Gotham City does not need Batman to be standing on a gargoyle to make people look over their shoulders. That appears to be the guiding idea behind Clayface, the upcoming DCU film centered on Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries.
Director James Watkins has described a Gotham built to carry the Caped Crusader’s weight even when the story’s focus is elsewhere. The film is expected to explore the origins of Hagen, a figure closely associated with Batman’s rogues’ gallery, but Watkins has framed the city itself as the reason Batman’s presence is felt.
“You’re in a city called Gotham. So I guess you feel the shadow of the Bat inherently,” Watkins said. “Because of the nature of where you are.”
That distinction matters. A Batman connection can be made through setting, mood and the social conditions of the city without requiring a cameo, a fight scene, or even a direct appearance. Nothing in Watkins’ remarks confirms Batman will be on screen in Clayface. Instead, they point to a movie using Gotham as an active dramatic force: a place that shapes its inhabitants and makes the prospect of vigilante intervention feel culturally unavoidable.
A Gotham designed to feel used, not polished
Watkins said the creative team looked to street photography from the 1980s and 1990s while developing the look of the city. He specifically referenced the documentary Everybody Street and the photographers represented in it, describing an influence rooted in New York’s flashy, abrasive and sometimes threatening street-level energy.
The result he is aiming for sounds notably physical. This Gotham is intended to have saturated color, eccentricity and a rougher kind of glamour, but also dirt, disrepair and imposing urban spaces. Watkins said the city should feel corrupt, with neglected litter and decay visible in everyday life. He also emphasized the “canyons” of the city—an evocative way to describe towering, constricting streets and buildings that make the people below them feel small.
In film language, that is more than production design. An oppressive cityscape can establish the stakes before a character speaks. Broken infrastructure, crowded streets and looming architecture can communicate institutional failure and personal isolation. For a character such as Clayface, whose identity is tied to transformation, performance and instability, a city that looks compromised and pressurized could be a particularly useful backdrop.
It also suggests Gotham will not simply be a neutral location for a superhero story. Watkins’ description presents it as a world with its own texture and behavior: a place where the mess is not quickly cleaned up and where the environment can seem to crowd the characters. That is a fitting foundation for a DC story in which public order and private desperation are likely to be inseparable.
What “the shadow of Batman” means here
Batman’s shadow is not necessarily a literal silhouette. In this context, it is the idea that Gotham carries an expectation of Batman because of what the city has become. Crime, corruption and urban neglect are all elements traditionally linked to the Dark Knight’s home turf. If a film establishes those conditions persuasively, viewers may sense Batman’s place in the world whether or not he enters the frame.
That approach gives Clayface room to remain a character-focused story rather than becoming a premature Batman vehicle. Hagen can be the center of the narrative while the setting retains its familiar relationship to Gotham’s most famous protector. It is also a way of connecting a standalone-feeling premise to a broader shared universe without overexplaining every connection.
Batman has been referenced in Creature Commandos and Lanterns, but the DCU’s Batman has not yet been officially cast. Watkins’ comments therefore should not be read as casting news or as proof of an appearance. They are best understood as a statement of atmosphere: Gotham is being made with the mythology of Batman in mind, even as Clayface follows another character.
That restraint could be practical for the DCU. Shared-universe storytelling often faces a balancing act between making every project feel connected and allowing each one to establish its own tone, protagonist and conflict. A Batman-free Gotham story can still feel recognizably Gotham if the city’s design and social atmosphere do enough of that connective work.
Street photography as a useful reference point
Street photography is a telling influence because it tends to focus on chance encounters, textures, signs, crowds, storefronts and the tension of public life. Rather than presenting a city as a clean establishing shot, it can capture it as something immediate and lived in. Watkins’ interest in that material indicates an effort to make Gotham feel observed at ground level.
The 1980s and 1990s reference is equally specific in mood, though the comments do not outline a precise period setting for the movie. What is clear is the desired visual character: rich colors rather than a purely drained palette, glamour with sharp edges, and menace that exists alongside everyday city life. Gotham can be stylized without looking sterile.
That is potentially important for Clayface as a screen character. The name immediately raises questions about body transformation and visual effects, but Watkins’ comments place equal attention on the environment around him. If the setting is vivid and tangible, the character’s extraordinary elements may have more contrast. The supplied details do not reveal how Hagen’s powers or transformations will be depicted, so any claims beyond that would be speculation. Still, the stated emphasis on physical urban texture suggests the movie’s atmosphere will not rest solely on its central character’s design.
Creative support, not micromanagement
Watkins also said he was not micromanaged by James Gunn and DC Studios, describing their involvement as supportive. That is a small but meaningful production detail. It suggests the director sees the film’s visual identity as an authored choice rather than merely a preset house style imposed on the project.
For audiences, the practical implication is not that the film will be disconnected from DCU Chapter One. Clayface is still part of that wider chapter. Instead, the comments suggest that connection may come through Gotham’s world-building and the shared implications of its characters, while the film retains latitude to pursue its own tone.
That could make the project a useful test of how broadly the DCU intends to define itself. A universe can be coherent without making every installment visually identical. Gotham, by its nature, has room for horror, crime drama, psychological tension and heightened comic-book spectacle. Watkins’ focus on decay, color and pressure points toward a version of the city with a distinct sensibility, rather than a generic backdrop bearing a familiar name.
What remains unconfirmed
Several major details remain outside the information currently available. There is no confirmation in these remarks that Batman appears in the film. There is no official DCU Batman casting attached to this discussion. And although the film follows Matt Hagen’s origins, no additional plot breakdown has been provided here.
What has been made clear is the intended relationship between the movie and its setting. Clayface is not treating Gotham as a piece of branding that can be swapped for any other fictional city. Watkins’ description makes the environment central: corrupt, uncared for, visually intense and suffocating enough that Batman’s mythology hangs over it naturally.
That does not answer every question about the movie, but it establishes a compelling premise. In this Gotham, the streets themselves may do much of the work of reminding viewers why a figure like Batman exists—and why someone like Clayface might emerge from the same city.
Clayface is scheduled to reach cinemas on October 23 as part of DCU Chapter One. For another look at how studios are positioning major releases around that date, see Laika’s Wildwood plans for its own October 23 theatrical opening.
