Flash Gordon is the protagonist of an American space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip.
Adaptations (5)
Flash Gordon has been adapted 5 times, across film and television series, from 1938 to 1982. The most recent is Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All (1982).
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars1938 · film · 299 min · dir. Ford Beebe, Robert F. Hill, Frederick Stephani · IMDb ↗IMDb6.9When a deadly Nitron ray strikes Earth, Flash Gordon and his friends travel to Mars to battle Ming the Merciless and his new ally Queen Azura.
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe1940 · film · 195 min · dir. Ford Beebe, Ray Taylor · IMDb ↗IMDb6.686%A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov.
Flash Gordon1980 · film · 111 min · dir. Mike Hodges · IMDb ↗A football player and his mates travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.
Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All1982 · film · 95 min · IMDb ↗IMDb7.5In this adaptation of the Alex Raymond comic strips, the incidents are familiar but rearranged in a new sequence, with a Hitler subplot added by writer Samual A. Peeples. It opens in Poland, with Nazi bombs falling. Flash Gordon is given a message for Dr. Hans Zarkov. Reporter Dale Arden is also looking for Zarkov, to interview him for her newspaper. Next, as in the comic strip and movie serial, their plane crashes and they join Zarkov on his rocketship to Mongo, where dinosaurs threaten them. Then, in a sequence that does not occur until much later in other versions, they are captured by the Beastmen. This is followed by the familiar first confrontation with Ming, and their first meeting with Thun the Lionman and Ming's daughter Aura. Next, in a sequence not from the strip, with Flash and Thun are made slaves in the mines of Mongo. They escape, and, as in the strip, meet Prince Barin of the Forest Kingdom and Vultan, King of the Hawkmen, (skipping over the Shark Men of the comic strip). In the movie, all of these strange people are mutants. In the comic strip, they were quickly dropped when Southern newspapers objected that images of animal men promoted the Godless doctrine of evolution, but Thun and Vultan have been popular in the many film adaptations. The fall of Vultan's sky city leads to a final battle with Ming. Earth is saved, and Flash and Dale go on to new adventures.
Flash Gordon? · television series · 60 min · IMDb ↗IMDb4.8Hometown Celebrity Steven "Flash" Gordon discovers a secret his father tried desperately to keep hidden. He then embarks on a journey to another dimension in hopes of finding his father who was believed to be killed in a fire. Flash becomes involved with the struggles of Planet Mongo. A tyrannical leader controls the only source of clean water on the planet. Flash makes many allies during his struggles leading to a Revolution.
