Horror actor Basil Karlo went off the deep end when he learned that Hollywood producers had undertaken a remake of his classic film, The Terror. Donning a clay mask to reprise his old role as Clayface, Karlo murdered several actors before Batman brought him to justice.
Treasure hunter Matt Hagen became the second Clayface when exposure to a mysterious oil altered his body chemistry and allowed him to assume almost any form. He died during the Crisis, but his legacy lives on when Preston Payne, deformed by the chronic bone disease acromegaly , injected himself with Hagen’s blood to develop his own shape-changing gifts and became Clayface III. Payne was a sad case, falling in love with a wax mannequin in between stints at Arkham Asylum, Gotham City’s maximum-security prison for the criminally insane, before finding true happiness with Lady Clay. Born Sondra Fuller, Lady Clay received her morphing talents from the terrorist Kobra.
Basil Karlo soon returned to the Clayface family, forming an alliance with Clayfaces III and IV under the group name Mud Pack. Karlo then shot his veins full of distilled essences of his namesakes, transforming himself into a being he called the Ultimate Clayface.
Two creations have expanded the creeping reach of the Mud Pack. Preston Payne and Lady Clay have had a child named Cassius whose powers could dwarf those of his parents. During Gotham’s earthquake, a tissue sample from Cassius bonded with the researcher Dr. Malley, altering him into a creature called Claything.
Members:
Clayface I
Clayface II
Clayface III
Lady Clay
Cassius Payne
Claything
Clayface VII
