Republic features had a rocket suit costume and by-god they were going to use it!
The costumed, as well as some footage, was used in multiple “rocket man” series and made-from-serials movies released in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The serials included:
King of the Rocketmen 1949. Later made into Lost Planet Airmen
Radar Men From the Moon 1952. Later made into Retik the Moon Menace
Zombies of the Stratosphere 1952. Later made into Satan’s Satellite
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe 1953
48 serial episodes, 3 feature films, one homage comic made into a feature film.
I’d say that Republic got their money’s worth our of a piece of cardboard and a handful of surplus dials, wouldn’t you?
Flying sequences shot in the first rocket man series – King – were recycled in all of the others. Of particular note as well is the robot costume – recycled as well from Zombies and Undersea Kingdom (a non-rocket man Republic serial)
This particular serial though may find more resonance than most with contemporary audiences: the threat to the world is expressed as various environmental catastrophes!
