Clayface

Clayface
The different versions of Clayface. From top to bottom: Sondra Fuller, Basil Karlo, Preston Payne, Matt Hagen, Claything and Todd Russell.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Karlo) Detective Comics #40 (June 1940) (Hagen) Detective Comics #298 (December 1961) (Payne) Detective Comics #478 (July–August 1978) (Fuller) Outsiders #21 (July 1987) (Clay Payne, Claything) Batman #550 (January 1998) ("Russell") Catwoman #1 (2004) (Williams) Batman: Gotham Knights #60 (February 2005)
Created by	(Karlo) Bill Finger, Bob Kane (Hagen) Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff (Payne, Fuller) Len Wein, Mike W. Barr, Marshall Rogers (Clay Payne, Claything) Doug Moench, Kelley Jones ("Russell") Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke (Williams) A.J. Lieberman
In-story information
Alter ego	Basil Jamal Karlo Matthew D. Hagen Preston "Bill" Payne Sondra Fuller Cassius Payne Dr. Peter Malley Todd Russells Johnny Williams
Team affiliations	(Karlo) The Society Injustice League (Hagen) Anti-Justice League (All) Mud Pack
Notable aliases	(Karlo) Clayface-Prime (Fuller) Lady Clay (Malley) Claything
Abilities	(Karlo) Shapeshifting (body made out of mud) Power duplication Ability to melt people via physical contact (Hagen) Temporary shapeshifting and voice-shifting Body constituted by living mud, which he can divide or change the tone of at will (Payne) Superhuman strength from exo-skeleton suit Shapeshifting Ability to melt people via physical contact (Fuller) Shapeshifting Power duplication (Cassius "Clay" Payne) Superhuman strength Shapeshifting Power duplication (Dr. Peter Malley) Shapeshifting Ability to melt people by looking at them (Todd Russell) Shapeshifting (Johnny Williams) Shapeshifting

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.

Created by Bill Finger and 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 instead became a claylike creature that needed to pass his condition on to others to survive.

Sondra Fuller of Strike Force Kobra, used the terrorist group's technology to become the fourth Clayface, also known as Lady Clay. She formed the Mud Pack with the original, second, and third Clayfaces. During that time, Payne and Fuller had a son dubbed "Cassius 'Clay' Payne", who also had metahuman clay powers. During this era, the original Clayface used the DNA of Payne and Fuller to become the most powerful Clayface.