That is, until you actually see the photos, for which we can thank the Warner Bros. panel at CinemaCon 2026 this week. Gunn’s DC co-chairman, Peter Safran, came on stage to show footage from the DC film for the first time, and it was amazing and gross. This also made it clear why this film was being made before all the other films.
In the footage, which has not yet been online, we start with a shot of a man in a hospital bed. The light is hard and yellow. His face is completely covered with bloody bandages. But his eyes are open. Fully open. Almost as if he was witnessing something terrible. The camera slowly moves towards this man, and we get several quick, jarring cuts. A face to be cut. Someone is getting an injection. Lots of disgusting stuff. Is this what happened to this person? Is he missing it? It certainly feels that way.
We then go to a montage of footage of a very handsome man: Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harris. We see him running past a police car on a street through neon-lit tunnels with Gotham City written on it. It’s hard to know what’s going on, but basically, we just know that this guy is scared of something and is trying to get away from it. The scenes are interspersed with the words “Look fear in the face.”
Finally, and most memorably, in the last shot of the footage this guy is looking completely normal, then he puts his hand to his forehead and wipes it straight off, completely clearing his face. As you can guess, his face is like clay.
Safran described Clayface as “an interesting horror thriller” and we got all three of those things from the footage. This movie is going to be a mess. And we can’t wait.
Written by Mike Flanagan, directed by James Watkins, and starring Harries and Naomi Ackie, clayface Currently scheduled for release on October 23.
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