It took almost three years, but one of the original promises of the DC Universe is finally paying off. When the DCU was still in its infancy, James Gunn said that each project would have its own unique style. The new trailer for Clayface is making good on that promise.
After Gunn was hired as co-CEO of DC Studios and tasked with building a new shared universe, a fan asked him if the DCU would match the style and tone of his previous DC projects (Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad), or if it would shift between projects. At the time, Gunn shared: “It will shift from project to project and will reflect the unique sensibilities of the filmmakers involved.”
Well, the first four DCU projects — Creature Commandos, Peacemaker, Superman, and Supergirl — ended up being extremely similar in tone, largely due to all of them either being written and/or directed by Gunn or spun off from one of his films. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, audiences would be forgiven for thinking that this is what DCU was going to look like moving forward.
Thankfully, Clayface has arrived to debunk all notions of that.
Clayface feels dissimilar to Superman and Peacemaker, which is exciting
Right from the start, Clayface has always felt like an outlier to Gunn’s DCU, and for good reason. It wasn’t originally planned to be part of this first chapter. However, on the strength of Mike Flanagan’s screenplay alone, Gunn added Clayface to the schedule, and in just three months, audiences will finally get to see what got Gunn so fired up about this classic Batman villain.
Based on just the two trailers released so far, Clayface already feels like it exists in another world from David Corenswet’s Superman and John Cena’s Peacemaker. It’s the dark to Superman’s light, and R-rated in a way Peacemaker was not.
With superhero movies no longer bulletproof at the box office (something Supergirl just proved to DC Studios), Clayface is exactly the fresh take the studio needs. A superhero movie that isn’t afraid to shock its audience and make them squirm with its body horror subject matter will definitely draw a crowd.
Horror is making a major comeback this year, and hits like Backrooms and Obsession prove that there is an audience craving stories that they haven’t seen before on the big screen. But more than that, Clayface feels like it’s the first project to actually make good on Gunn’s promise of the DCU having a shifting tone and visual style with each filmmaker.
If Lanterns can also stay true to that vision, then the DCU may still be worth your time and money. After a rough start to 2026, there’s a good chance that the DCU will turn things around and end the year with a bang.
In Clayface I trust.
Originally reported by Lee Freitag for SuperHeroHype.
