The Batman
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Source: Matt Reeves / Twitter/@mattreevesLA
Following the success that The Penguin series experienced on the HBO network, DC seems to be willing to roll the dice on another Batman villain that has yet to make his live-action debut.
According to Deadline, DC Studios has just greenlit a Clayface project as they look to further expand their Batman universe in preparation for the highly anticipated The Batman 2 which is set to release sometime in 2026. The news comes a year after writer Mike Flanagan pitched the idea to DC Studios and it seems like they’ve decided to give it a shot. Known for his work on the reboot to The Exorcist, Flanagan had publicly expressed his interest in creating a movie centered around the shapeshifting Batman villain and it seems like fans are about to get their wish as Flanagan wants to make the film a “horror/thriller/tragedy.”
Per Deadline:
In March 2023, our sources told us that Flanagan’s take on Clayface will not feature the character as a villain, after the writer had a meeting with DC Bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran, who took over at DC Studios in 2022.
Although Flanagan wasn’t pitching the character to be part of Matt Reeves’ DC elseworld, other sources have said that Clayface is a big addition to Reeves’ The Batman 2.
Clayface got his DC introduction as part of Detective Comics #40 in June of 1940. While there would eventually be a number of shape-shifting DC antagonists using that alias, the original Clayface was a moderately successful actor who adopted the identity of a character he’d portrayed in a horror pic after turning to crime. He’s a frequent adversary of Batman with a body seemingly made out of clay who has appeared over the years in numerous films, television series, animated works, video games and other forms of media, being portrayed on the series Gotham(The CW) and Pennyworth (Epix/HBO Max) by Brian McManamon and Lorraine Burroughs, respectively. The rationale behind Clayface’s appearance emerged in comics of the 1970s, which evolved the character into a scientist with hormone irregularities.
While previous live-action Batman villains such as The Joker, Penguin and Bane have been more of the grounded variety, Clayface is a bit more sci-fi as the villain is able to literally change his facial and bodily features at a moments notice. That being said, there are rumors that The Batman 2 will also feature Mr. Freeze, so maybe Matt Reeves is ready to take the live-action Batman franchise to a science fiction plane when the highly-anticipated sequel goes into production come 2025.
What do y’all think about Clayface making his cinematic debut? Which actor and director would you like to see take part in the project? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: Macall Polay / Max
One of the very few things that DC has going for it on the cinematic tip is the villains that people can’t seem to get enough of.
From the new upcoming Joker sequel to the HBO Max Batman spinoff series, The Penguin, DC has a lot riding on these projects until James Gunn officially reboots the DCU with his highly anticipated Superman: Legacy film. Yesterday, a new trailer was released for the upcoming Penguin series and from the looks of it, it’s going to be one helluva Sopranos-sh affair.
Centered around Oswald Cobblepot’s ascension to the crime boss of Gotham City, the series takes place following the events of 2022’s The Batman, which saw Gotham City’s criminal underworld experiencing a power vacuum with the death of Carmine Falcone. Now that there’s no actual crime lord left to run the streets of Gotham City, The Penguin (Colin Farrell) is looking to place his stamp on the city and take that position for himself by any means necessary.
With the “support” of his mother who tells him she deserves a “better life,” Oz Cobb stabs, shoots and kills his way to the top as Batman is nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately for him though, Carmine’s daughter, Sofia, has been set free from Arkham Asylum and seems to have some skin in the game as to who will be taking over her daddy’s day-to-day operation.
This seems hella good. Can’t front.
Check out the latest trailer for The Penguin below, and let us know if you’ll be catching it when it premiers on HBO Max on Sept. 19.
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Source: Emma McIntyre / Getty
Matt Reeves’ The Batman was the surprise hit of 2022 and with rumors that James Gunn plans on integrating the character in his new vision for the DCU, Colin Farrell might’ve added more fuel to that fire with his recent comments on his villainous character, The Penguin.
According to Variety, Colin Farrell opened up about the future of The Penguin who’s slated to have his own spinoff series on HBO Max, and from the sounds of things, the classic Batman villain won’t be going away anytime soon. In fact, we may be seeing a lot more of one Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.
While attending the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala Thursday night (Jan. 5), the Golden Globe Award-winning actor admitted he didn’t think The Penguin would end up getting his own show, but now that he has, we can expect more to come in the foreseeable future.
“The only thing I had an idea was that I wasn’t nearly getting to explore the character as much as I wanted to,” Farrell said on the red carpet. “Because there was all this extraordinary work done by [makeup artists] Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine and his team, and I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six or seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more.”
And indeed he got more as HBO Max has ordered the spinoff series which will explore The Penguin’s rise to crime boss of Gotham City. As to whether or not he’ll continue to play the character in Matt Reeves’ The Batman 2, that’s up in the air as of now as no leaks or rumors about where they intend to go with the character have been revealed.
It will be interesting to see how Gunn plans on moving forward with the Batman world that Reeves has established and how it plays into his bigger reboot of the struggling DCU after angering fans with the news that Henry Cavill is out as Superman just weeks after Cavill announced that he’d return for Man of Steel 2.
Meanwhile, rumors have been circling that Warner Bros. may indeed bring back the controversial Ezra Miller as The Flash even though he’s been involved in all kinds of bar fights and even allegedly grooming minors in the past few years alone. For the record, no one would shed a tear if Miller was let go as The Flash as his performance as the lightning quick superhero left much to be desired. No shots.
What would y’all like to see from Matt Reeves’ The Batman franchise? Should characters like The Penguin and Catwoman continue to get more burn in the DCU? Let us know in the comments section below.
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