Popverse's top stories of the day

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Watch: Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]
• Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]

Attention horror comics nerds! On December 11, Variety announced that a Clayface movie was in the works at DC Studios, with a script from master of the macabre Mike Flanagan. The news comes a year after talks between Flanagan and DC leads James Gunn and Peter Safran were confirmed, but what remains unconfirmed is where on the Studios' tapestry the project will land. Will it be a separate Elseworlds story, like 2019's Joker? A piece of the Batman Crime Saga, like The Penguin? Or will it be a chapter of the interconnected DC Universe - the one that just kicked off with Max's Creature Commandos and will soar into theaters with next year's Superman?

While we fully admit to not knowing for 100% certain, we'd venture a guess that it is probably not the latter. And if you'll allow us a moment of your time, we'll tell you why. 

Clayface in the Creature Commandos

Before we begin, we feel the need to point out that Clayface (AKA Basil Karlo) is experiencing a bit of a moment. Not only is he starring in the Flanagan-written upcoming film, he's also been featured as a standout villain in the Elseworld project Batman: Caped Crusader, the primary antagonist of the novel Batman: Resurrection (set in the same timeline as the Tim Burton Batman films) and as comic relief in Max's Harley Quinn adult animated series. But even beyond all that, the most important place that Basil Karlo has shown his melty mug, for our purposes, is in Creature Commandos.

Yes, we knew that Clayface was going to pop up in Creature Commandos ever since the first trailer was released in October. Then in November, we learned that the character would have a voice provided by prolific actor Alan Tudyk, who also portrays him in Harley Quinn. What's important to note here is that if Flanagan's Clayface were to be part of the DCU, Tudyk would also be the human face behind him, as James Gunn has repeatedly confirmed that DC Universe voice actors were cast with live-action crossover in mind. And to be frank, we don't think that Tudyk will be the big screen Clayface, love him though we truly do.

For one thing, the Clayface that Mike Flanagan has spoken about writing doesn't sound to be the goopy, scifi monstrosity of Creature Commandos. According to the Variety article, Flanagan once posted to Twitter that he was "really keen to do a standalone Clayface movie as a horror/thriller/tragedy," a character description that seems to fit the disfigured actor version of Basil Karlo we see in Caped Crusader and Resurrection. Add this to Tudyk's other roles from Creature Commandos (Collider confirmed that he'll be playing Dr. Will Magnus alongside well as the already-known Doctor Phosphorus) that he'd be beholden to in any potential live DC projects, and the likeliness of his Clayface being Flanagan's narrows significantly.

But there's another reason to doubt that our favorite mudman's time in the spotlight will be on the DCU stage, and it's got nothing to do with the actor portraying him.

Matt Reeves is producing Clayface

Yeah, this is pretty much much the biggest piece of evidence in our case. While James Gunn is certainly the mastermind between the interconnected DC Universe movies and TV shows, Matt Reeves is increasingly becoming the go-to guy for Elseworlds projects. The best example is, of course, the Robert Pattinson-starring Batman films, but remember that Reeves also produced the widely-beloved spinoff The Penguin. Plus, along with J.J. Abrams, Reeves executive-produced the completely separate Batman: Caped Crusader for Amazon Prime Video.

Though there's been no confirmation that Reeves will not produce mainline DCU movies, it's hard to look at his previous work with the studio and wager that he absolutely will. And while you're at it, it's also hard to look at the fact that he's producing on the project and not wonder...

Will Clayface be a part of The Batman Crime Saga?

Again, we have to remind you that everything we're saying here is pure speculation - we have no inside info from DC Studios and should not be treated as though we do. But if we had to guess - it is at least much more likely that Mike Flanagan's Clayface will be a part of Reeves's Batman Crime Saga. The fact that the Clayface film was announced on the heels of HBO's boffo success with The Penguin feels like hardly a coincidence (in fact, it's how Variety starts their article). Not to mention, the R-Rated projects that Flanagan has tackled in the past would fit in nicely with the gritty, mature nature of the Reeves-verse. 

But hey, who's to say? The future is like a genetically mutated actor - always changing.

He is vengeance, he is the night, he is... one of Popverse's favorite subjects. Learn how to do a Dark Knight movie marathon right with our Batman movie guide, and for the true World's Greatest Detectives out there, dive deep into the heart of Gotham City by getting to know Batman with Popverse.