The Green Hornet is an American radio and television masked vigilante created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell, in 1936. Since his radio debut in the 1930s, the Green Hornet has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media. The character appeared in film serials in the 1940s, a network television program in the 1960s, multiple comic book series from the 1940s on, and a feature film in January 2011.
Though various incarnations sometimes change details, in most versions the Green Hornet is the alter ego of Britt Reid, wealthy young publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper by day, who goes out in his masked "Green Hornet" identity at night to fight crime as a vigilante. Reid is accompanied by his loyal and similarly masked partner and confidant, Kato, famously played by Bruce Lee, who drives their technologically advanced car, the "Black Beauty". As the Green Hornet, Reid masquerades as a criminal to infiltrate the underworld, leaving behind criminals and any incriminating evidence found for the police.