Mister Universe is a 1951 American comedy film directed by Joseph Lerner and starring Jack Carson, Janis Paige and Vince Edwards. It was produced independently and distributed by Eagle-Lion Films. A number of professional wrestlers of the era appear as themselves, and Joan Rivers can be briefly seen as a teenage girl in the audience.
Honest "Mister Universe" winner Tommy Tompkins is recruited by a dishonest wrestling promoter and wins a series of matches. Tommy is horrified when he is told to throw a match and proves that he is unable to do it because of his natural honesty.
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called the film "a transparent, soft-pedaled little spoof" and wrote: "[T]he actors scamper around with offhand raucousness, and the restrictions of Searle Kramer's script and Mr. Lerner's own direction, while original, make the picture seem a lot breezier than it actually is. Whether intentional or not, however, it's the good-natured air of the cast that pulls the picture along."
Picturegoer wrote: "True, much of the fun springs from the mauling of stooges, but the humour is no less effective for being elementary, or rather primitive."
A comic-book adaptation of the film was published by Eastern Color in the December 1950 issue of the anthology comic book Movie Love.