Clayface was Matt Reeves' idea. He and Mike Flanagan started developing it right after The Batman as a Rogues' Gallery origin story — Reeves' own words, in the official press kit. Then Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios, heard the pitch, and decided it belonged in the DCU instead. Gunn's public reason: Clayface doesn't fit Reeves' grounded Crime Saga. Convenient. Meanwhile, for months, every time someone asked about Batman 2's script, Gunn's answer was the same loop "Matt's slow, let him take his time, get off his nuts, the script isn't ready." Then in June 2025, Reeves posted a photo of the finished script cover page with Mattson Tomlin. Gunn read it on a plane and called it great. So the script was done. The delay wasn't Reeves. Now flash forward to October 2026. Reeves steps away from filming Batman 2 for a family matter. Soderbergh steps in to finish. Gunn immediately posts that Reeves is still the director and always will be, which is exactly what you'd say if you were trying to kill the Snyder comparison before it starts. Same studio, same playbook, different decade. The pattern isn't subtle. Gunn controls the narrative, Reeves does the work, and every time Reeves proves himself, the story gets rewritten so the credit lands elsewhere. @SlavsFreeTalk can frame it however he wants, but the receipts from 2025 to 2026 tell a different story