DC’s R-Rated Batman Spin-Off Officially Takes Over Theaters in 3 Days

2 days ago 9

Robert Pattinson in costume in The Batman

Published Oct 20, 2026, 10:31 PM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

When James Gunn and Peter Safran announced the initial DCU slate, they imagined a cinematic universe that would span a wide range of genres, from the typical superhero action to comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, crime, and, of course, horror. The exact titles that make up the universe have changed, but the blueprint remains the same, with Creature Commandos providing early animated action followed by the tentpoles Superman and Supergirl, a second season of the comedic Peacemaker, and the True Detective-inspired Lanterns. Other ideas, like The People v. Gorilla Grodd and Man of Tomorrow, have come together depending on audience reaction and creators who want to get involved with the universe. One such idea came from horror maestro Mike Flanagan — Clayface.

Flanagan's interest in making a movie about the shape-shifting Batman villain stemmed back to 2021, when he first expressed his hopes of exploring the character through a tragic horror lens. The advent of the DCU, then, offered an opportunity for him to pitch the idea to Gunn and Safran. Though it initially seemed as if reports from 2023 that the story was moving forward were unsubstantiated, DC eventually greenlit the film, with Speak No Evil director James Watkins taking the reins of the Midnight Mass creator's script alongside screenwriter Hossein Amini. Now, the dream project is finally about to become a horrifying reality in theaters just in time for Halloween.

As of writing, only three days remain until Clayface hits the big screen, and anticipation is running high. First reactions were mostly positive, praising the mix of body horror and tragedy without holding back on the R-rated material, as well as the central performance of newcomer Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, aka Clayface. It's crafted as a surprisingly accessible standalone story within the wider DCU that introduces Matt as a Hollywood star turned down a monstrous path after being brutally disfigured by the mob. Upon submitting himself to scientific treatment, he seems to be miraculously healed, but soon realizes that his body has changed forever as a side effect. It's not just his body, but his mind that also warps amidst a spiral of caustic love and revenge against the people who made him.

'Clayface' Is Made to Be Horrified By in Theaters

Alongside Harries, Naomi Ackie stars in Clayface as Dr. Caitlyn Bates, who tries to understand what happened to his body after treatment. David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James make up the rest of the cast. Judging from the trailers, viewers can expect some creatively terrifying uses of the villain's powers that make the most of its R rating and subject Harries' co-stars to some true horrors. Speaking to Collider's Steve Weintraub, Watkins described how the goal was to combine those sorts of "roller coaster" thrills of a superhero movie with a terrifying experience that's meant to be enjoyed with an audience reacting to all of the painstakingly crafted scares.

"You want to give them a delicious squirm, I suppose. You know when you hear that laughter, that kind of nervous laughter, and the squirm of being with audiences? It's like a roller coaster, right? When you hear people giddily kind of giggling on a roller coaster, you take them to a place where it's right on the edge, and then they need that release and that relief.

You want to give people a reason to go to the cinema, right? And for me, the audience experience of this movie… This is a film that should be seen with a lot of people in a cinema. People talk about cinema; it's not the size of the screen for me — everyone has huge TVs at home, and whatever — it's the audience. It’s the animal of the audience and experiencing that."

Clayface premieres in theaters this Friday, October 23. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the villain's origin story as it unfolds on the big screen.