Feat of Clay

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Feat of Clay is the two-part episode of the American animated television series Batman: The Animated Series. First aired on September 9, 1992. It was written by Marv Wolfman & Michael Reaves. The teleplay of the first part was by Marv Wolfman and the second part was by Michael Reaves. The first part was directed by Dick Sebast and the second part was by Kevin Altieri. Many fans and critics have praised the episode for its dark tone. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini didn't bring back the character of Clayface many times after this so that the episode would be considered a one off classic. Similar to "Heart of Ice."

The title is a play on words of a figure of speech — feet of clay — used to indicate a weakness or a hidden flaw in the character of a respected person:

“ Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image ... his feet part of iron and part of clay. ... And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. ”


Contents

[edit] Part One

“Feat of Clay: Part I”
Batman: The Animated Series episode
Matt Hagen becoming "Clayface".
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 5
Written by Marv Wolfman & Michael Reaves
Directed by Dick Sebast
Original airdate September 8th, 1992
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Heart of Ice" "Part Two"

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A strange meeting takes place in an abandoned tramway station in Gotham at three o' clock in the morning, where the two parts involved are Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne. Fox gives a suitcase full of evidence to Wayne, which incriminates Roland Daggett into an illegal scheme to take over Wayne Enterprises by insider trading. Wayne says he prefers the tramway to meet, as he thinks his house, office and common haunts are bugged. Surprisingly, he announces he won't hand over the evidence to the police, and a group of armed henchmen appear from the upper levels of the tramway and try to kill Fox. Suddenly, Batman springs from the ceiling and stops one of the three thugs, but is stopped short of detaining the remaining two. The fake Wayne escapes, leaving behind a near-fatally wounded Lucius Fox, who gives the name of Wayne as the man who arranged the meeting to the policemen who found him.

Then, it is revealed that the fake Wayne is actually Matt Hagen, a famed actor, who has developed a serious addiction to "Renuyu", a dangerous chemical developed by Daggett's laboratories, and which allows him to control his facial features, giving him any face he wants, to cover the fact his own was destroyed in a car accident years before. After learning of the botched attempt on Fox's life, Daggett orders his henchmen Raymond Bell and Germs to cut Hagen's supply of Renuyu and dispose of him. Hagen is caught in the R&D section of Daggett Laboratories, again disguised as Wayne. Bell and Germs force an entire tank of Renuyu down his throat, apparently killing him before placing him inside his car and abandoning him. Batman pursues Bell in the Batwing and forces him off the road, dumping his car to the river and holding him with a crane high above ground, to confess who was Fox meeting, but Bell faints before Batman can extract the information. Wayne enters the hospital where Fox is being kept and tries to clear his name, only to be captured by police on the spot. Meanwhile, Teddy, Hagen's best friend, finds his car in an alley. Approaching, he presses his hand on Hagen's shoulder, only to realize it has a consistency not dissimilar to clay, and as Hagen rises, he realizes has become a living golem of protoplasmic clay by the Renuyu saturation, and screams in horror.

[edit] Cast

Actor Role
Kevin Conroy Batman / Bruce Wayne
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Alfred Pennyworth
Ed Asner Roland Daggett
Ed Begley Jr. Germs
Mari Devon Summer Gleeson
Dick Gautier Teddy Lupus
Ron Perlman Matt Hagen/Clayface
Brock Peters Lucius Fox
Scott Valentine Raymond Bell

[edit] Part Two

“Feat of Clay: Part II”
Batman: The Animated Series episode
Clayface
Episode no. Season 6
Episode 10
Written by Marv Wolfman & Michael Reaves
Directed by Kevin Altieri
Original airdate September 9th, 1992
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Part I" "Joker's Favor"
List of Batman: The Animated Series episodes

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Clayface remembers how he became addicted to Renuyu in the first place, remembering how he was horribly disfigured in a car crash years ago, and how Roland Daggett approached him originally with the purpose of being one of the testers for Renuyu, and how he was forced to accept any terms Daggett posed (often impersonating people in illegal roles) to get a constant supply of it. Now an animated mound of clay, he also remembers his past movies, and then he realizes he has acquired shapeshifting abilities, able to imitate any face, any garment, any voice, any shape. Despite this, he bellows at Teddy, his friend, that he can no longer be an actor, as the necessary effort to maintain a specific shape takes too a heavy toll on him to be steady. He realizes that, if he wants Daggett, he must take out first whoever is sent to finish the recovering Lucius Fox, and infiltrates the hospital where Fox is held disguised as a male nurse. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is released from prison on bail, thanks to some phone calls by Alfred. Batman is at the hospital waiting to find the man sent to finish Fox, and catches with Daggett's assasin, a mysophobic man nicknamed Germs. After a chase, they end up in a laboratory holding a vast collection of bacteriological and virological samples. The fearful Germs is threatened by Batman with a vial holding, apparently, samples of an incurable disease. Batman places the vial on a shelf above Germs, and when Germs refuses to talk, he punches the wall, causing the vial to slowly move towards the edge, to fall on top of Germs. However, before Germs can tell Batman how Hagen impersonated Wayne, a police officer enters, and demands Batman hand over Germs. Batman only asks for a second, revealing the vial to be mere seawater, but the officer attacks him with a massive clay arm, revealing himself to be Hagen, and abducts Germs. Taking him to the roof of the hospital, he tries to throw him off, but is stopped near his goal by Batman. While Hagen tries to imitate Batman, he is unable to do it fully, and instead attacks him with an array of assorted weapons, from a fork to a massive block of solid clay. Batman, horrified at first at the extent of Hagen's powers, nevertheless realizes his true identity. He saves Germs, albeit barely, as Hagen escapes by throwing himself off the building and slithering away through the sewers. Hagen finally snaps, and lashes at Teddy calling himself with a new name-Clayface, and disguises himself as an obese woman intending to apppear on Summer Gleeson's show, where Daggett is giving an interview about the wondrous properties of Renuyu, now used as a skin conditioner. Meanwhile, Batman sneaks into a TV control room in the set where Summer Gleeson is talking with Daggett. Clayface strikes and nearly kills Daggett after revealing the horrific powers of Renuyu, and Batman saves Daggett by battling Clayface. He lures Clayface into the TV control room and shows him multiple videos of his acting days, with multiple faces for each movie. Clayface apparently goes insane, incapable of controlling his body, and is apparently killed by electricity coming out of a TV set he tires to smash, after several police officers see his Bruce Wayne face. Later on, Batman discovers electricity has little to no effect on Hagen's remains, and is forced to conclude that Clayface is still alive. Teddy, in front of the hospital, grieves for Hagen's death, while Clayface, disguised as a young woman, laughs in dark glee.

[edit] Cast

Actor Role
Kevin Conroy Batman / Bruce Wayne
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Alfred Pennyworth
Ed Asner Roland Daggett
Ed Begley Jr. Germs
Mari Devon Summer Gleeson
Dick Gautier Teddy Lupus
Ron Perlman Matt Hagen/Clayface
Brock Peters Lucius Fox

[edit] Trivia

  • This episode marks the first appearance of Clayface, Lucius Fox, and Roland Daggett.
  • The episode is Clayface's origin.
  • According to Batman's all points bulletin while on the lookout for him, Raymond Bell is 5'10, 170 lbs, and about 35 years old.
  • The poster in front of the movie theater that Hagen-as-Wayne walks by shows Hagen as a gangster in a fictional noir film called Gangbuster, a possible homage to Howard Hawks' Scarface.

[edit] Continuity Errors

  • When Daggett's enforcer Raymond Bell is first shown at the "meeting" of Fox and "Wayne," he isn't wearing his headphones, but in the first close-up of him right after Fox is pinned down and knocked unconsious, he suddenly has them on.
  • Upon Germs and Daggett's discovery of Hagen before the episode's first commercial break, they are both armed with guns, but afterwards, only Germs is shown holding a gun.
  • After using up the Renuyu cream, Hagen declares the jar is empty and flings it at the window. However, after he leaves, Teddy looks at the floor, and it is clearly seen that there is still some cream left in it.
  • During the fight with Clayface, one of Daggett's guards loses his hat when he is struck by Clayface, but in the next shot, it's back on his head.
  • When Batman goes to Hagen's trailer for clues, he finds the empty jar of Renuyu that Hagen threw at the window. The jar is much smaller and of a different color than what was used by Hagen earlier.
  • Upon his release from prison on bail in the second installment, Bruce tells Alfred that Bell claimed to have known nothing about who impersonated him, but in the first installment, Bell passed out before he could tell Batman anything.

[edit] Plot holes

  • When Daggett's henchmen catch Hagen in the laboratory stealing facial cream, he quickly uses it to morph his features into those of Bruce Wayne's. Surely he doesn't think that it will fool them, since they were with him the night he originally impersonated Wayne?
  • After Batman drops Bell from the Batwing into the pool, the police descend upon him and order him to surrender, claiming that he is under arrest. Even if they saw Bell's face, they had no reason to arrest him, since they don't even know who it is.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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