10 Villains Perfect For The Batman Movie Trilogy (And Who Should Play Them)
3. Clayface - Sir Ian McKellen
Basil Karlo is the greatest actor who ever lived, he can fit himself into literally any role. This is because after an accident he became a clay monster who can replicate anybody down to the smallest freckle.
In many adaptations, Clayface is used as a twist, like in Arkham City; (Yes, it's come up a lot, it’s a good game!) it's revealed that Clayface was used by a dying Joker to play a fit and healthy Joker to fool Batman into thinking he was absolutely fine.
This is a perfectly adequate way to use Clayface if you want to focus on a different villain but it’s a slight waste of a character that is undeniably quite powerful.
Karlo can become Bruce Wayne, maybe frame him for a murder and now Batman has to not only track down Clayface (and admittedly maybe the villain who hired him, if you want to go down that route) but make sure the police don’t find out who Wayne really is through starting an investigation into him. It’s rare that villains pose a threat to both Batman and Bruce Wayne, it’s a criminally underused plot point.
Typically, Clayface’s voice is a gruff one, matching his grotesque natural shape and size; so my original choice would have been someone like Ron Perlman. However, the recent Harley Quinn animated series went for a different approach and made him sound more like a thespian.
Since Basil Karlo is an actor, this choice makes complete sense and it's hard to believe no one had ever thought of it before. Matt Reeves (or whomever the next director may be) should take a leaf from Harley Quinn’s book and cast the most thespian-y actor there is; Sir Ian McKellen.
McKellen is well versed in the art of comic book villainy, playing X-men’s Magneto for many years and his age wouldn’t be against him as he’d only need to provide his voice to the role as most of the work would be done by CGI or the actors playing the characters he becomes.
McKellen could also show a deeper side to Karlo, one that makes him long to no longer be a gelatinous behemoth.