The first trailer for Clayface has dropped, and while it's horrified fans everywhere – in a good way, we promise – it's also got some people scratching their heads.
Clayface focuses on Matt Hagen, an actor who is gruesomely disfigured and develops clay-based powers. In one memorable moment in the trailer, Matt essentially wipes his entire face away. Yuck.
The trailer is very edgy and serious, which has fans wondering how Creature Commandos fits with the DCU Chapter One movie. Clayface isn't an Elseworlds project, which means it's in the same universe as Creature Commandos. Clayface the character also appears in Creature Commandos, which seems to create some problems, as the tones are very different.
One fan has taken to Reddit to ask if the new film means Creature Commandos has been retconned, but, there is a very simple explanation. "We don't know the story yet. In the comics, there we several Clayfaces, it stands to reason there could be more than one in the DCU," points out another fan.
"There hasn’t even been anything that confirms that the Clayface in Creature Commandos is the same as the one in the movie," points out someone else.
"Most likely this is a previous Clayface and the movie one will be the current one. Just like in the comics there are multiple Clayfaces," says another fan.
"My assumption is that the Clayface in Creature Commandos is likely Basil Karlo if this movie is set after the show but it probably makes more sense for the movie to come before, and in my mind could be the key to establishing the DCU Gotham," says someone else.
James Gunn himself has pointed out before that different tones will exist in the DCU, but characters will still feel true to themselves. "I was like this when I worked at Marvel," Gunn shared on the DC Studios Showcase Official Podcast, when asked about character tone continuity between projects. "I would get scripts with Rocket in them that didn't match how I understood [the character] – that character was my soul. So I would always make sure that his voice always made sense, that what he did always made sense. And I do that with the characters in DC across all the films and television shows. They've got to be true to the character, especially if it's a character that I originated on film."
James Gunn on varying tones in DCU!This explains the change in CLAYFACE from Creature Commandos to his movie pic.twitter.com/gfo9Nc98gWApril 23, 2026
He added: "At the same time, for instance, one of the fun things to me is it is an animated show, Creature Commandos, and so Rick Flag Sr. is a little bit different, he's a little bit more grounded in Superman, but that's also a big, huge, splashy spectacle, so that's different from Peacemaker."
So, if the Creature Commandos Clayface is also Matt Hagen, we can rest assured that it will all make sense in the DCU.
Next up for the DCU is Supergirl, which arrives in theaters this June 26. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows for everything else that's on the way.
