Shadow film shorts (1931–1932)

The Shadow Strikes (1937)

International Crime (1938)

The Shadow (1940)

The Shadow Returns, et al (1946)

Invisible Avenger (1958)

The Shadow (1994)

When Bob Kane and Bill Finger first conceived of the "Bat-Man," Finger suggested they pattern the character after pulp mystery men such as The Shadow.^[3] Finger then used "Partners of Peril"^[24]—a Shadow pulp written by Theodore Tinsley—as the basis for Batman's debut story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate."^[25] Finger later publicly acknowledged that "my first Batman script was a take-off on a Shadow story"^[26] and that "Batman was originally written in the style of the pulps."^[27] This influence was further evident with Batman showing little remorse over killing or maiming criminals and not being above using firearms.^[27] Decades later, noted comic book writer Dennis O'Neil would have Batman and The Shadow meet in Batman #253 (November 1973) and Batman #259 (December 1974) to solve crimes.^[28] In the former, Batman acknowledged that The Shadow was his biggest influence.^[29]

Additionally, characters such as Batman resemble Lamont Cranston's alter ego.^[30]

The Shadow is also mentioned by science fiction author Philip Jose Farmer as being a member of his widespread and hero-filled Wold-Newton family.

Alan Moore has credited The Shadow as one of the key influences for the creation of V, the title character in his DC Comics miniseries V for Vendetta,^[31][32] that later became a Warner Bros. feature film released in 2006.

Silent serials

. Fantômas (1913)

Juve Contre Fantômas (1913)

Le Mort Qui Tue (1913)

Fantômas Contre Fantômas (1914)

Le Faux Magistrat (1914)

The silent film pioneer Louis Feuillade directed five Fantômasserials starring René Navarre as Fantômas, Bréon as Juve, Georges Melchior as Fandor, and Renée Carl as Lady Beltham. They are regarded as masterpieces of silent film. His later serialLes Vampires, which concerns the eponymous crime syndicate (and not actual vampires) is also reminiscent of the Fantômas series.

There was a 1920 20-episode American Fantômas serial directed by Edward Sedgwick starring Edward Roseman as Fantômas, which bore little resemblance to the French series. In it, Fantômas'sô nemesis is detective Fred Dixon, played by John Willard. It was partially released in France (12 episodes only) under the title Les Exploits de Diabolos (The Exploits of Diabolos). A novelization of this serial was written by David White for Black Coat Press under the title Fantômas in America in 2007.[3]In France alone, Fantômas spawned numerous imitators. Among those are Arnould Galopin's Tenebras, Gaston René's Masque Rouge, Arthur Bernède's Belphégor, R. Collard's Demonax and Marcel Allain's own Tigris, Fatala, Miss Teriaand Ferocias.^[8]Fantômas has appeared in an unauthorized fashion in two French stage plays: Nick Carter vs. Fantômas (1910) by Alexandre Bisson and Guillaume Livet (translated, ISBN 978-1-934543-05-4) and Sherlock Holmes vs. Fantômas (La Mort d' Herlock Sholmes, ou Bandits en Habits Noirs, 1914) by Pierre de Wattyne and Yorril Walter (translated, ISBN 978-1-934543-67-2).A number of Italian super-villains of the 1960s were clearly influenced by Fantômas. Among the most famous are Diabolik, Kriminal, Killing, andSatanik.The British film critic and writer Kim Newman has argued that Fantômas inspired the Pink Panther film series starring Peter Sellers.^[1] In the initial 1963Pink Panther film, Fantômas was transformed into Sir Charles Lytton (the Phantom), and Inspector Juve became Inspector ClouseauFantômas also has many plot points in common with the 1969 Hong Kong movie Temptress of a Thousand Faces.^[9]Paperinik, a superhero alter-ego of Donald Duck created by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi in 1969, is partly based on Fantômas. His predecessor, Fantomius, was obviously also named after Fantômas. In France, the character is known as Fantomiald; in Germany, as Phantomias and in Spain, as Patomas.Fantômas inspired Julio Cortázar's 1975 novella Fantomas contra los vampiros multinacionales.A character in the Doctor Who novel The Man in the Velvet Mask (1996) is named Fantômas.Fantomas was the inspiration for the character Mr. Ixnay, who appears in The Chuckling Whatsit, a 1997 graphic novel by writer/artist Richard Sala, creator of Invisible Hands, an animated homage to old-fashioned mystery thrillers which aired on MTV.In 1999, Mike Patton named his rock group Fantômas after the fictional character.There is a Marvel Comics character named Fantomex, first appearing in August 2002. He was created by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey for the title New X-Men.In one of the back-story sections of the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II, Fantômas is described as being a member of "Les Hommes Mystérieux", the French counterpart of the League, alongside Arsène Lupin, the sky-pirateRobur, and the Nyctalope.[10]In the follow-up, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, the League's encounter with Les Hommes is halted once Fantômas detonates a bomb which destroys the Opera Garnier, after saying in unaccented English, "I win".In the French version of the extended Wold Newton universe, Jean-Marc Lofficier has theorized that Fantômas may be the son of Rocambole and his lover and enemy, Ellen Palmure.[11]The character of Spectrobert in Gahan Wilson's book Everybody's Favorite Duck is a direct parody of Fantômas.Fantômas makes a brief appearance in Kim Newman's novel The Bloody Red Baron.Fantômas is a partial inspiration for the character of Phantom Limb on the Adult Swimcartoon The Venture Bros. His last name, in fact, is Fantômas. A picture similar in appearance to the masked villain can be seen hanging on the wall of his office at State University in "The Invisible Hand of Fate". It is revealed that Phantom Limb is actually the grandson of the famous criminal. Fantômas himself briefly appears in the series during a flashback in the season 3 episode "ORB" as one of the original members of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.Fantômas has a German cousin in the person of the (supposedly British) Lord Lister.The end of David Eveleigh's superhero pastiche All Hallows Eve teases a future battle between Fantômas and Eve (the book's protagonist). Eveleigh later penned 3 All Hallows Eve Vs. Fantômas short stories, subtitled The Spectre Of Crime,The Woman In White andKiss And Live To Tell respectively.In the story "Fantômville" by Nick Campbell, in the collection Wildthyme in Purple, Fantomas meets the time traveller Iris Wildthyme.In "The Artist", Jean Dujardin wears a masque and a costume similar to Juve's.in the movie version of Alan Moore's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", the Fantom (a character resembling the title character from The Phantom of the Opera) owes more than a little to Fantômas, although he is ultimately revealed to be M, who in turn is revealed to beProfessor Moriarty.In the movie District 13 when police captain Damien Tomaso goes undercover to recruit Leito he introduces himself as "Fantômas." Leito recognizes that Damien is a cop and insists on taking charge saying that from now on "I am Fantômas.

« Fantômas qui êtes aux Cieux / Sauvez la Poésie. »

(Ernst Moerman, Fantômas, 1933)

« Allongeant son ombre immense / Sur le monde et sur Paris, / Quel est ce spectre aux yeux gris / Qui surgit dans le silence ? / Fantômas, serait-ce toi / Qui te dresses sur les toits ? »

(Robert Desnos, Complainte de Fantômas, in Fortunes, Gallimard, 1953)

« Les femmes Pacheco lisaient / dans la nuit Fantômas / à haute voix / tendant l'oreille / autour du feu, dans la cuisine, / et je dormais en entendant / les prouesses, / les mots du poignard, les agonies »

(Pablo Neruda, Mémorial de l'Île Noire, 1960-1963)

« Je n'aurai jamais l'imprudence, / Fantômas, de parler de toi. / J'ai trop peur de ton ombre immense / Se dressant sur mon propre toit. »

(Claude Veillot, À Fantômas)

« J'ai toujours été un homme qui passe / Un homme qui n'a jamais donné d'amour en retour / Un jour Superman, un jour Fantômas / Un homme qui s'efface sans laisser de traces. »

(disque Cindy Cendrillon 2002)

« Fantômas nous enchante d'un bout à l'autre par sa désobéissance aux règles et par le courage instinctif avec lequel il survole l'intelligence si dangereuse par le contrôle qu'elle oppose à l'audace et par son frein qui paralyse le cours vertigineux du génie. (…) Notre époque éprouve, dirait-on, les angoisses de la vieillesse qui se retourne vers son passé. (…) Bref, on réédite les fables modernes : Arsène Lupin, Rouletabille, Chéri-Bibi sortent de leur tombe. (…) Mais Fantômas les surclasse sous le masque et la cape que Rastignac eût aimé porter pour vaincre ce Paris que le monstre légendaire tient sous son pied comme un dragon qui terrasserait saint Georges. »

(Jean Cocteau, Le Figaro littéraire, 1961)

« Reconstituer le Paris du temps de Fantômas serait aussi coûteux que reconstruire le Paris de Louis XIV. Projet à reprendre dans un monde où l'action sera la sœur du rêve. »

(René Clair, lettre à Marcel Allain, 1969)