[SuperScrounge]

Hmmm... a villain who learns the hero's identity, but is shot by his henchmen before he can tell them? And this aired around two years before Batman comics used a similar idea.

Link to the book: The Green Hornet 1946-11-10 - 783) The Quiz Program Clue

[crashryan]

The old shot-too-soon trick. Over half a century ago, KVI radio, Seattle, produced a tongue-in-cheek superhero radio play called Superpickle. One scene cracked me up at the time. Our hero has overcome a stooge who knows WHODUNNIT.

HERO:     All right, now tell me--who was it?
STOOGE: It was...it was... (PAUSES FOR A BEAT)
HERO:     Come on, speak up! Who was it?!
STOOGE: it was...(LONG PAUSE, THEN HE SHOUTS OFF-MIKE) Whaddaya waitin' for?! It was...
SOUND:   PISTOL SHOT OFF
STOOGE:  Aggh! (BODY FALLS)
HERO:      He's dead!

[SuperScrounge]

Don't remember Superpickle. I do remember KVI's Theatre of the Mind (old time radio and new stuff like Harry Nile). Didn't KIRO have a superhero spoof?

[crashryan]

I'd forgotten Theater of the Mind. Superpickle seems to have been the brainchild of Bob Hardwick, a very creative and very funny guy who ended very sadly (suicide after his career faded). I don't think there were many episodes. It wasn't a series per se. Hardwick was always enlivening his show with gags, stunts, and skits.