Was Clayface the first looksmaxxer?

Long before mewing, jawline measurements, and "mogging" took over social media, Batman villain Matt Hagen was willing to risk everything for a better face.

That pursuit of physical perfection sits at the center of Clayface, DC Studios' first full-fledged horror movie. Directed by Speak No Evil filmmaker James Watkins, the R-rated origin story stars Tom Rhys Harries, known for Netflix's White Lines and The Gentlemen, alongside Mickey 17 star Naomi Ackie. Warner Bros. released the official trailer Wednesday, July 22, ahead of the film's theatrical debut on Oct. 23.

DC fans celebrated the trailer's gruesome body horror and the character finally receiving a solo movie after decades in comics, animation, and video games.

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Harries plays Hagen, a rising Gotham actor whose face is mutilated just as his career takes off. Convinced that restoring his appearance is the only way to reclaim the life he built, he turns to scientist Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Ackie) and an experimental treatment that promises to make him look like himself again.

The possible consequences do not deter him.

"Even if it kills me, I'll be better off than I am now," Hagen says in the trailer.

The treatment initially restores his movie-star looks. Then his face begins melting and changing uncontrollably, turning him into the shapeshifting Batman villain.

It is a gruesome superhero origin story. But at a time when young men are being encouraged to measure, rank, and radically alter their faces, Hagen’s conviction that looking better will fix his life feels unexpectedly current.

So, was Clayface the first looksmaxxer? Let's examine the evidence.

What is looksmaxxing?

Looksmaxxing is the practice of attempting to "maximize" physical attractiveness through methods ranging from skincare, exercise, hairstyling, and clothing to cosmetic surgery and potentially dangerous forms of self-modification.

The term emerged from incel and manosphere forums during the 2010s before spreading into mainstream internet culture, particularly on TikTok. Within looksmaxxing communities, attractiveness is often treated as a system that can be measured and optimized. Users scrutinize jaw width, eye shape, cheekbone projection, facial symmetry, body-fat percentage, and even the angle at which someone's eyes tilt.

Its vocabulary sounds like a collision between a beauty tutorial, fitness plan, and video game. "Softmaxxing" generally refers to conventional grooming and lifestyle changes, including skincare, exercise, fashion, and better sleep. "Hardmaxxing" can include cosmetic procedures, anabolic steroids, weight-loss drugs, unapproved peptides, and other aggressive attempts to alter the face or body.

"Mogging" means visually outclassing someone, while "mewing" refers to an unproven tongue-positioning technique that supposedly reshapes the jaw. Some users also judge faces using the PSL scale, a hierarchy that sorts men into categories ranging from "subhuman" and "normie" to various levels of "Chad."

One of the movement's most visible figures is Braden Peters, the 20-year-old streamer known as Clavicular. Peters has built an audience of more than 2 million followers across TikTok, Kick, and Instagram by documenting his appearance and promoting increasingly extreme interventions.

He has claimed to practice "bonesmashing," which involves striking facial bones with a hammer in the scientifically unsupported hope that the resulting injuries will heal into a larger jaw or more prominent cheekbones. He has also said he began taking testosterone at 14 to "optimize" puberty and later used anabolic steroids including Masteron and Anavar. Although Peters has acknowledged that hormone use may have affected his fertility, he continues to frame the possible health consequences as an acceptable price for becoming more attractive.

Other creators have promoted DIY orthodontics, experimental substances, extreme fat loss, and procedures intended to produce "hunter eyes," hollow cheeks, and sharply defined jawlines. One creator known as Nocturnal Kent has claimed that consuming 500 grams of sugar a day changed the structure of his face.

The audience for masculinity content is substantial. A 2025 study found that 60 percent of men between 16 and 25 regularly consume material from at least one masculinity influencer. That does not mean all of them follow looksmaxxing advice, but reports have warned that recommendation systems on TikTok and YouTube can steer users from ordinary grooming and fitness videos toward more extreme content.

The rise of looksmaxxing has also coincided with more men seeking professional cosmetic work. According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of surgical cosmetic procedures performed on men worldwide increased 95 percent between 2018 and 2024. Younger patients have shown particular interest in treatments designed to produce stronger chins, sharper jawlines, and more angular faces.

Was Clayface really the first looksmaxxer?

Not literally. The term "looksmaxxing" did not exist until decades after Clayface first appeared, and several DC characters have used the villain’s name.

But the version of Matt Hagen developed in the early 1990s anticipated the movement's underlying logic: Appearance determines value, physical flaws can be engineered away, and nearly any intervention (no matter how gory) is justified if it brings someone closer to an ideal face.

The original Clayface, Basil Karlo, debuted in 1940's Detective Comics No. 40. Karlo was an actor who committed murders while wearing the mask of a horror character he had once played. He possessed no shapeshifting abilities and was not attempting to improve his appearance.

Matt Hagen became the second Clayface in 1961. Initially portrayed as a treasure hunter, Hagen encountered a strange pool of protoplasm that transformed his body into a clay-like substance. He could temporarily reshape himself into other people but had to return to the substance to restore his powers.

The version closest to a modern looksmaxxer arrived in 1992, when Batman: The Animated Series combined elements of those characters’ histories for the two-part episode "Feat of Clay."

This Hagen was a successful actor whose face had been severely disfigured in a car accident. When reconstructive procedures failed, he began using Renuyu, an experimental cream. The product restored Hagen's appearance and allowed him to reshape his face for different acting roles, but its effects were temporary. Each transformation left him dependent on another dose and on the man who controlled the supply.

Renuyu was, in effect, the ultimate hardmaxxing product. It did not merely smooth Hagen's skin or define his jaw; it allowed him to rebuild his entire face around whichever role or identity he wanted.

The problem with it, though, is that its effects are temporary. Every time the cream wears off, Hagen's injuries return, forcing him to seek another dose from Roland Daggett, the businessman who controls the supply. That dependency gives Daggett control over Hagen. In exchange for Renuyu, Hagen impersonates other people and commits crimes on his behalf. The treatment that was supposed to restore his identity gradually requires him to surrender it.

This is where the comparison to extreme looksmaxxing becomes clearest. Hagen isn’t trying to "mog" strangers or boost his PSL score. But he does believe his face determines whether he can work, appear in public, and live the life he wants.

That mirrors the blackpill belief that physical traits like facial structure and height largely determine a man’s romantic, social, and financial prospects. If appearance controls your future, looksmaxxing offers a supposed way out: Change your appearance. The new Clayface carries that same logic into the present, with Hagen declaring he'd rather risk death than keep living with his injuries.

The terminology may have changed by 2026, but Gotham’s original hardmaxxer would get it.

Clayface opens in theaters Oct. 23.