ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL
It’s hard to imagine a time when superheroes weren’t heavily featured on the big screen, but back in 1941 the medium of comic books was still fairly new and the genre of superheroes even newer.
The first superhero to make it to the silver screen? Fawcett Comics Captain Marvel in 1941’s serial from Republic Pictures ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, regarded by many serial fans as one of the greatest serials of all time.
It didn’t start out that way, Republic had negotiated with National Comics to bring Superman to the screen in this serial and it was only after the comic publisher complained about changes Republic was making in its script (Republic was notorious for this) and Fawcett Comics offering their characters with no licensing fee was the Superman Serial broken down into two different serial offerings from that company; 1940’s MYSTERIOUS DR SATAN features the actors who were cast as Clark Kent and Lois Lane and even features what was supposed to be an army of mechanical men for the Man of Steel to battle, and ADV OF CAPT MARVEL which was able to use the spectacular flying sequences the special effects team had already developed.
Utilizing a half scale dummy attached to wires which was then pushed along a nearly invisible wire looked convincing on film. At times the film was shot and then reversed so Captain Marvel could appear to be flying up from the ground to the top of a building, it was clever and very effective.
This was combined with a screen projection image shot behind the actor playing the Captain which was a first for Hollywood– the effect had been done with planes and even dirigibles but this was the first time an actor was hung from wires in front of a projected image– and it too worked!
Speaking of the actor, Tom Tyler was perfectly cast as Captain Marvel. A cowboy star and weightlifter Tyler looked every bit the part of the early comics Marvel had appeared in. It’s worth noting that this version of Captain Marvel is not the bright and cheery Fred MacMurray style character which would eventually eclipse Superman in sales, this early Cap wasn’t against taking out the bad guys, sometimes using their own machine guns against them, other times dropping an engine block on them, and even tossing a few off of high buildings when he didn’t like what they told him. This was a two fisted he-man superhero designed to appeal to pre-teen boys who liked their heroes tough!
As Billy Batson, Frank Coghlin was cast because of his boyish nature, but rather than being a kid-radio reporter of about 12 as he was in the comics, the serial cast him as more of a 20 something young man. He was good in his role and looked suitably enough like Tyler to make the whole concept work.
An interesting side note, unlike the current film version of SHAZAM, Captain Marvel seemed to exist as a completely different person than Billy when he was transformed, more akin to taking his place than altering his personality.
Through its twelve chapter run Captain Marvel ruthlessly tracked down the mysterious Scorpion, a cloaked and hooded villain who was secretly one of the members of Billy Batson’s own group. Actor Gerald Mohr, who would portray Reed Richards in the 1960s FANTASTIC FOUR cartoons, was cast as the voice of The Scorpion, giving his rich deep voice to keep the villains identity a secret until the final chapter.
Taking liberties with the Captain Marvel Comics, we still had Shazam the Wizard giving Billy the powers to change to Cap whenever he spoke his name, but this time it was with the sole purpose of protecting an ancient device stolen by The Scorpion, and when the serial ended and the bad guy was defeated, Captain Marvel disappeared too.
The serial itself was a big hit with audiences and sequels were planned but Republic opted to go with fellow Fawcett character SPY SMASHER as their next big superhero epic.
Superworld Comics has been in business for thirty years, buying and selling vintage comic books! If you’ve got a collection you are ready to part with give us a call at the number listed at the top of the website, and be sure to tune in to Instagram for Superworld Live Shows; Teddy’s Treasure Chest Tuesdays is on at 6pm and Lunch With Jose in on Thursdays at 1pm. Each show features great comic books at bargain prices and check out our website for thousands more books available!