New 'Clayface' Trailer Officially Proves Why It's the DCU's First R-Rated Movie

Published Sep 23, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT

Hannah has been writing about horror, sci-fi, and all things nerdy since 2021. At Collider, she covers news and conducts interviews, along with contributing features that dive deep into genre storytelling and why it works. If there’s something lurking in the shadows, she’s probably already writing about it if she's not too busy watching a tape from her VHS collection.

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The DC Universe has introduced monsters, aliens, and violent antiheroes, but none of them have transformed in quite the same way as Matt Hagen. The actor’s attempt to repair his destroyed face will turn him into Clayface, giving him the ability to reshape his body at a horrifying cost. New footage from the upcoming DC Studios movie is giving audiences even more of an idea as to what that process does to him.

Director James Watkins has repeatedly positioned Clayface as a body-horror movie rather than a conventional supervillain origin story. Mike Flanagan’s screenplay follows Hagen after a criminal attack leaves the rising actor horribly disfigured, pushing him toward an experimental treatment that promises to restore his appearance. Instead, the procedure transforms his body into an unstable mass and sends him down a path of violent revenge.

New television spots for Clayface reveal the DCU’s most graphic transformation to date, beginning with Hagen’s eyes visibly pushing out of his head during a red-carpet appearance. His face stretches as the change takes hold, while another shot offers a partial look at the enormous, amorphous creature he will eventually become. The footage stops short of revealing Clayface’s complete design, but it makes the pain and loss of control behind the transformation impossible to miss.

‘Clayface’ Is Turning a Batman Villain Into a Tragic Horror Monster

Tom Rhys Harries stars as Hagen, while Naomi Ackie plays Dr. Caitlin Bates, who attempts to understand what has happened to him. One clip shows Bates trying to explain his impossible condition as Hagen desperately asks what is happening to his body. The exchange suggests the movie will treat Clayface as a victim before he becomes a threat, allowing the emotional consequences of his transformation to exist alongside the gore. The footage also reveals more of Gotham City, including Gotham Harbour, without relying on Batman to define the setting. David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James round out the cast. Watkins has cited Sam Raimi’s extreme approach to horror as an influence, and Hagen’s eye-popping transformation already shows how far the movie may push the DCU into territory its previous installments have avoided.

Clayface will arrive in theaters on October 23, making the body-horror movie one of the DCU’s most appropriately timed Halloween releases. The complete creature design is reportedly being saved for the movie itself, but the latest footage has provided the clearest indication yet of how disturbing Hagen’s transformation will become.

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  Tom Rhys Harries

  Matt Hagen / Clayface

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  Naomi Ackie

  Dr. Caitlin Bates

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  Max Minghella