#mudslide

In my own opinion. I believe that the fact that Matt Hagen is a queer character is a very very important part of his story. Matt Hagen is a vain man, he cares very much about his looks because that's how he earned his fame, he is seen as this conventionally attractive straight man and he wants to keep up that appearance so badly, but deep down he can't. He falls in love with a man, his best friend, his stand in. Someone who he sees every day and every night, and he's scared that everyone will find out and will never have this life that he wants so bad. He stays closeted, he never lets anyone find out about his secret, his desires, and when he gets into his car accident and his face is disfigured, he turns to this miracle drug to make everything better. To turn back the clock to something that he latched onto because it brought him fame and fortune, and love, but it ruins him. He gets heavily addicted, he's in constant pain from the side effects and lashes out at the person he loves most and slowly becomes so obsessed with his addiction and his appearance that he loses himself so much that he falls out of love with the man who he cared for, and who is the person always by his side. Their relationship grows very toxic and Matt's assault in Daggett's lab is the point of no return for Hagen. He's completely gone, and yet Teddy still thinks the man who he loves is somewhere in that walking pile of clay. Teddy's commitment to Matt is out of love and knowing that this isn't who Matt is, he knows Matt but just wants to go back to how things were, just like Matt, but it doesn't work. Clayface leaves Teddy and never returns. Moving on while Teddy mourns the loss of his lover.

This type of context to Clayfaces character is so so important and especially during the time it was written in the heights of the AIDS crisis and that subtext to the episode is a huge insight into who this adaptation of the character is and is the strongest story of any Clayface. Matt and Teddy are the earliest on-screen same sex couple in animation history, but the fact it doesn't seem like there's going to be any gay storytelling or elements in the movie is disappointing.

I've seen people say "Well, what about Mudslide? Maybe he's bisexual." "I guess Mudslide never happened then." Whenever others try to say something about the gay relationship in either retaliation or as a simple argument for defending the romantic subplot in the movie, which is funny you should bring up the episode where Clayface was only set on being human again and was growing agitated with Dr. Stella Bates, a woman who was obsessed with Matt Hagen on screen. The actor, the heart throb of the film world, the man of a million faces. She was in love with who Matt Hagen was and he couldn't care less. He just wanted her to turn her back into a human or as close as she could get him, and most likely leave her because he is just using her. The scene where Stella is crying watching one of Hagens old movies where his character is in love with his plastic surgeon because that is what she wants the situation she put herself in and Clayface comes in smashes the screen saying "That's not me anymore." But she can't accept the reality of Clayface and cries in front of him, so he puts in an act. Quoting the movie that was just playing in order to keep her around his finger. He doesn't hold feelings for her. Out of selfish reasons and because he has never felt attraction to women. Later in that episode, we are shown a ridiculous amount of magazines of Hagen and the women he has "dated" before he became Clayface and it's supposed to be played as a joke because he might have been a player because of his good looks, but it's also because he HAD to. He had to date these women to keep up that appearance as a straight man (probably) while he was dating Teddy.

But if you see Clayface as bisexual, that's you! I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you are wrong in your opinion, I'm just simply sharing my opinion that he could be a fully gay man and because of the circumstances of his life, he used Stella to get what he wants.

In terms of the movie subplot, I am upset for that reason of Matt Hagen supposedly being straight and the toxic relationship here is between Dr. Corr and Hagen as he becomes Clayface and she gets research, while cheating on her fiance. While I understand that Feat of Clay was an inspiration for the film, not including the queerness of it is disappointing. Like I've said in my other rant, if the movie was inspired by Mudslide with that toxic hetero relationship, it would be different. But by saying that it's Feat of Clay and not disclosing the queer elements, if there are any, is a let down as someone who is a Clayface fan, a queer man, and a DC fan.

While I am upset, I have a slim amount of optimism about this situation. Perhaps there is queer subtext in the film. Maybe Teddy is in the movie but DC/Warner Brothers won't say anything about it to get people into seats because saying that the main character is a queer man or is a queer story would deter a lot of fans away unfortunately because the DC fandom is full of homophobic people for some odd reason. But even then that's a real shitty reason to hide a part of your movie DC, you claim to be so inclusive with your queer characters that actually came from BTAS but yet you won't acknowledge the very first ones to appear on your show. (But they also haven't had a black character comic run for over 1,000 days so the bar is in hell).