Clayface

The current version of the original Clayface, Basil Karlo, began as an up-and-coming movie star set to take on a breakout part as the villain in a film about a jealous actor who kills the people who landed the roles he wanted. Before the movie began filming, however, Basil was in a car accident that left the majority of his body horribly disfigured and scarred.

Mad with grief and desperation, Basil began using an experimental cosmetic chemical called “Re-Nu” to conceal his deformities. But when the chemical was taken out of production, he began going mad. His tenuous grasp on sanity crumbling, he attacked the plant that produced Re-Nu, demanding more of it—all the while ignoring the clear side effects its use was having on his body. During the heist, he was thwarted by Batman, but the arrest wasn’t enough to stop him. Too far gone to understand he was headed down a road from which he could not return, Basil broke into the courthouse holding the Re-Nu as evidence and was eventually doused in the entirety of the remaining chemical.

The results were horrifying. Basil’s body was completely melted down into a mud-like clay, capable of shape-shifting and size-changing. But with this transformation came the final break in his already-fractured mind. Clayface was officially born.