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While we’re all a little disappointed that Matt Reeves has pushed The Batman: Part II back to 2028, and we’re all annoyed that we still have no details on an official DCU Batman, that doesn’t mean we have to stay out of Gotham City. The upcoming film Clayface will bring the shapeshifting villain to the screen before the Dark Knight, telling the story of up-and-coming actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) who tests an experimental serum after a mobster mangles his face.
The latest trailer for Clayface helps us get over the lack of Batman by leaning hard into its horror tone. Not only do we meet Naomi Ackie as mad scientist Caitlyn Corr and Max Minghella as a Gotham City detective, but we get to see Hagen struggling to keep his melting flesh together. The trailer even builds to a stomach-churning set piece in which Hagen takes extreme measures to deal with his oozing eyelids. But in between all the gross body stuff, one might catch a glimpse of an important Gotham landmark, one that involves baddies Black Mask and Firefly.
Throughout the trailer, Hagen visits Club Vesuvius, a minor venue used in Batman comics and other media. For the most part, the Vesuvius serves as a background location, a place where the magician Zatanna performs her act and small-time hood Johnny Sabatino does his dirty deeds. However, in the 2009 series Batman: Streets of Gotham, Club Vesuvius gained a new purpose.
Written by Paul Dini and penciled by Dustin Nguyen, the first arcs of Streets of Gotham saw Batman and Robin investigating the criminal activities among the city’s rich and famous. Along the way, they encounter Firefly, a minor villain who had been hiding out in the abandoned club. Across the arc, we learn Black Mask acquired Vesuvius at some point and has given it to Firefly in exchange for his services. However, Firefly has his own agenda and sets large swaths of the city on fire in retaliation for all that’s gone wrong in his life. Black Mask confronts Firefly at Vesuvius, and the two attempt to kill one another until Batman and Robin arrive to stop them.
As the above description indicates, Vesuvius is hardly one of Gotham’s most important landmarks, in the same way that Firefly is hardly a top-level villain. While Black Mask did appear in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), played by Ewan McGregor, Firefly has yet to show up on the big screen. That’s because Warner Bros. Discovery canceled the 2022 Batgirl movie to get a tax write-off, despite the fact that it featured Brendan Fraser as Firefly.
So why include Club Vesuvius in Clayface? The answer is more simple than you’d think. Clayface writer Mike Flanagan has cited as inspiration the Batman: The Animated Series entry “Feat of Clay,” and the trailer’s shots of a mangled Matt Hagen recall the character design from that classic two-parter. Batman: The Animated Series was primarily developed by Bruce Timm, Mitch Brian, and Paul Dini, the guy who wrote Streets of Gotham.
The inclusion of Club Vesuvius is likely a nod to Dini’s work and, in particular, his love of Zatanna. But it might also be a way to sneak Black Mask and Firefly into the new DCU. For those of us counting the days until we can see Batman again, we say, “The more Bat-baddies, the merrier!”
Clayface comes to theaters on October 23, 2026.
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