Clayface end credits: the Batman rumor, the Wayne Enterprises nod, and whether to stay
Clayface is set in Gotham, released by the studio that owns Batman and produced by the man who directed the last Batman movie, so of course people are sitting through the credits.
The film opened on October 23. It's the third movie in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe, directed by James Watkins from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, with Matt Reeves among the producers. Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, an actor whose face is destroyed by a gangster and who lets a fringe scientist, played by Naomi Ackie, rebuild him out of something that isn't flesh.
Is there a scene after the credits?
No. There's nothing midway through the credits and nothing at the very end.
That was Watkins' decision. The film ends on a bleak note, and he didn't want a teaser for the next movie stepping on it.
He wanted people to "walk out of their screening with that shot still imprinted in their minds," Watkins told TechRadar.
The Batman rumor
The film made a Batman cameo easy to imagine. It's the first live-action DCU movie set in Gotham, and Reeves' name is on it, which led some fans to wonder whether Robert Pattinson might turn up. He doesn't, and neither does any other Batman. Pattinson's Batman lives in Reeves' separate universe anyway.
Batman exists in this version of Gotham. Watkins just didn't want him on screen.
"I didn't want to include a stunt casting cameo," Watkins told TechRadar.
Where the Wayne name shows up
Not on a skyscraper. The Wayne nod is much smaller than that: the run-down community center where Matt mentors young actors is the Wayne Community Center, a reference to the family's charity work. According to GamesRadar, the name comes from the production notes, so don't expect a big sign.
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The film is full of Gotham references like that, most of them easy to miss:
- Ace Chemicals — the plant where the Joker was born in The Killing Joke sits outside Matt's window, chimneys burning.
- "One Bad Day" — the title of an Oscar-winning film mentioned in the opening, borrowed from the Joker's philosophy in the same comic.
- The Narrows — the dangerous neighborhood Matt and Caitlin come from, which Batman Begins fans will recognize.
- Amusement Mile — a neon sign with a clown face, named after a Joker hideout from the comics.
- The furniture — according to the production notes, a coffee table and a chair from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman appear in the film.
Should you stay?
Only if you want to. What you get for waiting is Volker Bertelmann's end-credits piece, a slow orchestral track that leans into the tragedy of Matt's story.
There's also a special thanks list in the credits. It names Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Batman: The Animated Series creators Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, and Marv Wolfman.
Previously we wrote: Why Clayface is DC's 2026 villain gamble: an R-rated body horror with a $40M budget and no superhero in it