Peyton Westlake (Christopher Bowen) was a scientist working on a formula for artificial skin. He is hoping to find a way to repair damaged skin tissue. His experiment worked but the artificial skin only lasts for a limited time before it begins to deteriorate. A criminal, Robert Durant (Larry Drake) wants the formula for himself. He has his henchmen attack Peyton and arranges to have his lab destroyed in an explosion. Peyton is thrown from the explosion on fire. He lands in the water and is brought to the hospital. Peyton’s life is saved but he ends up permanently scarred from the fire.
With Durant in charge, most of the police, judges, and politicians in the city are corrupt. One good cop, Jenny (Kathleen York) legally pursues Durant in the hopes of bringing him to justice for the death of her partner and lover. Peyton hopes to get Jenny on his side as he goes after the criminal element that scarred him and took away everything in life that he cared for.
When going about the city at night Peyton wears a cape and fedora. His face is swathed in bandages. Peyton takes up residence in an abandoned observatory overlooking the city. From there he works on his formula and develops masks he can wear out in public for short periods of time. Doing vigilante work against Durrant and his goons, he becomes a shadowy figure called Darkman. Disguised as anyone he wants, Peyton can exact his revenge on the man responsible for destroying his life, Robert G. Durant.
“Darkman” was done in 1992 and was directed by Brian Grant. It is an American unaired television pilot and a science fiction horror and superhero thriller episode. The film was based on Sam Raimi’s 1990 film “Darkman”. The pilot was supposed to run on Fox but was never aired.
This is kind of an origins story but it’s very disjointed. It retells everything that happened in the original movie but condenses it to the point where it’s just a bunch of action clips with some deep resonant narration. Some scenes and clips from the film were used in the episode as well as some new material. Supposedly even some stock footage from Blade Runner 1982 was used. It's really not all that good.
Larry Drake reprised his role as Robert Durant from the original film.
There were three Darkman movies made. The character was created by Sam Raimi. A comic book was later created for the character. There were some differences between the original film and the pilot.