Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) on Netflix
NR19413h 36mActionFamilyFantasySci-Fi
On an expedition in Siam, young Billy Batson is chosen by the wizard Shazam to become Captain Marvel. A hooded figure called the Scorpion covets the lenses of the Golden Scorpion idol.
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- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
An archaeological expedition searches Siam's volcanic Valley of the Tombs for the secret of the Scorpion Kingdom. Inside a sealed crypt the scientists find the Golden Scorpion, a device whose quartz lenses release a destructive ray when they are aligned; the beam explodes and reseals the crypt. Billy Batson, a young radio broadcaster with the expedition, obeyed the warning on the seal and stayed outside, and the wizard Shazam grants him the power to become Captain Marvel whenever he speaks the wizard's name, on the condition that the power serves only against the curse of the Golden Scorpion. To keep the device from any single owner, the Malcolm Archaeological Expedition divides its lenses among the scientists. Back in the United States, a hooded criminal called the Scorpion steals the device and begins collecting the lenses.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The 1941 serial was Republic's twenty-first of 66 serials and its first comic-book character adaptation; it is considered the first theatrical film adaptation of a comic-book superhero.
- After failing to license Superman, because Paramount held exclusive theatrical rights, Republic reworked its completed script with a masked hero called the Copperhead standing in for Superman, and that script became the serial Mysterious Doctor Satan.
- The flying effects, made under Howard and Theodore Lydecker, used a 7-foot papier-mache dummy weighing only 15 lbs, with four pulleys on its shoulders and calves strung on two wires so that it slid along them by its own weight.
- National took legal action to stop Republic from filming its arch rival's most successful character, citing Republic's failed Superman adaptation, but the attempt failed; director William Witney said in his court deposition that Superman and Captain Marvel were both derivatives of Popeye.
SPOILER
Robert Strange was cast as John Malcolm because his performance in King of the Royal Mounted made him the obvious choice for the Scorpion's identity, but he ended up as a diversion rather than the villain.- The flying technique had been developed for Republic's earlier serial Darkest Africa (1936) and was reused in its "rocket man" serials from 1949 to 1953, among them King of the Rocket Men, Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe.
- One Captain Marvel tunic was later worn as a Kryptonian science council member's costume in the 1951 first episode of The Adventures of Superman, its lightning bolt hidden by an oversized collar.
- Fawcett published a prose sequel to the serial, The Return of the Scorpion, in its Dime Action Books line; reusing several characters, it was Otto Binder's first writing assignment at Fawcett, where he became a prolific comics writer.
