Flash Gordon is the name of an American science fiction & adventure multimedia franchise, as well as the eponymous protagonist of the franchise. Created by cartoonist Alex Raymond in 1934, Flash Gordon was originally a comic strip published by King Features Syndicate. The comic branched out into a series of serial movies in the 1930s produced by Universal Pictures starring Buster Crabbe in the role of Flash Gordon.
The original comic strip featured the eponymous hero of Flash Gordon, who was presented as the prototypical male specimen of perfection. He was good-looking, charming, athletic, and a graduate of Yale University. Along with his paramour, Dale Arden, Flash has a chance encounter with a scientist named Doctor Hans Zarkov. Zarkov convinces them that a planet called Mongo is on a collision course with Earth, and manipulates Flash and Dale into manning a rocket ship that he designed in the hopes of halting Mongo's progress. The three take the rocket into space and land on Mongo. Stranded on the planet, they encounter the ruthless emperor, Ming the Merciless, and his seductress daughter, Princess Aura. Now faced with stopping Ming's evil plans, Flash, Dale and Doctor Zarkov pick up some allies along the way including Prince Barin of Arboria, Prince Vultan of the Hawkmen, and Prince Thun of the Lion Men.