That Clayface is getting a new DC movie before Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash—basically every single non-Super person in the DC Universe—at first seems weird. Of course, we’ve all heard how DC Films co-president James Gunn read a script by the prolific Mike Flanagan and instantly knew he had to make it. But why? How was it going to work? It’s all hard to picture.
That is, until you actually see pictures, which we have thanks to the Warner Bros. panel at CinemaCon 2026 this week. Gunn’s DC co-president, Peter Safran, took the stage to show the first-ever footage from the DC film, and it was chilling and gross. It also made it much clearer why this movie is happening before all the rest.
In the footage, which has not yet made it online, we start with a shot of a man in a hospital bed. The light is harsh and yellow. His face is completely wrapped in bloody bandages. But his eyes are open. WIDE OPEN. Almost like he’s looking at something terrifying. The camera slowly pushes in on this man, and we get several quick, jarring cuts. Of a face being cut. Of someone getting injections. Lots of disgusting stuff. Is this what happened to this person? Is he remembering it? It sure seems that way.
We then go to a montage of footage of a much more handsome man: Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries. We see him running down the street, through neon-lit tunnels, past a police car that says Gotham City on it. It’s hard to know what’s happening, but basically, we just know this man is scared of something and trying to get away from it. The scenes are intercut with the words “Look fear in the face.”
Finally, and most memorably, the last shot of the footage features this man looking totally normal, then putting his hand to his forehead and wiping straight down, completely removing his face. His face, as you can guess, is clay.
Safran described Clayface as “a riveting horror thriller,” and we got all three of those things from the footage. This movie is going to be messed up. And we cannot wait.
Written by Mike Flanagan, directed by James Watkins, and starring Harries and Naomi Ackie, Clayface is currently set for release on October 23.
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