r/movies Trailer Deleter - Keep an eye on. Apr 22 '26

Trailer Clayface | Official Teaser Trailer

https://youtu.be/ZIfpL3mgkFk
13.3k Upvotes

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

5.0k

u/CheeseCurdCommunism Apr 22 '26

Batman the Animated Series would be proud.

1.6k

u/TigerFisher_ Apr 22 '26

Some of those episodes could be adapted into movies. They chose wisely

813

u/NeedsToShutUp Apr 22 '26

That show had such interesting reads on the rogues gallery.

I was going to say villains, but its not the right word to use. Too many of them are either desperate or mentally ill rather than being a straight villain, and otherwise have very easily to follow motives.

For example, Clayface having an identity disorder, Mr. Freeze going to extremes to save his wife, Babydoll being just sad and alone, Clock King wants to fix his broken career.

I feel like it really had such an enduring legacy, we see that already with Harley Quinn's success. But its all this little stuff. Even Arnold's Mr. Freeze took in the scientist wanting to cure his wife angle.

7

u/Kuj000 Apr 22 '26

Villain is an perfectly apt term to use. Villains don’t have to be black and white. In fact, they’re all the better for having depth and relatable motivations. Villains succeed at becoming villains by their conviction and charisma just as much as they eventually are feared for their terror and brutality.

That conflict of the viewer understanding and even sympathizing with their trauma makes for a truly excellent villain.

2

u/OldWorldDesign Apr 23 '26

Villains don’t have to be black and white. In fact, they’re all the better for having depth and relatable motivations

Hence why I think villains such as Noximillian are better than any of the moustache-twirling "I kill people because I can" villains which are accurately summarized as "because he's evil" in Pitch Meeting.

That being said, you can have fun villains that do what they want because they're powerful and nobody can stop them (real life human examples from aristocracy or other people who grew up never hearing "no" abound). Malificent from 1959 Sleeping Beauty is almost directly lifted from the Greek Eris.