The decanonization of Clayface could spell doom for the overall DCU

As Clayface is still playing in theaters, a recent development throws the movie's status in the overall DCU continuity. Until this week, the body horror movie was regarded as a part of the DCU. But Peter Safran and James Gunn's exit may have resulted in the movie being wiped out of the DC Universe. The source of this update is a TheWrap report.

However, the report titled "DC Fans Burned Again: Can Skydance Rebuild Trust After Yet Another Franchise Reboot? | Analysis" is behind a paywall. But that hasn't stopped social media from focusing on a specific part of the article that puts the status of Clayface in the DC Universe into question.

Is Clayface no longer a part of the overall DCU?

As of now, no one from DC Studios or James Gunn has commented on the status of Clayface. Even though Peter Safran had confirmed that the body horror is a prequel to the same version of Clayface we saw in Creature Commandos Season 1. However, since the change in management, we don't know if this designation will stick.

A fan uploaded a reel on Instagram reading the specific portion and expressing their disappointment. Moreover, the story is from a reputable publication like TheWrap; thus, it could indeed be the case that the body horror movie could be moved to the DC "Elseworlds" title. For those who don't know, Elseworlds refers to all the movies that are not part of the main continuity, similar to Matt Reeves's The Batman films.

Will it be okay if the DC movie is moved to Elseworlds?

While the director of the body horror movie, James Watkins, confirmed that fans will "feel" the DCU Batman's shadow looming over Gotham in the movie in an interview last month, the final movie had no such thing. One of the complaints about the movie was the lack of Batman or even Bruce Wayne references. Watkins's exact words were:

"You're in a city called Gotham. So I guess you feel the shadow of the Bat inherently. Because of the nature of where you are."

Fans were complaining about the lack of Batman after the movie came out, prompting a Threads user called @lotuslandcomics to write this, admonishing fans for complaining about the lack of references to the overall DCU in the movie:

"I see a lot of comments like this. Gunn doesn't have to build towards anything if the individual pieces work on their own. But if they crossover at some point, presumably like in Man of Tomorrow, cool that's awesome. I think the MCU reprogrammed people's expectations."

This post surprisingly piqued Gunn's attention, and he agreed with the fan and said this:

"I couldn't agree more. DCU is just an alternate universe; we can enter at any location or time and tell THAT story. I dislike the idea that individual stories aren't meaningful unless they lead to something else. People not understanding this is strange to me, because Star Wars has essentially been doing this for 50 years across movies, shows, games and books, admittedly without the tonal variety. Now, this doesn't mean there isn't connectivity."

The filmmaker added:

"The Superman Saga starts with Superman and travels into Man of Tomorrow and onward, and contains many characters we've introduced in other stories. But that doesn't mean those other stories only exist to set up what's happening there. I would love people to be seeing Clayface because it's a great, fun horror movie unto itself, not because of where else Clayface will show up three movies from now. 🧜‍♂️"

The guiding philosophy of Gunn's DC seemed to be about telling a good story rather than greenlighting projects leading to crossovers. This approach was unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe's earlier phases, where each and every movie led to the Avengers movies. Thus, even if the body horror were to be moved to Elseworlds, it would be fine because it did not include shout-outs to the larger DCU.

However, if this movie is indeed wiped out of continuity, it might mean that the DCU we got since Creature Commandos Season 1 could also be abandoned, which for now, has not been confirmed.