Sam Raimi has immortalized Spider-Man for fans with his widely acclaimed trilogy starring Tobey Maguire in the lead role. Spider-Man was released around the same time as Fox Studios’ X-Men (2000), making it one of the biggest live-action superhero films at the time. Raimi’s profound work with the Marvel superhero in live-action ushered a new wave for such superhero film adaptations and got Marvel back on track from major setbacks. Raimi’s profound work with the Marvel superhero in the trilogy is often credited as an incredibly valuable contributing factor to the inception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which now stands as the highest-grossing film franchise of all time.
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And it’s that acclaim that has once again led Marvel to bring him back on board for the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While it’s established that Sam Raimi is a Marvel sensation, the director has expressed an interest in taking a detour and heading to DC for directing a film based on the fan-favorite vigilante.
Raimi, speaking to Empire Magazine, expressed his desire to direct a Batman film, as well as excitingly talked about his love for the DC Comics character. Raimi said,
Besides Batman, Raimi also talked about another comic book legend, who’s yet to be explored in live-action. And that hero is The Shadow. The Shadow, just like Batman, is an expert detective who hunts violent criminals at the night, wearing a scarf around his face and carrying guns. Talking about the character, Raimi added,
I’ve always loved Batman. If I ever saw the [Bat-signal] up in the air, I’d come running.
In fact, Raimi was once attached to a project related to The Shadow, which was a feature film Raimi would’ve co-produced with Michael Uslan for Columbia Pictures. This was in 2006 when superhero films were still gaining steady momentum. The project, however, never worked out.
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 as a Batman Movie Director
Films based on DC Comics are set in a different tone and backdrop in comparison to Marvel films. However, Raimi has earlier directed the famous horror franchise The Evil Dead along with the supernatural thriller The Gift (2000) and Drag Me to Hell (2009). Raimi’s other films where he served as a producer are mostly spanned around themes of horror, such as The Grudge Series (2004-2020), Don’t Breathe Series (2016-2021), and Crawl (2019). And now, continuing with his love for dark-themed horror films, his upcoming stint with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will explore a far more intense side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, blending genres of horror and thriller to make Marvel Studios’ most anticipated film of the year. Furthermore, his success with the original Spider-Man Trilogy makes him a perfect directorial candidate for helming a darker DC film based on Batman.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is anticipated to bring several characters from non-MCU films into the franchise via multiverse, meaning, once again, Sam Raimi will be at the center of change that Marvel Studios shall go through with this film. Raimi directs the Doctor Strange sequel from a screenplay penned by Michael Waldron. Starring an ensemble cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Xochitl Gomez, and Benedict Wong, the film is set to release on May 6, 2022.
