The film is mainly set in
China before the
Second Sino-Japanese War. Chen Zhen joins a group of Chinese soldiers who fight alongside the
Allies against the Germans in France during
World War I. After the war, he returns to China and takes on the identity of his friend, Qi Tianyuan, who was killed in action. Back in
Shanghai, Chen joins an underground movement to counter an impending invasion of China by the
Empire of Japan. He befriends Liu Yutian, the owner of a nightclub frequented by foreign dignitaries and becomes attracted to Kiki, a
nightclub singer who is actually a Japanese spy. One night, Chen discovers that the Japanese are planning to assassinate General Zeng, the son of a northern warlord and push the blame to General Zhuo, a rival warlord. Zeng's death will spark a civil war between the two warlords and aid the subsequent Japanese invasion. Chen disguises himself as a masked superhero and saves Zeng by defeating the assassins. Following the failure of the operation, the Japanese government sends a list of names of anti-Japanese activists to Colonel Chikaraishi Takeshi, the leader of the Japanese spy agency in Shanghai, ordering him to kill the people on the list. Chikaraishi leaks the list to cause panic among the people, and pays a visit to the nightclub. Aware of Chen's true identity, Chikaraishi challenges him to save the people on the list. Chen and Chikaraishi engage in a race against time to save and assassinate the activists, respectively. Some are killed while others manage to escape from Shanghai. Eventually, Chikaraishi's brother, Sasaki, leads a team of assassins to murder the editor of the
Shanghai Times. Chen kills Sasaki, but fails to save the editor in time. In the meantime, Chen figures out that Kiki is a spy and warns her to leave. Chikaraishi starts distrusting Kiki and forces her to kill General Zeng's girlfriend, who is also one of her close friends. The blame is pushed to General Zhuo and the angered Zeng attacks Zhuo with support from Japanese forces. One night, the Japanese ambush Chen on the street, knock him unconscious and bring him to their headquarters to torture him. Concurrently, Chen's friends stage a raid on the Japanese headquarters and cause serious damage with explosives before fleeing the scene. The Japanese track down Chen's comrades and kill them in revenge later. Chen is thrown out of a car in front of the nightclub and remains in a coma for days while he recovers from his injuries. With the Japanese invasion underway and General Zhuo killed in action with his forces in full retreat, there seems to be nothing that the movement can do to prevent the Japanese from occupying Shanghai. Chikaraishi challenges Chen to fight him and kills Kiki after she shows up. In anger, Chen defeats many Japanese combatants, after which he faces Chikaraishi in a one-on-one bout and wins. Chikaraishi is replaced with another officer while Chen dons his superhero costume and continues to help the movement oppose the invaders. ==Cast==