A Joker easter egg was spotted on the new sets of Clayface

New set photos from DC Studios’ Clayface shoot in Liverpool tossed a tiny mystery into the timeline as eagle-eyed fans noticed a Gotham newspaper prop on the walls along with graffiti, and letters that spell out "The Jokers."

The pics, taken around locations that doubled as a Gotham hospital, quickly circulated on X and Reddit, where people started pixel-peeping the headline and arguing whether it’s a true Joker easter egg, an early Clayface tease, or just clever misdirection.

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For context, Clayface is officially moving forward as part of the DCU slate, with Tom Rhys Harries tapped as the lead and Naomi Ackie and Max Minghella attached; the project is being steered by director James Watkins and writer Mike Flanagan, which explains the horror-tinged vibe fans are already reading into the props.

There’s no studio confirmation that the Joker is actually hiding in the margins, so this is still fan theory energy more than fact, but anyone who loves easter eggs knows a newspaper blip can blow up into full-blown lore real quick.

More details about DCU's Clayface

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James Gunn didn’t walk into DC Studios thinking, “Let’s make a Clayface movie.” In fact, the Batman villain wasn’t even on the radar until horror maestro Mike Flanagan came knocking with a pitch too good to ignore.

Talking about the Clayface movie, Gunn told reporters during a press event,

“‘Clayface’ is the crazy one, because we had no plans on making a ‘Clayface’ movie. Mike (Flanagan) came in and he pitched the ‘Clayface’ movie, and it was great…so he turned in the script, and it’s one of the best scripts that we read from the whole time.”

Peter Safran added,

“It fits nicely within the DCU, and it takes us into the world of Gotham. So the opportunity to make a horror movie for DC was kind of like a gift.”

Clayface is Hollywood’s ghost in the mud, a failed actor melted into monstrosity. A tragic figure of shifting flesh and fractured identity, he molds himself into anyone, yet belongs nowhere.

Originally conceived as a tragic horror tale, Flanagan’s vision reimagines the classic villain as a fallen B-movie actor whose pursuit of relevance leads to a grotesque transformation. The character, long overshadowed by Joker and Riddler, finally takes center stage in a chilling, character-driven tale, more Frankenstein than comic book movie.

Notably, Clayface exists firmly in the new DC Universe, separate from Matt Reeves’ The Batman films. Gunn is unbothered by releasing two Bat-adjacent films just weeks apart.

What began as a speculative pitch during the DCEU era, dismissed and forgotten, has now become one of the DCU’s most intriguing experiments. With Flanagan’s storytelling chops, a horror pedigree, and a genre-bending approach, Clayface could turn a forgotten villain into DC’s most unexpected antihero.