' (translated as ''Three Giant Men'', sometimes ''Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man''; Üç Dev Adam) is a 1973 Turkish

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...

superhero film A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature action, adventu ...

, directed by T. Fikret Uçak and written by Doğan Tamer based on the characters created by

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential c ...

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which w ...

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

and Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, featuring

Aytekin Akkaya Aytekin is a Turkish masculine given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Aytekin Kotil (1934–1992), Turkish politician * Aytekin Mindan (born 1981), Turkish swimmer * Aytekin Viduşlu (born 1978), Turkish football ...

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1 ( cover dated March 1941) from T ...

and

Yavuz Selekman Yavuz Selekman (15 February 1937 – 18 March 2004) was a Turkish wrestler and film actor. He competed in the men's Greco-Roman middleweight at the 1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東� ...

as Santo called to Istanbul on a special mission to stop the villainous Spider-Man and his criminal gang. The film, which went on nationwide general release across the country on , was completely unauthorized by the copyright owners of the characters depicted. The film was popular and thus spawned other rip-offs of other major Hollywood productions

Plot

The story takes place in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, where a violent criminal organization led by Spider-Man surfaces in the city with counterfeit

United States dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

s. They also mutilate a woman's face via a

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...

propeller. A small task-force consisting of

, Santo and Captain America's girlfriend, Julia arrives to help local police stop Spider-Man and his gang. Julia, who has infiltrated Spider-Man's hideout, is captured and taken to a house in a remote location. She manages to send an

SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, that was originally established for maritime use. In formal notation is written with an overscore line, to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" ...

signal to the Captain. Captain America saves Julia and chases after Spider-Man, who manages to escape. Meanwhile,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

's national superhero/wrestler, Santo, infiltrates the

dojo A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

that is used as a front for

counterfeiting To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

. After being captured, he manages to escape along with incriminating evidence. Captain America and Santo raid a very important hideout where most of the counterfeiting operation is taking place. They manage to shut down the hideout while Spider-Man kills a couple, steals a statue and runs away. Soon afterwards, another fight between heroes and Spider-Man begins. It is revealed that Spider-Man is able to spawn duplicates of himself when killed, as one Spider-Man is beaten to a pulp by Santo and another is strangled to death by Captain America. Captain America and Santo then go undercover in a nightclub. Spider-Man's gang notice them and a fight occurs. The heroes are seemingly overpowered this time and are taken to Spider-Man's hideout. Once there Captain America and Santo act like they are fighting themselves to confuse their captors but manage to break out and eliminate most of the gang members. Spider-Man arrives at the end of the fight with his girlfriend, only to have her struck by a wild shot from the gun of one of his henchmen. He flees, with Captain America in hot pursuit. Captain America catches Spider-Man and defeats him, only to hear the taunting laugh of yet another Spider-Man. The fight continues until each Spider-Man is dead. As the heroes are about to leave Istanbul, Captain America sees what appears to be Spider-Man sitting in the back of a taxi and furiously runs to the taxi, grabs the person and immediately removes his mask only to realize that it was just a young boy wearing a red wrestling mask.

Cast

as Santo. The primary difference between this version of El Santo and the original is that the character in the film wears a wrestling mask only briefly, whereas the real-life Santo was never seen in public without one. Santo was famous during the '60s, and he was very well known in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. * Aytekin Akkaya as

. He doesn't have his shield and his mask lacks the wings on the side of his head. * Tevfik Şen as Spider-Man. He is depicted as a villain, with none of his abilities from the comics. His only superpower here is the ability to come back unharmed from death multiple times, sometimes interpreted as making clones of himself. * Doğan Tamer as Inspector Orhan * Deniz Erkanat as Julia. Captain America's girlfriend and superhero partner. * Mine Sun as Nadya. Spider-Man's girlfriend and partner in crime. * Altan Günbay as Nightclub Owner * Ersun Kazançel as Bartender * Osman Han as Bouncer * Ali Ekdal as Commissioner * Nilgün Ceylan as Janet * İhsan Baysal as Bouncer * Mehmet Yağmur as Spider-Man's henchman

Reception

The film was premiered in Mexico in 1975.

References

External links

* *{{Rotten Tomatoes, 3_mighty_men
Review of film with screenshots and clipsReview of movie at ''I-Mockery'' (contains significant plot detail)
1973 films 1970s Turkish-language films Turkish superhero films 1970s rediscovered films 1970s superhero films 1970s vigilante films Spider-Man fan films Captain America films Films set in Turkey Turkish action films Films about cloning Turkish vigilante films Cultural depictions of El Santo Turkish films about revenge Unofficial film adaptations 1970s American films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links