The Green Hornet's History
Britt Reid is the only child of crusading Chicago newspaper owner Daniel Reid.�??During the Roaring Twenties (and presumably before), Daniel Reid had his Daily Sentinel relentlessly expose the Chicago mob and corruption.�??To him, that was the mission of a journalist.An amateur entomologist, Daniel Reid kept a number of pinned insects under glass.�??This collection included one scary (fictional) specimen of vespa viridis.�??These green hornets, found in Kenya, are exceptionally deadly.�??The specimen impressed Britt during his boyhood.Daniel always assumed that Britt would succeed him.�??He did not quite see that Britt was more inclined toward athleticism and travel.�??Trying to please his father, Britt nevertheless became the editor-in-chief of his high school�??s newspaper, the West lake Herald. However, in 1934 he rebelled.�??Britt packed his bag and decided that what he wanted to do was see the world rather than work at the Daily Sentinel right after graduating as his father intended.
His father was nevertheless supportive, seeing his mistake.�??He set up a trust fund to pay for his son�??s travels, as rich people do.
The younger Reid spent 1935 and part of 1934 travelling in Europe.�??There, he witnessed with dismay the rise of Nazism and Fascism.�??In 1936 he was in Africa.�??In undocumented circumstances he tried to launch a newspaper in Magadi, Kenya (south of Nairobi).Things went wrong.�??Reid�??s employee, a man named Adisa, was killed as they fled from local paramilitaries.�??Reid only survived as he spotted a nest of green hornets, recognising them from his father�??s study.�??He provoked them into killing his pursuers.Reid fled Kenya in August, sailing to Japan then China.Witnessing the horrors of the Rape of Nanking , Reid was looking for a way out.�??This is how he ran into a Japanese deserter who had been sabotaging the efforts of his countrymen.�??Though highly skilled, the renegade had just been caught.�??Thanks to a convenient power line, Reid saved the man from an ad hoc firing squad, and they fled Nanking together. Hayashi Kato became a close friend and ally.�??Having lost his country to the early Shōwa Era , Kato accompanied Britt all the way back to the US.�??Reid passed himself for Hayashi�??s manservant as they were on a Japanese merchant boat, then fed US customs a story about foreign students.n San Francisco, the careless Reid was attacked by a street gang who had overheard about his trust fund.�??In the ensuing scuffle, he discovered Hayashi�??s amazing martial skills. Though Hayashi was somewhat ashamed of this display of violence, Reid asked if he could be taught to fight this way.�??He wouldn�??t even wait to arrive to Chicago, and had Kato start teaching him whilst still on the train.However, Britt arrived the day after his father died.
As he mourned, Britt learned that he had inherited the Daily Sentinel as his father had always intended.�??He resolved to continue his father�??s fight against the mob and corruption.�??He would particularly target mob boss �??Skid�?� Caruso, who had practically taken control of the town. However, it was trivial for Caruso to threaten the families of the Daily Sentinel staff.�??After attempting to expose the mob Reid found himself with his hands tied. (In the real world, Frank �??the Enforcer�?� Nitti was still the boss of the Chicago Outfit during these years.�??In the Green Hornet�??s world Nitti fell in unrevealed circumstances and was replaced by Caruso.) Kato suggested covert action, striking from the shadows �?? and the use of masks to avoid reprisals.�??After Hayashi showed him what a ninja can do, Reid was convinced.�??Britt trained for seven more months with Kato in the basics of ninjutsu and the martial arts.�??He also continued to assemble assets for a shadow war against the Chicago mobs.A key recruitment was mechanical engineer �??Rusty�?� Schmidt.�??He was an older German-American who used to run the presses for Daniel Reid.�??Rusty�??s daughter had been killed by a mob gunman, and his very affected wife died soon after.�??Rusty himself was sinking into alcoholism when Reid recruited him for his shadow war against the mob.A capable inventor with superior practical sense, Schmidt designed the likes of the Green Hornet�??s �??stinger�?� gun and the Black Beauty supercar.�??He also provided excellent advice about logistical matters.Following his advice Reid sold his father�??s house, where he had grown up, to buy an apartment building facing a warehouse.�??The warehouse had been used by the Underground Railroad , and was thus ideal for conversion into a secret base. A secret elevator was installed in Reid�??s new apartments.�??It allowed him and Hayashi to quickly reach a tunnel leading to the warehouse.�??Once there they could switch to costumes and exit discreetly in their car via hidden doors and a blind alley. Schmidt eventually ran into technical difficulties to build some gadgets �?? being primarily a mechanical engineering man.But Kato teamed up with him and brought his more recent and general scientific knowledge to the table.Soon, the Green Hornet and his chauffeur were ready for action !
