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Brown, toxic sludge emerges from the headquarters of Warner Bros. Studios - it appears the DCU has found its Clayface!

Yes, Deadline broke the news June 17 that Suspicion star Tom Rhys Harries will put the very first 'monster' in the DCU's Gods & Monsters saga, as he steps into the titular role of the Batman rogue and headlines the third DCU cinematic outing. Already confirmed for the project is director James Watkins and script writer Hossein Amini.

You may recall Popverse recently reporting that horror titan Mike Flanagan, who wrote the original draft of the Clayface script, had recently spoken about the project, calling it "not my movie" and saying that he had moved away from the project. That was our most recent update on the project, until today brought the very first news of a Clayface casting to DCU fans.

Except... was it actually new?

Not to be "that guy" about this whole situation - I am thrilled for this movie, I'll have you know - but technically the role of Clayface in the DCU had already been cast months before this announcement. That's because the shapeshifting monster, who was once a human actor by the name of Basil Karlo, already appeared in animated form in the very first DCU project to air, 2024's Creature Commandos. In that series, the role of Clayface was voiced by Alan Tudyk, who also provided vocals for the characters of Doctor Phosphorus and Will Magnus.

However, to add an extra layer of "that guy" on my already "that guy"-ing, I suppose that you really don't have the same problem of "recasting" with a shapeshifter like Clayface, do you? Yes, his vocal chords were canonically Alan Tudyk's in Creature Commandos, but Clayface's whole deal is that he can change those kinds of things. To be entirely fair, we can't really say that Harries is a re-casting, more of a "plus-casting," and its entirely possible that one of his disguises may look like the lead actor in Resident Alien.

Ah well, at least they didn't cast their next major villain with someone who was already one of their major heroes. You know, like some comic book cinematic universes do.

Clayface morphs into theaters September 11, 2026.

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