Britt Reid is the playboy son of James Reid, the publisher of the Los Angeles Daily Sentinel. They have an estranged relationship until James dies from an apparent allergic reaction to a bee sting. After James's funeral, Britt fires the staff aside from his maid, but later rehires Kato, a mechanic, martial artist and friend of James, as his assistant. Britt and Kato quickly become best friends and get drunk together. Upon agreeing that they both hated James, the two visit the graveyard to decapitate James's memorial statue. After they succeed, they rescue a nearby couple being mugged. When the police mistake Britt and Kato for criminals, Kato evades them in a car chase as he and Britt return to their mansion. Britt convinces Kato they should become superhero-like crime-fighters posing as criminals. Kato develops a car outfitted with several gadgets and weapons, which they call the Black Beauty. Britt plans to capture Benjamin Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster and gangster uniting the crime families of Los Angeles under his command, and whom his father was trying to expose. To get Chudnofsky's attention, Britt uses the Daily Sentinel as a vehicle to publish articles about a "high-profile criminal" he names "The Green Hornet."
