To relieve his boredom, Emperor Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo declares that he will play with and destroy Earth by remotely causing natural disasters. On Earth, New York Jets football star "Flash" Gordon boards a small plane, where he meets travel agent Dale Arden. Mid-flight, the cockpit is hit by a meteorite and the pilots are lost. Flash takes control and manages to Crash landing into a greenhouse owned by Dr. Hans Zarkov. Zarkov, who believes the disasters are being caused because an extraterrestrial source is pushing the moon towards Earth, has secretly constructed a spacecraft that he plans to use to investigate. Zarkov's assistant refuses to go, so Zarkov lures Flash and Dale aboard. The rocket launches, taking them to Mongo, where they are captured by Ming's troops.