3 Dev Adam

' (''Üç Dev Adam''; translated as ''3 Giant Men'' and sometimes referred to as ''Captain America And Santo Vs. Spider-Man'') is a 1973 Turkish superhero film directed by T. Fikret Uçak and written by Doğan Tamer, based on characters created by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Joe Simon and Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, featuring Aytekin Akkaya as Captain America and Yavuz Selekman as El Santo. Captain America and El Santo are called to Istanbul on a special mission to stop the villainous Spider-Man and the rest of his vicious heinous criminal gang.

The Turksploitation 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 many other similar major Hollywood productions.

Plot

The story unfolds in Istanbul with a violent criminal organization led by Spider-Man, a former professional wrestler turned supervillain, lashing out in the city by flooding it with counterfeit money. In a horrifying act, members of Spider-Man's organization mutilate a woman's face by using a boat propeller. In response to the crisis, a small task force, comprising Captain America, El Santo and Captain America's girlfriend and sidekick Julia come forth to assist the local police in apprehending Spider-Man and the rest of his dastardly outfit of criminal outlaws.

Julia, who successfully infiltrates Spider-Man's hideout, gets captured and transported to a remote location. Despite the perilous situation, she manages to send an SOS signal to Captain America. Captain America rescues Julia, but Spider-Man eludes capture. Simultaneously, Mexico's national professional wrestler and superhero, El Santo, infiltrates the counterfeit operation that doubles as a dojo. After being captured briefly, Santo escapes with some very important incriminating evidence.

Captain America and El Santo embark on a mission to raid a hideout central to the counterfeiting operation, successfully shutting it down. However, Spider-Man seizes the opportunity to commit further crimes, including killing a couple, stealing a statue, and fleeing the scene. Subsequently, another confrontation between the heroes and Spider-Man unfolds, revealing the ability of Spider-Man to spawn duplicates of himself spontaneously.

In an attempt to apprehend Spider-Man, Captain America and Santo go undercover in a nightclub, leading to a fierce confrontation with Spider-Man's gang. Overwhelmed, the heroes are captured and taken to Spider-Man's hideout. Captain America and Santo feign infighting, confusing their captors and enabling their escape. They eliminate most of the gang members, but Spider-Man arrives with his girlfriend.

During the ensuing chaos, Spider-Man's girlfriend is struck by a stray shot from one of his gang members. Spider-Man flees, with Captain America in pursuit. After a grueling battle, Captain America seemingly defeats Spider-Man, only to be confronted by yet another Spider-Man. The fight intensifies until each Spider-Man is ultimately defeated.

As the protagonists prepare to depart Istanbul, Captain America, driven by suspicion, notices a figure resembling Spider-Man sitting in the back of a taxi. Reacting impulsively, he runs to the taxi, then reaches inside and pulls the person's head through the window and then unmasks him, but only to surprisingly discover that it is just a very young boy wearing a Spider-Man professional wrestling mask.

Cast

* Yavuz Selekman as El Santo. The primary difference between this version of El Santo and the original Santo is that the character in the film wears his mask only during certain situations as opposed to the original never blatantly being seen out in the open with his true identity revealed when he didn't wear his mask. He is referred to mostly as Santo during most of the film and is only referred to once as El Santo. His signature costume that he wears during the film resembles mostly his traditional professional wrestling attire that he was very well known for wearing during professional wrestling matches. Santo was very famous during the 1940's, the 1950s, the 1960s, and the 1970s and he was very well known in Turkey.
* Aytekin Akkaya as Captain America. He doesn't have his shield and his mask lacks the wings by his ears, but his entire signature costume is bulletproof. He is shown with only one superpower during the film, which is being telepathic, and he only used this ability only once. He is referred to only as Captain America during the film and he is not referred to by any other name. This version of Captain America is depicted in the film as him being a superhero and also as him being a professional wrestler. His signature costume that he wears during the film resembles mostly his traditional professional wrestling attire that he was very well known for wearing during professional wrestling matches.
* Tevfik Şen as Spider-Man. He is depicted as a supervillain with none of his abilities from the comics aside from him climbing buildings and having fighting skills. He paints part of his face white and he has strands of hair sticking out of the eye holes in his mask that resemble long eyebrows. He has only two superpowers during the film. One of his only superpowers during the film is the ability to come back unharmed from death and other dismay multiple times and as well as spontaneous body duplicating in which all that is perceived as him making clones of himself. His only other superpower during the film is to make himself look like other adult males even if they are even bigger than him in what is very similar to the way that the masked vigilante known as Kilink does. He is referred to mostly as Spider during the film and is only referred to twice as Spider-Man. This version of Spider-Man is depicted in the film as him formerly being a professional wrestler. His signature costume that he wears during the film resembles very little of his traditional professional wrestling attire that he was very well known for wearing during professional wrestling matches.
* Doğan Tamer as Inspector Orhan
* Deniz Erkanat as Julia, Captain America's girlfriend and superhero sidekick.
* Mine Sun as Nadya, Spider-Man's girlfriend and supervillain sidekick.
* Altan Günbay as Nightclub Owner.
* Ersun Kazançel as Bartender.
* Osman Han as Bouncer.
* İhsan Baysal as Bouncer.
* Ali Ekdal as Bouncer.
* Nilgün Ceylan as Dancing Stripper.
* Mehmet Yağmur as Bekir, one of Spider-Man's gang members.

See also

* ''Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'' – another Turksploitation film that used ripped-off footage, most notably from ''Star Wars''

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
Unofficial Spider-Man films
Captain America films
Films set in Istanbul
Turkish action films
Films about cloning
Turkish vigilante films
Cultural depictions of El Santo
Turkish films about revenge
Unofficial film adaptations
1970s American films