Clayface Easter Eggs: The DC Lore Hidden Inside the Gruesome New DCU Horror Film

DC Studios' Clayface is maybe the most gruesome movie I've ever seen, and I don't think I can ever touch Play-Doh again. It's also packed with Easter eggs, comic references and pieces of lore that expand the DC universe, and I'm going through them in story order, so expect full spoilers from here.

Clayface is the man of a million faces, and in a way he's also the man of a million adaptations. No shade, but unlike Supergirl, this movie takes a lot of Clayface's lore, which feels right. Many versions inspire this one, from the original Basil Karlo to Alan Tudyk's take.

Clayface opens in Coast City, not Los Angeles

The film begins with an overhead view of what looks like sunny Los Angeles, but we're in Coast City, which is basically Los Angeles and is most famous as the home of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. The movie jumps between Coast City and Gotham often, and other locations show up too, so our DCU only gets bigger with every movie. The Clayface title text isn't quite the same font as the logo on the clapperboard in set photos, but it's fairly close, with more of a '70s vibe.

Being chauffeured to set is Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, the Welsh actor whose British television and film roles include a 2024 episode of Doctor Who. This is the third feature film on the DC Studios slate, directed by James Watkins, who made The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil and Eden Lake. It's written by Mike Flanagan, the man behind The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher, with rewrites from Hossein Amini, who co-created McMafia with Watkins.

James Gunn confirmed Clayface would be part of the main DCU rather than Elseworlds like The Penguin and The Batman. Technically, Clayface was already introduced in the animated Creature Commandos, voiced by Alan Tudyk, and I love anytime Tudyk gets to play him. We thought he was killed with electrical wires there, but Gunn posted that "The reports of Clayface's death have been greatly exaggerated. He is quite mushy, though." Gunn also said this film is set before Superman, the first DCU movie out of chronological order, so I think we can view it as a prequel story to the version of the character that we meet in that animated series.

Batman: The Animated Series' Feet of Clay is the blueprint

Flanagan's original pitch was inspired by the two-part Batman: The Animated Series episode Feet of Clay. There, successful actor Matt Hagen, the man of a million faces, becomes addicted after a disfiguring accident to a facial cream made by Roland Daggett, an evil businessman running a cosmetics company. Daggett demands favors until his goons force a massive overdose, pouring the chemicals over Matt's face and down his throat, turning him into Clayface.

In that story, Matt's disguises give way when he loses concentration. Batman defeats him by showing his acting roles across multiple screens, triggering a breakdown until Matt throws himself into the monitors and is electrocuted. Batman reveals the electricity didn't kill him, so Matt faked his death and wanders the streets with a different face, just as crazy. That's exactly how this movie ends too, and the link between his shapeshifting, his emotions and the overdose all feels directly inspired by that series.

Matt Hagen struggles with the line "I love you, Beth"

In the van, Matt keeps repeating that line and has a hard time conveying or even understanding it. He's adored by everyone, but small moments like this, or when he says "You hear that, Mom? We did it," hint at a bigger picture that never fully unravels. I think it could speak to a larger struggle with understanding love, maybe stemming from his mother, whom we never see, or from being an actor who can be anyone for anybody but struggles to be himself.

The car arrives at a lot shot to resemble the golden Warner Bros. logo, but the water tower says Imperial Pictures, the Gotham studio where the animated Matt Hagen worked. It's Oscar nominations day, and Matt is nominated for best actor. One rival nominee is in a film called A Bad Day, which echoes One Bad Day, the Clayface special comic heavily featured here, while another is in No Man's Land, also a Batman comic.

A talk show shirt maps out the DC universe

The press tour starts on a talk show whose host is played by Rob Brydon, the Welsh actor, comedian and impressionist. Matt constantly wears a graphic tee for a fictional band, Corpse Retriever, sometimes under a blazer. Supergirl rocked a Blondie shirt under a trench coat, and everyone in this universe is too cool for school. You can buy the shirt in the DC shop, and the fun part is the back, listing tour dates across the DC universe.

Those include Metropolis; Capital City, where Green Lantern Alan Scott is; Coast City; Gotham; Calvin City, home of the Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt; Central City for Barry Allen's Flash; Civic City, home of the Justice Society's headquarters; Dakota City for Static Shock; Evergreen City, which I'm pretty sure points to Washington State, where Peacemaker is; Gateway City for Wonder Woman; Keystone City for Jay Garrick and Wally West; Midway City, where John Stewart is from in Lanterns; Park City for Black Canary; and Star City for Green Arrow.

We also learn Matt came from the gutter of Gotham, specifically Lucas Heights in the Narrows, not to be confused with wealthy Gotham Heights. The Narrows was a major setting in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. The host has him perform a line from his film Hollow River, something like "I'll hunt you down, each and every one of you," which he repeats later.

Zabo, the nightclub and the razor attack

The taxi to the club has the license plate B148CD, a hex code for a vibrant purple or magenta, the same color as Matt's first dose of nanocells. Could it link his arrival at the club to the formula that ruins him? I don't know, but it's a fun detail. The club traces back to Batman: Streets of Gotham, and Zatanna performed there in Detective Comics.

Matt locks eyes with Mia Torres, and his friend Cory warns him she's connected to mob boss Zabo, played by David Dencik, who owns the club and has his hands in almost everyone's pockets. The Zabo family also appeared in season 4 of Fox's Gotham. We know from Lanterns that Sheriff Carrie fled Gotham mobsters in 2007, and while she may or may not have crossed Zabo's family, we know they want us to see Gotham's gangster underbelly as part of this shared universe.

Matt wakes to Zabo and his goons Bones, S and Patches. Zabo mentions Matt's father, Jimmy, and how he beat Matt, which is never revisited, and I have many questions. Zabo tells him, "We're not so different, you and I," foreshadowing their reversal later. With a cooking channel playing knives through beef, his goons hold Matt down while Zabo carves deep lines into his face with a straight razor. It's giving Joker.

Gotham's courts and the Narrows strip Matt of everything

Matt's bandaged hospital scene at Gotham General feels inspired partly by the animated series. Mia claims Matt drugged and slept with her, and Zabo pushes the narrative. We see the GCPD precinct, with no mention of Commissioner Gordon, but crooked cops. Business manager Frank Fitzgerald, played by Eddie Marsan, gets power of attorney as Matt puts up his apartment to fund a case. Zabo gets off scot free, and Matt loses best actor.

The courthouse is Liverpool's St George's Hall, which The Batman used as Gotham City Hall, though this version has Lady Justice on top. Matt's apartment is Pinkney Tower, and when set photos of the location came out, the internet immediately connected the name to Cyrus Pinkney, the architect known for Arkham Asylum and Gotham Cathedral. Matt takes the Mercy Ferry across what would be the Finger River into the Narrows, past a bridge that may be the Westward Bridge from the comics, though I think it's unnamed for now. His new apartment is the embodiment of foreshadowing, with moldy brown stains almost flesh-colored like his future look.

Caitlin's story echoes Stella Bates from the animated Mudslide episode

Matt finds Caitlin, a scientist working on nanocells, played by Naomi Ackie of Blink Twice and Mickey 17. Her lab name sounds like Renew You from the animated series, and The Temptations' I'm Gonna Make You Love Me plays, ominous given where things go. She lost her brother to Huntington's disease and dedicated herself to curing neurodegenerative disease. The Wrap originally reported her surname as Bates, possibly from an earlier draft, recalling Stella Bates from the animated episode Mudslide, a doctor trying to cure her love interest.

After six failed surgeries, Matt is down to his last hope. Caitlin warns the treatment isn't approved for humans and doesn't only treat the surface. Her fiancé Jon, played by Max Minghella, is a detective and so far the only uncrooked cop. The nanocells come from embryonic stem cells, are activated by electric jolts, powered by AI, and have a built-in kill switch.

An overdose gives Matt his healing powers

The treatment works, but at a premiere Matt's face droops, and he's hit by a car, the biggest jump scare. At the lab he injects the remaining nanocells, his skin bubbles and he spits chunks of himself out, then declares he feels great. The context is vastly different, but I'd argue the outcome mirrors Feet of Clay. Later he tears up his face playing basketball in a Gotham Goliaths shirt and it heals instantly, so he tests it with cuts.

On a Ferris Air flight he sees Frank beside Zabo on the news, and his eyelids melt into gooey webs. He cuts through them with scissors, and I can barely look at it. Caitlin and Matt realize his emotions control the cells, as in the animated series and comics. Since she studied cells for diseases that damage the brain's nerve cells, it's not surprising their effects extend into the psychological. I can't tell whether they're repairing Matt, driving him mad, or along for the ride.

Frank and Cory die as Matt embraces One Bad Day

His hand turns jagged with rose-like thorns, very Basil Karlo. In the Moldoff Building, a nod to Sheldon Moldoff, co-creator of Matt Hagen's Clayface, Frank claims Cory supplied evidence against Matt. Matt's hand melts into Frank's mouth and pulls out what I assume is part of his spine. Rubbing his face to shift back nods to the animated Hagen's cream, though I'm pretty sure it's psychological comfort. A mirror scene with the talk show host recalls One Bad Day, ending with the line "There's so many of you."

On Cory's set at the Gotham Docks, the call sheet shows Mia, and it seems pretty clear that Cory got this role feeding Zabo information. Matt absorbs Cory into his torso, telling him "You broke my heart," then takes his place, almost exactly the sequence in One Bad Day. Off script, he tells Mia he'll be whoever she wants him to be. Matt knows how to perform love, but does he understand it? I don't know. He doesn't even know who he is.

Harley Quinn, Harvey Dent and the club massacre

Zabo's alibi is lunch with either the DA or the mayor, and the DA should bring Harvey Dent to mind, though the movie doesn't confirm it. Matt's body recreates a Harley Quinn print shirt in his skin, a fun reference since Feet of Clay's title card featured Harley Quinn masks. Disguised as Caitlin at Amusement Mile, he kills S with a mace hand, one of Clayface's notable weapons.

As S, he enters the club, shifting through faces including his dad, falling down stairs and snapping his bones back. Zabo shoots two Patches, and a piece Mia bites off suffocates her. Matt slices his face in Zabo's pattern and pours his blood into Zabo's openings, the cells tearing out and killing him. Caitlin realizes the truth and confesses to Jon, only to find Jon dead and Matt wearing his face.

The ending mirrors both Feet of Clay and One Bad Day

Caitlin tases Matt and activates the kill switch as he becomes a muddy monster that reminds me of Basil in One Bad Day. He collapses and melts into the sewer, imagery from the animated series. Later the Gotham Gazette says Matt is feared dead, and an unhoused man gives Caitlin Matt's solemn half bow.

She follows him into a tunnel for a reunion I didn't like, until we see this Caitlin is fake, built from his own body, as at the end of One Bad Day. This final two-faced Clayface looks exactly like the sketch Jim Lee drew at San Diego Comic-Con. We don't know where Clayface appears next, but we know we're going to see a lot of Gotham.