History Literature / CaptainFuture

* DerelictGraveyard: One of the books is titled "The Sargasso of Space." It's about an eponimous region of space into which [[SpaceIsAnOcean currents of aether]] tend to drag all kinds of ship wreckage.

* CaptainSuperhero

* WeirdScience

* Creator/SJPerelman: One of his comic essays mocks the pulpy excesses of the stories-- though the opening paragraph suggests he's enjoying them anyway, either for being SoBadItsGood or just as a straight-up GuiltyPleasure.

* SuperHero: Captain Future is quite a textbook example, being stronger, smarter, and more agile than any other human being in existence, and being also an OmnidisciplinaryScientist who is more knowledgeable than the leading scientists in any given field. His team of sidekicks isn't far behind.

* WizardsFromOuterSpace: The original concept for the character was this (he's even referred to as a ''Wizard of Science'' in the covers). Fortunately Hamilton convinced the executives to make the character more ScienceFiction than ScienceFantasy.

The series was also popular in Japan, where it inspired a 1967 tokusatsu series (under the title ''Captain Ultra'', as it was commissioned as a filler for the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' timeslot) and a 1978 anime. Sci-fi writer Creator/AllenSteele has also written several {{reconstruction}} novels, including an OriginStory ''Avengers of the Moon''.

* {{Reconstruction}}: ''Avengers of the Moon'' by Creator/AllenSteele acknowledges that TechnologyMarchesOn (for instance the ''Comet'' can't do CasualInterplanetaryTravel -- it's ferried to Mars by a SolarSail MotherShip) and SocietyMarchesOn (Grag and Otho don't call Curt 'Master'; in fact there's a FantasticRacism theme) but keeps the pulp SpaceOpera feel. There are also several SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome moments -- a young man raised in isolation would find it difficult to [[DistractedByTheSexy interact with attractive women]], for instance.

* Creator/SJPerelman: One of his comic essays mocks the pulpy excesses of the stories.

* {{Reconstruction}}: ''Avengers of the Moon'' by Creator/AllenSteele acknowledges that TechnologyMarchesOn (for instance the ''Comet'' can't do CasualInterplanetaryTravel -- it's ferried to Mars by a SolarSail MotherShip) and SocietyMarchesOn (Grag and Otho don't call Curt 'Master'; in fact there's a FantasticRacism theme) but keeps the pulp SpaceOpera feel. There are also several RealityEnsues moments -- a young man raised in isolation would find it difficult to [[DistractedByTheSexy interact with attractive women]], for instance.

* RayGun: The hero's proton blaster is shown on the pulp covers shooting a stream of ever-expanding rings. In the Creator/AllenSteele novel this is handwaved as [[BlowingSmokeRings smoke rings]] created by the [[FrickinLaserBeams invisible plasma beam]].

The series was also popular in Japan, where it inspired a 1967 tokusatsu series (under the title ''Captain Ultra'', as it was commissioned as a filler for the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' timeslot) and a 1978 anime. Sci-fi writer Creator/AllenSteele has also written an OriginStory {{reconstruction}} novel ''Avengers of the Moon''.

* StableTimeLoop: In''Planets in Peril'', the Captain went to another universe to impersonate an ancient hero who had [[KingInTheMountain promised to return when needed]]. The ending reveals that he actually travelled to the future and impersonated ''himself'', so now he will presumably promise that he will return one day, because he knows that he will.

* GiantSpider: Captain Future encounters some on some of the Solar System's planets.

* ObliviousAstronomers: ''Captain Future and the Space Emperor'' begins with a DoNotAdjustYourSet moment where a mysterious person warns of a danger; an incoming dark star that will destroy the Solar System unless all its resources are entrusted to him to avert the danger. The star is already close enough to be seen through an amateur's telescope, yet the professional astronomers have noticed nothing, so naturally, after this kind of blunder no one trusts them when they say it's merely a low-mass dust cloud. Subverted at the end; it's nothing but an enormous hologram, so naturally nothing could be detected until the projectors were turned on.

* AmericaTakesOverTheWorld: President James Carthew runs the entire solar system from his office in New York City.

* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Curt's parents, both scientists, were murdered by power-hungry politician Victor Corvos who wanted to steal their biochemical knowledge for his own schemes. Unfortunately for him Ortho and Grag prove to be ImmuneToBullets and quickly avenge their creators, leaving Curt to be raised by them and Simon Wright.