Shazam The Complicated History of the Original Captain Marvel

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Shazam! The Complicated History of the Original Captain Marvel and Why He is One of My Favorite Heroes… And How No One Can Get Him Right

Captain Marvel (that’s his real name, more on that later) was already thirty-one years old by the time I was born. So, he is way before my time. However, there was a big Captain Marvel renaissance in the early 1970s when I was born with DC Comics publishing the Shazam! comic book title and later, a Shazam live action Saturday morning show, a cartoon series, and the Shazam Mego action figure was a staple of any 1970s kid’s action figure collection.

Shazam or Captain Marvel? What’s In a Name?

If you have ever heard that the original Captain Marvel is now called Shazam because DC Comics lost a court case over the name, then you have heard an oversimplification of the issue. National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 (2d Cir. 1951) ruled that Fawcett comics Captain Marvel character was an infringement on the copyright of National's (DC’s) Superman comic book character. The lawsuit resulted in Fawcett Publications shutting down their comics division. In the 1970s, National, now known as DC Comics, licensed the rights to Captain Marvel and revived the character. DC Comics then purchased the rights completely by 1991.

During the years when this character battle was taking place, Marvel Comics swooped in and trademarked the Captain Marvel name (this is something of an oversimplification, but I need to get moving here.) So essentially, it is complicated: Marvel Comics owns the trademark for the name Captain Marvel, but DC owns the character and the name. This means that Marvel can use the name in certain ways, such as in comic book titles, TV show titles, video game titles, toy packaging, and advertising, but DC can't use the term as the title of their comic or otherwise promote Captain Marvel under that term, that’s why we now have a character named Shazam… who needs to say the word “Shazam!” in order to access his powers, so basically, he can’t say his own name. It’s a mess.

Speaking of a Mess… Captain Marvel / Shazam Started off Messy.

The first appearance of Captain Marvel was in Whiz Comics issue 2. What was in Whiz Comics issue 1 you might rightfully ask? Nothing. There was no Whiz Comics issue 1. Try to follow along, it gets complicated. In 1939, Fawcett Publications, impressed with the popularity of superhero comic book characters Superman and Batman, decided to publish their own superhero comic book. Bill Parker wanted a team of superheroes, each possessing the power of a different mythical character. The idea was modified into a single character which became Captain Marvel.

The first issue published of Whiz Comics was issue 2, with a cover-date of February 1940. Fawcett created two black-and-white ashcan #1 issues to secure copyrights. The two copies were identical but carried different titles: Flash Comics and Thrill Comics with the Captain Marvel character originally called "Captain Thunder". When Fawcett went to press, the first issue was retitled as Whiz Comics. When they got to issue 3, Fawcett used the number twice. Whiz Comics 3 (the first one) was released January 12, 1940, and Whiz Comics 3 (the second one) was released February 23, 1940. Like I said, it was messy from the start.

Still… Captain Marvel Was a Great Character

Even though Captain Marvel was essentially a knock-off of Superman (and got sued for being such), Captain Marvel ended up bringing a lot of things to the table that Superman did not. First, Captain Marvel has a great costume. I mean, Superman’s is iconic, no question, but Captain Marvel’s red and yellow color scheme with the white cape and prominent lightning bolt on front just looks (pardon the pun) … striking.

As the Captain Marvel canon continued to evolve, it was often part of the plot of his story that his powers were magic based, which is a weakness Superman has. Also, while Superman is often portrayed as heroic, mature, and a sometimes-stoic symbol of good, Captain Marvel has an innocence and pure goodness which inspires. Once you get past the cape and the power-set, Superman and Captain Marvel are actually very different.

And Since the 1970s Nobody Has Figured That Out.

Superman has struggled with his identity for at least the last 30 years. Superman has been reimagined again and again. Rebooted again and again. He’s turned red, turned blue, lost his shorts, walked around for a long time, and well… just hasn’t been very good or inspiring in a long time. And don’t get me started on those dark and depressing Warner Brothers DCU movies. I like Henry Cavill, but not the Superman he portrays. Yet, Shazam has struggled even worse with his identity.

Somewhere along the way, as Captain Marvel morphed into Shazam, he lost his ability to inspire. Billy Batson (the child alter-ego of Shazam) lost his innocence and child-like moral naivete to become, a juvenile delinquent, a brat, a brooding teenager, or, worst of all, saw his child-mind placed into the body of a grown man creating an annoying man-child comedy character. For a character who is supposed to possess the wisdom of Soloman, Shazam has become anything but a symbol of the best of mankind and instead is a walking punchline.

Through two big budget films (and I did like the first Shazam movie, but the character fell far short of his potential) and multiple relaunched comic book series, DC and Warner Brothers have failed to inspire and capture the imaginative idea of a young kid suddenly transforming into one of the most powerful people on the planet- both physically and morally and, in the world we live in today, we need less dark and gritty (as realistic as that may be) and more inspirational.

If only in today’s world we could look around at the hurt, sorrow, poverty, homelessness, tribal incivility, and say one magic word and have a hero who could give us some answers and hope, what a wonderful character that would be… SHAZAM!

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