10 Supervillain Replacements That Outshone The Originals
3. Shapeshifting Clayface - Clayface
In Detective Comics #40, Basil Karlo was a has-been actor who turned to a life of crime and be the Clayface persona, a character from one of his films. The villain initially was also a grounded Batman villain - without any abilities and only wearing a mask.
It would then take the Silver Age of Comics for the character to truly shine and be the supervillain we all know and fear.
This time around, a man named Matt Hagen fell into a radioactive pool that made him look like mud and granted him shapeshifting powers that enabled him to appear as anyone. And though the character wouldn't be the definitive version of the villain, this rendition would set the standard for the Clayface character onwards.
Since then, Karlo has reclaimed the role of Clayface and would be retconned to have Hagen's shapeshifting and mud-like appearance. Although there would be more people to hold the title, Clayface wouldn't be the villain he is today without Matt Hagen's original turn as the character.