2024’s new sequel to Tim Burton’s Batman 1989 perfectly rewrites Clayface’s DC Comics origin

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Batman: Resurrection

Clayface has just joined the universe of Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) with a new twist 35 years later. 2024 is a good time to be a Batman fan: There’s a Joker movie — OK, so maybe it’s not for everyone — HBO The penguin is an extraordinary spin-off to Matt Reeves’ universe, and now Batman: Resurrection is continuing Burton’s dark take on Gotham City and the Dark Knight. This novel expands the timeline of Michael Keaton’s Batman movie so well that it’s a tragedy that it probably couldn’t be remade for the screen.

Written by Oft Star Wars And Star Trek Writer John Jackson Miller, the resurrection is out now, and picks up a few months after Joker’s death at the end of Batman. Jack Nicholson’s version of The Joker remains one of the two best iterations in live-action Batman movies, and his gruesome end robbed the world of more of his story. Batman: Resurrection Fixes that disappointment by exploring more of the idea of ​​the Joker, and introduces the iconic DC villain Clayface.

Batman: Resurrection continues the story of Batman 1989

The new sequel deals with the fallout from Joker’s reign of terror

Batman: Resurrection Follows ​​Michael Keaton’s version of Batman as he investigates more crimes in Gotham linked to the Joker and wrestles with his own psyche. Urgent clues – some from his own nightmares from the night Joker died – tell him he missed something about the fateful confrontation at Gotham Cathedral, and he just convinces himself that Joker may not be dead at all.

The novel cleverly answers some of the more pressing questions that both remain unanswered Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), including the disappearance of Vicki Vale, and one particularly persistent plot hole from the original. Familiar characters return, while there are supporting appearances from Max Shrek (Christopher Walken) and Selina Kyle (Michel Pfeiffer), as well as completely new characters.

These include celebrity psychologist Hugh Auslander, who is on the frontlines looking for a cure for Joker’s Smilex epidemic, and one Karlo Babić, a struggling actor better known by his stage name, Basil Karlo. The name, of course, will be familiar to DC fans as the real name of the first version of the tragic DC villain Clayface, who ranks as one of Batman’s most famous villains, but has never appeared in live-action.

Joker created Clayface in Tim Burton’s Continuing Story

Basil Carlo is still an actor, but he was created by something familiar

in Batman: ResurrectionKarlo is an aspiring actor who works as an understudy for arrogant prig Toliver Kingston, a former soap star who was the leading man in Gotham. And because the resurrection Dealing with the fallout from Joker’s attacks on Gotham and the instant cosmetic products he flooded the streets with, Carlo’s supervillain origin comes courtesy of Smylex.

This version of ​​Carlo is unwittingly infected by Smilex-infused makeup Thanks to Kingston, he turned into a new version of Clayface – a nickname cruelly given to him by Gotham’s always sympathetic residents – who can manipulate his features and mimic anyone he targets. He uses his under-appreciated acting skills to further the performances, drawing Batman’s attention initially thanks to a series of petty crimes. It’s all very over-burned by Bruce Wayne at first, honestly.

Naturally, things escalate as Carlo unravels, and Batman: Resurrection Does an excellent job of digging into the psychology of Gotham (and more crowd psychology) as it tries to heal after the Joker’s terror. It’s an interesting idea that isn’t explored directly in the Batman movies, but that channels the same idea of ​​the irresistible pull of symbols that Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy’s ending adopted.

The newly crowned Clayface is a victim cast as a monster, adding an even more tragic twist to his traditional DC history. Miller’s take on the character is a stark reminder of just how much potential there is for a character like Clayface to come to life. He is the perfect embodiment of the dark underside of Gotham that the elite class works hard to hide, and the fury of its forgotten people.

How Clayface’s new origin differs from the comics (and why it’s so perfect)

Batman: Resurrection makes Clayface a more tragic figure

Early on, Miller draws a close parallel between Carlo and Shakespeare’s Caliban, another tragic monster of literature (The storm). His version of Clayface is different from the original comics because His transformation is very much an accident of circumstances, rather than him becoming a killer because of an attack on his ego.

In DC Comics lore, Basil Karlo was a B-list actor driven mad by a Hollywood snub, who adopts the identity of Clayface – a character he played in a movie – to enact revenge on the cast of the movie he was sidelined for. . He didn’t have the mimicry superpower, or the instantly recognizable clay-like appearance until a post-Crisis rewrite saw him take on the powers of Matt Hagen (the second, probably more recognizable Clayface).

Batman: Resurrections version of Carlo is the perfect way to fit him into Tim Burton’s Batman universe. He was already a great fit, given his monstrous look, but Miller’s image of Gotham, which has yet to disappear in the shadow of the Joker’s crimes. , somehow connects the threads together. It doesn’t just offer an easy answer to Clayface’s physical transformation, however It allows for a broader commentary on Gotham’s perverse adulation of the unworthy.

It too Reveals Gotham’s apparent obsession with human symbols like both Batman and the Joker In a way that feels even more relevant in 2024. How Clayface is treated becomes a larger commentary on mob psychology, aesthetics, and how Joker fundamentally changed Gotham. Even Batman becomes part of the problem.

Miller deftly reveals why Joker was popular even among those he would seek to victimize, and introduces copycat followers—named The Last Laughs, pleasantly—to take it even further. So even as Batman seeks to fight the remnants of Joker’s gang, he is also forced to deal with Smilex’s grim legacy in a broader sense and also the very real case of Clayface. It’s a great story that will make Batman (1989) Fans wish Burton had access to it back in 1990.

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