Top 100 Batman VILLAINS

72 - Clayface (Matt Hagen)

#72 - Clayface (Matt Hagen)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #298 (Dec 1961)

"Great Scott! His face.... It looks like... a lump of clay!" ~Batman

Matt Hagen was a Silver Age Clayface that was very different from his Golden Age counterpart. Where Basil Karlo was forever trapped in his clay form, Hagen was able to turn back and forth from clay to human at will thanks to a serum he created. In that sense, he was less tragic than his predecessor, but even so he provided a lot of great entertainment. When creative minds like Neal Adams or Denny O'Neil got involved with the character, they proved that Hagen was a step up from the prior Clayface in terms of being a threat; Hagen had a mind for crime that was supplemented by a power that made him a truly versatile threat. Where villains like Clayface I or Marvel's Sandman were limited to essentially one type of from, Hagen was able to transmute his appearance into the features of anyone he desired, even being able to change the color of his body so it could appear as any type of clothes or hair color, etc. In fact, I believe his only limit was that he couldn't increase his mass, but even in that case, he was a truly unique threat.

You would think this Clayface's adventures would be all about creative fights, but Batman writers of the time really did a great job at using him in a more cerebral manner, leaving Batman to really work his detective skills when Clayface was able to frame people for crimes they didn't commit. I always prefer villains who use their brains over simply their brawn, and Hagen did that well. Too bad he was killed off in Crisis on Infinite Earths; the brave new world could've used him.

Greatest Matt Hagen Story Ever Told:Batman #159 - An interesting little tale, Matt Hagen has a brief feud with the Joker over who is the better villain; it's left unresolved as Batman and Robin step in and ruin the fun. When a villain has the balls to go toe-to-toe with the Joker, you know that they're either insane or have some serious heat to back them up. Hagen goes into the latter category.