The ‘Clayface’ Trailer Has A Weird Connection To Another Batman Movie
Clayface (2026) is the first film set in Gotham City in James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DCU, and it looks stunning from the first trailers we've seen. Plus, seeing Matt Hagen's desperate attempt to reclaim a normal life and turn into a monster is both tragic and horrifying.
It's easy to compare Clayface to a classic monster movie, but the trailer also connects to another Batman film in the most surprising way: music. Its trailer song is a familiar tune from The Flaming Lips that also marks their second time in Batman's world after their first appearance over 30 years ago.
‘Clayface’s Trailer Song Highlights the Film's Biggest Theme
Both the Clayface teaser and trailer have played The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" slowed down and far more eerie. But the reason for this isn't just to creep out audiences; it's also meant to highlight everything we need to know about the film without being spoiled.
Matt Hagen was a famous actor who was brutally scarred and underwent an experimental procedure to try and heal himself. While it initially worked, he found his body was turning to clay, and he eventually became a dangerous monster and criminal. The song's lyrics about having a beautiful face perfectly juxtapose what Hagen lost and is trying to regain.
However, by slowing it down, it not only makes the atmosphere scarier, it also makes you think of slowly melting clay and the overall slow-burn transformation the character is going through. Clayface is clearly a slow, lurching monster film akin to The Fly (1986), and we know that just by listening to this version of the song. But it also now defines the character for anyone who has seen the trailer.
The Flaming Lips Also Appeared in ‘Batman Forever’
The iconic rock band first appeared in a Batman movie in Batman Forever (1995), the first film made following Tim Burton's departure. Joel Schumacher introduced us to a revitalized world of color and camp that captured all the best elements that made Batman fun, including the Riddler.
When Jim Carrey's character receives a dose of brainwaves that boosts his intelligence, he returns to his apartment ready to cause chaos as The Flaming Lips' "Bad Days" plays in the background. The specific part of the song that plays focuses heavily on our aspirations after a bad day and life.
As the Riddler constructs his new identity, we hear the band talking about how dreaming gets us out of our boring lives and talks about a dream of killing bad bosses (like what he did). Like the song, the Riddler is ending his bad days, and as a result, we get a fun and quirky montage that defined not only his character but Schumacher's era of Batman.
It's one of the earliest examples of a Batman movie using music to better convey tone in a film, and it works perfectly. But it also helps that The Flaming Lips is an amazing band. It speaks to the power of music and its overall impact on a narrative without most people realizing it.
It's Genius How Both Songs Define Two Batman Characters
Ironically, this isn't the first time that a single band has helped define DC films, as The Smashing Pumpkins did two versions of the same song for Batman & Robin (1997) and Watchmen (2009), but in the case of The Flaming Lips, it's a strange band that shouldn't work with the content but thrives instead.
With Batman Forever, the song helps define the headspace of Edward Nygma as he becomes the Riddler and realizes that nothing can hold him back anymore. His ambition comes out, and what sounds like dreaming in the song becomes his reality.
Meanwhile, the song in Clayface speaks to us about the headspace of the main character, who had a beautiful face and now wants nothing more than to get a semblance of his old life back. It creates an air of desperation when looking at him, as we see that his ambitions and hopes ultimately lead to a distorted and worse fate than anything he expected. Both films convey these messages perfectly, but it will never not be strange that the band to help sell the idea most is The Flaming Lips.
