What Was the First Movie Adaptation of a Comic Book?

Superman may have been the first comic book superhero, but when it came to leaping tall buildings and moving from the page to the picture house, the Man of Steel wasn’t top dog.

The very first movie adaptation of a comic book was actually based on Supes’ main competition Captain Marvel, the Fawcett Comics hero created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker. "Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941) was a 12-chapter serial released by Republic Pictures, a company that specialized in churning out B-movie westerns and action adventures. Budgeted at nearly $150,000 -- rather expensive for a serial of the era -- Adventures of Captain Marvel starred weightlifting champ Tom Tyler as the titular hero, who appears whenever young Billy Batson says ‘Shazam!’

"Adventures of Captain Marvel" is generally regarded as one of the very best of Republic’s 26 movie serials. The cinematic exposure is also credited with making Captain Marvel the best-selling comic book of the 1940s – outselling even Clark Kent’s alter-ego.

The irony of Captain Marvel being the first comic book movie star is that the character has become an afterthought during this, the Golden Age of superhero films.

The Big Red Cheese hit hard times in the 50s, when comic sales plummeted. After DC took over the character license, it tried to revive interest with the mid-70s live-action TV series “Shazam!” A new Shazam! Movie is in development, with Peter Segal attached to direct and Geoff Johns writing the screenplay.

As for Superman, he would have been the first comic book movie star had negotiations between Republic and National Comics (now DC Comics) not broken down. Instead, Superman wouldn’t make his big-screen debut until 1948 (Kirk Alyn wore the tights), seven years after Captain Marvel.

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