Our Forgotten Darkman: My Favorite Raimi Superhero!

Lock the doors and hide the cigar clippers—it’s time to shine some light on my favorite forgotten superhero, Sam Raimi‘s Darkman!

Darkman just celebrated its 36th anniversary and remains a groundbreaking cult classic that revolutionized the superhero genre, earning an underground fan base (myself included) that still rivals any blockbuster today. So when the rumblings of Liam Neeson’s interest in reprising his role, plus Raimi hunting down financing for a Darkman remake…I have to ask: why not just give us fans what we really want with a Darkman sequel?

Released in 1990, Darkman follows brilliant scientist Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) on the cusp of developing synthetic skin when gangsters attack him and torch his lab, leaving him horrifically disfigured and presumed dead. He survives, but an experimental treatment leaves him unable to feel pain, with superhuman strength and resilience, but prone to explosive fits of rage, rendering him mentally unstable and borderline psychotic. Emerging from the shadows with heightened strength, unstable emotions, and synthetic faces that let him impersonate his enemies—albeit for only 99 minutes—Westlake becomes Darkman: a tragic, shape-shifting vigilante out for revenge.

Fresh off his Evil Dead 2 success, Raimi met with Universal Pictures to pitch his own concept for a live-action film version of the popular comic book pulp hero, The Shadow. Unfortunately, Universal turned him down as director Robert Zemeckis was already on board. Deeply inspired by dark, gritty superhero comic books, Raimi decided to develop his own original character, Darkman.

Twelve drafts later, from various contributing writers, including Sam’s brother (, ), a doctor (who inserted medical realism and scientific grounding), and script help from long-time collaborators and roommates, and (, ), was scooped up by Universal and given a $14m budget (around $35m today) and marked Raimi’s first major Hollywood studio film.