Sam Raimi is Marvel movie royalty. The horror movie director not only directed the original Spider-Man movie franchise (with its frontman, Tobey Maguire, along with several other beloved Spider-Man villains making their return in Spider-Man: No Way Home) but is also bringing his special brand of horror and fantasy to Doctor Strange 2.
This latest chapter in the MCU is set to be game-changing in the Phase 4 saga, and as well as furthering the complexity of the multiverse, is also expected to deliver on a range of ambitious cameos. No pressure for Sam, then!
Raimi has known for a while that he wanted to bring Doctor Strange to the big screen — even planting a nod to the former Sorcerer Supreme in 2004’s Spider-Man 2 — but according to a new interview with Empire, he isn’t the only superhero that the action movie director has his eye on. In fact, Marvel may not even be his only cinematic universe, since, in light of The Batman’s release in theatres, Raimi revealed to Empire that he would jump at the chance of making a movie all about the Caped Crusader.
“I’ve always loved Batman,” he said. “If I ever saw the Batsignal up in the air, I’d come running.” If IMDB’s trivia list is anything to go by, Raimi has been running towards the Batsignal and trying to get his foot in that DCEU door since the 90’s.
During the early days of Batman Forever, Raimi was purportedly briefly considered to direct the thriller when scary movie stalwart Tim Burton dropped out. Of course, this ended up not happening, with Joel Schumacher eventually directing, but according to Bloody Disgusting, this isn’t the only time Raimi has had a passing dalliance with the idea of creating his own Bruce Wayne.
The outlet claimed that Raimi’s 1990 movie Darkman was heavily influenced by Batman, with the titular character coming to be after Raimi was unable to get the rights to both Batman and The Shadow.
Speaking of The Shadow, Raimi told Empire that he’d be open to doing a full movie for that, too, saying: “If I heard that deep, gurgling laugh of The Shadow coming from the darkness, I would also tentatively step outside.”
It’s uncertain what the future holds in the Sam Raimi Cinematic Universe, but one thing we do know for sure is that Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness will arrive in theatres on May, 5, 2022.