Is Clayface in the DCU or a Batman spinoff?

The first teaser for Clayface plays like a straight horror movie: a bloody, disfigured man wrapped in bandages, flashes of experiments and a melting face set to a creepy cover of the Flaming Lips song Do You Realize?? Only a DC Studios logo and a few nods to Gotham link it to the broader franchise, and that contrast has left many wondering which universe the film belongs to.

The project began as Mike Flanagan’s take on the Batman: The Animated Series two-parter Feat of Clay. Flanagan first pitched it to the DCEU and it wasn’t picked up, then revisited the idea after James Gunn and Peter Safran became co-chairs of DC Studios. Early reporting and Matt Reeves’ producing credit led people to assume it would join The Batman universe, but Gunn has insisted that Clayface is in the DCU, the same continuity as the 2025 Superman film.

Confusion deepened when the animated series Creature Commandos, which debuted around December 2024, featured a visually different Clayface.

clayface, dcu, batman, mike flanagan, james gunn, peter safran, matt reeves, creature commandos, flaming lips, superman 2025