Clayfaceis now out in theaters, and, as of writing this on opening day, the movie is looking like it could be a success for DC Studios. Clayfaceis the first comic book villain film to be critically rated “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, and its audience score is currently on par with both Batman Beginsand The Dark Knight. With projections tracking for an opening of around $25 million (against a budget of around $40 million), Clayfacemight even turn out to be a relatively solid box office success.
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And yet, while that all looks good on paper, the finer details of Clayface‘s rollout tell a different story. The biggest consensus from critical reviews (including ComicBook’s own Spencer Perry) is that Clayfacesuffers most from a lack of cohesive vision and direction. And that’s the second time we’re hearing that this year, after Supergirl. And therein lies the problem.
DC Studios Is Choosing The Wrong Directors
One of the earliest concerns fans had about DC Studios appointing James Gunn as one of its co-heads was that Gunn would have an overbearing creative hand. That mostly came from prior bias about Gunn, after he and Zack Snyder sparked creative friction within the fandom during the final era of Snyder’s DCEU. Gunn and DC Studios’ other co-head, producer Peter Safran, assured fans that wouldn’t be the case: Gunn wouldn’t be the sole director of all DCU films, and was looking to collaborate with many other talented filmmakers. Oscar-caliber directors like Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Supergirl) and James Mangold (Swamp Thing) were brought into DC Studios; Clayfacedirector James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil) came along a bit later, but carried a solid horror-thriller resume.
As the DCU 2026 slate comes to an end, Mangold is still just working on a Swamp Thingscript, while both Supergirland Clayfacehave been criticized for feeling like incomplete or inconsistent visions. Some grace should be given to the directors of both films, however, as Warner Bros. has a notorious history of clashing with directors over DC films (Batman v Superman, Justice League, Suicide Squad). Both Supergirland Clayfacehave been criticized for feeling chopped up or disjointed; edits were seemingly made to create generic 90-minute B-movies, which are marketed as blockbusters via a couple of eye-catching scenes or sequences.
Meanwhile, it also feels like the directors get carefully corralled so that no internal conflicts spill out into the public, even if things take creative detours they didn’t sign up for. Supergirl came and went without putting much spotlight on director Craig Gillespie; Clayfacedirector James Watkins is similarly on a very carefully coordinated media tour and generally hasn’t been heard from that much. It’s questionable how many moviegoers (or even DC movie fans) know that Clayfaceis a James Watkins film, as they head to the theater. It’s not the usual vibe we see when studio and director are comfortably headed into an opening weekend together. It feels more like well-curated creative issues.
Then again: studios don’t usually step in unless they feel compelled to. It never felt like Gillespie got his directorial hands around Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrowcomic; in my opinion, Clayfacenever feels like Watkins truly understood how to realize this body-horror character in a comic book world (zero Batman influence? Really?). Whatever the circumstances behind closed doors, it doesn’t feel like DC Studios and its directors (who are notJames Gunn ) are fully aligned with making and rolling out these films. And that’s a very familiar problem to have.
The MCU Made The Same Mistake In Phase I
This isn’t anything new: Marvel Studios made the exact same mistake during Phase I of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After launching the franchise alongside an up-and-coming director like Jon Favreau (Iron Man), the newly formed Marvel Studios tried to establish itself through the prestige of snagging veteran filmmakers like Kenneth Branagh (Thor) and Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) to do comic book films. Go back and watch those first character spinoffs again: it’s like watching the first season of The Simpsons; they’re stylistically so out of tune with the rest of the MCU that it’s hilarious. Even Jon Favreau found that his creative vision was getting stepped on byIron Man 2, and bailed after that. Same goes for early franchise MVP, Joss Whedon (The Avengers), who had friction with Marvel and was ready to bail by his second film, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
It wasn’t until after Ultron, and the start of Phase Three, that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and his team switched tactics. Instead of stubborn veterans, they hired up-and-coming directors who had big talent but only smaller-scale experience – creators who were much more used to studio notes and compromises, and would be really grateful for a Marvel movie opportunity. The Russo Bros. (Captain America: Civil War), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), and even James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) all had their big breakouts during that time, and the resulting films all hit with fans and made big money.
More importantly, Phase Three was where Feige got everyone aligned so that the franchise truly fulfilled its promise of interconnectivity, culminating in a major crossover event (Avengers: Infinity War). It took directors who were less established, and therefore less rigid about creative vision, to make it happen. That creative alignment has been lost in the MCU since Avengers: Endgame, and better believe that fans can tell the difference.
James Gunn was there when Marvel turned the ship into the right waters; he just has to apply the lessons learned. The DCU is making fantastic cross connections between films and TV, better than the MCU ever has, so let’s get the film side aligned as well. The next crop of DCU directors need to come from those just breaking out, or have been simmering on the cups for moment. And with TV now being such a prestige format, there is no shortage of talent to port over to the film side. Lest we all forget that the Russo Bros. were directing episodes of Communityand Arrested Developmentbefore making Avengersmovies into cinematic classics.
In the meantime, it’s now squarely on Gunn to get the movie side of the DCU back to blockbuster prestige, when his Supermansequel Man of Tomorrowhits next year.
Clayfaceis now in theaters.
The DCU Is Using TV The Exact Way the MCU Failed To (& Marvel Can Learn From That)
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