Name: Clayface
Universe: Earth-1
Alter Ego: Preston Payne
Occupation: Research Scientist
Marital Status: Single
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Gotham City
Known Relatives: None
Height: 6 ft. 4 in.
Weight: 264 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Red
First Appearance: Detective Comics #478

History:
Born an acromegalic, a victim of chronic hyperpituitarism, Preston Payne grew up physically grotesque and friendless. Blessed with a genius I.Q., the adult Payne took a job with S.T.A.R. Labs in the vain hope of finding a cure for his condition. Finally, the desperate Payne visited the prison cell of Matt Hagen, hoping to duplicate the factor that had given Hagen his malleability, and thereby alter and improve his own hideous features.

After months of effort, Payne isolated an enzyme from Hagen's blood and injected it into himself. His flesh now malleable, Payne transformed himself into an Adonis and stepped out on the town.

But the catabolic changes brought about by the injection were not yet complete. When the flesh of Payne's face began to run like flowing clay, he grabbed his horrified date, only to see her reduced to a blob of protoplasm at his touch.

Realizing his condition was contagious to others, Payne created a powerful exoskeleton to contain his contagion and support his clay-like flesh. Moreover, Payne discovered that, to survive, he periodically had to unleash his destructive power on someone else. The resultant guilt was more than he could bear, and Payne's mind snapped completely.

Pursued at last to his wax museum hideout by the Batman, Payne apparently perished in a terrible conflagration when he tried to save the beautiful wax statue with whom he had fallen in love.

Powers:
A sub-par athlete, Clayface nonetheless possessed extraordinary strength and agility as a result of the special exoskeleton he wore to support his clay-like body and protect others from his destructive touch. Since Payne's body secreted a unique enzyme capable of reducing human flesh and bone to pure protoplasm, it made Clayface one of the Batman's most dangerous foes.