The complicated and contradictory history of Clayface is explored in a new DC Comics miniseries. There are many characters who have used the name since 1940, in both the Batman comics and various adaptations to other media. Ironically, these adaptations often merged the various comic characters into gestalt creations. This made a muddy mess of the comics continuity, which the new miniseries tries to clarify ahead of the upcoming DC Universe horror film.
The action of Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1 by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Fran Galan centers around a single shape-shifting John Doe. The authorities believe he is Todd Russell, a serial-killer who preyed on sex workers in Gotham’s East End until Catwoman stopped him. However, they aren’t certain, as all the shape-shifters called Clayface share the same genetic code. The chief reason they think this John Doe is “Todd” is both suffer from an uncertainty of their identity.
The one Clayface they are sure “Todd” isn’t is the original, Basil Karlo. This is because Karlo reformed and recently enjoyed a resurgence of his acting career. This pushes Todd to escape custody to seek out the “imposter” in Hollywood.
The irony is that there is a fair chance that “Todd” might be right. The only common ground between the many villains called Clayface beyond shape-shifting powers is a history of mental instability. Nevertheless, Celebrity Dirt makes this history accessible by focusing on the most accessible incarnations.
The many faces of Clayface explained
Celebrity Dirt confirms eight villains use the Clayface name. The first Clayface, Basil Karlo, was a horror movie star inspired by “man of a thousand faces” Lon Chaney. Originally, he had no powers.
However, Karlo’s origin was retconned in 2018, and he gaining powers from an overdose of the Re-Nu formula. This Clayface origin was originally created for Batman: The Animated Series. The only difference was the name of the actor, Matt Hagen, which is now being used for the DCU Clayface.
Hagen, the second Clayface in the comics, was no actor. Indeed, he was a treasure hunter who chanced upon an underground mud pool that temporarily granted shape-shifting powers. His blood later created the third Clayface, Preston Payne, who tried to use it to cure his hyperpituitarism. Instead, this gave him a touch that melted organic matter.
Despite this, Payne found love with the fourth Clayface, Sondra Fuller. She got her shapeshifting powers from experiments sponsored by the Kobra Cult. Their son, Cassius, inherited his parents’ powers. He could also bond pieces of his clay to others to possess them. This accordingly resulted in the sixth Clayface, Peter Malley, who acquired a gaze-attack version of Preston Payne’s touch.
The seventh Clayface, “Todd Russell,” was never given an explanation for his powers. The eighth and final Clayface, Johnny Williams, was a fire-fighter transformed by a chemical spill. Williams became a tool of Hush and The Riddler, gaslighted into aiding in their schemes. However, he redeemed himself and helped Batman before his death.
