"Never came across my desk": James Gunn debunks Battinson rumors for DCU's Clayface

Clayface is the forthcoming film in the horror genre and the third entry in the DCU. Helmed by James Watkins, the film is written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. Warner Bros. Pictures will be releasing it on September 11, 2026.

Recently, a bat symbol, from the Robert Pattinson Batman film, was spotted on the sets of the upcoming DCU film. It was put on a trash can on the set. Fans speculate that it was put there to foreshadow a cameo in the film. James Gunn took to X (formerly Twitter) to refute this news and wrote,

"Although the trash can is from the set, I have a hard time believing the bat was put there by the art department, but if so it never came across my desk (I don't have time to ok every piece of set dressing)."

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The fan theory stems from the speculation that Clayface might feature Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader.

More about the new DCU movie Clayface

Clayface is an upcoming DCU horror film produced by Gunn, Peter Safran, Lynn Harris and Matt Reeves. It focuses on an actor, Matt Hagen, whose face is ruined. Fearing its professional impact, he asks a scientist who then morphs his entire body into clay. Here's the official synopsis as per Letterboxd:

A Hollywood horror tale centering on a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant, only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay.

The film's cast members include,

Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen aka Clayface
Naomi Ackie as a "fringe" scientist
Max Minghella as a Gotham cop

In a Screen Rant interview, Gunn called it a horror film.

“We’ve got Clayface, which is a totally different thing. Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film. That’s one of the things we want to do. There’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is going to be like ‘Superman.’ The artists — the directors and the writers — each one will bring their own sense to it… That’s what we want to bring to the films because we don’t want people to get bored. We want to invigorate people.”

The film will release on September 11, 2026, as part of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters of the DC Universe.