The history of superheroes is often traced back to pulp novels and comic strips, but it was the paired episodic formats of radio and serial films that truly brought superheroes into the mainstream. Characters such as the Shadow dominated radio airwaves from 1932 onward, yet by 1941, one radio superhero had achieved such popularity that his second film serial amounted to an early reboot. It wasn’t or or any of DC’s heroes, but a masked vigilante known as the Green Hornet. And 85 years ago, on January 4, 1941, the second serial centered on this character debuted in theaters with the over-the-top title The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
Viewing The Green Hornet Strikes Again! today tends to spark two conflicting responses. On one hand, it’s striking how well it endures, and how much modern superhero and sci-fi storytelling owes to it. Yet this superhero adventure is also steeped in the peculiar narrative fixations of its time, making it feel like an excessively long superhero crime show lacking a central protagonist.
Conceived by Fran Striker and George W. Trendle, the Green Hornet first emerged as a radio character in 1936. Though later linked to Batman due to the 1966 Green Hornet TV series being a sister show to the 1966 Batman, the character and his sidekick Kato are not part of DC Comics’ roster—instead, they belong to the extended universe of The Lone Ranger. Seriously! In the radio program, Britt Reid (the Green Hornet’s alter ego) is the son of Dan Reid Jr., and the nephew of the original Lone Ranger. Even in the 1930s and ’40s, superheroes had interconnected mythologies and unnecessarily convoluted canons.
By 1941, the popularity of the The Green Hornet radio show led to a successful movie serial, also titled The Green Hornet. It starred Gordon Jones in the lead role, though his voice was dubbed by radio actor Al Hodge—a scenario akin to Ashley Eckstein replacing Rosario Dawson’s voice for . Yet by 1941, The Green Hornet Strikes Again! recast the title character, swapping Jones for Warren Hull as a slightly more affable version of Britt Reid, akin to the difference between George Clooney’s Batman and Val Kilmer’s Batman.
The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, whether viewed as a piece of superhero history or a late-night Tubi binge, is a more engaging watch than many contemporary superhero tales. Its simplicity and the Green Hornet’s unexpected believability set it apart. Batman may have been edgy because police saw him as a criminal, but the Green Hornet takes it further: he also convinces criminals he’s one of them, making his ability to blackmail and strong-arm others more plausible.
Like many Golden Age comic book characters, Britt Reid is a newspaperman—a detail that, in The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, is his least compelling trait. The premise that the press is directly tied to a mafia-style racketeering ring is at best absurd and, across the serial’s 15 episodes, highly repetitive. As with many old serials, the Green Hornet is kept from making significant progress to ease the creation of cliffhangers. He may don his mask and gas pistol frequently, with each episode declaring “the Green Hornet Strikes Again!”, but in reality, he spends most of his time getting overwhelmed.
This is the dual appeal of The Green Hornet Strikes Again!. It’s entertaining to watch the cyclical plots of the Green Hornet trying to outmaneuver each member of the racketeering ring, as the low stakes let you multitask (like folding laundry) while it plays. Yet it’s worth remembering that, in its time, this serial was gripping and innovative.
Similar to the era’s Flash Gordon serials, The Green Hornet Strikes Again! opens each episode with a text crawl recap—now retroactively evocative of Star Wars. Set in a cramped city, if you sense a hidden space opera vibe in its tone, you’re not mistaken. The serial was edited by Saul A. Goodkind, who also worked on the 1939 Buck Rogers and the final 1940 Flash Gordon serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, while co-director Ford Beebe helmed Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars in 1938. Though the Green Hornet’s world is rooted in a vague version of reality, the theatricality of its storytelling is deeply connected to classic science fiction.
By 1966, the The Green Hornet TV series starring Van Williams and reimagined Britt and Kato in a way that remains unmatched. Keye Luke delivers a strong performance as Kato in The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, but Bruce Lee—well, he’s Bruce Lee—and that 1960s iteration is undeniably cooler and more entertaining than its 1930s and 1940s predecessors.
Still, the groundwork for translating this radio hero to screen began with the movie serials. And in The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, enthusiasts of adventure stories and pulp fiction will find ample to appreciate. This wasn’t the greatest hero of all, but it was equally strange and thrilling. What more could one expect from a release 85 years in the past?