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DC’s latest origin story has been compared to many things, not all of them complementary. Because it is the first film in the new DC Universe set in Gotham City, but it does not mention the city’s Caped Crusader, Batman, at all, clay faceThe easiest point of comparison might be Sony’s supervillain movies like Poison or (shudders) morbium. At times it evokes the rhythms of another solo film without Batman, Jokerand at its best, it goes for the pulp and horror of a Universal monster movie. But there is another element that clay face that could make or break our understanding of the film: Is it also a kind of… romantic comedy?
Tom Rhys Harries, who guides the titular villain (formerly known as Matt Hagen) on his descent from Oscar-nominated superstar to murderous monster, certainly seems to think so. Although the first half of Matt’s journey is appropriately harrowing, filled with flashes of body horror gruesome enough to turn anyone’s stomach, the violence isn’t really what motivates him. “Matt isn’t aware that he’s in a horror movie,” says Harries. Reverse. “I think he thinks he’s in a romantic comedy.”
It makes sense: the only reason Matt gets into the situation he’s in is thanks to a flirtation with a mobster’s girlfriend. When Gotham’s most powerful gangster, Markos Zsabo (David Dencik), cuts his face in retaliation, Matt is stripped of all his influence and potential. It’s Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), a nanotechnology pioneer who needs a human guinea pig, who effectively grants her a different kind of power. She also inadvertently becomes the heart of Matt’s true villain, launching clay face in an ending that is as perversely romantic (and funny) as it is tragic.
Spoilers ahead for clay face.
clay faces final, explained
There is a lot of anguish in clay facebut a surprising (if one-sided) romance.
DC Studios
After his altercation with Zsabo, Matt finds himself financially and emotionally exhausted. He volunteers to run tests with Caitlyn’s company, not knowing if their cutting-edge nanobot technology will actually fix what copious cosmetic surgeries couldn’t. Over weeks of cautious experimentation, his good looks gradually return, but he learns the hard way that the “nanocells” in his skin respond to his emotions, keeping him attractive on good days and melting his face on bad ones. In a desperate move, Matt injects himself with a dangerously high dose; He’s now more nanocell than flesh and blood, which means the abort switch built into Caitlyn’s program will likely wipe him out if they decide to pull the plug.
Everything seems to be going well until Matt discovers that Zsabo’s attack was coordinated between the gangster and Matt’s manager (Eddie Marsan). One by one, he confronts the people who betrayed him, murders them (at first accidentally and then on purpose) and transforms into them to flee the scene. This is his personal form of justice: not even his childhood best friend, Corey (Joshua James), escapes unscathed. In many ways, Matt’s decline is sad… but clay face He also makes his revenge look fun, like when he breaks into Zsabo’s nightclub and takes out his goons one at a time, transforming from one decoy to another on the dance floor.
“It’s like when you go on a big roller coaster and you feel dizzy,” says director James Watkins of clay faces heel turn. “You’ve been on the journey with [Matt]. And then in that scene, as he discovers his powers, there’s a kind of dark joy in what he does, but at that point you’re still allowed to enjoy it.”
The power of love?
In the end, John is a bigger threat to Matt than Zsabo.
DC Studios
The fun comes to an end when Matt’s instincts become more erratic. In particular, it’s Caitlyn who helps him stabilize when his emotions get out of control and he transforms into the proto-Clayface: with a slack jaw, dead eyes, and skin that’s more like a tanned substance. “You initially set out to achieve one thing and, in the rigmarole of what happens to you, you realize that your priorities are out of control and you fall completely in love with someone,” adds Harries.
In Matt’s head, he’s falling in love with Caitlyn as easily as she is with him, but there’s one thing standing in the way of their happily ever after: her fiancé, Gotham Police Detective John Borrelli (Max Minghella). John has been following the disappearance of everyone on Matt’s bad side and finally deduces that our hero is the one behind the body count. Matt is a few steps ahead; assassinates John before he can take his investigation further, then transforms in him to greet Caitlyn when she gets home. With no more obstacles in his way, Matt confesses his love to Caitlyn, but he’s gone. shape too far away. Caitlyn has no choice but to abort the show just as Matt fully transforms into a massive shape-shifting beast. He and the nanocells slip down a drain and will never be seen again (at least by Caitlyn).
Matt’s final transformation makes it impossible not to think about Batman.
DC Studios
Of course, what was supposed to destroy Matt only makes him more powerful. We catch up with Caitlyn on clay faces epilogue and discovers that his assets have been seized for a thorough investigation. Although she tells the GCPD that Matt couldn’t have survived, he’s still alive and well, keeping an eye on Caitlyn disguised as a stranger passing by on the street and acting out conversations with his own version of “Caitlyn” (yes, she can now project her body far enough to create what are essentially puppets) in her new home in the sewers. However, Matt’s imaginary love for Caitlyn is definitely not enough to satisfy him. In clay faceIn the final moments, we get a good look at the final form of the villain, whom we later meet in Creature commands.
Part origin story, part twisted love story, clay face isn’t afraid to have a little fun in the dark. This probably won’t be the last time we see Clayface, but the next time he appears, it will probably be in a very different movie: Batman.