Sam Raimi Wants to Direct a ‘Batman’ Movie
Sam Raimi is a Marvel guy. He made three Spider-Man movies in the 2000s and now he’s back in the fold, making his first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But apparently, Raimi is secretly also a DC guy, and what he really wants to make is ... a Batman movie.
That’s what he told Empire Magazine. “I’ve always loved Batman. If I ever saw the Batsignal up in the air, I’d come running,” he explained. And as for other characters that he enjoys and would be interested in exploring, he added “If I heard that deep, gurgling laugh of The Shadow coming from the darkness, I would also tentatively step outside. And Spider-Man would be ahead of Doctor Strange, but I don’t want to put him down the list!”
Raimi hasn’t made a Batman movie or a movie about The Shadow, obviously. But he sort of made an original movie that combined elements of both characters with his amazing 1990 film Darkman. That movie, starring a very young Liam Neeson, is about a brilliant scientist who creates a mask technology that allows him to change his identity for 99 minutes at a time. But his laboratory is blown up with him inside it, permanently scarring his face, and leaving him slightly insane. If you’ve never seen Darkman, it’s one of Raimi’s best films.
Here is my message to Warner Bros. about Raimi’s desire to make a Batman movie: Let him do it. Yes, you’ve got Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson making The Batman, and that’s done very well. But Warner Bros. has had multiple versions of Batman before, and next year they’ve already got two more Batmen — Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck — showing up in The Flash. So do The Batman 2, and also let Sam Raimi make his own Batman movie in another universe. That’s a win-win for everyone.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is scheduled to open in theaters on May 6, 2022.