00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the biggest differences between the 2026 film Clayface and
00:07the character the titular character is based on from DC Comics.
00:11Beware of spoilers.
00:12The procedure is causing troubling physical changes.
00:18Number 8. Missing Bat.
00:20Since the villain's comic debut in 1940, Clayface has long been tied to Batman, especially since his first appearance was
00:28in the Dark Knight-centric series Detective Comics.
00:30More often than not, even when Clayface spread into other mediums, the Bat was involved in one form or another.
00:37One exception was in 2026's Clayface.
00:40What do you want, Miss Hagen?
00:42I want my life back.
00:44Instead, the creators decided to take a page out of 2019's Joker by focusing on the titular baddie, and also
00:51sprinkling references to the Bruce Wayne mythos.
00:53After all, in Clayface, we do get a scene at the Wayne Community Center, but that's about it.
00:59There was no Batman thinking outside the box about how to take down Matt Hagen, even though all his crimes
01:04are happening in Bruce's home of Gotham.
01:06There wasn't even a mid- or post-credits scene with the Caped Crusader or a Bat family member.
01:11Instead, Hagen's tale was superhero-free.
01:14What's happening to me?
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01:30fun.
01:30That's the training.
01:32The training is awesome.
01:34The will is everything.
01:35Number 7.
01:36Coast City Connection
01:38In DC Comics, Coast City has had a rough history.
01:42After all, in 1993, the home of Green Lantern Hal Jordan was destroyed by Mongol, taking millions of lives.
01:50This trauma caused Hal to turn on the Green Lantern Corps and rampage across the universe as he morphed into
01:56the villain Parallax.
01:57While Coast City was later rebuilt, that brutal history continued to haunt it as folks were not keen to relocate
02:04there again.
02:04At least to begin with.
02:05I know you. You're famous.
02:07Well, in 2026's Clayface, Hagen also calls the place home.
02:12After growing up in Gotham's Narrows, a very bleak place that desperately needs help, he moved to Coast City as
02:19his acting fame rose.
02:20When his career and life collapsed, Hagen went back to the Narrows.
02:24If you're harboring feelings of anger, you need to let them go.
02:28Yet in the comics, Hagen has no strong connection to Coast City.
02:32Instead, he is associated with Gotham.
02:36Number 6. Caitlin Kaur's Creation
02:38When it comes to body horror content, a fun ingredient is dropping in a love interest.
02:43Show me.
02:46Show me.
02:47After all, it raises the fun question of who could love a monster.
02:51For the 2026 film, Dr. Caitlin Kaur takes on that responsibility.
02:56With Hagen desperate to repair his damaged face, he begged Caitlin to use him as a test subject for her
03:01experimental nanite technology.
03:03Eventually, with a funding problem, she agreed.
03:06This isn't cosmetic surgery.
03:09Even if it kills me, I'll be better off than I am now.
03:13Yet during that time, Hagen falls head over heels in love with her, as Caitlin struggles to understand her feelings
03:19for him.
03:20While Caitlin doesn't have a comic counterpart, she might be based on the animated DC character Stella Bates from Batman
03:26the Animated Series, as they share a similar backstory.
03:29In the episode Mudslide, the doctor-slash-actor was madly in love with Hagen, so she used her medical skills
03:36and cash to try to cure him of his clayface issue, with limited success.
03:41Please, stop it!
03:42Thanks, Stella!
03:44Do you want that Hagen?
03:45Or this?
03:48No.
03:49Number 5. The BFF's Possible Origins
03:52Throughout his rise to being Oscar-nominated, Hagen had one person who stood by him through it all.
03:58Corey Bowery
03:59The duo were childhood best friends who both tackled the acting industry together.
04:04The people I trusted betrayed me.
04:05While Hagen found greater success, Corey appeared to be happy for him, and protected his BFF.
04:11Until it emerged he'd betrayed his pal.
04:14So, Hagen takes his life and assumes Corey's identity on set.
04:18Like several characters in the film, Corey doesn't have an exact comic counterpart.
04:22However, there is a similarly named character in the 2023 comic, Batman One Bad Day Clayface.
04:30In this tale, Basil Carlo, more on him later, gets jealous when his friend Corey Jameson gets a part in
04:36the adaptation film, The Killing Joke, which he had also auditioned for.
04:39So, Carlo murders Corey and takes on his identity on set.
04:43However, Carlo's pretentiousness gets him fired, and he goes on a killing spree.
04:48Number 4. Hagen's not the first or only one
04:51The 2026 film seems to point to Hagen being the first and only person to have the title of Clayface.
04:58Is that so bad?
04:59We can infer this because no one who had experienced something similar is mentioned.
05:03Yet in the comics, as we alluded to earlier, Hagen isn't the first or only Clayface.
05:08In fact, there have been a lot.
05:10But we'll focus on the major 8.
05:12Basil Carlo debuted in 1940's Detective Comics number 40.
05:16However, rather than being a gross putty monster, Carlo originally had no abilities and wore a clay mask as he
05:23took lives.
05:24Later, he got Clayface powers.
05:26Following Carlo was Hagen, who arrived in 1961.
05:29Next to take the Clayface mantle was Preston Payne in 1978,
05:33who tried to cure his hyperpituitarism with Hagen's DNA, only to be drastically changed.
05:38Sondra Fuller was introduced in 1987 and became best known as Lady Clay.
05:44Finally, we have Cassius Payne in 1994, Peter Malley in 1997,
05:49Todd Russell in 2001, and Johnny Williams in 2004.
05:53Number 3. Treasure Hunter
05:55The 2026 film took heavy inspiration from Hagen in Batman the Animated Series,
06:00which essentially used Carlo's acting backstory for Hagen, albeit with actual powers.
06:05What in the name of heaven?
06:09Back off!
06:10For many people, this is Clayface's de facto origin story.
06:14Yet the Hagen that first appeared in 1961's Detective Comics number 298 was not an actor,
06:20or involved in the arts or entertainment.
06:23Instead, he was a treasure hunter.
06:25While scuba diving for sunken goodies, Hagen stumbled across a pool of protoplasm in a cave.
06:30After he accidentally fell into a pool of mysterious liquid,
06:33Hagen discovered his body was moldable like clay and was able to change his appearance,
06:39immediately putting him on the path to crime.
06:41Hagen later discovered that he could also replicate the powers of those he mimicked,
06:45including Superman, which sounds like a massive problem for the heroes.
06:50Number 2. Power Top-Up
06:51Comics, especially during the Golden and Silver Ages,
06:55like to have limitations on characters, giving them clear weaknesses.
06:58For example, the OG Green Lantern, Alan Scott, did not do well with wood.
07:04For Hagen, it was a time limit on his abilities.
07:07After he'd frolicked in the pool of protoplasm or used the synthetic version he used later,
07:11depending on the story,
07:12he had between 5 hours and 2 days before his Clayface powers vanished,
07:16and he was reverted to his human form again.
07:19In the film, that was not the case whatsoever.
07:21I'm okay.
07:22You okay?
07:23I'm okay.
07:25I feel great, actually.
07:27The nanotech process began slowly, with several small injections.
07:31But when Hagen's face began reverting to its damaged self as his mental health deteriorated,
07:36he overdosed on the substance, ramping up his abilities even more.
07:39As a result, movie Hagen doesn't require additional injections to keep his powers.
07:44Instead, for better or worse, he had them permanently.
07:48I have no idea who you are.
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08:00Are you not entertained?
08:02Number 1.
08:04The Initial Tragedy
08:05While the film version of Hagen borrows heavily from Carlo's tale,
08:09there is still a vast difference between the movie and Carlo's comic origins in Becoming the Monster.
08:14I'm a monster.
08:17In Clayface, after sleeping with Mia Torres, Hagen is attacked the next morning by her partner,
08:22mobster Marco Szabo and his goons, wounding his face beyond repair.
08:26Originally in the comics, non-powered Carlo went mad with jealousy when a remake of his film wouldn't feature him,
08:33causing him to go on a killing spree.
08:35Following Rebirth, his origin was changed again.
08:38This time, his father worked as a special effects artist who used a toxic substance called Renew to change actors'
08:44appearances.
08:44As Carlo's acting career was taking off, he accidentally crashed his car after hearing of his dad's passing, severely damaging
08:51his face.
08:52So, he used Renew to maintain his looks, eventually descending into crime to afford it.
08:57Then, after being covered in Renew, Carlo became Clayface.
09:01Which other DC supervillain should get the Clayface treatment and get their own horror film?
09:06Let us know in the comments.
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