Clayface

Becoming famous is hard. Losing that fame can be even harder. When Basil Karlo lost his theatrical notoriety, he took being resentful to the extreme. A B-list actor who wasn't included in the remake of a classic horror movie that he starred in, Basil went in a dramatic direction with his revenge. He snapped and got into character as that film's monster, Clayface, and killed members of the cast and crew. In one night, Basil had gone from playing villains to becoming one.

Still hungry to be on top of the acting pyramid, Basil asked the Penguin for help—desperate times, after all, call for desperate measures. Penguin gave the thespian a hunk of clay as payment for a job, and the mystical material leaped into Basil, giving him a malleable body and remarkable shape-shifting powers. He can shift his body and face and change his voice to resemble anyone in the world, and the results are indistinguishable from the real thing. He can also morph his limbs into weapons or use his body to smother an enemy. On the downside, in his natural form he looks like a pile of walking, talking mud. That's not exactly the sort of image entertainment magazines and websites want on their covers.

Clayface has done horrible things over the years and has operated on the wrong side of the law, but he's not exactly evil. He’s occasionally been willing to work with Batman and has often teamed up with other Gotham City heroes. More than anything, he still longs for the stage and screen and would do just about anything to once again find himself in the limelight—redeemed in the hearts and minds of his fans.