"When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett's first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were," Beck told an interviewer. C." Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parker's story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. Parker responded by creating a character he called "Captain Thunder". įawcett Comics' executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers. Each superhero in this team possessed a special power granted to them by a mythological figure. Besides penning stories featuring his creations Ibis the Invincible, the Spy Smasher, the Golden Arrow, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare for the new book, Parker also wrote a story about a team of six superheroes. BeckĪfter the success of National Comics' new superhero characters Superman and Batman, Fawcett Publications started its own comics division in 1939, recruiting staff writer Bill Parker to create several hero characters for the first title in their line, tentatively titled Flash Comics. UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, "At his best, Shazam has always been compared to Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun." Publication history Development and inspirations Ĭaptain Marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. IGN also ranked Shazam as the 50th-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that the character will always be an enduring reminder of a simpler time. The character was ranked as the 55th-greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. Levi and Angel return in the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. film Shazam!, an entry in the DC Extended Universe, stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson.
Images of captin earth series#
ĭC's revival of Shazam! has been adapted twice for television by Filmation: as a live-action 1970s series with Jackson Bostwick and John Davey as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson and as an animated 1980s series. DC renamed the mainline version of the character "Shazam" when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011, and his associates became the "Shazam Family" at this time as well. This led many to assume that "Shazam!" was the character's name. Owing to trademark conflicts over other characters named "Captain Marvel" owned by Marvel Comics, DC has branded and marketed the character using the trademark Shazam! since his 1972 reintroduction. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, with mixed success. In 1972, Fawcett licensed the character rights to DC, which by 1991 acquired all rights to the entire family of characters. as Billy Batson.įawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted to film, in a 1941 Republic Pictures serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel, with Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan, Jr. Billy often shares his powers with other children, primarily his sister Mary Batson and their best friend/foster brother Freddy Freeman, who also transform into superheroes and fight crime with Billy as members of the Marvel Family, also known as the Shazam Family.īased on comic book sales, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, outselling even Superman. The character battles an extensive rogues' gallery, most of them working in tandem as the Monster Society of Evil, including primary archenemies Black Adam, Doctor Sivana and Mister Mind. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking the magic word "Shazam!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), is transformed into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight, and other abilities. Captain Marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 ( cover-dated Feb.
Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Otto Binder, William Woolfolk, Ed Herron, Joe SimonĬaptain Marvel, also known as Shazam and the Captain, is a superhero in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics and currently published by DC Comics.
Electricity generation and manipulationĬover of Captain Marvel Adventures #31 (January 1944).
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