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The article contains spoilers for Creature Commandos episode 5.

Admittedly, I've been wrong about this subject before - as you might remember, I erroneously speculated that the Mike Flanagan-written Clayface movie would not take place in James Gunn & Peter Safran's DCU. However, that's not gonna stop me from speculating further about the DCU's third live-action film, especially after its titular character was the recent confirmation. In case you haven't already heard, James Gunn confirmed that Clayface survived his encounter with Frankenstein in Creature Commandos.

But hear me out - I don't think that matters much to the Clayface movie. Allow me to explain.

First, in case you didn't watch the series, the apparent 'death' of the mutant member of Batman's rogues gallery came in episode 5 of Creature Commandos, The Iron Pot. During that episode, it was revealed that Clayface was impersonating an Amazonian expert, on whose authority the CC were about to whack Princess Ilana of Pokolistan.

Hero Rick Flag Sr. and reluctant ally Eric Frankenstein caught up to Clayface, and during the encounter, Frankenstein put his knowledge of electricity to us, plugging himself into a sparkplug and issuing a powerful current into Clayface's body. The encounter left Clayface's mushy matter scattered all about the room, and when Amanda Waller happened upon it a few episodes later, it was still there.

On January 22, however, DC Studios head and Creature Commandos creator James Gunn took to social media to confirm that the electrocution did not, in fact, permanently kill Clayface. "The reports of Clayface’s death have been greatly exaggerated," The Superman director wrote, "He is quite mushy though."

I can understand the relief in the comments - now, it seems, the Mike Flanagan-written movie will not have to explain away what happened to the DCU's shapeshifter after Creature Commandos. But in my admittedly imperfect opinion, I don't think we were ever going to be talking about that anyway.

From even before the Clayface movie was confirmed, Mike Flanagan was very open about what inspired his desire to make a Clayface movie. That is, the Batman: The Animated Series introduction to the character, 'Feet of Clay,' a two-part story that took place in season 1 of the animated classic. And in case you haven't seen it, those episodes tell the story of Clayface's origin - his descent into monsterhood from his place as failing actor Basil Karlo. It is a deeply human, harrowing story, and it wouldn't shock me if the plot is very close the one Mike Flanagan put into his script.

So what does this mean? Well, I'm just guessing here, but it could very well be that we won't meet the fully mutated version of the DC villain we see in Creature Commandos until the end of Mike Flanagan's story. This means that whether he survived the encounter with Frankenstein, or not, wouldn't really matter, as we'd be getting a story set in the DCU timeline long before the series ever began.

Then again, I've been wrong before.

Creature Commandos is streaming now on Max. Clayface is set to slorp into theaters September 11, 2026.

Enjoy our guides to how to watch the recent DCEU, the Arrowverse, and James Gunn's upcoming DCU.