalates when international tensions rise and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor manipulates events using political clout, advanced tech and a secret pocket universe housing the Engineer and Ultraman. Allies include Lois, Mister Terrific and Krypto. The film launches the Justice Gang (Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific) bankrolled by LordTech, ties in Rick Flag Sr. as head of A.R.G.U.S., and even nods to Gotham on a roadside sign — with Batman notably absent.
• Supergirl — Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor‑El expands the DCU off-world in a violent, grief-driven story drawn from Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Traveling with Krypto, Kara meets Ruthye Marye Knoll, who seeks vengeance on Krem of the Yellow Hills for her father’s murder; Krem poisons Krypto, pulling Kara in. Her memories of Argo City set her apart from Clark, and Jason Momoa ’s Lobo crashes the chase as a brutal wildcard. Reception was mixed — 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, 50 on Metacritic (from 56 reviews) — and the film reported $72.3 million domestic, but it crucially widens the DCU’s cosmic ceiling before Gotham turns the lights down again.
• Lanterns — A grounded murder mystery with space rings. Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart investigate a killing in rural America, peeling back Corps mythology through a detective lens. We track John’s childhood and bond with Hal to the town of Rushville, and the fallout from a destructive incident neither shakes. By episode 6 — a decade after John’s first showdown with Hal — John is an architect, Hal has done prison time, and Hal is mysteriously killed after returning to Rushville, leaving John his mentor’s ring and a guide called the “Halogram”. Cameos and teases connect the dots: Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner ties to the Justice Gang, Carol Ferris enters, and the case keeps pointing toward Sinestro.

As of September 24, 2026, six of the eight Lanterns episodes have aired; two remain.

All of this sets the table so Gotham doesn’t have to explain superheroes from scratch — Superman already did that heavy lift — and lets Clayface dive straight into a villain’s terrifying transformation against a city that knows the score.