Looks like Josh Brolin won’t be playing Clayface, after all.
In December of 2024, Deadline confirmed that a Clayface movie was greenlit at DC Studios. Mike Flanagan, director of Doctor Sleep, was announced as the screenwriter. He intended to make the film a “horror/thriller/tragedy.”
Clayface in Batman The animated Series – YouTube, DC Kids
Matt Reeves, who directed The Batman, and Lynn Harris will be involved with production through their company, 6th & Idaho Productions.
According to Nexus Point News, details about the movie’s plot are scarce. However, it will reportedly be a sympathetic take on Clayface’s character. Production will start in Spring of 2025 to meet a projected release date in September of 2026. Mike Flanagan has supposedly completed the script, but the film still has no director. Nor have there been any official casting calls for the movie.
Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Marvel Studios
READ: DC Developing Clayface Movie Based on Batman Villain
Recent rumors suggested that Josh Brolin, most known for his casting as Thanos in the MCU and Cable in Deadpool 2, was in talks to become the shapeshifting Batman villain. However, an insider from Nexus Point News shot those rumors down.
Not true. Like I said it’s gonna be someone much younger. They haven’t even started casting and won’t do so until they have a director. Someone claims DC still wants Brolin for a role and then everyone assumes he’s gonna be cast in the next project to start casting. https://t.co/MmJ3htBjal
— Apocalyptic Horseman (@ApocHorseman) January 5, 2025
Apocalyptic Horseman (the insider) stated on X, “Like I said it’s gonna be someone much younger. They haven’t even started casting and won’t do so until they have a director. Someone claims DC still wants Brolin for a role and then everyone assumes he’s gonna be cast in the next project to start casting.”
The emphasis that someone younger will be cast in the role suggests the movie will be an origin story for the Batman villain. This is not the first time a villain movie has been pitched and/or made without the characters’ corresponding heroes. Sony Pictures is the most notable example, with its many Spider-Man adjacent films lacking even a glimpse of Spider-Man. Even Joker featured a young Bruce Wayne and explored the origins of Batman, even if just for a moment.
A screenshot from the trailer to Kraven the Hunter – YouTube, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Nearly all of Sony’s villain-verse movies failed to break even, resulting in the shutdown of its attempted cinematic universe.
It seems, though, that DC and Warner Bros. have not learned from Sony’s failures. After the success of The Penguin, they are clearly trying their luck at another villain-centric project. The show earned a bunch of praise and positive reviews from both the audience and the mainstream critics. However, that doesn’t mean repeating the process is a good idea.
Lately, the only other live-action success that DC has had with Batman as a TV show was Gotham, an origin series for Batman and his villains. The shows that came after, such as Pennyworth, Batwoman, and Gotham Knights, performed terribly by comparison.
This was partly due to Batman being completely absent from all three shows (and Batwoman being terrible…).
Clayface in Batman The Animated Series – YouTube, DC Kids
It’s hard to say whether or not this Clayface movie is a good idea, or if it will even do well. There’s not enough information at this time to make an educated guess. Josh Brolin might not be cast as Clayface, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be in the movie as someone else.
What are your thoughts? Will this movie fail like the Sony films? Who do you think should be Clayface? Let us know in the comments below.
