Darkman is a 1990 American superhero horror film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. The film stars Liam Neeson as scientist Peyton Westlake, who is brutally attacked, disfigured, and left for dead by ruthless mobster Robert Durant (Larry Drake), after his girlfriend, attorney Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand), runs afoul of corrupt developer Louis Strack Jr. (Colin Friels). An experimental treatment gives Westlake super-human strength and resilience, with the unintended side-effect of rendering him mentally unstable and borderline psychotic. Consumed with vengeance, Westlake continues his research with the new goal of hunting down those who disfigured him.

After Raimi's initial desire to adapt The Shadow was turned down by Universal Studios, Raimi instead chose to create an original superhero based on a short story he wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s. It was produced by Robert Tapert, and was written by Raimi, his brother Ivan, Chuck Pfarrer, and brothers Daniel and Joshua Goldin. Artist Tony Gardner designed and created the elaborate makeup effects required to turn Neeson into Darkman.

Neeson's first action film in the main role, Darkman received generally positive reviews by critics and was commercially successful, grossing $48 million, above its $14 million budget. This financial success spawned two direct-to-video sequels (sans Neeson or Raimi) – The Return of Durant and Die Darkman Die – as well as adaptations including novels, comic books, and video games.

Dr. Peyton Westlake is a scientist developing a prototype for a new "synthetic skin" to help burn victims, but he cannot overcome a flaw that causes the skin to disintegrate after 99 minutes. His girlfriend Julie Hastings discovers an incriminating document called the "Bellasarious Memorandum" which proves that her boss, real estate developer Louis Strack Jr., has been bribing members of the zoning commission. When she confronts Strack, he confesses to the bribery because it aided in his plans for designing a new city and creating countless jobs. He warns her that the document could be sought after by high-ranking criminals for its value.

Westlake realizes that the synthetic skin is photosensitive and light causes the material to break down. However, vicious crime-boss Robert G. Durant and his armed thugs invade Westlake's lab searching for the Bellasarious Memorandum, which Julie had left behind. Westlake is tortured, while his lab-assistant Yakitito is murdered. Durant rigs the lab to explode and escapes with the document; Westlake is horrifyingly disfigured by the blast and thrown from the building.

As a John Doe, he is brought to a hospital and subjected to an experimental nerve procedure to eliminate the pain from his burns. However, as a side effect, his emotions are amplified, triggering an adrenal overload that gives him enhanced strength. Westlake awakens from a coma, escapes from the hospital, and discovers his plight. Realizing that Julie believes he's dead, he re-establishes his lab in an abandoned building, hoping to perfect his synthetic skin to fix his scarred face and body.

Overcome with anger at his circumstances, Westlake decides to seek revenge against Durant and his thugs. He finds and tortures Durant's associate Rick for information before murdering him. Westlake begins using his synthetic skin to create masks of Durant's associates while developing a talent for impressionism. He poses as the various criminals, creating distrust amongst one-another that leads them to killing one of their own, Pauly.

Westlake recreates his own face as a mask and goes to Julie. He convinces her that he was in a coma and keeps his disfigurement from her, making up excuses to leave before the synthetic skin breaks down. However, during a date at a carnival with Julie, he loses his temper and assaults a worker before fleeing. Julie follows him to the abandoned building and realizes that his face was only a mask. After tearfully confessing that she still loves him, she leaves.