Tom Ringerman (Tony Amendola) is on trial for money laundering. The case falls apart when the only witness, Madolyn Dougherty (Annabella Price), changes her testimony. What the DA, District Attorney Underwood (Ken Jenkins), doesn’t know is that Madolyn’s brother was being held hostage by Ringerman’s minions.
Later Madolyn receives a call from Ringerman telling her to meet him. Madolyn believes that her brother is going to be released but Ringerman plans on killing both of them. His plan is interrupted by a mysterious man. Wearing a trench coat, fedora and mask over half his face, the man saves Madolyn and her brother. A tape is sent to the DA, from an anonymous source, with a confession by Ringerman to the entire plot.
The mysterious man is former Judge Paul Cain (Leigh Lawson). An attempt on his life left him with severe acid burns as well as burns from a fire. He also had one hand that had to be amputated. In its place is a robotic prosthetic. Cain is now a masked vigilante on the side of good.
His assistant is Rae Wong (Maggie Han), an inmate at the local prison, with furlough rites. She is a computer wiz and a mechanical genius who creates whatever gadget he needs and hacks into whatever computer systems are required to find information. The people responsible for Cain’s injuries are police Captain David Strauss (Hector Elizondo) and his equally crooked cohort, Commissioner Peter Kinghorn (Robert Vaughn).
In the meantime, a serial killer is hunting women. The press calls him the Grim Reaper. A mental patient named Walter Donovan (Victor Bevine), ends up suspected of being the killer. The owner of the mental facility, Dr. Colin Tremaine (Gregg Henry), tells Captain Strauss about Walter’s confessions of killing the women. Cain believes Donovan is innocent. Cain launches a clandestine investigation and searches for evidence to prove Donovan’s innocence while looking for the real killer.
“Dark Avenger” was released in 1990 and was directed by Guy Magar. It is a superhero film and was a pilot for a series that was never sold. It has a similar back story to Sam Raimi’s “Darkman” 1990 but adds a couple hi-tech gizmos and a comic relief sidekick.
Cain’s vigilante origins are told in flashback. The cinematography is pretty decent and there are some noirish touches here and there. There are also a couple subplots involved. I’ve seen it advertised as a courtroom drama but very little of it happens in the courtroom. The main theme of the movie is vigilante justice. It may not have the theatrical budget and intense drama that “Darkman” had but for a made for TV movie it was good.