#12, Marvel Family #1, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny #6, Superman #276, Shazam! #1 & #29, World’s Finest #275, DC Comics Presents #49, L.E.G.I.O.N. We will mostly cover the DC Comics years, but if you are interested in exploring Captain Marvel/Shazam! by discovering his origins during the Fawcett years, you can start with this anniversary book:Ĭollects Whiz Comics #2 & 21, Captain Marvel Adventures #18, 38-39, 137, 148, Captain Marvel, Jr.

After a while, Billy started to share his powers with his sister Mary and their foster-brother Freddy Freeman-they became the Shazam Family! Together, they fought the Monster Society of Evil, including rogues like Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. By 1991, DC Comics had acquired all rights to the characters connected to the Shazam Universe, but the name “Captain Marvel” was owned by Marvel Comics! That’s why DC Comics marketed the Marvel Family under the Shazam! banner since the 1970s.īut what is the story of Shazam? This is about the young Billy Batson, an orphaned 12-year-old boy who, by speaking the name of the ancient wizard Shazam (an acronym derived from the six immortal elders who grant Captain Marvel his superpowers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), is struck by a magic lightning bolt and transformed into the adult superhero Captain Marvel. And in 1972, the company licensed the character rights to DC. As a result, Fawcett stopped publishing anything Captain Marvel-related in 1953. DC claimed that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. The two characters ended up fighting against one another in court. Back in the 1940s, he was the most popular superhero, even bigger than Superman. Beck in 1939, in the pages of Whiz Comics #2, published by Fawcett Comics. The superhero was created by writer Bill Parker and artist C. The history of Shazam/Captain Marvel is a complicated one.

Shazam seven magic lands