Superman vs. the Arctic Giant

Twelve years before Godzilla first stomped across the screen, the animators of Fleischer Studios set the iconic hero Superman against a “Tyrannosaurus” that threatened the citizens of Metropolis. In the cartoon “The Arctic Giant,” a dragon-like creature found frozen in Siberia is transported to the city. When the machinery keeping it cool malfunctions, however, the angry green giant thaws and decides to paint the town red.

This, of course, is a job for Superman, who cleans up after the monster before trapping it under a lamppost. (Perhaps the dinosaur was weakened by freezer burn and that is why it was so easily subdued.) The monster is not destroyed, but is instead put on display at the city zoo. With everything neatly cleaned up, Superman goes back to posing as Clark Kent and making strange comments whenever anyone asks him about the city’s most famous hero.

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.