Master criminal Fantomas kills an ambassador, has an affair with the dead man's wife, sneaks into a rich woman's house handing out vanishing-ink business cards, is arrested and sentenced to death but switches with an actor, who goes to the guillotine.
Inspector Juve is scorned for his belief that a criminal, Fantômas, is the offender in a series of murders and thefts. Juve accompanies a friend with a winning lottery ticket on the train to Paris. The woman is killed and the ticket stolen. Juve is convinced that Fantômas is Mr. Gurn.
Paris trembles at the thought that Fantômas has escaped the guillotine. Using an array of disguises, Fantômas continues to perpetuate his crimes according to his extravagant whims. The beautiful Joséphine is thrown from a window, the Bercy warehouses are ablaze, and Lady Beltham disappears.
With Inspector Juve missing, Fandor takes over the investigation. Fantômas poisons the newly bankrupt Baroness de Vibray and Jacques Dollon is questioned by the police and arrested. When Fandor arrives at the prison to interview Dollon it is reported that he hanged himself in his cell. However, the body has disappeared!
With Fandor mistaken for a king and framed for murder by Fantômas, Inspector Juve sets out to prove his innocence.
