Clayface

Clayface is an alias used by several fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Most of them possess clay-like bodies and shape-shifting abilities, and all of them have been enemies of Batman.

In 2010, IGN named Clayface the 73rd-greatest villain in comic book history.

Publication history

Created by Bob Kane, the original Clayface (Basil Karlo) was a B-movie actor who began a life of crime using the identity of a villain he portrayed in a horror film.

In the late 1950s, Batman began facing a series of science fiction-inspired foes, including Matt Hagen, a treasure-hunter given vast shape-shifting powers and resiliency by radioactive protoplasm, who became the new Clayface. He retained the title for the next several decades of comic book history. In the late 1970s, Preston Payne became the third Clayface. A scientist suffering from hyperpituitarism, Preston Payne used the second Clayface's blood to create a cure but became a claylike creature that needed to pass his condition on to others to survive instead.