Clayface is packed with Joker Easter eggs — here are the ones you might have missed

If you sat through Clayface and found yourself thinking 'Hang on, are they about to wheel out The Joker at any moment?', you definitely weren't alone. DC didn't actually unleash Gotham's cackling nightmare this time, but it wasn't for lack of hints—the entire film is peppered with sly nods, winks and outright visual digs at Batman's most infamous nemesis. You could almost call it a Joker movie without the Joker.

Joker teases are stitched through nearly every act of the film, but the character himself never takes the stage.

Joker's Shadow Everywhere

The closest we get to the big maniac? That would be when Matt Hagen himself gets his face brutalised by a mob boss (yes, Matt Hagen—Tom Rhys Harries, if you're keeping track). There's a particularly grim bit where a knife splits right through Matt's mouth, giving him the sort of bloody, exaggerated grin that could only be a shoutout to the Joker's classic carved-up smile. It's straight out of the Heath Ledger playbook—remember those contradictory scar stories from The Dark Knight? It's all very deliberate and a little on the nose, frankly.

Comic Book Nods Hiding in Plain Sight

It's not just visual references either. Early on, while Matt is glued to the Oscar nominations (because of course he is), there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it use of "One Bad Day" as a rival film title on the telly. That phrase comes directly from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, probably the most revered Joker tale there is. The whole 'one bad day sends anyone over the edge' routine—Joker's philosophy, basically. More deep cuts for the comic obsessives in the audience.

There's also the 'Amusement Mile' scene—Matt walks past a truly massive clown-faced sign that's impossible not to clock as a Joker reference. In the comics, Amusement Mile's always a run-down hellhole, basically tailor-made for the Joker's hideouts and schemes. However subtle they're trying to be, it's screaming 'the clown was here.'

Blink-And-You-Miss-It: Set Photos and Background Graffiti

• While they were filming in Liverpool back in summer 2025, set photos caught graffiti tagged "The Jokers" on a city wall. Fans had a field day trying to work out if it meant the "Three Jokers" storyline, or maybe a nod to the Joker-inspired street gang from the comics.
• Another background detail: a little flyer, "Join the Joker", taped up in a blink-and-miss moment. Both of these never get any real attention in the final cut—they're more easter eggs for the seriously eagle-eyed than anything else.

All in all, James Gunn and Peter Safran (the DC Studios top brass these days) seem determined to keep the Joker's presence alive without actually putting him in the film just yet. It's all a bit of table-setting, really—maybe next time we get the real thing.