Everything you need to know about Shazam - a superhero with a childish personality

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What does the name of the hero mean, how his image was transformed and how Marvel once forced to change the name of the comics.

The next film of the DC Cinematic Universe comes out on the screens. And despite the fact that the producers have many famous heroes at their disposal, such as Green Lantern, Flash and others, the studio first decided to embody the story about Shazam - the most positive and easy character.

Now he is not as famous as, for example, Batman or Superman. But in fact, Shazam has a very long history associated with the beginning of the "golden age" of comics and conflicts between major studios. He is also very different from all other superheroes.

How the comics about Shazam appeared

In the late thirties, National Allied Publications (later renamed National Comics, and even later DC Comics) came up with their main superhero. And he soon became one of the most recognizable symbols of the United States - Superman.

And then a small company Fawcett Comics decided to create its own answer to the popular character. Initially, there was an idea to take six superheroes, each of whom will have the power given by some ancient god.

However, then they decided to change the concept, and the power of all six gods was combined in one character. A twelve-year-old boy was made into his human alter ego, which was supposed to add childish humor and the opportunity for young readers to associate themselves with the hero. At the same time, the magical fundamental principle associated the stories with mythology rather than fantasy, as in the case of Superman.

Initially, they wanted to name the new character Captain Thunder. But this option was already taken, and then Captain Marvel appeared. Now this name is associated with a completely different hero, or rather, with the heroine from the Marvel movie of the same name.

But in fact, the first Captain Marvel is the current Shazam. About how this name passed to another universe - a little further.

What does the word "Shazam" mean and how does it relate to the abilities of the hero

According to the plot of the original comics, a young homeless newspaper boy orphan Billy Batson finds himself in the cave of the wizard Shazam. He, for endurance and hard work, bestows upon the boy the powers of the gods. Billy screams the word "Shazam!" and transforms into an adult superhero named Captain Marvel. In this guise, he begins to fight against evil and injustice in the world.

The magic word is not just the name of the wizard. It is also an abbreviation for the gods that give Billy their powers:

• S - Solomon. Gives wisdom - great centuries-old knowledge and perfect memory.
• H - Hercules (Hercules / Hercules). Gives strength - the ability to lift enormous weights and destroy the most durable materials.
• A - Atlas. Gives endurance - the ability to remain without air for a long time, heal wounds and resist magic.
• Z - Zeus (Zeus). Gives the power of the god of thunder - the ability to throw lightning.
• A - Achilles (Achilles). Gives courage - courage and desire to fight evil.
• M - Mercury (Mercury). Gives speed - the ability to run and fly very quickly.

All this makes Captain Marvel one of the strongest heroes close to Superman - later they had to face each other, and the victory was alternately on the side of one of them.

How Captain Marvel became Shazam

It's all about legal conflicts with National Comics. In the early forties, Captain Marvel had already overtaken Superman in sales of comics. And even became the protagonist of the first ever television series about a superhero - it consisted of 12 episodes and was called "The Adventures of Captain Marvel". There, the character became more mature and the general plot changed a lot, but still this contributed to a further gain in popularity.

And then National Comics filed a lawsuit against competitors, claiming that the image of Captain Marvel was copied from Superman. Indeed, the similarities are not difficult to notice: the characters have similar costumes and a similar set of superpowers.

The courts dragged on for years. At the same time, against the background of a decline in general interest in comics, the quality of plots and pictures for many issues became worse and worse. In 1952, the court still ruled that some of the stories about Captain Marvel were copied from Superman. But by that time, things were going really badly for Fawcett Comics, and the studio voluntarily stopped printing comics about the hero and sold it to Charlton Comics.

In the sixties, Marvel Comics took advantage of this. The company found out that the hero's name was not licensed, hastily obtained the rights to the name and launched its Captain Marvel series. Based on these comics, the recent film of the same name was shot.

DC Comics decided to revive the character only in the seventies, having bought by that time Charlton Comics, and immediately discovered that it could not release comics under the old name - Marvel took it over.

Then the comics were renamed "Shazam!", Although the name of the hero remained the same. But gradually, fans became more and more accustomed to calling the character himself Shazam. The hero officially acquired his current name in 2011, when DC completely relaunched all their comic book series, creating the universe of The New 52. Since then, "Shazam" is not only the name of the comic book, but also the name of the hero.

With whom is Shazam friends and with whom he fights

Helpers

Shortly after the appearance, Captain Marvel, like many other superheroes, acquired numerous assistants. They form the "Marvel Family", later the "Shazam Family". The first allies in the fight against evil were Lieutenants Marvel - three more boys named Billy Batson.

Then the Captain's twin sister appeared - Mary Bromfield. She turned into Mary Marvel. True, at first the heroine remained in the body of a teenager. Later, she was invented an adult alter ego. Interestingly, the history of female spin-offs about superheroes began with the comics about Mary Marvel. Later, Supergirl will appear - Superman's cousin, Batwoman and many others.

Then Freddie Freeman appeared, Captain Marvel Jr. In one of the early comics, the central character rescued a dying child from the hands of the fascist Captain Nazi. To prevent the weakened boy from dying, the hero shared his powers with him. But Freddie also remained a teenager during the manifestation of his superpowers.

All of these characters have roughly the same powers as the main character, they change depending on the versions of the comics.

Enemies

Among the main enemies of the character, two should be singled out separately - they appear most often in comics, and they are also important for the future film. The first is Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. This is one of the oldest enemies of Captain Marvel.

Sivana is a typical mad scientist: he either dreams of enslaving the world, then he wants to become a wizard. The doctor also has assistants - his four children: Magnificus, Butia, Georgia and Thaddeus Jr.

The second classic enemy is Black Adam. This is a kind of mirror image of the hero. He was the predecessor of Captain Marvel and possessed roughly the same powers.

But his boundless abilities corrupted him, and the wizard expelled Black Adam from Earth (in different versions either to the depths of the Universe, or to another dimension). And after returning, the antihero sets out to defeat Captain Marvel and take over the world.

These enemies regularly unite with each other, and in some variants it is Sivana who helps Black Adam return to Earth.

How Shazam's image changed

After the purchase by DC Comics, the stories of the classic hero were tried to revive. Since he now existed in the same universe with Superman, they tried to separate their stories - Shazam began to fight more with wizards, spirits and other magical creatures. Still, these stories turned out to be not very popular.

An important change took place in 1987. Shazam !: The New Beginning showed for the first time that Billy Batson retains his childish mind and personality as a superhero. In the future, this became the main distinguishing feature of the character: despite the body of an adult man, he emotionally remains a simple and naive child.

But still, at the beginning of the 21st century, Shazam was not very popular. He has appeared periodically in Justice League and other general stories. And in parallel, the authors tried to restart their own comics about him.

For example, in 2008, The Trials of Shazam! Series was released. In it, Captain Marvel began to play the role of the wizard Shazam, and Captain Marvel Jr. (Freddie Freeman) came in his place. He had to fight with Mary Batson, to whom Black Adam transferred his powers.

In addition, the DC Universe is regularly rebooted to update the history of the characters and get rid of the inconsistencies in biographies that have accumulated over the years. To do this, the authors arrange global events that destroy alternative versions of the heroes or roll back the action in time.

So, in 2011, the Flashpoint comic appeared, in which Flash went back in time and saved his mother. This act created an alternative universe where the fate of all the heroes developed differently: Aquaman lived his whole life under water and started a war with people, Thomas Wayne became Batman after his son was killed in an alley.

In the world of Flashpoint, six children turn into a hero named Captain Thunder at once - for this they have to say “Shazam!” In chorus. Moreover, each of them is gifted with the power of one of the gods. Thunder enters into battle with Wonder Woman: here she is also opposed to people. But then the superhero turns into children again and the Amazons kill one of them.

After Flashpoint, the DC universe was refreshed again in The New 52, and it was then that the hero received the name Shazam, and at the same time a new story. And in this version, Billy became a more arrogant and harsh teenager.

He is adopted by a new family, where he meets Mary Batson and Freddie Freeman. Well, then Billy gets the powers of Shazam and he has to fight classic enemies - Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, obsessed with the desire to possess magical powers, and Black Adam.

What will be shown in the film "Shazam!"

The new motion picture retells the classic story: a difficult teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) finds himself in a foster family, where Freddie Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) already lives. Soon, Billy receives the powers of the ancient gods from the wizard Shazam and can now turn into a superhero (Zachary Levi). True, at the same time, internally, he remains the same child and does not understand at all how to use his abilities.

But soon the hero has to face the sinister Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who himself dreams of gaining the powers of Shazam.

The film is largely based on the world's first comics, The New 52. The characters' characters and even certain scenes are clearly taken from the original. True, in the cinematic universe Sivan partly transferred the powers of Black Adam from the comics. And Black Adam himself plans to play Dwayne Johnson in one of the future films.

"Shazam!" is one of the funniest and most optimistic films in the MCU. Interestingly, it was filmed by director David F. Sandberg, known for the horror films "The Lights Go Out …" and "The Curse of Annabelle: The Birth of Evil." A similar story was with "Aquaman" - it was filmed by the famous author of "The Conjuring" and "Astral" James Wang.

And yet it is rather ironic that "Shazam!" comes out a month after Captain Marvel, which owes its name to him.