Batman’s First DCU Movie Explains Why We Haven’t Properly Seen The Hero Yet

Published Oct 1, 2026, 12:15 PM EDT

Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture.

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The first Batman movie spinoff in the DC Universe explains why we have only gotten a brief glimpse and some interesting teases about the hero thus far, making his impending debut even more exciting as a result. While we are still getting Batman films in the form of The Batman series and animated releases like the Knightfall trilogy, the DCU timeline has held back on adding to this mix with its own Batman-focused stories quite yet.

Though we know there are plans for The Brave & The Bold to bring the DCU's Batman to life in a dramatic fashion, these still seem to be some way off on the horizon, though we do have the Gotham-based Clayface and its origin story for one of the Dark Knight's most interesting and overlooked villains to tide us over in the meantime.

While Clayface doesn't seem as though it will focus on the character's conflict with Batman in much or possibly any of its story, its approach to fleshing out the life of its titular lead and the road that leads him to become a key Batman villain does already appear to do a service in terms of setting up the Dark Knight by justifying why we've seen very little sign of him in the DCU thus far.

Clayface's Story & Setting Helps To Explain Why We Haven't Gotten A Proper Look At The DCU's Batman Yet

Clayface's final trailer has made it clearer than ever that its titular protagonist-slash-Batman-villain is set to gain new abilities that, while truly harrowing to see - and more harrowing for Matt Hagen to experience - are definitely a powerful and useful skillset.

Not only is Hagen shown discovering his ability to shapeshift into other people, he's also shown learning how to use his new transforming flesh for more violent-looking purposes, as is best evidenced when we see the shadow of his hand change shape into a giant spiked club, which looks to be preparing to do some serious damage.

While much of the excitement around Clayface's trailers and buildup has been the matter of how the movie will show an everyday person being transformed into this state, the matter remains that this first film look at Gotham also serves another purpose: showing us just how dangerous the DCU's Gotham really is.

Notably, Clayface is by no means the most dangerous of Batman's rogues gallery, though he presents a unique kind of threat for the Dark Knight. Given we also saw Batman deal with Doctor Phosphorus in Creature Commandos - who is similarly strikingly powerful, and is shown as being capable of destroying a tank single-handedly - the 2026 Batman spinoff movie further underlines how full Batman's hands seem to be in the DCU, and why he subsequently hasn't been in any of the non-Gotham based movies of the DCU thus far.

Clayface Not Properly Showing Batman Again May Be The Best Move For The DC Universe

With this backdrop in mind, it may stand Clayface in good stead to once again at most only briefly feature the Dark Knight - much in the same way Creature Commandos only featured a seconds-long glimpse at the hero - if it indeed features the hero at all.

Ultimately, it seems this would be the best way for the DC Universe to continue its current approach with the hero, as it's able to continue to build on the shadowy mythos of Batman that's been built up in-universe by only giving us the kind of limited looks at the Caped Crusader that leave many questions about him lingering.

This works all the better given the increasing number of figures being set up who Batman has already beaten or would have to be battle-ready enough to beat in his vigilante endeavors. As of right now, it seems the only thing we really do know for sure about this Dark Knight at this point in time is that he is able to dispatch some serious heavy-hitters, making the impending arrival of the Batman-focused The Brave & The Bold movie all the more exciting in terms of who we may see the hero go up against.

Clayface