King of the Rocket Men is a 1949 12-chapter movie serial from Republic Pictures,[2] produced by Franklin Adreon, directed Fred C. Brannon, that stars Tristram Coffin, Mae Clarke, Don Haggerty, House Peters, Jr., James Craven, and I. Stanford Jolley.

An evil genius of unknown identity, calling himself "Dr. Vulcan" (heard only as a voice and seen as a mysterious shadow on a brightly lit wall), plots to conquer the world.

He soon outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin) with an advanced, atomic-powered rocket backpack, attached to a leather jacket with a bullet-shaped, aerodynamic flight helmet, and a raygun that they had been developing together.

Using the flying jacket, helmet and other inventions provided by Dr. Millard, and aided by magazine reporter and photographer Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke), Jeff King, as Rocket Man, battles Vulcan and his henchmen through a dozen action-packed Republic serial chapters.

The first was made of lighter-weight materials and worn only during the various stunt action scenes; during filming, the single-hinged visors on both helmets frequently warped and would stick open or closed.

King of the Rocket Men lacks a colorful costumed villain along the lines of Republic's earlier serials Adventures of Captain Marvel and The Crimson Ghost.

Several shots in the serial feature the Rocket Man character flying across broad vistas of barren landscape, an effect achieved by Howard and Theodore Lydecker running a full-sized dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at a downward angle to the horizontal.

[8] The tidal wave in the serial's final chapter is actually stock footage taken from RKO's once-thought-lost science fiction feature film, Deluge (1933).