Rumor: Clayface Was Slated To Be The Villain For ‘The Batman 2’ Before James Gunn Moved Mike Flanagan’s Script Into Production
Next to Creature Commandos, Clayface has to be the least expected and most unorthodox entry into the DCU, but as plans change, DC Studios has no choice except to pivot when a script is ready ahead of something else on the slate.
Moreover, if it seems as if a DCU Clayface movie is getting in the way of Matt Reeves’s plans for his Bat-Verse Crime Saga (or whatever it’s called this week), that might be because it is. Some new speculation surfacing online claims Basil Karlo was going to have a “significant role” in The Batman 2 until plans changed.
The claim comes from Bill Ramey of Batman on Film who, citing a Hollywood Reporter blurb, wrote, “A Clayface film was one of the spinoff projects that Matt Reeves developed, along with projects based on Professor Pyg, The Scarecrow, and what became THE PENGUIN. This was reported by the trades over 2 years ago!” THR said essentially the same thing verbatim.
Two years ago, the DCEU was wrapping up and the vision of the DC Studios regime, James Gunn and Peter Safran, was only beginning to take shape. Matt Reeves, meanwhile, had more of a foothold in all things Batman and Gotham. As such, a few series were announced with some ideas also rumored to be on the table.
We know for sure Reeves was developing a Gotham Police drama and an Arkham series. They were folded into one developing series which was then scrapped after Gunn turned it into a DCU project. It was believed Clayface would appear at the center of a mystery in either Arkham or The Penguin according to one rumor.
RELATED: New Details Make DC Studios’ ‘Clayface’ Movie Sound Like A Rip-Off Of ‘The Substance’
This obviously never came to pass although Reeves used the name Karlo for Oz Cobb’s love interest who revealed being a chameleon was part of her job. Theoretically, she could be related to Basil Karlo, but that’s only a guess with no guarantee we will ever learn her full backstory.
Reeves would have gone the grounded approach of a Golden Age Clayface bumping people off in a theater out of revenge. The film written by Mike Flanagan and directed by James Watkins is going The Substance’s body horror route, and turning Karlo into a shapeshifter.
Reeves and his 6th and Idaho outfit are co-producing alongside James Gunn and DC Studios, by the way, so the former maintains some involvement with the character.
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