Shazaam
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be exploring the comic book origins of
Billy Batson otherwise known as Captain
Marvel as with most comic book
characters there are often reimagining
and different versions to a character’s
past we have chosen to primarily follow
the storyline which unfolded in 1940’s
whiz comics number 2 which was expanded
upon in 1942 s Captain Marvel Adventures
number 18 and 1945 s the Marvel family
number 1
Earth’s Mightiest mortal and champion of
Justice this hero was first introduced
as fili an orphaned paperboy working the
nightshift by the subway station in the
first issue Billy was approached by a
shadowy figure and beckoned into a
subway station where a magical train
arrived and transported him to a secret
cave there Billy entered its passageway
alone and discovered a hall filled with
statues showcasing the seven deadly sins
as well as an old man sitting upon a
marble throne welcoming Billy by name he
introduced himself as the powerful
wizard Shazam explaining that he had
fought evil for the last 3,000 years and
that his name was an acronym for Solomon
Hercules Atlas Zeus Achilles and mercury
as he possessed their respective gifts
of wisdom strength stamina power courage
and speed the wizard likewise explained
that he had been watching Billy since
birth witnessing both the death of his
parents and his wicked uncle stealing
his inheritance he had chosen Billy as
the one to carry on his quest of
fighting injustice and cruelty due to
his pure heart I’ve been watching you
for some time Billy
and now bestowed with the wisdom
strength stamina power courage and speed
of the gods you become our new protector
you will become Captain Marvel stowing
his powers on the boy Billy would only
need to say Shazam in order to transform
into the grown-up superhuman champion
Captain Marvel clad with a lightning
emblem red outfit and cape following
this a granite block hanging over the
Wizards throne snapped and crushed the
wizard while Billy was magically
transported back to the subway entrance
the next day while selling papers Billy
overheard a conversation by the henchman
of a mad scientist who had recently made
the front page for threatening to
destroy the USA’s radio system tracking
them to the nearby sky tower apartments
Billy decided to contact the head of the
radio company to inform him of his
discovery the executive offered Billy a
job if he could prove what he was saying
was true
unable to sneak past the building
security Billy decided to scale a
neighboring building and use his
newfound powers to make a mighty leap to
the villains secret laboratory crashing
through the window to smash their radio
silencer machine and apprehend the
criminals
however the mad scientist wasn’t there
as he had been giving orders to his
henchmen through a television screen
frustrated Captain Marvel threatened the
doctor with prison and death afterwards
Billy called over the radio director and
explained what had happened save for the
bit about Captain Marvel congratulated
he was made a news reporter in the years
that followed Billy was mentored by the
ghosts of Shazam
and likewise bestowed his powers on his
crippled friend Freddie Freeman and his
newfound sister Mary together becoming
the Marvel family
Billy’s origins were also later
explained adding the retcon that his
parents had been killed by Black Adam
the first superhero created by Shazam
that became corrupted by evil and
banished to outer space for several
millennia a superhero that once overtook
Superman in popularity Captain Marvel
quickly received his own live-action
film serial in 1941 before a copyright
infringement claim over his many
similarities to Superman caused his
series to fold in 1953 ironically by
1972 DC Comics decided to license the
character for outright buying him in
1991 however they were forced to rename
his comic series and animated series
Shazam due to the rise of Marvel Comics
and their own character of the same name
further preventing him from reaching
mass appeal today fans continue to enjoy
captain Marvel’s thrilling tales and
many DC crossovers lovingly referring to
him as the big red cheese a lighter
version of Superman this is so cool and
all I had to do was say she’s AM
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be exploring the comic book origins of
Billy Batson otherwise known as Captain
Marvel as with most comic book
characters there are often reimagining
and different versions to a character’s
past we have chosen to primarily follow
the storyline which unfolded in 1940’s
whiz comics number 2 which was expanded
upon in 1942 s Captain Marvel Adventures
number 18 and 1945 s the Marvel family
number 1
Earth’s Mightiest mortal and champion of
Justice this hero was first introduced
as fili an orphaned paperboy working the
nightshift by the subway station in the
first issue Billy was approached by a
shadowy figure and beckoned into a
subway station where a magical train
arrived and transported him to a secret
cave there Billy entered its passageway
alone and discovered a hall filled with
statues showcasing the seven deadly sins
as well as an old man sitting upon a
marble throne welcoming Billy by name he
introduced himself as the powerful
wizard Shazam explaining that he had
fought evil for the last 3,000 years and
that his name was an acronym for Solomon
Hercules Atlas Zeus Achilles and mercury
as he possessed their respective gifts
of wisdom strength stamina power courage
and speed the wizard likewise explained
that he had been watching Billy since
birth witnessing both the death of his
parents and his wicked uncle stealing
his inheritance he had chosen Billy as
the one to carry on his quest of
fighting injustice and cruelty due to
his pure heart I’ve been watching you
for some time Billy
and now bestowed with the wisdom
strength stamina power courage and speed
of the gods you become our new protector
you will become Captain Marvel stowing
his powers on the boy Billy would only
need to say Shazam in order to transform
into the grown-up superhuman champion
Captain Marvel clad with a lightning
emblem red outfit and cape following
this a granite block hanging over the
Wizards throne snapped and crushed the
wizard while Billy was magically
transported back to the subway entrance
the next day while selling papers Billy
overheard a conversation by the henchman
of a mad scientist who had recently made
the front page for threatening to
destroy the USA’s radio system tracking
them to the nearby sky tower apartments
Billy decided to contact the head of the
radio company to inform him of his
discovery the executive offered Billy a
job if he could prove what he was saying
was true
unable to sneak past the building
security Billy decided to scale a
neighboring building and use his
newfound powers to make a mighty leap to
the villains secret laboratory crashing
through the window to smash their radio
silencer machine and apprehend the
criminals
however the mad scientist wasn’t there
as he had been giving orders to his
henchmen through a television screen
frustrated Captain Marvel threatened the
doctor with prison and death afterwards
Billy called over the radio director and
explained what had happened save for the
bit about Captain Marvel congratulated
he was made a news reporter in the years
that followed Billy was mentored by the
ghosts of Shazam
and likewise bestowed his powers on his
crippled friend Freddie Freeman and his
newfound sister Mary together becoming
the Marvel family
Billy’s origins were also later
explained adding the retcon that his
parents had been killed by Black Adam
the first superhero created by Shazam
that became corrupted by evil and
banished to outer space for several
millennia a superhero that once overtook
Superman in popularity Captain Marvel
quickly received his own live-action
film serial in 1941 before a copyright
infringement claim over his many
similarities to Superman caused his
series to fold in 1953 ironically by
1972 DC Comics decided to license the
character for outright buying him in
1991 however they were forced to rename
his comic series and animated series
Shazam due to the rise of Marvel Comics
and their own character of the same name
further preventing him from reaching
mass appeal today fans continue to enjoy
captain Marvel’s thrilling tales and
many DC crossovers lovingly referring to
him as the big red cheese a lighter
version of Superman this is so cool and
all I had to do was say she’s AM
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