The cliffhanger resolution at the beginning of The Scorpion Strikes quickly gives way to a fine Captain Marvel action sequence. Tom Tyler gets lots of dialogue as he threatens punks; he even throws one off a building.

He captures the last thug left ambulatory and takes him in for questioning. Only it’s not Tyler who takes him in, it’s alter ego Frank Coghlan Jr. Apparently the thug saw him transform? It’s unclear. Also unclear why the presence of Captain Marvel isn’t impressing anyone. Louise Currie gets a scene with Tyler and has zero reaction.

Coghlan’s scheme doesn’t quite work out and then he finds himself trapped by the mysterious Scorpion in a mine. The cliffhanger has the Scorpion melting away the surrounding mountain to flood the mine with molten rock. The cliffhanger setup is just Tyler panicking at not being able to escape. Pretty cool; hopefully they have a decent resolution.

There’s some excellent process shots–the rock melting and flooding. Some good stunts, including a very obvious stunt man, and a good pace keep Strikes moving.

Captain Marvel has almost entirely given up on subplots by now; in fact, it’s hard to remember it ever had them. But it’s still all right.