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"The Sinister Soothsayer": A man in a flamboyant wizard's costume makes some strikingly accurate predictions of the future: Steamboat will get a raise, a gambler will win on a 100-to-1 bet, and a stock speculator will double his money on a long shot investment. The latter two die, however, the g

Captain Marvel Adventures #21 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1943.

Synopsis for "The Sinister Soothsayer"

A man in a flamboyant wizard's costume makes some strikingly accurate predictions of the future: Steamboat will get a raise, a gambler will win on a 100-to-1 bet, and a stock speculator will double his money on a long shot investment. The latter two die, however, the gambler knifed by a thief for the thick wad of bills he won, and the speculator having a heart attack from the excitement of his investment succeeding. The soothsayer also knew they would die exactly as they did, but didn't say so, jaded with the curse of knowing everything before it happens.

When Steamboat points out the Soothsayer whose predictions led to the deaths of the two men, Billy transforms and tries to take him to the police. In the course of their tussle the Soothsayer falls under the wheels of a truck, but sits up completely unharmed. The Soothsayer explains his story to Captain Marvel.

He was a child 10,000 years ago during the time of the gods, and tried to peer over the wall of the home of the higher beings, but was caught in the act. The divinity who caught him decides to punish his thirst for knowledge man was not meant to have by giving it to him: from then on he would know of everything before it happened, and would have eternal life to ponder his rash decision. Nothing's been able to free him of his curse, even when he asked Solomon and Hercules to end his misery.

Captain Marvel ruminates aloud he might able to do something, since he has all their powers and more. In the end he decides he hasn't the right to take a life, no matter how much the person wishes it. The Soothsayer boards a plane he knows is going to crash, hoping the impact will finally kill him. Captain Marvel prevents the crash, and since his knowledge of the future was foiled, the curse over the Soothsayer is broken and he dies, much to his relief.

Appearing in "The Sinister Soothsayer"

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  • Soothsayer (Dies)
  • Unnamed god

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Synopsis for "The Honesty Ray"

Dr. Goodsoul invents an "honesty ray" that makes anyone he shines it on act good and honest. Captain Marvel finds this out by accident when he attacks a pair of hoods apparently sneaking into a bank to rob it when they were actually sneaking in to return the money they stole before.

Finding out about the ray from Goodsoul, Marvel asks to put it to the ultimate test by using it on Hitler himself. But Der Fuhrer's evil is so strong he struggles against the ray for a couple pages and ultimately burns it out with no effect except for the confusion of his aides.

Captain Marvel returns the ray to Goodsoul to be repaired. During the night Goodsoul uses the ray on the entire city, but instead of making everyone good they instead become violent and immoral. Captain Marvel tries to intervene but a whole city of people is more than even he can stop, and he discovers Goodsoul's ray is the cause. Determining that Hitler's evil was so strong it not only broke the ray, it infected the ray and reversed its effects, Cap destroys it and returns things to normal.

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Synopsis for "The Imported Ghost"


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Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the Time He Didn't Show Up!"

Billy has a throat cold and can't say his magic word, and has to fake Captain Marvel being around until he recovers.

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Trivia

  • "The Sinister Soothsayer" is mentioned in the pages of Captain Marvel, Jr. #4, where Sivana feels confident launching his new scheme while Captain Marvel's attention is focused on another opponent.


See Also


Links and References

Superboy Vol 4 69
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