The pulp adventure of 'The Rocketeer' established a blueprint for the MCU

Bill Campbell suits up for high-flying adventure in 1991’s “The Rocketeer.” (Buena Vista Pictures/MovieStillsDB.com)

If you're in the mood for a tight adventure film with little on its mind other than entertaining audiences, "The Rocketeer" is a solid pick.

"The Rocketeer"
Released June 21, 1991
Directed by Joe Johnston
Where to Watch

When it was released in June 1991, "The Rocketeer" enjoyed modest success and average reviews. The pulp adventure and proto-superhero film earned a good reputation as a quiet cult favorite, but it never penetrated into cultural memory years after its original theatrical run. 

Watching "The Rocketeer" this week on Disney Plus, the streaming hub of so many Marvel productions, served as a revelation that many elements of the movie eventually found their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thanks to a consistency of period and vision for stories about heroism overcoming fascism, you can easily see the Rocketeer living in the same world as Captain America and even Indiana Jones. 

But if you're just in the mood for a tight adventure film with little on its mind other than entertaining audiences, "The Rocketeer" is a solid pick for you, too.

The movie begins with an air flight and a car chase. Pilot Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) is in the air testing out a new show plane while underneath him, FBI agents chase a group of gangsters who have stolen a state-of-the-art, experiential rocket pack designed by Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn). The criminals hide the rocket pack in Secord's hanger, which he shares with mechanic Peevy (Alan Arkin). They eventually come across the pack, which looks sleek, alien, and futuristic. They begin testing it independently.

Meanwhile, the gangsters, led by Paul Sorvino's Eddie Valentine, regroup and attempt to recover the pack. Valentine and his thugs are working for Hollywood actor Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton), who targets Secord's girlfriend, Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly). With everybody gunning for him, Secord uses the rocket pack to become the mysterious high-flying hero, the Rocketeer.

Whatever influence "The Rocketeer" might have had on Marvel movies can become a circular argument. The film was based on the independent comic book series by writer/artist Dave Stevens in 1981. Far from the four-color stylized superpowered adventures found in Marvel and DC Comics at the time, Stevens had a naturalistic, illustrated art style that played into the retro and pin-up look of the series. It didn't take a lot to imagine how the movie would look based on the comic. Stevens was also more inspired by the pulp heroes and movie serials of the 30s and 40s, which, thanks to the success of the Indiana Jones series, "Batman," and "Dick Tracy," drew a lot more interest from movie executives in the early 90s.

Decades after its original release, it's unnerving how many elements of "The Rocketeer" eventually found their way into the Marvel Studios films. The easy connection is Johnston, who would go on to direct "Captain America: The First Avenger," which introduced Steve Rogers to the MCU. In addition to sharing a director and the same relative period, both the Rocketeer and Captain America share an awkwardness around beautiful women and the desire to fight fascists in an airborne transport during the movie's climax.

But beyond that, certain visual and thematic elements in "The Rocketeer" would go on to live in the MCU. You can see shots in the first flight of the Rocketeer that are mirrored in 2008's "Iron Man," where men enjoy their first individual flight via tech. The modifications Peevy and Cliff make to the rocket pack ignite with a thumb trigger, similar to Scott Lang's Ant-Man, another movie where a hero is born out of stolen tech.

Johnston started his film career working in special effects and art direction on significant movies like "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." His directorial debut for feature films was 1989's "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," which was a hit. Screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, who created the superhero television series "The Flash" in 1990, wrote the screenplay for "The Rocketeer" that was in development for a few years. Johnston discovered the comic series on his own and was interested in adapting it, and quickly realized the project was already in development.

"I couldn't resist the idea of directing a picture based on the Dave Stevens novel," Johnston said in 2019 on the Rocketeer Minute podcast. "It was everything I was looking for up until that point. I want to capture the period, the way it looks and feels ... but I don't want it to look like it was made in the 30s. The impression I wanted was that this was a hand-tinted postcard of Los Angeles in the 30s. I wanted it to be very inviting. There's a love of Los Angeles in the 30s that I hope comes through onto the screen."

Given the clear line of Johnston working on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and then directing "The Rocketeer" and "Captain America," it's no surprise that the 1991 movie shares a lot of the same DNA of clear cut heroes and villains, exciting adventures, and even a little of the good old "feats of daring-do." But while "Raiders" and the first Cap movie were box office hits, "The Rocketeer" got lost in the shuffle. It opened in fourth place in its debut weekend, grossing $9.6 million, only half the amount of the first place movie, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." It quickly slipped down the charts after that. "The Rocketeer" ended up grossing $46.7 million during its theatrical run, making a modest return on its budget, but not enough to greenlight a sequel or two.

The movie also earned mixed reviews from critics and audiences, recording a mid-60s score on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Enter 'The Rocketeer,' a benign adventure saga that has attractive stars, elaborate gimmicks, and nice production values – everything it needs except a personality of its own," wrote Janet Maslin for The New York Times. "The idea of infusing this story with anything better than secondhand excitement appears to have been barely an afterthought, if indeed it occurred at all. Plenty of energy has gone into making this a bustling, visually clever film with an amusing late-1930's stylishness, but the purpose of such effort is uncertain. Something's gone wrong when the costumes and settings in a movie are substantially wittier than the people."

Still, "The Rocketeer" has earned a passionate group of fans over the years to become a cult favorite. Disney still owns the rights to the character and has considered various sequel and reboot opportunities over the years. A Disney Junior animated series launched in 2019 featuring Cliff's great-granddaughter, Kit Secord, inheriting the family rocket pack.

Three decades after its original release, "The Rocketeer" remains one of the great early entries into the superhero genre that has come to dominate the marketplace. The tight story, period setting, and stacked cast help distinguish the movie from its peers. If you're jonesing for your next superhero fix, fire up the jetpack (and Disney Plus) for a fun two hours.

At the Box Office: "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" held firm in its second week, earning $18.3 million with a less than 30 percent drop-off from its debut to take the top spot at the box office. To reiterate what we said last week, if you're going to pick one adventure hero movie from 1991 to watch, "The Rocketeer" is a far better bet.

"City Slickers" continues to post excellent returns with a $10.7 million weekend, good for second place. "Dying Young," a romantic drama starring Julia Roberts, makes its debut in third place, earning $9.7 million to edge out the fourth-place "Rocketeer." "Backdraft" closed out the top five with $4.5 million, bringing its total box office to $53.9 million.

In the News: Cocaine king and drug lord Pablo Escobar officially surrenders to Columbian police, although he still controlled the terms of his eventual imprisonment; the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of applying the Voting Rights Act to judicial races, opening the door for more black judges to sit on the bench; With a nod to "the more things change, the more things stay the same," The New York Times runs a front-page story, "Plan to emphasize minority culture ignites a debate," about changing philosophies in education.

Next week: "The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear"