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Villain Overview

It's magic time.
~ Basil's catchphrase.

Basil Karlo, better known by his alias Clayface, is a criminal and a major antagonist from The Batman series.

Though the series at first introduced Ethan Bennet as an original and new take on Clayface, The Batman eventually added Basil Karlo in Season 4 Episode 3 "Clayfaces", who became the second Clayface.

He was voiced by Wallace Langham in his first appearance (who also voiced fellow Batman villains Anarky in Beware the Batman and the Ocean Master in Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and by Lex Lang in his second.

Overview[]

TB-BasilKarlo

Clayface's full appearance.

Differing from past incarnations of Basil Karlo and other Clayface alter egos as a whole, this Basil is sleazy, not very clever and slightly overweight, very overconfident in his ability to be an actor and unaware that he's fairly mediocre if not downright terrible in the eyes of critics.

Once he became the more aggressive Clayface, at first he was horrified by what he'd done but later embraced the monster within purely because finally, he was getting people's attention. All Clayface does is mostly out of presumably histrionic personality disorder (HPD).

History[]

Basil Karlo is first shown to be a nerdy, unattractive and untalented actor. He is seen repeatedly turned down in auditions for a dog food commercial when he hears that Clayface is going to be cured. Basil then infiltrates into Wayne Tech and drinks a refined, purified sample of Clayface-formula. This successfully transforms Karlo into Clayface II.

Clayface The Batman 5-47 screenshot

"Brock" reveals himself as Clayface.

He assumes a handsome form (known as "Brock"), believing his rejection was due to his poor appearance, but ends being rejected once again at the dog food commercial due to his lousy acting, so he finally snaps and uses his new powers as Clayface to attack the people who rejected him.

Ethan Bennett and Basil Karlo

Ethan and Basil, both Clayfaces being presumably cured.

At first, he believes that this incident would be the death of his career, but his powers brought to the media's attention, covering every channel, which made him happy. After a battle with Batman, Robin and the original Clayface, he is injected with Clayface-antidote, seemingly restoring him too normal.

However, the episode's final scene showed that Clayface II still had his superpowers, thanks to Joker encouraging him that he isn't cured.

He is later hired by Lex Luthor alongside Bane, Black Mask and Mr Freeze to kidnap Lois Lane as bait and defeat Superman when he fell into the trap and got weakened by kryptonite, but was defeated once Superman recuperated his powers.He later fights Batman as he is about to save Posion Ivy from Luthor's clutches, but loses again.

Powers and Abilities[]

Y'see, I've been practicing. This Clayface sequel is bigger and badder than the original.
~ Clayface II to Clayface I
ClayfaceII

To Batman, Robin and Clayface's shock, Clayface II grows even bigger and more threatening.

Basil Karlo as Clayface II is not only far stronger than the first Clayface (likely due to Ethan merely sniffing a bit of the mutagen that made him Clayface while Basil drank an entire beaker of it) but also one of if not the most powerful antagonists in the series, befitting Basil Karlo who also became this in the comics.

Clayface II

Effortlessly tearing a bank vault door off a wall.

He possesses the ability to shapeshift his body (or parts of his body, like his arm into a drill) into anyone or anything (even if they're much smaller than him, though he can also increase in size by adding more matter to his body), regenerate no matter how much his body is cut to pieces and fit into the tiniest of crevices.

Additionally, his second most prominent ability is his superhuman strength, capable of tearing a bank vault door and toss it with incredible ease, something other superhumanly strong villains like Bane cannot do without putting at least some effort into it.

Trivia[]

  • Though quite different from the original, this is the first incarnation outside of the comics that is based on the original character, Basil Karlo, since past incarnations in other adapted works based their characters off Matt Hagen or Cassius Clay.
    • Accurately to the comics in a way, Basil Karlo starts out without powers and obtains them from another Clayface, which is how Basil obtained his Clayface abilities in the New Earth/Post-Crisis era. Much like in The Batman, he was much stronger than the Clayfaces that came before him, due to having all of their powers at once (though he was later surpassed by other Clayfaces that came later).
  • Ironically, unlike Ethan Bennett (the first Clayface in The Batman) who has a huge grudge on The Joker for turning him into a monster, Basil appears to be on friendly terms with the mad clown.
  • For unknown reasons he and Tony Zucco weren't captured by Rumor.

Navigation[]

           The Batman Villains (2004 cartoon)

Joker | Penguin | Bane | Catwoman | Mr. Freeze | Ethan Bennett | Killer Croc | Man-Bat | Firefly | Riddler | Punch & Judy | Kabuki Twins | Hugo Strange | Cluemaster | Cluemaster's Henchmen | Ragdoll | Temblor | Poison Ivy | Tony Zucco | Count Vertigo | Harley Quinn | Maxie Zeus | Basil Karlo | Gearhead | Francis Grey | Killer Moth | D.A.V.E. | Dracula | Rumor | Toyman | Mirror Master | Lex Luthor | Black Mask | Sinestro | Joker 2.0 | Prank | Killgore Steed | Team Penguin | Julie | Spellbinder | Blaze | The Joining | Cosmo Krank | Marty Slacker | Nolan | Warth and Scorn | Metallo | Shadow-Thief | Mercy Graves

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