Earning over $750 million worldwide, The Batman was a roaring success for Matt Reeves and Warner Bros. As such a big hit, HBO Max has two spinoffs in development -- one focused on The Penguin and the other set around Arkham Asylum, which could potentially pay off The Batman's Joker tease.

Speculation is abuzz surrounding which Batman villains could appear in the much-anticipated sequel. Now, it could be that fan favorites like Mr. Freeze and the Court of Owls make their way to the follow-up, but there are further rumors that Clayface may appear and he would be the perfect villain for The Batman sequel.

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Clayface Would Thrive as a Villain in The Batman Sequel

Clayface roars in front of a red backdrop

While a popular choice amongst fans, one of the arguments against using Clayface in a live-action Batman property is the belief held by some that the character's exaggerated design makes him better suited to the animated realm. Though this is provably true thanks to the character's epic appearance in the Harley Quinn series, director Reeves has created a deliberately stylized world for The Batman. While it's grim and gritty, it's certainly not real, nor does it aim to be. It's a world with such a strong identity that a carefully crafted version of Clayface could work wonders.

The character itself is one of Batman's most strange and amorphous foes, a shape-shifting blob made of clay who is nearly impossible to truly kill. As a result, the character has appeared throughout the DC comic book universe, with the name used as an alias for different people over time. The DC Comics site describes the villain as "virtually indestructible, criminally devious, and brilliant at improvisation, even the most harmless-looking incarnations of Gotham’s resident mud-based monster represent a massive potential threat”, a solid enough reasoning for including the character in a cinematic Batman outing.

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The filmmakers could even take Clayface's origin from DC Rebirth and adapt it in a way that harkens back to the Universal Classic Monsters -- a villain as sympathetic as they are horrifying. Modern audiences have a nostalgic affinity for these kinds of classics, and it would be magical to see the production team attempt that style and tone in their Batman universe. Additionally, casting the perfect actor for the role would be the final step in Clayface going from an impossible dream to something that heightens the Batman franchise. Ron Perlman played the villain in both Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, with his size and unique look possibly securing his position as a leading candidate to take on the role in a live-action setting.

Additionally, Clayface's tendency to appear as a tragic figure in his comic appearances today could make him a sympathetic villain among the over-the-top, stylized pure evil of a character like the Joker. Though fans have already seen this in more minor villains like Aaron Eckhart's turn as Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight trilogy, his appearance as the latter was brief and arguably left audiences with a solid yearning for more where that came from.

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Clayface's Cinematic Debut Should Be Handled With Care

clayface shifts into a human disguise

However, the most important factor in whether Clayface is the perfect villain for The Batman sequel is if Reeves and Co. want to use him. One of the reasons why The Batman worked so well was the sheer level of passion from the creatives behind the scenes. While Clayface is a popular choice with fans, he shouldn't be included on-screen merely as fan service. After all, Venom didn't work in Spider-Man 3 because the studio forced Sam Raimi to adapt a character he wasn't interested in using. In that way, only a version of Clayface that Reeves believes in would be the perfect villain for The Batman's sequel.

Equally, there is the problem of trying to understand whether an existing iteration of the character is the best choice for the sequel, or if an entirely new take would work best. In the Golden Age, Clayface was actually B-list actor Boris Karlo, who donned the mask of a creature he had played in a previous movie in order to go and commit crimes. From there, many versions of the character would go on to appear throughout DC's history, including appearances for all the iterations in a post-crisis storyline that saw every version of the character form an alliance with the intention of killing Batman. Though this specific story would be a bit out there for the next movie, there is plenty of existing canon to make use of.

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The fact that The Batman established itself as an ongoing series entirely separate from the existing DCEU could prove a useful foundation for the addition of Clayface. The studio has already announced several spinoff movies and TV series, including a unique take on one of the Dark Knight's most iconic villains in The Penguin, and this should mean that there will be ample space for appearances for other villains from across the franchise. Additionally, the lack of pressure to shoehorn in existing characters from the wider DCEU thanks to this separation should mean that the creative minds behind the project could look to expand their character roster to include figures beyond the ones audiences have already seen.

In any eventuality, there are a lot of options on the table for the next two movies in the trilogy. Specifically, hugely influential characters from the comics who have never appeared in movies include Phantasm, Solomon Grundy and Deathstroke (aside from a very brief appearance in the post-credits scene of the theatrical cut of Justice League, played by Joe Mangianello.) There is no reason that some or all of these couldn't make an appearance across the multiple planned properties, though time will tell who makes the final cut.