After starring as The Mummy, Tom Tyler played this early cinematic superhero
Can you guess which one?
"Shazam!"
...And this time, we're not talking Gomer Pyle. No, this is a story about Captain Marvel. And here's where it gets tricky: Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will know Captain Marvel as Carol Danvers, as portrayed by Brie Larson for the big screen. However, this character isn't the first Captain Marvel.
If you're a comic book expert, you might remember an altogether different Captain Marvel, this one first published in Whiz Comics #2 way back in 1939. That Captain Marvel (the one we'll be talking about from here on out) was the alter ego of Billy Batson. Billy, by invoking the name of an ancient wizard, gets struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the super-powered Captain Marvel. The secret word that turns Billy into Captain Marvel? Well, you might have heard it around Mayberry, because it is... "Shazam!"
Anyway, it wasn't long before this Captain Marvel made his way to the big screen. Mere months after the comic hit newsstands, it proved successful enough to warrant a series of cinematic serials. Adventures of Captain Marvel starred Junior Coglan as Billy Bastion.
Who donned the iconic red and yellow (er... black and white?) super suit when Captain Marvel leaped onto the silver screen? Why, that'd be Tom Tyler, who later starred in The Mummy's Hand. Even before getting all wrapped up as Kharis in 1940, Tyler was a bona fide workhorse, with hundreds of credits under his belt. Mostly, he played the lead in Western B-movies. Interestingly, MGM strongly considered Tyler for the lead role in their Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932. While Olympic hero Johnny Weissmuller would eventually don the famous loincloth, Tyler stayed booked throughout the '30s.
He must've been doing something right, as Captain Marvel wasn't the only hero Tyler would bring to the movie house. In 1943, he starred in a 15-chapter cliffhanger serial as the masked Phantom, another character straight off the page.
While he was probably great as these larger-than-life heroes, we prefer Tyler entombed in The Mummy's Hand!
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