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"Captain Marvel: "The Origin of Dr. Sivana"": Billy SHAZAMs himself up into Captain Marvel, puts on a tuxedo, and escorts Beautia out to a night club. They encounter some thug trouble, so Marvel SHAZAMs himself down to Billy size, and they flee the place amid the stormy side effects of the tran

Quote1 ... and so I left them all back there on Venus, folks, and I doubt if they'll ever bother us again. Oh, yes! I meant to find out how Sivana managed to get back after he disappeared into that stone wall last month, but that's one thing I guess we never will know now. Good night, all. Quote2
Billy Batson

Whiz Comics #15 is an issue of the series Whiz Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1941.

Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "The Origin of Dr. Sivana"

Billy SHAZAMs himself up into Captain Marvel, puts on a tuxedo, and escorts Beautia out to a night club. They encounter some thug trouble, so Marvel SHAZAMs himself down to Billy size, and they flee the place amid the stormy side effects of the transformation. At first they are pursued by Rocco di Bota's thugs, but in a Chinatown alley they encounter the almost legendary Ruler of Chinatown and Boss of All Rackets, the venerable Footo Yu, who orders the thugs to depart, which they hastily do. But the wizened Celestial then locks all the doors, and uses an electronic device to cancel out the sound of Billy's magic word. Footo Yu is Sivana in disguise! After attaching this Ultra-Frequency Oscillator device to Billy's neck, with an arc-welder, Sivana flies Billy and Beautia to Central America, which takes the whole rest of that night.

Somewhere in those jungles, Sivana has a hidden series of incubators, in which he is breeding Venusian life-forms, including "Glompers". Back on Venus, Beautia's palace servants and soldiers had all been Glompers;[1] she speaks their language, and they idolize her. Billy befriends one young Glomper, naming it "Gloppo". Two weeks go by.

Billy Batson sneaks out of the camp one night, is discovered and shot at, but succeeds in stealing Sivana's super-powered airplane and flying away. Gloppo has also escaped the camp and rides away with Billy. After about an hour, Sivana himself pursues them, in one of his 7000 mph rocketships. The bigger faster ship knocks the plane into a hillside for a completely destructive crash, from which Billy and Gloppo are very luckily thrown clear. Even more luckily, Billy hit a tree, hard enough and at just the right angle, to break the U.F.Oscillator on his neck, but not his neck, SHAZAM.

Sivana lands his rocketship and Magnificus disembarks, launches himself at Captain Marvel, tackles him in mid-air and begins a lengthy hand-to-hand struggle with the superhero. They seem to be almost evenly matched! Their battle causes a landslide, in which the elder Sivana is hit with a boulder and nearly killed. Marvel knocks out Magnificus, but expects him to rally back up at any moment.

Captain Marvel loads the Sivanas and the Glompers into the streamlined interplanetary rocketship, and again abandons them on Venus. For the Glompers, suffering greatly in the relatively frigid climate of Earth, this is a great kindness. Beautia tells Marvel the story of Sivana's early career in Europe and on Venus, and reveals that she and Magnificus are Sivana's children.

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "The Origin of Dr. Sivana"

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Antagonists:

  • Dr. Sivana (Origin) (Flashback and main story)
  • Rocco di Bota, shady restaurateur
    • his thugs

Other Characters:

  • Sivana Family
    • Beautia Sivana (Revealed in this story to be Dr. Sivana's daughter) (Origin) (Flashback and main story)
    • Magnificus Sivana (Beautia's brother, Dr. Sivana's son) (First appearance) (Origin) (Flashback and main story)

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Aliens

  • Venusian Glompers (man-sized frogs with man-like hands)
    • Gloppo, Billy's friend


Synopsis for Companions Three: "The Crimes of the Crystal"

The Companions Three, Don, Spike, and Nifty, get a call from their friend Ronnie Keller, who's afraid she's going to be kidnapped, and is while still on the phone with Don, prompting the trio to hurry over to her estate. The butler answers the door then immediately keels over dead. In a daze, Ronnie's caretaker recites something he remembers hearing about her being taken to "an old warehouse on the drive". A menacing call is broadcast over the radio then from a malefactor calling himself the Crystal not to come to the warehouse. Don goes anyway and battles a gang of thugs guarding the place but is knocked out when he brazenly throws himself at one of them who threatens Ronnie. Don's brought before the Crystal himself, a dapper gent with a crystal dome over his head. Don prepares to attack only to be warned the circle on the floor the Crystal sits inside is electrified. Spike and Nifty smash through a window then throw a chair at the Crystal, revealing he's only a dummy with a microphone inside his head. The real Crystal tries to escape with Ronnie in tow, but the trio catch up to him and he escapes, but empty handed.

Appearing in Companions Three: "The Crimes of the Crystal"

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  • The Crystal

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Synopsis for Lance O'Casey: "The Taming of El Tigre"


Appearing in Lance O'Casey: "The Taming of El Tigre"

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Synopsis for Spy Smasher: "The Corruption of Spy Smasher"


Appearing in Spy Smasher: "The Corruption of Spy Smasher"

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Synopsis for Dan Dare: "The Air Pirates"


Appearing in Dan Dare: "The Air Pirates"

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Synopsis for Dr. Voodoo: "Queen of the Ancient Incas"


Appearing in Dr. Voodoo: "Queen of the Ancient Incas"

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  • Queen Zoe (Dies)

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  • Fountain of Youth

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Synopsis for Ibis the Invincible: "The Giant Spider"


Appearing in Ibis the Invincible: "The Giant Spider"

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  • Giant spider

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Notes

Trivia

  • Alex Ross said that idea for the costume design for The Gentleman from Astro City "came from a '40s story wherein the good Captain went on a date with Sivana's daughter, Beautia". As Captain Marvel wore a tuxedo in this issue's story while on a date with Beautia, it was likely this where Ross got the idea from.[2]


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

  1. Whiz Comics #3B
  2. Alter Ego #166
Superboy Vol 4 69
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