In another world, the first comic book movie Sam Raimi directed would’ve been The Shadow. Fresh off the success of The Evil Dead and its sequel, he sought to bring the crime-fighting pulp hero to the big screen, only for Universal Studios to refuse to part with the rights. “I met with them, but they didn’t like my views at all,” he said. The director then revisited a short story he’d written, about a man who could alter his face to impersonate others. Denied a shot at adaptation, Raimi set out to deliver an original.
The result was Darkman, a gripping yet goofy tale of rage, revenge, and a renewed chance at lost love, starring a pre-action hero Liam Neeson as a tortured scientist. Inspired by the Universal horror movies of the ‘30s, Darkman was imbued with the look and feel of a comic book, combining kinetic camerawork with images that burst across the screen. Darkman scored terribly in previews, but was critically well-received and commercially successful, spawning two sequels, albeit without Raimi or Neeson. But its visual flair and characterization would also form the blueprint for the director’s next superhero outing, the Spider-Man trilogy.
