Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) ~LIVE!~ Movie Monday Feature

Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 1941 American 12-chapter black-and-white movie serial from Republic Pictures. The serial was produced by Hiram S. Brown, Jr., directed by John English and William Witney, and stars Tom Tyler as the superhero Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. as his alter ego, Billy Batson. It was adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character, who at the time appeared in the Fawcett Comics publications Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. (The character is today is owned by DC Comics).

Adventures of Captain Marvel was the twenty-first of 66 film serials produced by Republic and their first comic book character adaptation (not counting comic strips). The serial featured the Fawcett Comics superhero placed within an original screen story and is considered the first theatrical film adaptation of a comic book superhero. In the serial, a young man named Billy Batson is given the power to become the superhuman Captain Marvel in order to fight a criminal mastermind called the Scorpion. The mysterious Scorpion is determined to gain control of an ancient weapon made in the form of a large metallic scorpion whose removable lenses can activate a powerful and destructive ray.