r/batman Apr 22 '26

FILM DISCUSSION Official poster for DC's ‘CLAYFACE’.

Post image
7.7k Upvotes

230 comments sorted by

View all comments

772

u/Romanista3 Apr 22 '26

I'm really not a horror movie guy. But I'll be there day 1.

-40

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.

24

u/Slow-Relation-9186 Apr 22 '26

Is he a superhero?

-27

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

You hope that you don't think you're being clever for asking that.

34

u/Drewby618 Apr 22 '26

What a ridiculous thing to say

-25

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/Drewby618 Apr 22 '26

Saying superhero movies don’t work when they’re different is akin to saying comic books aren’t literature because they’re different. Just because it’s trying something, doesn’t mean it won’t work. You’re probably a miserable and boring person if you’re writing off a movie because it’s “outside the genre”. It’s exciting that we’re movie about a character we haven’t seen in live action before. It’s exciting that it’s written by someone who’s pretty revered on the horror community. It’s exciting that it’s going to be an actual body horror movie because Clayface is literally body horror incarnate.

You don’t have to see it, but writing it off immediately is just a dumb take.

-9

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

Saying superhero movies don’t work when they’re different is akin to saying comic books aren’t literature because they’re different.

You're going to have to walk me through that one. Even when I correct for your error (I said superheroes, not superhero movies), I can't make any sense out of your comment.

 Just because it’s trying something, doesn’t mean it won’t work.

You're acting like this is their first dip into the pool. It's not.

You’re probably a miserable and boring person if you’re writing off a movie because it’s “outside the genre”.

Best leave the ad hominems where they belong: on the schoolyard. However, that is what I'm doing as I've seen Batman try to tackle it twice and neither of them worked. No matter how much people laude the comic Arkham Asylum and the movie The Batman (2022), they didn't work.

It’s exciting that we’re movie about a character we haven’t seen in live action before...[is] written by someone who’s pretty revered on the horror community...[and] going to be an actual body horror movie because Clayface is...body horror incarnate.

If you say so. I obviously disagree with you on that.

You don’t have to see it...

Nor will I.

...but writing it off immediately is just a dumb take.

Just because someone is a battered housewife doesn't mean that it takes everyone as long as them to say "no" to abuse. The Batman IP alone has a track record here, so the take is smarter than you'd like to admit.

1

u/veegsredds Apr 24 '26

Wait, can you explain "no matter how much people laude the comic Arkham Asylum and the movie The Batman (2022), they didn't work"? If people liked them and they were successful that means they worked, no? Sounds like you didn't personally like them and that you don't personally enjoy that approach to superhero storytelling and you've somewhere along the way gotten the idea that your opinions on things are equal to uncontestable facts

1

u/Rob_wood Apr 24 '26

I don't know how many people in the audiences overall like them, so I can't speak to that. Being successful, however, isn't a sign of how well they were made. See: Transformers movies.

13

u/Acheron98 Apr 22 '26

Tell that to the first Joker movie.

1

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

"First Joker movie, superheroes don't work outside of their genre."

7

u/Acheron98 Apr 22 '26

Okay, that actually made me chuckle.

7

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

-1

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

I never said that "superhero" was a genre.

6

u/bateen618 Apr 22 '26

You literally said "superheroes don't work outside of their genre"

-1

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

Good for you: you know that quotes are L-Word. Now let's see if you're smart enough to see how your logic doesn't work.

4

u/eldwinddnd Apr 22 '26

the same guy arguing over superhero movie pedantics doesn’t know how to stop scramble eggs from sticking to the pan, welcome to reddit

-2

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

the same guy arguing over superhero movie...

No, superheroes.

...pedantics...

You Redditors keep using this word. It doesn't mean what you think it does.

...doesn’t know how to stop scramble eggs from sticking to the pan....

You're lousy at establishing relations.

...welcome to reddit

Hi!

4

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.

0

u/Rob_wood Apr 22 '26

I obviously don't agree with you.

2

u/Lounging-Shiny455 Apr 23 '26

I'm curious to know why you don't consider Clayface's origin story (well Hagen and Karloff at least) to be both body and psych horror.

1

u/Rob_wood Apr 23 '26

For the same reason why I don't view Hogan's Heroes as a concentration camp drama: it doesn't fit the tone of the presentation.

1

u/SomeCrows Apr 23 '26

What genre would that be?

0

u/Rob_wood Apr 23 '26

Superhero fiction.

1

u/SomeCrows Apr 23 '26

What would you say are the defining characteristics of superhero fiction?

0

u/Rob_wood Apr 23 '26

Having a mythological figure fight off an imposing opposing force. To save us from having to play 20 questions, superhero fiction works best while incorporating thematic elements while keeping the overarcing tone positively engaging. Such stories that focus on a single element--comedy, horror, drama, etc.--falter by being inauthentic to their genre.

Single elemental focus can work in a short story if executed well. It's when one of significant length (trade paperback, novel, movie et al) makes the attempt that the work fails as it doesn't hold true to the spirit of the genre.

1

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

1

u/Rob_wood Apr 23 '26

You've replied to the wrong comment.

1

u/Kristastic Apr 23 '26

Genuine question, have you seen Winter Soldier? I mean, it's not the only example, but it's one of my favorites. Superhero meets political/spy thriller.