Dr. Metz (Lou Merrill) is a scientist with a brusque manner and a habit of keeping his hands in his coat pockets. He favors caution and scientific reasoning in his approach to all problems. In the first chapter of the 1938 serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, he receives a radio message that Flash Gordon and his companions are returning to Earth. However, he is reluctant to let "Happy" Hapgood deliver the message to the press, until he learns that Professor Osborne of Williams Observatory has confirmed sighting of Zarkov's rocket ship.