Plot
Cover art by Neal Adams. Destiny: The Origin of the Green Hornet
An aging Britt II walks through the family library, stopping to look at a scrapbook, and specifically a preserved Daily Sentinel front page with a headline reading "PROTECTION RACKET MURDERS by Britt Reid." He remembers the story behind it. In 1934, Britt I began working as a crime reporter for the family-owned Daily Sentinel newspaper. A protection racket story leads to his interviewing a grocer about it, when a gun battle between two thug-carrying cars erupts in the street outside. The young man dives for cover, but the businessman freezes, and is killed by wild shots. In the street, Britt finds one of the cars wrecked, its occupants dead. A subsequent discussion with his father, Daniel, leads Britt to the conclusion that the police are incapable of cleaning up the city by themselves, and one man should be able to make a difference. Sometime later, three hoods attempt to kill Britt, who escapes by a combination of daring and luck, which includes their car wrecking and killing them.