The animated format is perfect to display the powers of this unusual Batman villain. Clayface started out as a famous movie actor named Matt Hagen (voiced by Ron Perlman, who was recently seen in Hellboy). After being horribly scarred in an accident, Hagen is given a second chance to restore his mangled face via a new compound that is invented by Roland Dagget, the owner of a pharmaceutical company. But the catch is the miracle drug, which must be applied on the skin, wears off after a time. So Hagen must keep returning to Dagget for more, and thus becomes an easy victim of blackmail. Dagget, wanting to take over Wayne Enterprises, forces Hagen to impersonate Bruce Wayne in an effort to commit industrial espionage--but when something goes wrong, and Wayne winds up being framed for attempted murder instead, Dagget decides that Hagen has outlived his usefulness, and orders him to be killed.

The hit men assigned to kill Hagen decide to use an exotic method: they force feed the shape-shifting compound literally down his throat, and then leave him for dead. But instead of killing him, the compound has increased Hagen's powers dramatically, turning his entire body into a pliable, shape shifting mass of clay. Now Hagen can change into any shape or person at will, thus making him one hundred times more dangerous than he ever was before.

Forget the Clayface that was first introduced in the 1960s TV series; this new bad boy actually puts the original dude to shame. A cross between the liquid metal Terminator from T2 and the blob, the new Clayface not only perfectly impersonates anybody he wants--both men and women--but he also proves to be a mean mother in a fight. Imagine how hard it must be for Batman to battle an opponent who can turn his fist into sledgehammers, or massive blocks of bricks? How about when Batman tries to lasso Clayface, only to see his lasso slice ineffectively through the villain's body, which reforms with lightning speed. Clayface even makes his escape from the Dark Knight through the grate of a sewer! The writers and animators have done a masterful job at recreating an old villain into a stunning new threat. And thus Batman is an even more impressive hero by still managing to take him down at the end. But despite being resoundingly defeated, there's that last, creepy/cool scene at the very end of this two-part episode, which shows that Clayface is still out there, a slithering menace in the darkness.