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Brother, you are messing with the wrong god-power-wielding dude. 
- — Captain Marvel src
History
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.
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, 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! [5]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Divine Empowerment - All of the powers granted collection of six by gods and figures of legend either directly or through Shazam.
- Accelerated Healing [citation needed]
- Clairvoyance: The ability to understand situations from many angles, including future and past consequences with superhuman clarity and accuracy. [citation needed]
- Divine Grace: Innate luck [citation needed] and divine guidance that allows finesse in actions and dealings with others.
- Eidetic Memory
- Magic Resistance [citation needed]
- Enhanced Intellect: Intellect and wisdom are heightened to superhuman levels. This also provides great or comprehensive knowledge in many areas, including:
- Flight: The ability to hover or soar at high speed through an act of sheer will.
- Healing: The ability to use the transformative lightning to heal others or ones self instantly. [citation needed]
- Indomitable Will: An incredible amount of willpower that allows perseverance in overwhelming odds and seemingly unbeatable situations.
- Invulnerability
- Self-Sustenance: The ability to survive without sleep, food, water, or air.
- Superhuman Speed: The ability to run or fly at incredible rates of speed.
- Superhuman Reflexes
- Superhuman Agility
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Strength
- Teleportation: The ability to access the Rock of Eternity.
- Transformation: The ability to transform from a mortal to the entity empowered by the six.
- Summoning: Upon saying the magic word "Shazam!", Captain Marvel summons the lightning bolt that causes his transformation. This bolt has been weaponized in various ways.
Abilities
- Multilingualism: Thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon, he has the ability to understand, comprehend, and speak any language on earth.
- Charisma: 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. Once Captain Marvel was able to reason with the goddess Heqt and persuade her to cause no more trouble with the humanity. [6]
Weaknesses
- Vulnerability to Electricity: He can be reverted to his alter ego with enough electricity (as per Chain Lightning's bolts) [7]. He is a common boy in his alter ego, as mortal as anyone in his age.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Historama: (Formerly)
Notes
- 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.
- Immediately after his introduction in Legends, the miniseries Shazam: The New Beginning was published, written by Roy Thomas. A subsequent follow-up series was published in Action Comics Weekly. However, the majority of events from these series were replaced when Jerry Ordway's Power of Shazam reintroduced the character. The "The New Beginning"-era was later explicitly ruled non-canon in Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Related
- 394 Appearances of Billy Batson (New Earth)
- 194 Images featuring Billy Batson (New Earth)
- 30 Quotations by or about Billy Batson (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Billy Batson (New Earth)
External Links
- Captain Marvel Culture: The history and cultural significance of the many Captain Marvels
- Captain Marvel at the Guide to the Mythological Universe
Footnotes
- ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #23
- ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #24
- ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #25
- ↑ The Power of Shazam (vol. 1) #48
- ↑ Shazam! (Volume 2) #1
- ↑ Action Comics Vol 1 768
- ↑ Power of Shazam Vol 1 14
  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 member |
 This character has been 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 the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats. |