History Film / TheAdventuresOfCaptainMarvel

* DamselInDistress: Betty, the female lead, does end up in dangerous situations, though does seem to be a competent character in her own right, such as in episode four, where she manages to kick the chair out from under her guard and jump in the nearby car to escape... straight into a wall which knocks her out and sends her careening into a building.

* ShootingSuperman: No matter how many bullets Captain Marvel [[NoSell shrugs off]], the villains just keep on shooting. This is uniquely {{Justified}} for two reasons. As the first portrayal of an invulnerable superhero on film it arguably pre-dates the trope for much of viewing audience. Also, in-universe, Captain Marvel is the first and only superhero and the "reality" of an invulnerable person wouldn't be widely known or believed.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: If you're wondering where the rest of the Marvel Family is, they weren't in the comics yet when this was made.

* IAmNotShazam: Averted. VHS and DVD covers of this serial are one of the only instances where you can find the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel called by his name on the box art.

* CluelessMystery: The Scorpion is [[TheMole secretly one of the original scientists]] of the Malcolm Expedition. The story is filled with red herrings and false clues as to his identity and it could be argued that it is not possible to determine who the Scorpion is based upon what it presented in the story.

* DamselInDistress: Betty, the female lead, does end up in dangerous situations, though does seem to be a competent character in her own right, such as in episode four, where she manages to kick the chair out from under her guard and jump in the nearby car to escape... [[spoiler:straight into a wall which knocks her out and sends her careening into a building.]]

* GoBackToTheSource: [[spoiler:One of the scientists hid his lens back in the vault where they were originally found]], requiring the Expedition to return there near the end of the film.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: Captain Marvel makes it difficult, but [[spoiler:he is unable to stop the Scorpion from collecting all the lenses for the Golden Scorpion and killing the scientists holding them.]]

* ShootingSuperman: No matter how many bullets Captain Marvel [[NoSell shrugs off]], the villains just keep right on shooting. This is uniquely {{Justified}} for two reasons. As the first portrayal of an invulnerable superhero on film it arguably pre-dates the trope for much of viewing audience. Also, in-universe, Captain Marvel is the first and only superhero and the "reality" of an invulnerable person wouldn't be widely known or believed.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The serial was made before Mary and Freddie, let alone the rest of the Golden Age Marvel Family were added to the comics' cast.

* CliffHanger: It's a 1940's serial so of course every chapter ends in a CliffHanger. Managed despite Captain Marvel's NighInvulnerability by either placing his mortal alter ego in danger, presenting him with a threat actually capable of harming him or placing someone else in danger and leaving the audience wondering if he'll be able to rescue them in time.

* HandWave: Plot contrivances like how Billy ends up appearing right after Captain Marvel leaves or how Captain Marvel always seems to immediately know when a member of the Malcolm Expedition is in trouble are addressed with classic dialog like "Don't worry about that now..." or "I'll tell you about that later..." which are always accepted without question.

** The secret of The Scorpion's true identity drives much of the plot.

** At one point The Scorpion takes a bullet to his hand. When Billy learns of this he creates a ruse to reveal which of the scientists has an injured hand; but the one who has a clearly bandaged hand ultimately proves to be innocent and we never learn how he injured his hand, nor how The Scorpion managed to hide his own injury.

* ShootingSuperman: No how many bullets Captain Marvel [[NoSell shrugs off]], the villains just keep right on shooting. This is uniquely {{Justified}} for two reasons.
As the first portrayal of an invulnerable superhero on film it arguably pre-dates the trope for much of viewing audience. Also, in-universe, Captain Marvel is the first and only superhero and the "reality" of an invulnerable person wouldn't be widely known or believed.

* ShootingSuperman: No how many bullets Captain Marvel [[NoSell shrugs off]], the villains just keep right on shooting. Uniquely {{Justified}} in that Captain Marvel is the first and only superhero in-universe and the concept of an invulnerable person just isn't widely known.

** The Scorpion speaks with a [[LarynxDissonance distinctly unique voice]]. When a mook is captured who could recognize the villain's voice, he is brought into the scientists' presence; but none of them speak with The Scorpion's voice. The Scorpion is even given [[CastAsAMask his own acting credit]], while the actor who only provided the voice is uncredited.

* CluelessMystery: The Scorpion is [[TheMole secretly one of the original scientists]] of the Malcolm Expedition. In order to keep all options open and to prevent viewers from guessing too easily which of them it is, several red herrings and false clues had to be planted, as well as a few outright cheats:
** The Scorpion speaks with a [[LarynxDissonance distinctly unique voice]]. When a mook is captured who could recognize the villain's voice, he is brought into the scientists' presence; but none of them speak with The Scorpion's voice.
** As stated above, The Scorpion is given [[CastAsAMask his own acting credit]], while the actor who only provided the voice is uncredited.

** Speaking of the scientists, every last one of them tends to act in a cagey and shifty manner. And not in a "I fear one of the others is the villain" way, either, but in a "I hope they're not onto me" way.
** At one point The Scorpion takes a bullet to his hand. When Billy learns of this he creates a ruse to reveal which of the scientists has an injured hand; but the one who is outed ultimately proves to be innocent (although we never learn how he injured his hand, nor how The Scorpion managed to hide his own injury).

* FailedASpotCheck: Billy and Betty are trying to open one scientist's safe, which safe is guarded by a DeathTrap: a couple of automatic machine guns which emerge from a hole in the wall. As he repeatedly glances at Betty who is feeding him the combination, Billy several times looks in the exact direction of the trap, but never sees it.

* CliffhangerCopout:
** In one cliffhanger, Billy and Betty are held prisoner in an old shack on a bombing range. Bombs are dropped, the shack is hit and we clearly see debris falling on the bound and gagged Billy as the shack blows up. Next episode, Billy manages to de-gag himself and transform JustInTime to save himself and the conveniently knocked-out Betty '''before''' the bombs have even been dropped.
** Another cliffhanger has Billy and Betty trapped on a sinking ship. Next episode, they simply swim to shore, undertow be damned.

** Captain Marvel, of course. Downplayed in that no one really suspects he even has a secret identity, since he doesn't wear a mask and doesn't overly resemble anyone they're familiar with.

* ShootingSuperman: No how many bullets Captain Marvel [[NoSell shrugs off]], the villains just keep right on shooting.

* GoBackToTheSource: [[spoiler:One of the scientists hid his lense back in the vault where they were originally found]], requiring the Expedition to return there near the end of the film.

* ShootingSuperman: No how many bullets Captain Marvel {{No-Sell}}s, the villains just keep right on shooting.

Back in the 1940's, [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] was quite the trend setter. He was one of the first superhero to really utilize multi-issue storylines and continuity (including the Monster Society of Evil ongoing story that lasted 22 issues), the first hero who literally [[HenshinHero transform from a normal mortal]] into a [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull superpowered alter ego]] , one of the first true FlyingBrick in comics (combining true flight with strength and invulnerability even before Superman), his sister Mary Marvel was the second DistaffCounterpart in comics (right after Hawkgirl), and in this instance, the first superhero to appear on the big screen.

All is not lost though. Billy Batson, who was along to report on the discovery, chose not desecrate the tomb, is secretly chosen by the wizard Shazam to see to it that the Scorpion Idol is not used for evil. To do this, Billy is granted the power to become Captain Marvel by speaking the wizard's name. Using the power of Captain Marvel and his own resources, Billy must uncover the secret of the Scorpion's identity and prevent the master criminal from taking over the world.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Most of the cast are these, as its the discovery of an ancient tomb and the MacGuffin within it that gets the plot going. Interestingly enough, Billy Batson was not primarily an AdventurerArchaeologist, instead being a news reporter who was both covering the Malcolm Expedition and sort of being an apprentice archaeologist learning the trade.
* AgeLift: Captain Marvel's alter-ego Billy Batson is a 12-year-old boy in the comics. In this serial however,although he is still the youngest member of the expedition, he is clearly already somewhere in his twenties.

* HandWave: Plot contrivances like how Billy ends up appearing right after Captain Marvel leaves or how Captain Marvel always seems to immediately know when a member of the Malcolm Expeditionis in trouble are addressed with classic dialog like "Don't worry about that now..." or "I'll tell you about that later..." which are always accepted without question.

* HandWave: Plot contrivances like how Billy ends up appearing right after Captain Marvel leaves or how Captain Marvel always seems to know when Billy is in trouble are addressed with classic dialog like "Don't worry about that now..." or "I'll tell you about that later..." which are always accepted without question.

* BoundAndGagged: Since to become Captain Marvel, Billy has to say the magic word, he ends up being gagged a lot. Ironically, the villains have no clue he's Captain Marvel until the very end when the Scorpion sees his transformation from a distance. Greedy to learn the secrets of Captain Marvel, the Scorpion has Billy captured and brought to him bound and gagged. After threatening to kill Betty to force him to reveal his secret, it leads to this very satisfying exchange:

* FailureHero: Captain Marvel surprisingly. He was empowered to protect people from the curse of the scorpion, and while he does handily win all fights, he utterly fails to prevent the expedition members from being killed off and their lenses gathered one after another by the villain. Things only turn around right at the when the idol's completed and it's do or die.

* DarkerAndEdgier: At least compared to the modern comics. Here, the villain goes around murdering scientists for their lenses, and even Captain Marvel is willing to threaten and, in some cases, ''kill'' his opponents. This serial was created when the comic series was still very young, and wouldn't be made lighter and relatively comedic until later.

* DarkerAndEdgier: At least compared to the modern comics. Here, the villain goes around murdering scientists for their lenses, and even Captain Marvel is willing to threaten and, in some cases, ''kill'' his opponents.

Back in the 1940's, [[{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] was quite the trend setter. He was one of the first superhero to really utilize multi-issue storylines and continuity (including the Monster Society of Evil ongoing story that lasted 22 issues), the first hero who literally [[HenshinHero transform from a normal mortal]] into a [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull superpowered alter ego]] , one of the first true FlyingBrick in comics (combining true flight with strength and invulnerability even before Superman), his sister Mary Marvel was the second DistaffCounterpart in comics (right after Hawkgirl), and in this instance, the first superhero to appear on the big screen.