Wikia

DC Database

WatchlistRandom pageRecent changes

William Batson (New Earth)

Talk18
72,455pages on
this wiki
Character Template Help
Information-silk.png Current Alias
Information-silk.png Aliases
Shazam, Captain Marvel, The Big Red Cheese, the World's Mightiest Mortal, Captain Whitebread, Captain Thunder
Information-silk.png Relatives
C.C. and Marilyn Batson (parents, deceased); Mary Batson (Mary Marvel, twin sister); Ebenezer Batson (uncle); Sinclair Batson (cousin, deceased)
Information-silk.png Base Of Operations
Status
Information-silk.png Alignment
Information-silk.png Identity
Information-silk.png Citizenship
Information-silk.png Marital Status
Information-silk.png Occupation
Formerly employed as a radio announcer. Formerly Keeper of the Rock of Eternity
Information-silk.png Education
Former High School Student

Characteristics
Information-silk.png Gender
Information-silk.png Height
5' 4" (as Billy); 6'2" (188 cm) (as Captain Marvel)
Information-silk.png Weight
125 lbs (57 kg) (as Billy); 250 lbs. (113.4 kg) (as Captain Marvel)
Information-silk.png Eyes
Information-silk.png Hair
Black, (Formerly White)
Information-silk.png Unusual Features
None; formerly when in Captain Marvel form, Billy changes his physical from his true age as teenager to a fully adult human male.
Origin
Information-silk.png Origin
Orphan Billy Batson met the wizard Shazam and was granted the powers of Captain Marvel. With the death of the Wizard Shazam, Batson was granted powers which may have been even greater than that of the wizard. The Wizard Shazam's later return in the form of a spirit bore witness to the choice made by Batson to support his sister and an evil acolyte known as Black Adam, Billy was stripped of all powers and abilities, making him an ordinary teenager once again.
Information-silk.png Universe
Information-silk.png Place of Birth
Information-silk.png Created by
First appearance

Quote1.png Brother, you are messing with the wrong god-power-wielding dude. Quote2.png
-- Captain Marvel

Contents

HistoryEdit

The classic Captain Marvel look. Art by Alex Ross.
HalleyAdded by Halley

Captain Marvel is the World's Mightiest Mortal. Originally, he was a orphaned boy named Billy Batson, who was chosen by the wizard Shazam to be a champion of good. Shazam gifted Billy with the power of six legendary Greek figures, and when he spoke the Wizard's name, he became an adult superhero empowered by six legendary Greek figures. Later, Captain Marvel would gain the ability to share his power with Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., creating the Marvel Family. Today, Captain Marvel remains as one of the world's greatest heroes.

The Power of Shazam

Billy's parents - archaeologists C. C. and Marylin Batson - were killed by their treacherous assistant, Theo Adam, while on a dig at the tomb of Rameses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt. Theo Adam was the resurrected non-powered form of Teth-Adam aka Black Adam. He also kidnaps Billy's sister Mary, who ends up missing.

The wizard Shazam is made aware of all of these events, and (just as in the Fawcett origin) has Billy brought before him by the dark-clothed stranger, and grants the boy the power to become Captain Marvel. As Captain Marvel, Billy takes on the form of his late father, which is how Theo Adam guesses his identity, has a revelation about the power of Shazam, and becomes Black Adam using a scarab he stole from the tomb. After subduing Black Adam and his employer, the rich tycoon Doctor Sivana, Billy swears to find his sister as Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel became a member of the revived Justice Society of America and was featured prominently in that group alongside his nemesis Black Adam. Captain Marvel had originally joined the team to keep an eye on Adam, who had joined the JSA claiming to have reformed. Black Adam eventually left the JSA to instigate a takeover of his home country of Kahndaq; he had a fondness for the country, and wished to see the totalitarian regime done away with, in what he saw as justice. Captain Marvel remained with the team.

JSA

During his tenure in the JSA, Marvel dated Courtney Whitmore, also known as Stargirl, which put him in an unusual position; while he could legally date Courtney as Billy Batson, it looked very strange for the grown-up Captain Marvel to be with the teenaged Stargirl. The Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, another JSA member, confronted Marvel about the issue. Rather than telling Garrick and the team the truth about his age, Marvel chose to follow the Wisdom of Solomon and leave the team and Courtney.

Captain Marvel transforms into Marvel. Art by Howard Porter.
CleverGuyAdded by CleverGuy

The Marvel Family played an integral part the Infinite Crisis. The climax of the Day of Vengeance saw the Spectre engaged in a cosmic-level battle with the wizard Shazam. At the conclusion of this battle, Shazam was obliterated, and the Rock of Eternity burst apart into Earth's dimension, freeing scores of ancient magicks and evils that had been captured eons ago back into the Universe.

Day of Vegeance

In the aftermath of the Day of Vengeance, Day of Vengeance, Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family then helped Zatanna and several other beings to capture the Seven Deadly Sins and rebuild the Rock of Eternity. Captain Marvel was then required to take over Shazam's role as caretaker of the Rock. Marvel was later shown fulfilling this role, although teetering on the brink of insanity, constantly talking back to the Seven Sins around him. During this time, Marvel was shown helping Black Adam grant Adrianna Tomaz the powers of the goddess Isis. Later that year, Captain Marvel presided at the marriage ceremony of Adam and Isis in Kahndaq.

52 and World War 3

Black Adam's continued attempts to reform, and depicted Adam's formation of, with Captain Marvel's blessing, a "Black Marvel Family". Joining Black Adam in the Black Marvel Family were his wife Isis and her brother Osiris. Isis and Osiris are murdered by the "Four Horsemen", creatures engineered by a team of DC's mad scientist characters (Dr. Sivana among them). As a result, Black Adam takes his revenge out on the entire world, killing millions. Black Adam is halted for a few minutes, just the time needed for Captain Marvel to force a magic lightning bolt on him, turning Black Adam back to Teth-Adam and changing his magic word into an unknown one.

The Trials of Shazam! and Final Crisis

With Shazam dead, the Rock of Eternity chose Capain Marvel as its new caretaker. Captain Marvel recieved a new white suit and his hair became long and white, and assumed the name Marvel. form Trials of Shazam! featured Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel, while Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel lose their powers. A powerless Freddy Freeman is then drafted to prove himself worthy to the individual six gods evident in the "Shazam" acronym so that he can become their new champion and herald under the name Shazam, although a witch Sabina De La Croix from the Council of Merlin attempts to take the power herself, as ordered by her father Merlin. Atlas is killed by Sabina, but Apollo's healing replaces him. Marvel helps Freddy when he is trapped by the weight that Atlas bore. Later, Apollo takes Atlas's place in holding the world, while Marvel returns to the Rock of Eternity and Freddy continues his trials. The battle between Freddy and Sabina ends when Freddy is chosen to wield the gods's power, and becomes Shazam, while Sabina is destroyed. As the new Shazam, Freddy takes Marvel's former duties as a superhero.

Justice Society of America

Marvel is ambushed by Black Adam and Isis, who are intent on taking over the Rock of Eternity. Isis robs Marvel of his powers by saying Shazam from a spell book to send lightning at him, and banishes a powerless Billy Batson back to Fawcett City, where he contacts the Justice Society for help.[1] Upon arriving at the Rock of Eternity with Billy, the Justice Society fights Black Adam and Isis.[2] Billy is abducted by the now evil Mary Marvel, who shares her powers with him and turns him into an evil teenage Captain Marvel. The evil Billy and Mary join Adam and Isis in fighting the Justice Society. However, Adam switches sides when Isis sets into action her plan to kill off humanity and destroy modern civilization. With the help of the Justice Society's Flash and the spirit of C.C Batson (Mary and Billy's father), the dead wizard Shazam's soul is retrieved from an underworld realm known as the Rock of Finality, and Adam gives up his powers to resurrect him from the statue he is imprisoned in. Shazam promptly takes his powers back from the other three Black Marvels, turns Adam and Isis into stone statues, and banishes Billy and Mary from the Rock of Eternity upon stating that they have failed him. He threatens to come after Freddy Freeman, as his powers come directly from the Gods.[3] They are later seen walking the streets of Fawcett City while homeless and pondering the fate of their father's spirit.

Blackest Night

During Blackest Night, they are living in an apartment, and comment on how scary it is not to have their powers anymore.[4]

Shazam One-Shot

Freddy is seen with Billy and Mary in their apartment. They reminisce about the past and how Mary now feels useless without her powers. Mary is later seen assaulting Freddy, Blaze appears. The scene cuts to a homeless shelter. Blaze is seen talking to Mary. She tells Mary that if she kills Freddy, she will restore Billy and Mary's powers. It cuts back. Blaze is seen breaking her promise to Mary. Seconds later the word 'Shazam' is heard, sending Blaze rocketing through the wall. It turns out Freddy was in on it too, only pretending to get killed. Blaze and Freddy fight in the streets. Blaze punches Freddy with a ring containing liquid from the river of the Styx, which is toxic to everyone besides the residents of Hell. Billy is seen telling Mary to distract Blaze while he helps Freddy wash off the toxic water. Freddy then follows by "killing" Blaze and sending her back to Hell. Later on, Freddy tells Billy and Mary that no matter what, he will find a way to restore their powers! [citation needed]

DCnU

Justice League Vol 2 1 Textless.jpg
New DC logo.png

The DC Universe heavily changed its continuity into the DCnU following the events of Flashpoint in 2011. This was part of an effort to make storylines more accessible to newer readers, beginning with the New 52. This new timeline combines elements from the DCU, Vertigo Universe and Wildstorm Universe while drastically changing the origins and histories of characters.

Flash's changes to reality created a new world where Billy's life had significantly changed. In this new world, his superhero identity was called Shazam, not Captain Marvel. Billy also had undergone a personality change: while he was still essentially a good boy, he was distrustful of people and wanted to become an adult as fast as possible so that he could take care of himself and not worry about anybody else.

Billy lived in an orphanage on Philadelphia and was interviewed by a couple of parents, the Vasquezes, so that he could be adopted and attend to school. He behaved properly towards the Vasquezes, who decided to adopt him. As soon as they left, however, Billy expressed indifference towards them. Later, Billy sees an emergency on the city and transforms into Shazam.[5]

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Powers Of Shazam: The following represents the potential magical abilities available to wielders of the Power of Shazam. Even if demonstration of such abilities has not been explicitly shown in a canonical resource. Not all of the following abilities are represented by the same Deities. Variations of these powers may apply depending upon the wielder in question.

Abilities

Multilingual: Thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon, he has the ability to understand, comprehend, and speak any language on earth.

Genius-Level Intellect: He also is considered a genius among geniuses.

Smooth Talker: Another facet of his intelligence is ability to talk his way out of situations, as a man with an unprecedented amount of wisdom, he prefers to talk, rather than fight.

Strength level

Class 100 +. As Captain marvel his strength is on par with Superman. When he received the upgrade to Lord Marvel and became the keeper of the Rock of Eternity he was one of the strongest beings in the Universe.

Weaknesses

High Order Magic: Only the strongest of magics can affect him in any particular way, such as those wielded by the Spectre.

ParaphernaliaEdit

Equipment

Historama: (formerly) Shazam owned the Historama that adorns the space near his throne at the Rock of Eternity. It functions as a crystal ball, but with Incredible range and accuracy. He activates the Historama by saying, "Historama show me...". The historama has incredible material strength and provides the following abilities:

  • Clairvoyance
  • Clairaudience
  • Remote Sensing
  • Extra-dimensional Detection
  • True Sight
  • Dimensional Viewing
  • Temporal Viewing: ability to look into the past, and functions just like Dimensional Viewing. These powers allow the Historama to "cleave through the barriers" to show the occupants of the Rock of Eternity what transpires in other dimensions and even other times.

Batson had forgone the original historama and has opted for a more up to date version and has redirected the Rock of Eternity with a multitude of different tv screens which portrays whatever he chooses, just as the original historama.

NotesEdit

  • Captain Marvel's first appearance was in Whiz Comics #2, published by Fawcett Comics and taking place on Earth-S. His first appearance in the mainstream DC Universe was in Legends #1.
  • Hailed as "The World's Mightiest Mortal" in his adventures (and nicknamed "The Big Red Cheese" by archvillain Doctor Sivana, an epithet adopted by fans as a nickname for their hero), Captain Marvel was (based on sales) the most popular superhero of the 1940s. The Captain Marvel Adventures series sold more copies than Superman's Action Comics and other competing superhero books.[citation needed] Captain Marvel was also the first superhero to be adapted into film in 1941 (The Adventures of Captain Marvel). Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel and Marvel Family comics in 1953. This was due to both a general decline in the popularity of superheroes and a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging similarities between Captain Marvel and Superman. DC licensed the Marvel Family characters in 1972 and acquired all rights in 1980. Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family have been integrated into the DC Universe, and DC has attempted a few revivals. Captain Marvel has not regained widespread appeal with new generations, although a 1970s Shazam! live action television series featuring the character was very popular.
  • Due to the fact that Marvel Comics trademarked their Captain Marvel comic book during the interim between the original Captain Marvel's Fawcett years and DC years, DC Comics is unable to promote and market their Captain Marvel/Marvel Family properties under that name. They decided to use the word "Shazam" as the title of their comic book and thus the name under which they would market and promote the character. As a result, Captain Marvel himself is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Shazam."
  • In the Flashpoint altered timeline, Billy was the bearer of the courage of Achilles.

TriviaEdit

  • Captain Marvel's adventures have contributed a number of elements to both comic book culture and pop culture in general. The most notable of these is the regular use of Superman and Captain Marvel as adversaries in Modern Age comic book stories. The Superman/Captain Marvel rivalry has its origins in a popular comics story in MAD Magazine no. 4 from 1953, entitled "Superduperman", which was inspired by the Fawcett/DC legal battles. In the story, Superduperman (an obvious Superman doppelganger) does battle with the Captain Marvel-esque Captain Marbles. Marbles' magic word was not "SHAZAM", but "SHAZOOM", which stood for Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox—power of, Ox—power of another, and Money. After DC revived Captain Marvel in the 1970s, they followed MAD's cue and often pitted Captain Marvel and Superman against each other for any number of reasons, but usually as an inside joke to the characters' long battles in court; they are otherwise staunch allies who get along very well with each other. Notable Superman/Captain Marvel battles in DC Comics stores include All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58 (1979), All-Star Squadron #37 (1984), Superman #102 (1995), the final issue of the Kingdom Come miniseries (1996), and in Superman #216 (2005). The "Clash" episode of Justice League Unlimited, which included Captain Marvel as a guest character, featured a Superman/Captain Marvel fight as its centerpiece.
  • 17 months after DC's first issue of Shazam!, a try-out of the first meeting of Captain Marvel and Superman was published in Superman #276, with a character called Captain Thunder. Captain Marvel and Superman would finally meet 18 months later in the December 1976 issue of Justice League of America #137.
  • Captain Marvel was the first major comic book hero to have a young alter ego. Although kid superheroes had generally been neglected before Marvel's introduction, kid sidekicks soon became commonplace shortly after Marvel's success: Robin was paired with Batman in May 1940, and Captain America was introduced with sidekick Bucky in March 1941. The idea of a young boy who transformed into a superhero proved popular enough to inspire a number of superheroes who undergo similar transformations,[citation needed] including Marvel Comics' Darkhawk, Malibu Comics' Prime, and animated/action figure superheroes such as Hanna-Barbera's Mighty Mightor and Young Samson, Mattel/Filmation's He-Man, and Warner Bros. Television's Freakazoid. Other heroes, including Marvel Comics' Thor, undergo similarly magical transformations from a weak human form to a god-empowered form.
  • In pop culture, Billy Batson/Captain Marvel's magic word, "Shazam!", became a popular exclamation from the 1940s on, often used in place of an expletive. The most notable user of the word "Shazam!" in this form was Gomer Pyle from the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. Elvis Presley was a fan of Captain Marvel, Jr. comic books as a child. Elvis later styled his hair to look like Freddy Freeman's and based his stage jumpsuits and TCB lightning logo on Captain Marvel Jr.'s costume and lightning-bolt insignia. Actor Cary Grant said that some of his younger fans told him they thought he bore an uncanny resemblance to Captain Marvel.
  • Even more than ten years after the character first disappeared, the superhero was still used for jokes, such as in The Monkees when Peter Tork tried to escape the ropes he was tied up in by yelling "Shazam!", only to magically break a mirror and sheepishly note that it's seven years bad luck for Captain Marvel. Several other episodes of The Monkees had Captain Marvel references, including using the name "Freddy Freeman" in dialogue. Captain Marvel also made a cameo in The Beatles song "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill." Another catchphrase popularized by Captain Marvel was his trademark exclamation, "Holy Moley!"
  • In the Fox Network animated series American Dad!, Steve's favorite t-shirt has Captain Marvel's signature lightning bolt insignia on it which he refers to as a "Shazam" shirt. Additionally, Captain Marvel made a cameo appearance in an episode of ABC Network's The Drew Carey Show as part of a dream sequence.

Related

 

Discover and Discuss

Footnotes


Marvel Family.JPG
Marvel Family member
New DC logo.png

This character is or was a member of the Marvel Family in any of its various incarnations, and an ally of Captain Marvel and the Wizard Shazam. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Marvel Family members."

Justice Society of America 014.jpg
New DC logo.png

Justice Society of America member
This character is or was a primary member of the Justice Society of America in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice Society of America members" category.

Justice League 0002.jpg
Justice League of America member
New DC logo.png

This character is or was a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from both interstellar and domestic threats.
This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.

Advertisement | Your ad here

Latest Photos

Add a Photo
83,056photos on this wiki
See more >

Recent Wiki Activity

See more >

Around Wikia's network

Random Wiki