Fred Parrish, a star football player at Harvard, is practicing in a remote area when he is struck by lightning. He manages to get to a plane to fly for help, but crashes in a very deep valley. He is brought into a subterranean lab where Dr. Benton explains that he survived thanks to Benton and some radium deposits. The accident has given him new powers that he needs to use to stop the invasion of the forces of the Green Sorceress. After defeating the Green Sorceress, he returns to the surface to fight crime.