Liam Neeson described Sam Raimi’s 1990 film Darkman as a superhero movie that arrived roughly a decade before its time. He argued that it helped pave the way for the later wave of comic-book adaptations, making it significant as an early, darker and more unconventional entry in the genre.

Neeson plays Peyton Westlake, a scientist left badly disfigured after an attack who adopts the identity of Darkman while seeking revenge. The film was released in 1990, before the superhero boom of the 2000s, and combined Raimi’s heightened visual style with a story of trauma, vigilantism and a flawed hero.