Clayface

Clayface's History

Preston Payne was born an acromegalic �?? a victim of chronic hyperpituitarism which hideously distorted his body. In contrast however, Payne was also gifted with an exceptionally acute intellect. As a child, Preston was naturally made the subject of abuse and ridicule by his peers �?? a syndrome that continued well into his adult life. Preston Payne graduated Hudson University at the top of his class and immediately went on to work for S.T.A.R. Labs' Gotham City branch.Desperate to cure his physical deformities, Payne sought out the world's foremost cosmetic surgeons, but all of them told Preston the same thing �?? there was nothing they could do. Payne learned about the existence of a super-villain named Matt Hagen, a.k.a. Clayface. Knowing that Hagen had the ability to remold his own physical features, he visited Hagen in prison. He pleaded with him to help, but was only able to procure a needle-full of Hagen's blood. Taking the blood back to the laboratory, Payne experimented on it, upgrading its chemical mixture, hoping that it might be able to restore him to some semblance of normalcy. The serum appeared to have worked and Preston was able to reconstruct his own facial features so that he could appear normal. This brilliant success was only a temporary solution, tragically. While out on a date, Payne's face began to melt away like a wax candle. His date tried to pull away from him, but when Payne grabbed onto her, he found that he could transmit his bio-immolation like a disease. The woman's flesh and bone melted into a bubbling pile of protoplasm right before his eyes.