Darkman is a 1990 American superhero 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.

Based on a short story Raimi wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s, and influenced by his desire to adapt The Shadow, Raimi struck a deal with Universal Studios to make his first Hollywood studio film. It was produced by Robert Tapert, and was written by Raimi, his brother Ivan, Chuck Pfarrer, and brothers Daniel and Joshua Goldin. Makeup effects 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.