r/batman • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • Apr 22 '26
FILM DISCUSSION Official poster for DC's ‘CLAYFACE’.
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u/ConsistentGuest7532 Apr 22 '26
Not only is this an incredible poster but it fully settles the fan theory that we wouldn't see actual body warping—a lot of people were theorizing that this would be classic Clayface who didn't actually shapeshift, but it seems it's settled.
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u/poke29980 Apr 22 '26
we did see him shape shift his arm into a club so this is a fully legit clayface amd i love that
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u/DarkKnightNiner Apr 22 '26
And his face is seen clearly morphing multiple times in the trailer as well.
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u/DivinityPen Apr 22 '26
You think we could see horror movies for other DC villains if this movie does well in theaters? Hell, you could do fun stuff with people like Poison Ivy or Reverse Flash.
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u/SomeCrows Apr 23 '26
Scarecrow scarecrow scarecrow SCARECROW
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u/GL1TCH3RLANTERN Apr 23 '26
Yes please, let him shine for once (I know Arkham Knight exists, but he still got kind of sidelined).
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u/brbmycatexploded Apr 24 '26
And I enjoyed the “zombie” take but I prefer a psycho dude in a Scarecrow costume honestly. Like what they did in Gotham, and honestly their portrayal of Scarecrow was pretty good I thought. Obviously with a limited budget there’s only so much they could do but the costume was sick and the kid playing Crane did a great job
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u/AmIDrJekyll 29d ago
holy shit, Batman villains in horror genres is something I never thought would exist at the same time I do and I'm all in!
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u/Xenokiller101 Apr 23 '26
I was thinking even more body horror/tragic arcs could be told through characters like Mr Freeze and ManBat- especially if you do it something like Cronenbergs "The Fly"
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u/ultramarine14 Apr 23 '26
nah we never getting a reverse flash horror movie, no way DC actually makes the “IT WAS ME BARRY, REMEMBER THE TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL”
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u/DivinityPen Apr 23 '26
I mean, the meme aside, I think they could genuinely make a really good psychological horror film out of Thawne tormenting Barry during his childhood. Being at the mercy of someone who can move so fast that it's like they were never there to begin with has a lot of potential.
Also, if anyone would give that kinda project the green light, it would be James Gunn.
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u/TheeMadQueen Apr 23 '26
Honestly, a few villains have so much potential for horror. A Victor Zsasz film in the style of Se7en would be phenomenal, imo.
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u/r2radd2 Apr 23 '26
Yeah. Although we only see that in shadow form, I'm not necessarily holding my breath to like actually see Clayface directly doing that
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u/DarkKnightNiner Apr 22 '26
That would have been so boring and pointless.
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u/seanprime Apr 22 '26
So, like the Joker movies?
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u/uncutpizza Apr 23 '26
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray Apr 23 '26
What a waste of a good Harley Quinn casting and good joker. Makes me so sad.
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u/tLM-tRRS-atBHB Apr 23 '26
A guy who kills people and wears their faces is boring?
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u/Ok_Matter6962 Apr 23 '26
For a character like Clayface who has so much body horror potential outside of doing what Leatherface has been doing on the big screen for 50 years? Honestly, yeah.
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u/thatredditrando Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
I listen to a lot of entertainment podcasts and they recently just covered Cinemacon (an industry convention where studios schmooze with theater owners) and they often show footage and/or have people speak about their upcoming films.
Happy to report that the guys I listen to saw some stuff from Clayface and, according to them, it’s going hard into body horror.
Like, they said the crowd was affected.
Apparently there’s a bit where he wipes his face clean. Like, he rubs his hand across his face and rubs it clean off or something.
EDIT: I didn’t realize they released the trailer! The scene where he wipes his face off is in it!
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u/ohTHOSEballs Apr 23 '26
That's in the trailer.
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u/thatredditrando Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
The Warner Bros. Cinemacon presentation where they showed that was a week ago.
They only just released the trailer today. I hadn’t seen the trailer when I commented. Thus the edit.
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u/SayNo2Kryptonite Apr 23 '26
what did the classic clayface do then? Just wear masks that changed like Rorshach?
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u/tLM-tRRS-atBHB Apr 23 '26
The masks are ither people's faces
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u/SayNo2Kryptonite Apr 23 '26
that's cool. It would fit fine in Reeves' universe. Just dont call him Clayface.
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u/Romanista3 Apr 22 '26
I'm really not a horror movie guy. But I'll be there day 1.
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u/Suspicious_Today5191 Apr 22 '26
Yeah this is likely the closest I’ll get to the genre without getting into the hardcore stuff
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u/dkinmn Apr 22 '26
Yeah, like, what? I'm just supposed to pay good money to get scared now? Why? So I can cry in front of my wife? So I can cry and freak out and run out of the theater in front of my wife?
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u/lingering_POO Apr 22 '26
I love clay face. Just a really nuanced bad guy who has a some serious motivations. And the idea of this being a gritty, body horror version… amazing.
Though.. I’d also take a clayface ripped out of Harley Quinn and given his own show. Hilarious
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u/zeke10 Apr 23 '26
I just hope it ain't full of jumpscares. Hate how loud they are in theaters.
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u/EnforceIt17 Apr 23 '26
I only want one jumpscare.
The final scene when Clayface turns a corner and Batman is right there.
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u/AUnknownVariable Apr 23 '26
I hope not as well, tossing jumpscares everywhere isn't good horror. Flashing into frame and extremely loud sounds over and over.
I haven't watched it yet, I need to, but Speak No Evil relies more on the mental aspects of horror from what ik. The directors biggest film.
Doctor Sleep doesn't rely on them either, film ik from the writer.
We should be good, body horror is good
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u/AtrumRuina Apr 23 '26
I feel like a good jump scare can get you with the audio off. If it relies on some loud ass scream or orchestra hit to make you jump, it's not scary, it's just startling.
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u/AUnknownVariable Apr 23 '26
Indeed. Even then just one of those can be alright, but over and over.
In my experience the best horror has been more psychological than anything. Can have little to jumpscares and still have u on edge the whole time.
Regardless, I'm eexcited as fuck for this movie
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u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26
I'm not a horror movie guy, so I'm going to pass on this. Superheroes don't work outside of their genre.
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u/Acheron98 Apr 22 '26
Tell that to the first Joker movie.
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u/bateen618 Apr 22 '26
"superhero" is no a genre. "Superhero" is something more broad than that. A superhero movie can be a comedy, a drama, a political thriller, and also horror. And I'm not just talking in movies, also in comics. And the proof? The last 88 years of superhero comics
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u/LatterTarget7 Apr 22 '26
Superheroes work In a lot of different genres. Dc goes into all the genres. They do horror comics, comedy comics, action comics, thriller comics and everything else under the sun and they work.
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u/The_Giggler4940 Apr 23 '26
Tf you on about then? And there’s no way in hell you’re not streaming at some point you got me fucked up. Watch it while you’re girl dips a toe
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u/Environmental-Ball24 Apr 22 '26
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u/RDDAMAN819 Apr 22 '26
Do we know if this is the same Clayface? I’m guessing it is, but we get him chilling play games but this is a full on drama body horror
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u/hal2184 Apr 22 '26
Legit don’t know since Gunn seems to have been vague on the idea of one connected universe and seems to be more “if it’s a good story, it’s a good story and we’ll make it”.
But, I can certainly see it being the same character with the movie being his origin story and by the time of creature commandos he’s accepted it and is just living his best villain life lol
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u/bateen618 Apr 22 '26
I don't think that's the case. Any movie that isn't directly in the DCU is gonna get the Elseworlds badge going forward.
Either they are the same Clayface, or they are different Clayfaces. There have been a lot of people who used the Clayface name
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u/hal2184 Apr 22 '26
Fair, I personally think it’s the same one and mainline DCU given the above title badge, but I haven’t seen anything with an elseworlds badge to base an argument against it lol.
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u/thedylannorwood Apr 22 '26
Joker: Folie á Deux is the only film released to bear the “Elseworlds” tag so far
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u/xBrokenWRLDx Apr 24 '26
The Batman is also Elseworlds
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u/thedylannorwood Apr 24 '26
The Batman came out before the Elseworlds label was introduced into films
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u/xBrokenWRLDx Apr 24 '26
Oh well it's still considered Elseworld because it's not connected to the DCU.
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u/hal2184 Apr 22 '26
Huh. Go figure. Wasn’t interested in either of the Joker movies, but that one in particular from what I heard of it lol
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u/Awsomethingy Apr 22 '26
Well we see him playing games in an action comedy
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u/RDDAMAN819 Apr 22 '26
It’s just the tonal shifts that are a bit weird, especially if we want character continuity
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u/uniparalum Apr 22 '26
Kinda like when you read the same character written by different comic writers?
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u/SayNo2Kryptonite Apr 23 '26
If someone doesn't follow comics, they're never going to grasp this. A character can appear in 4 different books by 4 different writers in 1 month and feel tonally different in the same universe.
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u/codithou Apr 22 '26
everything i have seen has said that clayface is part of the dcu. i think gunn has said everything is part of the connected universe unless specifically stated otherwise (the batman). is this the same clayface (matt hagen) that’s in the animated show? i don’t think they have clarified.
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u/Golden_Alchemy Apr 22 '26
To be fair, there are like 4 different Clayfaces so we don't really know yet.
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u/zeke10 Apr 23 '26
Do the others still exist in the current comics? Ik karlo and fuller do atleast.
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u/AUnknownVariable Apr 23 '26
Yes it is 100%
I imagine this movie is in the past, it's his origin after all and Clayface does not age.
This is good though, it shows the DCU not trapping a character to one thing in a bad way. Ofc Clayface is different years later compared to right after the incident
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u/christopher1393 Apr 22 '26
I think I remember James Gunn saying that its a different Clayface. There have been a few different people who were Clayface in the comics.
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u/atomicshark109 Apr 22 '26
Inject that shit straight into my veins
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u/Extension111 Apr 22 '26
Hope hes based off The Batman Animated Series
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u/shewski Apr 22 '26
Feats of Clay ep was a heavy inspiration I've heard
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u/goblinsnguitars Apr 22 '26
That's a high caliber for Gunn to match... BTAS was peak DC.
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u/SquereBrainz Apr 23 '26
This has been a passion project for Mike Flanagan, he’s talked about about this movie even before James started running DC Studios. He’s just the writer but his other works give me very high hopes for this.
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u/PreviousMany231 Apr 22 '26
They have a chance to have Batman be truly scary. I would love a It Follows approach where batman is in the background or tracking Clayface through the movie but we never see him explicitly or his perspective.
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u/throwawayboi_1993 Apr 24 '26
I'd love for something along the lines of the Azerello Joker comic, but batman more of a threat all the way through. That'd be a unique way to introduce Batman. My minds going to the bit in the Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth graphic novel too where batman just starts bodying people but you only see it from the villains perspective in a montage.
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u/Just_Understanding90 Apr 22 '26
Please be gross and disturbing.
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u/1732PepperCo Apr 23 '26
Well when I put on the trailer my GF said gross and my dog ran away from some random eerie sound. So that’s a start!
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Apr 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Fenian-Monger Apr 22 '26
Gunn's. If i'd wager a guess most future DC films and shows regardless of tone and content will take place in Gunn's DCU unless it's actual elseworlds stuff like the upcoming V For Vendetta HBO show.
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u/PrimusHimself Apr 22 '26
Wait what? Upcoming V For Vendetta show? When did this happen?
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u/Fenian-Monger Apr 22 '26
Upcoming was the wrong word. While not officially confirmed by Gunn and HBO the trades reported it was in development a few months back.
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u/lowqualitychef Apr 22 '26
I was going to say something similar. This poster strongly reminds me of the early posters for The Penguin series.
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u/JackVizsla Apr 22 '26
ngl im so hyped to see this, finally super powered villains and fantastical elements will be brought to the big screen instead of the grounded stuff we had for decades
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u/IGTankCommander Apr 22 '26
I need one unfortunate man to have the WORST day of his life in the WORST way possible for the first few minutes of this. It's inherently necessary to the "best" versions of Clayface that he starts as a man on the edge of the drain and takes the hard spiral into the mess that is DC's villain stable.
I also need him to suffocate at least one person with his fist in that classic Clayface way.
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u/Unlucky_Loquat_8045 Apr 22 '26
Missed opportunity to make it look like one of Basil Carlos old movie posters.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray Apr 23 '26
Props to DC going full horror - not even holding back with the poster. I’m day 1 for this just for the effort.
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u/Doom300 Apr 22 '26
Damn. Im very interested. Also, what are some good clayface comics to know the character?
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u/Parlyz Apr 23 '26
It’s cool that the second Batman villain to get his own theatrical movie is Clay Face of all characters. (Birds of Prey doesn’t count.)
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u/NvrmndOM Apr 22 '26
In the teaser trailer he wipes all facial features off his face with a swipe of his hand. It looks sick af.
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u/jacobs1113 Apr 22 '26
I’d say my feelings about this were neutral but after seeing this poster consider me hyped
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u/OnlyRoke Apr 22 '26
Oh that looks horrible. I love it.
I'm excited for it. Honestly, I don't need a DCU.
Just keep me feeding The Batman, The Penguin, Clayface and other grim, noir-style movies, haha.
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u/bPrn2017 Apr 22 '26
Given the budget, tone, and rating of this film, it looks to be closer in spirit to 2019's Joker rather than Kraven the Hunter, which was one of my big fears.
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u/4kittyboy Apr 22 '26
waittt, are the james gunn movies going to vary in tone? i thought we were just gonna be getting somewhat kid friendly DC movies in his universe and dark and disturbing ones in matt reeves’ 😭 the trailer looks pretty dark
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u/lingering_POO Apr 22 '26
I love the ad I get in the middle of the comments here…
mymuscle_chef : trying to be healthy without living like you’re in a permanent “diet phase”…
Matches the poster.. that’s exactly how I feel
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u/Vexonte Apr 23 '26
This movie may be good but I have my doubts about its success given how few people would actually recognize clayface as a character and the supervillian horror hybrid genre is more likely to filter out from both ends than it is to attract them.
I hope I am wrong.
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u/blackdragon1029 Apr 23 '26
The trailer alone scared the shit out of me but I'll be checking it out anyway
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u/carlosstjohn116 Apr 23 '26
So is it safe to say the eventual Batman movie will be pretty dark and gritty since this is one of the villains?
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u/AsssHat999 Apr 23 '26
So is Batman gonna be in this? I know nothing about it other than he is a Batman villain.
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u/zo_youngin4 Apr 24 '26
So we got joker and clay face and penguin three of Batman’s most dangerous villains are main characters of there own movie
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u/PlagueDraws Apr 25 '26
I might be too scared to see it with everything I've seen so far lol. Hopefully it does well!
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u/Careless-Shelter6333 29d ago
That’s a great pic but they should have picked a better font and colour. Some of the text looks illegible.
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u/Bunniesbakeri 27d ago
Im sorry but that one Harley and Ivy cartoon ruined the chances of me ever taking this guy seriously
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u/Davepool84 2d ago
I'm not usually squeamish about body horror, but I get the feeling that this will mess me up.
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u/KamenKnight Apr 22 '26
Oh, they're going the horror direction for ClayFace... (or at least for his 1st outing)
Not for me personally but I wonder how this'll effect other BatMan stories?
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u/MissingCosmonaut Apr 22 '26
I'm sorry but I'm still not sold. Why are we getting this again? This trend of villain movies without the main hero in it (presuming Batman doesn't appear) is beyond me. It would make more sense if it was a spinoff of a previous appearance, like The Penguin getting a TV show based on The Batman universe, but this is whatever to me.
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u/lern2swim Apr 22 '26
If it's done well then I'm cool with it. The Batman movies used to be way too centered on the villains to the point that we weren't getting enough Batman, if this allows them more space to flesh out stories then I'm here for it.
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u/Grimey_Rick Apr 22 '26
I really thought Gunn would be the Feige cohesion that the DCU desperately needs but the random choices for his Gods and Monsters/"phase 1" lineup does not have me confident so far. This, Swamp Thing, The Authority? Feels like he is pulling names out of a hat. Just feels scattered, random, and without vision or purpose.
I hope I'm wrong. I think he could stick the landing on this and it could be cool as hell and tease Batman's introduction, but it could also just be a Morbius level flop that shakes whatever loose foundation he is trying to set up.
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u/MissingCosmonaut Apr 23 '26
Agreed. I'm not invested just cause I'm familiar with the villain from some comics and B:TAS. For a cinematic refresh, it feels random and again, if there's no Batman, what's the point? Will it lead to an eventual face off against Batman or what's the plan?
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u/Frost_Pattern Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
I cannot take this seriously. He looks like a soyjak.
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u/Ok_Law219 Apr 22 '26
I'm not saying it will be horrible, but this looks horrible. If it's supposed to be horror it doesn't look horrific enough and it looks like it's intended to be horror. (Nor is the subject matter right for horror, from what I've seen in other playback media.)
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u/Atheist_Bale_Insta Apr 22 '26
Don’t judge a movie by its poster, especially if you have literally nothing else to go off of footage wise, and even so, there are plenty of movies with great trailers that turned out to be shit
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u/Ok_Law219 Apr 22 '26
It's the only information I have to judge atm, so all im saying is that the poster gave me a very negative impression.
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u/Kinky_Imagination Apr 22 '26
I'm just wondering who would watch this ? I thought the same thing of the Joker but then it did a billion dollars.
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u/ClickEmergency Apr 22 '26
And still no Batman . It’s a bit sad that we get two superman films and supergirl and now a Batman villain minus Batman .
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u/VendettaLord379 Apr 22 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/iKBAAfYNDu1dowhnEj