Clayface

Clayface is a name used by several DC Comics fictional characters, most of them possessing clay-like bodies and shapeshifting abilities. All of them have been enemies of Batman. Created by Bob Kane, the original Clayface, Basil Karlo, was a B movie actor who began a life of crime using the identity of a villain he portrayed in a horror film.

In the late 1950s, Batman began facing a series of science fiction-inspired foes and Matt Hagen, a treasure hunter given vast shapeshifting powers and resiliency by radioactive protoplasm, became the new Clayface. He retained the title for the next several decades of comic book history. In the late '70s, Preston Payne became the third Clayface. A scientist suffering from hyperpituitarism, Payne used Hagen's blood to create a cure but became a clay-like creature that needed to pass his condition onto others to survive. His condition was used as a metaphor for drug abuse and sexually transmitted disease.

Sondra Fuller, of Strike Force Kobra, used the terrorist group’s technology to become the fourth Clayface, also known as Lady Clay. She formed the Mud Pack with Karlo, Payne, and a reanimated Hagen, which during that time, Payne and Fuller had a son Cassius "Clay" Payne who also had metahuman clay powers. During this era, Karlo used the DNA of Payne and Fuller to become the most powerful Clayface, often considered the current and ultimate incarnation of the villain.

Clayface has appeared in three animated adaptations of Batman, starting with the late 1970s-era The New Adventures of Batman, which featured a comedic version of Hagen. The 1990s-era Batman: The Animated Series featured a past-his-prime actor disfigured in a car accident who uses an experimental, addictive cosmetic to regain his appearance only to became a monstrous hunk of clay after a massive overdose of the substance. This interpretation, like the series’ Mr. Freeze, was applauded as a deeper, more sympathetic version of a sci-fi-era villain, and the comic book incarnation of the Basil Karlo Clayface was retooled after it. The 2000s-era The Batman featured a new character Ethan Bennett, who had ties to a young Bruce Wayne, as Clayface before introducing a version of Basil Karlo.

Basil Karlo
The original Clayface, Basil Karlo, appeared in Detective Comics #40. He is an actor who is driven mad when he hears of a remake of the classic horror film he had starred in, The Terror, even though he is to be one of the advising staff. Donning the mask of the film's villain, Clayface, he embarks on a murder spree among the cast and crew of the remake. He is foiled by Batman and Robin. He reappears in Detective Comics #49 (March 1941) after the prison ambulance he is riding in plunges off a cliff. He once again dons the mask of Clayface and targets Bruce Wayne's fiancee. Once again, the Dynamic Duo foil the evil Karlo.

The New Adventures of Batman
Clayface's first appearance outside the comics was in several episodes of Filmation's The New Adventures of Batman in the late 1970s. This show featured the Matt Hagen version of Clayface, and according to his first appearance he must drink his special potion daily to keep his Clayface powers. In this show, he often uses his powers to take on the forms of animals.

In Clayface's first episode, Clayface is shown to be able to survive in water without dissolving (unlike later animated incarnations) by turning into a dolphin, but as Matt Hagen he does not know how to swim. His second episode pairs him up with Catwoman in a plot to steal oil. He is also one of the four villains featured in the two-part "Have An Evil Day", in which the alien Zarbor cons him, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin into teaming up against Batman and Robin as a diversion while Zarbor steals Earth's nuclear plants. In this series, Clayface was voiced by Lou Scheimer and Lennie Weinrib.

Batman: The Animated Series
In Batman: The Animated Series, several episodes featured a more tragic Clayface character, voiced by Ron Perlman, that combined aspects of several of the comic-book Clayfaces.

In the episode "Feat of Clay" (written by veteran comic book writer Marv Wolfman) he is introduced as Matt Hagen (a nod to the second Clayface), a past-his-prime actor (a nod to the first Clayface) who had been disfigured in a horrible car accident (a nod to the third Clayface). While recovering in a burn clinic, he is approached by corrupt businessman Roland Daggett, who makes him a test subject for a compound called "RenuYou" (pronounced "Renew You") that he promises will immediately restore his youthful good looks (a nod to the fourth Clayface). In exchange, Hagen must impersonate people in illegal roles for Daggett. He greatly resents this, but is forced to comply, as the RenuYou chemical is extremely addictive. Daggett has Hagen impersonate Bruce Wayne in order to obtain documents from Lucius Fox, who is inadvertently wounded; Bruce Wayne is arrested for assault and brought in for questioning. Hagen, attempting to steal a large quantity of RenuYou from Daggett's compound, is seized by Daggett's henchmen; they then try to kill Hagen by pouring an entire canister of the compound on his face. Rather than kill him, however, the overdose saturates every cell in his body, turning him into a bulky and misshapen clay like form who can, for short periods of time, shapeshift into anything or anybody he wishes. After trying to get revenge on Daggett, he is stopped by Batman and, upon being caught, fakes his death.

Clayface reappears in the episode "Mudslide", in which he has been in hiding since the events of "Feat of Clay" and in which his body is beginning to deteriorate. He is restored to a semblance of health by a former medical adviser on his films, Dr. Stella Bates, who falls in love with Hagen. She sells her motel in order to raise funds for a laboratory in which to treat him. Batman tracks him down and prevents Dr. Bates' treatment of Clayface (partly because he stole the necessary formula compound from Wayne Biomedical Labs). He and Clayface then fight, but Hagen's now-unstable clay form absorbs too much rainwater to hold its cohesion, falls into the ocean, and he is destroyed once he dissolves. (This episode is notable for its numerous references to classic movies, in-jokes associated with Clayface's history as an actor. For example, Dr. "Bates" owns a "motel," referencing Psycho, while, at the end, a rain-washed Clayface moans for the doctor, crying, "Stella!", in reference to A Streetcar Named Desire.)

An action figure of this version of Clayface was featured in the Batman: The Animated Series toy line and featured a firing spiked ball.

The New Batman Adventures
In The New Batman Adventures, Hagen's character re-forms again in "Growing Pains", in which Robin (Tim Drake) befriends a lost, amnesiac little girl he names "Annie". The child turns out to be a portion of Clayface - who has returned to life by way of some strange chemicals - that has gained sentience and an identity on its own, and in the end is re-absorbed into the main body of the villain, effectively "killing" the girl as a separate person. Due to this, Robin (who had feelings for her) mumbled the extra charge of murder to himself as Clayface was taken by the police. Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) is also shown battling Clayface in one segment of a Christmas themed episode, "Holiday Knights", in which Clayface further expands his separative ability by posing as four separate children at once to shoplift from Gotham department stores at the height of the Christmas Eve rush.

Justice League
A more sympathetic Clayface makes his return to action in the Justice League series, where it is revealed that at some point, he had been captured, separated, and sealed into several biohazard canisters by Morgan Edge. Gorilla Grodd and his newly-formed Secret Society attacks Edge's mansion, freeing Clayface and offering him a position in their group. Although Clayface is reluctant at first, Grodd promises to find a way to revert Clayface back to his human form. Clayface is defeated when the Flash plants fireworks in his clay body and Hawkgirl ignites them, blowing Clayface apart. He resurfaces in a later issue of the JLU comic.

The Batman
There are two versions of Clayface in The Batman:

Ethan Bennett
The first Clayface is Ethan Bennett, a detective in the Gotham City Police Department and Bruce Wayne's friend from high school. This version of Clayface is voiced by Steve Harris (Quarantine).

Clayface originates in the two-part episodes "The Rubber Face of Comedy/Clayface of Tragedy". After he inhales a dose of the Joker's Joker Putty (following a session of extensive brainwashing, driving him insane), Bennett is rescued by Batman and his partner, Detective Ellen Yin. He is suspended by Chief Rojas after publicly denouncing the chief's claims about Batman. At his apartment, Bennett mutates into a featureless gray clay-like figure, and tries to look for help, scaring away the locals, though he manages to change back into his original form with practice. After many battles with Batman, it has become clear that he still holds a grudge against the Joker. At one point he even impersonates Solomon Grundy in order to loot the city on Halloween, but is ultimately stopped by Batman.

As Clayface returns in the fourth season episode "Clayfaces", Bennett seems to have finally reformed. He tracks down and captures the Joker, disguising himself as the Joker's henchmen, Punch and Judy. He hands him over the police without using excessive force, and turns himself in to the authorities, who take him to Arkham Asylum. However, Bennett has not completely regained Bruce Wayne's (and Batman's) trust. He is eager to leave Arkham and continue working as a police officer, although Batman refuses to consider this request until Bennett is cured, citing he could easily go back to crime.

When Basil Karlo begins wreaking havoc as the second Clayface, Bennett feels he is the only one who could defeat Karlo. Bennett once again requests a second chance, but after he is refused again, he resorts to escaping from Arkham. Bennett tracks down and battles Karlo with the aid of Batman and Robin. Bennett holds Karlo down while Batman administers the antidote. Bennett is shown at the end to be fully cured, while Karlo retains his powers.

Basil Karlo
The fourth season episode "Clayfaces" introduces Basil Karlo (in his first actual appearance outside the comics) as the series' second Clayface, voiced by Wallace Langham and later by Lex Lang. Here, he is shown to be an ugly, untalented actor. He is seen repeatedly turned down in auditions for a dog food commercial when he hears that Bennett is about to be cured.

Karlo breaks into Wayne Industries and drinks a refined, purified sample of the Clayface mutagen Bennett was exposed to. This successfully turns him into Clayface. After being rejected once again for a dog food commercial, he snaps and uses his Clayface powers to attack the city. At first he believes this incident would be the death of his career, but he then sees that being a supervillain has made him a celebrity, covered on nearly every channel. At the last channel he stops on, it shows his previous movie, The Revenge of The Atomic Clone.

After a battle with Batman, Robin, and Ethan Bennett, Basil Karlo is injected with the Clayface antidote, seemingly restoring him to normal. However, the episode's final scene shows that Karlo has retained his powers.

He reappears in The Batman/Superman Story, Part One where he, along with Bane and Mr. Freeze, is in the employ of Black Mask, who has teamed up with Lex Luthor and kidnapped Lois Lane as bait for a trap to lure in Superman.

Birds of Prey
Clayface also made an appearance in the 12th episode of the short-lived Birds of Prey television series portrayed by Kirk Baltz. This version of Clayface is an artist - not a thespian, but a sculpturist--who is artistically inspired by the agony of others. Like other versions, he is a shapeshifter, but his powers are explained to come from taking a special formula specifically tailored by a crooked scientist to work with his DNA. In this series, he is hired by the Joker to kill Catwoman. He has a son named Chris Cassius (a pun on Muhammad Ali, whose birth name was Cassius Clay) who turns people into clay after stealing and taking his father's formula, making his powers similar to the Preston Payne Clayface and his own son, "Clay" Payne.

Video games
Clayface has made several appearances in video games featuring Batman. He appeared as a boss in The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Super NES and Sega CD and Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu. Ron Perlman reprised his role as Clayface from the animated series for the latter two games. The Sega CD game features Clayface as the final boss, where he impersonates crime lord Rupert Thorne while the real Thorne is on vacation. He then uses Thorne's wealth to hire some of Batman's greatest villains (Poison Ivy, the Riddler, and the Joker) to kill him, so that Gotham City would be his for the taking. In the end, Clayface tries to escape in a helicopter, but it crashes into the side of a bridge, causing him to fall into the harbor and dissolve.

He appears in Lego Batman: The Videogame, his structure and look is that of the Matt Hagen Clayface from Batman: The Animated Series, but the game names him as Basil Karlo (apart from the Nintendo DS version, which names him as Matt Hagen according to the collectable Joker calling card. In the game he is an enemy of Batman and a follower of the Riddler. He and Riddler break into a bank in order to steal a (gigantic) key to the Gotham gold reserves. Afterwards, Riddler, disgusted with Clayface's short attention span, leaves him at the bank to build a tiny house of gold bars, and where he is subsequently defeated by Batman and Robin. His possesses super strength and the ability to double jump. His actions and mannerisms suggests a low level of intelligence; "Iconic characters, such as Clayface and Robin, have been turned into village idiots," writes Ben of Game Informer.

Clayface is set to appear in the upcoming video game, DC Universe Online.