7 Great Batman Villains (Still Yet To Appear In A Film)

Many of Batman’s most iconic foes are as old as the Caped Crusader himself. The Joker and Catwoman date back to 1940, the Penguin, Scarecrow and Two-Face debuted in 1941 and 1942 and The Riddler was slightly later to the party in 1948. Several secondary villains also go back this far, including the Mad Hatter (1948), Firefly (1952) and Clayface (1940). None of these have made an appearance on screen as of yet, however, despite their history.

Clayface stands out as an interesting omission. As a disgruntled actor (unsubtly named Basil Karlo), his backstory doesn’t immediately jump out as particularly interesting and as a shapeshifter, his abilities aren’t in line with the ‘realistic’ tone that recent Batman movies have favoured. His natural form would also necessitate extensive special effects and CG villains (such as Doomsday in Batman vs. Superman) haven’t fared particularly well with audiences.

Take the best aspects of his character and do him right, however, and you have huge amounts of potential. Clayface’s crowning moment in recent years has probably been his impersonation of the dying Joker in Arkham City and taking inspiration from this, he could be used as a plot twist in a wider story involving another antagonist.

His shapeshifting abilities could also be reworked into a more simplistic mastery of disguise, creating a noir thriller where everybody from Commissioner Gordon to Bruce Wayne himself becomes a suspect because nobody knows who is being impersonated and when.