Shazam, is the "World's Mightiest Mortal"; inheritor of the powers of the Wizard Shazam and the chosen "Champion of Magic".
One of the most powerful and heroic champions on the planet, the hero Shazam is actually a teenager named William "Billy" Batson. Billy was chosen by the wizard Shazam to be a champion of good and gifted him with the power of six legendary Greek/Judaic figures, transforming him into an adult superhero in response to the return of the corrupted champion Black Adam.
Background[]
William Joseph "Billy" Batson and his twin sister, Mary Batson, were born to archaeologists Clarence Charles Batson and Marilyn Batson. When Billy was ten, his parents were hired to investigate the tomb of Rameses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt, on behalf of industrialist Thaddeus Sivana who wanted the pair to return with reference material to build a replica of the tomb at the city's World's Fair. While Mary was allowed to accompany their parents to Egypt, Billy had to remain home in Fawcett City due to his poor school grades. With Mary remaining at their hotel, Sivana's enforcer, Theo Adam, accompanied the Batsons on the dig, but when Theo discovered a hidden chamber within the tomb; and insisted that he and the Batsons investigated it without their guides, Theo was taken over by the spirit of the ancient hero Black Adam and tried to steal a scarab necklace from the tomb. Insisting that any treasures found in the tomb belonged to the Cairo Museum, the Batsons attempted to stop him, with Marilyn tearing the necklace in half in the struggle. As Clarence sent his wife out of the tomb to get help, Theo stabbed him in the back and left him behind as the tomb collapsed. Escaping the tomb, Theo killed their Egyptian guides and followed Marilyn to their hotel where he killed her and Mary's babysitter, however, as Mary had not seen him kill her mother or 'sitter, Theo refrained from killing the child and instead took her back with him to America. Upon Theo's return to the United States, his sister, Sarah Primm, learns what her brother had done and has Mary illegally adopted by her employers, Nick and Nora Bromfield. As Mary Bromfield, the young girl grows up living an idyllic life in a wealthy family but continuously dreams of another family with a brother she has never seen.
In the months that followed, Billy received news of the deaths of his parents and the disappearance of his sister and was sent to live with his uncle, Ebenezer Batson; an ill-tempered, greedy man. Ebenezer mistreats his nephew and attempts to exploit him for money by trying to get him to steal. Frustrated by his nephew's refusal to steal, Ebenezer eventually kicks him out of the house and onto the streets, where Billy eventually succumbed to hypothermia and starvation and was brought to a hospital. When Billy recovered his health, he discovered that Ebenezer had fled the city with the inheritance his parents had left for him. Forced to fend for himself on the city streets, Billy managed to secure himself a part-time job as a newsboy hawking newspapers within the city while still attending school by keeping his residential and familial situation secret.
One evening as Billy was hawking newspapers, a strange man in a long coat approached him. Beckoning Billy to follow him, the man led Billy underground into a dilapidated subway station where a driver-less subway car unlike any Billy had ever seen before, appeared before them. As the two boarded the train, the car sped off deeper underground and brought them to the Rock of Eternity where the man brought Billy before the Wizard Shazam. The wizard informed Billy that he was chosen to become the new champion of mankind; bestowing upon him extraordinary power by speaking the wizard's name; transforming him into a hero possessing the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury.
Returning to Fawcett City, Billy is awakened by Theo Adam and some saboteurs attempting to place dynamite on the roof of the Whiz Radio station to silence their reporting of Sivana's failing Fair project and his suspected connection with the murders of Clarence Charles and Marilyn Batson in Egypt. Transforming into his heroic identity, Billy thwarts the bombing attempt but while trying to throw the bomb into the river he underestimates his strength and instead throws the bomb across the harbour into Sivana's fairgrounds. After capturing all of the saboteurs save Theo but destroying Sivana's dridgible while accidentally summoning his transformation lightning, Billy surmises that he is not able to handle the powers given to him and attempts to get the wizard to take them back.
Unwilling to let Billy give up his powers, the wizard bargains with Billy and offers to take his powers back once his parents' murderer is brought to justice.
Theo, meanwhile, had returned to Sivana's penthouse where he had been hiding out and from the fact that the hero looked exactly like Clarence Charles Batson, deduced that the hero he had encountered was the Batsons' son transformed by the power from the tomb in Egypt. Retaking the scarab necklace from Sivana's trophy room, Theo is once again possessed by Black Adam's ancient spirit and calls the corrupted champion's name to transform into Adam's physical body. Theorizing that Billy had used the other half of the amulet to transform like he had just done (the half that his mother had taken during their fight in Egypt), Theo hunts down where Billy sleeps (on a fire escape on the Whiz Radio building) and discovers the amulet piece hidden within his sister's Tawky Tawny doll (which had been sent to Billy along with his parents' possessions following their deaths).
Discovering Theo shortly thereafter, Billy confronts the henchman and the two battle across Fawcett City into Sivana's fairgrounds where Billy deduces that Theo was receiving his power from the amulet and takes it away from him; resulting in the henchman's depowerment.
Unwilling to kill Theo for killing his parents, the wizard Shazam sends a lightning bolt to scar the villain's neck and render him mute as punishment before Billy hands him over to the police.
While Billy was ready to relinquish his powers now that Theo was behind bars, the wizard was still unwilling to lose his champion and instead revealed that his twin sister, Mary, was still alive and suggested that Billy could use his powers to find her.
Three months after Billy publicly announced himself as the hero of Fawcett City, Superman stumbles onto a museum robbery where he is confronted by thieves that release a magical monster to distract him long enough to escape. After seeing the theft of the museum in the paper, Billy deduces the types of artifacts the thieves were stealing and stakes out the McKeon History Museum in Fawcett City, successfully encountering the men whom Superman had ran across previously. When the thieves release the same creatures to distract him as they had Superman, Billy receives unexpected assistance from the Man of Steel himself and together they make short work of the magical beings; although the thieves yet again escape and use the magical items they stole to summon/release, Sabbac and Eclipso.
They quickly move to Fawcett City when Superman hears panic. Captain Marvel and Superman encounter the newly formed villainous duo and each quickly pick his target. Captain Marvel engages vile Sabbac and discerns his secret/weakness during the battle; his power derives from a magical word. Tricking Sabbac into saying it, Captain Marvel quickly puts an end to the battle. Superman, having some difficulty dealing with Eclipso, eventually sees the thieves who are empowering him and quickly puts a stop to both them and Eclipso.
While teaming-up with Superman, Captain Marvel was unaware that a few days earlier Lex Luthor had helped Sivana track Billy to his place of rest. Using this information, Dr. Sivana sent mercenaries to kill Billy. The mercenaries found Billy at his home and attempted to kill him with guns, but Billy changed into Captain Marvel before being shot and and easily defeated them. Tragically, however, the ricocheting bullets struck Billy's best friend. Captain Marvel sped him to a hospital, but they couldn't do anything for him. He died. Filled with anger, Captain Marvel went to the police station where one of the mercenaries was being held and persuaded him to name of the person who had hired them to kill Billy. Now knowing who was behind the attempted assassination, Captain Marvel found and confronted Dr. Sivana at his building. Grabbing and choking him, Captain Marvel resists the urge to kill Sivana and flies off before casing any serious harm. An inaccurate news report states that it was Captain Marvel who'd killed Billy’s best friend. Clark Kent sees this and, as Superman, he finds Captain Marvel atop of where the last spoke, Mount Everest. Captain Marvel tells him everything and shows him that he is just a kid. Superman asks to see the person that did this to him. After a heated argument with Shazam, Superman leaves for Fawcett City. Billy alone in a building; a suited man enters, Billy wonders who it is and the suited man reveals that he is Clark Kent and Superman.
Billy Batson becomes a reporter and host for WHIZ Radio, his career allowing him to travel and investigate criminal activity.[85] An adult daughter of Sivana's, Beautia, becomes an unwitting love interest for the shy Captain Marvel, despite her wavering allegiance to her evil father.
When the New God known as Darkseid used evangelist G. Gordon Godfrey to discredit the world's heroes and turn the public against them, a team of heroes stepped up to oppose him at the Lincoln Memorial. This would inspire Doctor Fate to assemble a new Justice league team, realizing that the world would always need a Justice League.
Established to represent a more global presence, the team consisted of Doctor Fate, Batman, Mister Miracle, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Black Canary, the heroic Doctor Light, Booster Gold, and Oberon, with the financial backing of Maxwell Lord and the United Nations. Renaming themselves "Justice League International". Originally operating from Metropolis, the team later gained embassies around the world. Captain Atom and Rocket Red IV joined the team as Captain Marvel and Doctor Fate left only for Billy to become influenced by the pantheon of the Roman Gods to act as their champion in fighting the pantheon of the Grecian Gods during the War of the Gods incident.
Four years since retrieving his powers, Billy saves an industrialist named Sinclair Batson from the destruction of his WayneTech building which was destroyed by Ibac. Revealing himself as the son of Ebenezer Batson, who had fallen ill, Sinclair is infatuated by the hero's resemblance to his late uncle and invites him to a formal party as thanks for saving his life. Meanwhile, the school janitor, Dudley H. Dudley, starts noticing Billy's frequent absences from school and discovers Billy's circumstances as an adolescent living independently without the government's knowledge and deduces that he is the hero, Captain Marvel. While attending Sinclair's party as Captain Marvel, Billy encounters Beautia Sivana, whom he had met previously during the last four years, and attempts to hide from her attentions. Irritated by Billy's distraction by what he deems to be trivial matters, the wizard suddenly appears and devests Billy of his powers just as the Arson Fiend attacks the party by setting part of the house on fire. Escaping via the wine cellar, Billy leads the party guests to safety without his powers and appears on the evening news just as he spies the Arson Fiend attacking Ebenezer. As the wizard returns his powers to him, Billy attacks and defeats the fiend with the help of the fire brigade and an inground pool, however, the fiend returns to his alter ego form and disappears into the crowd while Billy was checking on Ebenezer.
Observing the news, Mr Morris has Billy Batson re-employed at Whiz Radio and has him emcee a regional spelling bee with Freddy Freeman and Mary Bromfield as two of the competitors.
After saving Mary from kidnappers twice as Captain Marvel, Billy notices how much Mary Bromfield reminded him of his missing sister, Mary Batson, and has an undercover cop named “Muscles” McGinnis retrieve the girl's forged adoption record. Learning that Mary was indeed his sister, Billy tries to figure out a way to let Mary know he is her brother when his Tawky Tawny doll suddenly transforms into an anthropomorphic tiger and instructs Billy to take the doll to Mary.
Arriving at the Bromfield estate, Billy delivers the doll and the adoption papers to Mary but is immediately kidnapped by the thugs who had originally helped Primm forge Mary's adoption records. As they deduced that Mary was really the daughter of the Batsons, who Primm's brother had murdered, they figured that they could hold the girl ransom to gain money from the Bromfield family. Mary takes the package and opens it, discovering the adoption records and the Tawky Tawny doll. Once again, the doll comes to life and instructs the bewildered girl to say the magic word “Shazam” in order to save her brother. Mary complies, and is transformed by a bolt of magic lightning into a super-powered doppelganger of her deceased mother. She saves Billy, who transforms into Captain Marvel to help Mary out. But the two Marvels cannot save Sarah Primm, who is murdered by one of the thugs.
While Mary encounters and has a fight with Madame Libertine, who was stealing supplies to revive Captain Nazi, Billy assists Superman in dealing with an illusion on the outskirts of Fawcett City where he sees Superman as Black Adam and Superman sees him as the Cyborg Superman.
After being awoken from suspended animation by his brother and grandniece, Captain Nazi attempts to rob a bank to fund their cause and encounters Captain Marvel. As the two fight across the city, the villain is knocked into the water and attacks Freddy Freeman and his grandfather when they attempt to help him onto their fishing boat.
When Captain Nazi returns in an attempt to kill Freddy, Billy and Mary take him to the wizard where they transfer some of their power to him to heal his body. Now Captain Marvel, Jr., Freddy goes to Crowley Prison to kill Captain Nazi in revenge for the attack on him and the death of his grandfather. As Freddy fights Mary on his way to the prison, Captain Nazi is freed with the assistance of Theo Adam, who Freddy saves when the Captain drops him from the sky after escaping. As the Marvels pursue Freddy and Captain Nazi to the east coast Miami Beach, Lady Blaze offers to restore Theo's throat and voice, allowing him to become Black Adam again and with Adam at her side she invades the Rock of Eternity and kidnaps the wizard Shazam. While confronting Captain Marvel and breaking his arm, Black Adam tells him that the wizard was being held in Hell and so the Captain joins other heroes in invading Hell to fight Neron, who had executed a plan to take over the Earth in an incident dubbed "Underworld Unleashed".
Soon after, the heroes discover that Superman is not trapped in the Underworld at all. Trickster begins to realize that Superman was never the "pure soul" that Neron sought at all. His true target was Captain Marvel. The evil influence of Hell begins to overwhelm the other heroes and they fall prey to their darkest, most base instincts. Neron manipulates them into attacking Captain Marvel, who thus far, seems unaffected by the corruptive reach of Hell. Captain Marvel tries talking to the heroes, but they keep coming after him.
Unexpectedly, Blue Devil rises from the dead – now a true devil, rather than a man trapped inside of a costume. As Blue Devil busies himself with Neron, Trickster sneaks out and approaches Captain Marvel. He tells him that Neron fears a magic word, and Marvel immediately knows what to do. He speaks the magic word "Shazam", and a powerful mystic lightning bolt erupts in Hell, freeing the other heroes from Neron's dark influence. While the heroes attack Neron, Trickster pulls Captain Marvel aside and tells him his plan. Captain Marvel offers his soul in exchange for Neron freeing the Earth and all the heroes with no other demands. Neron greedily takes Marvel's soul and makes the deal only to discover that the pure soul, offered altruistically, couldn't be retained by him as Trickster knew would be the case. Thus all the heroes and the Earth are freed with Captain Marvel retaining his soul.
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 and aided the team in fighting Despero and Johnny Sorrow when they used the Seven Deadly Sins to corrupt members of the JLA and JSA during Thanksgiving Day. 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.
Rage fills the streets of Metropolis. Many people are committing suicide because of this hatred. One causes a train to derail and before it makes contact with the ground, Superman arrives in
Superman and Captain Marvel Superman and Captain Marvel time to save the passages. A woman gains his attention; she works for S.T.A.R Labs, Dr. Jeanine Tracey, he escorts her to the ambulance. Later during the day, Dr. Tracey enters S.T.A.R Labs and acquires Lex Luthor’s Warsuit.
Superman hears an explosion at S.T.A.R Labs and quickly gets there, however the woman in the armored suit is Eclipso, who has taken control of Dr. Tracey. After a battle, Superman saves the woman but Eclipso seems to have vanished. Later, Clark Kent (Superman) is at home with his wife Lois Lane, but Lois seems off, purposely trying to anger Clark. Before Clark can even begin to realize Eclipso has taken control of Lois, Eclipso leaves Lois and transfers to Clark. Now in control of Clark, Eclipso changed into his Superman suit to wreak havoc, only to be headed off by Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel fights a very tough battle against the combined power of Eclipso/Superman. The battle ends when Eclipso leaves Superman and takes control Captain Marvel. Eclipso had barely gained control of the World's Mightiest Mortal when he was attacked by the Wizard Shazam. To defeat Eclipso, Shazam ended up summoning the Spectre to deal with him. The Spectre accomplished this by imprisoning Eclipso within the black diamond from which he focuses his power and then sending it away into the distance.
The Spectre has cast it upon himself to eradicate the forces of magic. The world of magic is in turmoil, an unlikely group of heroes form together to try and stop this crisis, the Y call themselves the Shadowpact. While this group forms, the Spectre acquires an unexpected ally, Eclipso. Now hosted within the body of Jean Loring, they form a deadly alliance against the magical world. Eclipso is still harbouring vengeful feelings towards the wizard Shazam. The wizard Shazam sends his champion, Captain Marvel to stall the Spectre while he powers up to face him. The unlikely group of magical heroes venture to where the Spectre is to beat him others travel elsewhere for more help. They arrive at Budapest where Spectre is in the middle of a battle with Captain Marvel. The Shadowpact use this opportunity to take out Eclipso while the Spectre has his hands full.
Captain Marvel battles the Spectre Captain Marvel battles the Spectre Once Eclipso is dealt with, one of the members, Enchantress uses her powers to convey the world of magic into Captain Marvel to help him against his losing battle with Spectre. This gives him a colossal boost in power that for the length of the time Enchantress holds it. When she loses control of the magic the balance of the battle shifts again from the now low powered Captain Marvel to the Spectre for enough time for him to knock Captain Marvel out. Spectre, low on power he reacquires Eclipso and they escape. The rest of the Shadowpact return with help in the form of a teenage girl, Black Alice. They recuperate while the Spectre is gone. Captain Marvel returns to the Rock of Eternity where the wizard has gained his full power. The Shadowpact now wait for the Spectre to return, when he does they use Black Alice to obtain Spectre’s power. In doing so, she takes away his powers and his form making it impossible to hit him. They focus their attention on Eclipso, she teleports her away to orbit the sun, now powerless in the light. The Spectre arrives at the Rock of Eternity to face Shazam, Captain Marvel charges for him but the Spectre simple summons the lightning and changes him back to a teenage boy and sends him to sleep. Just before the Spectre enters Shazam’s domain, he uses his power against Mordru who was kept within the rock. Now in a weaken state he faces the Spectre and looses and during the battle, the Rock of Eternity is destroyed. The Shadowpact summon Nabu, who battles against the Spectre while the rest repair the Rock of Eternity. The Spectre finally beats Nabu, but at a cost. The powers above can not ignore him any longer, casting him back to heaven.
During World War III Captain Marvel is seen fighting off Black Adam, he is beaten by Black Adam in their ensuing battle at the beginning of the story but it was Captain Marvel that struck Black Adam with the lightning bolt that reverted him back to Teth Adam in the end. Captain Marvel changes his magic word, preventing Adam from changing form.
Involvement[]
- Shazam can be found with other magic users socializing in the Oblivion Bar.
- Shazam is a playable character for Legends PvP and Legends PvE.
- Shazam is heavily involved throughout the Justice League Dark (Episode).
- Billy Batson offers various commentary via com screen in the SoBA: The Treachery of Black Adam challenge.
- Shazam is a daily mission giver in Infernal Kahndaq.
- Shazam is available as an ally.
Heroes[]
- Shazam initiates the Level 25 mission thread that takes place in and around Gotham University to stop Black Adam and Felix Faust from raising Adam's deceased wife, Isis, from the grave.
- Shazam rewards flying characters with emblem styles by email for achieving platinum medals in flight races around Gotham and Metropolis.
Villains[]
- Shazam appears randomly as an opponent in the Police Station Tier 3 Duo.
Associated Equipment[]
- Aegis of Eternity Costume Style
- Magic's Champion Costume Style
- Captain Marvel T-Shirt
- Shazam Emblem
- Enhanced Shazam Emblem
- Power of Shazam Accessory
Trivia[]
- Shazam first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940).
- Shazam is voiced by Shannon McCormick.
- Although looking like an adult as Shazam, Billy is actually not much older than Robin (Timothy Drake).
- Throughout the super-human community Shazam is generally perceived as a boy scout, perhaps even more so than his idol Superman. As a teenager inside an adult form, the hero tends to be more optimistic and gullible than other heroes. In some cases this works to his advantage, but it can also cause his peers to look down upon him. However, Billy's naivety also gives him strong moral values and helps him find the good in everybody. Shazam's pure heart and irrepressible good nature have made him extremely hard to dislike, thus, appropriately, he gets along with the vast majority of people he meets.
- In keeping with then-comic-book-canon; Shazam was originally named "Captain Marvel" in DC Universe Online, however, in mid-2012 DC Comics requested that DC Universe Online change his name to Shazam in order to keep the character up to date with his comic book reboot. As such, in his The Last Laugh T3 Duo appearance he is named Shazam, however, in all other in-game appearances he is still named "Captain Marvel".
- Shazam and the other Marvel Family members can be reverted back to their mortal forms if struck with enough electricity.
- Billy shares a portion of his power between his family when they are transformed into their hero forms. If only one Marvel Family member is transformed, he/she will have full power level; with two members transformed, the duo have each a half of the power level; with three transformed, the trio will have each only one third of the power level.
- Billy can alter the appearance of his adult form at will by visualizing alterations and then saying "Shazam!" While his default appearance is that of his father, Billy can also use this ability to disguise himself as his "uncle" to work and cash checks and once used it to turn his Captain Marvel costume into a spacesuit for a mission in space.
Gallery[]
See also[]
External links[]
- Captain Marvel (DC Comics) Wikipedia
- Captain Marvel DC Database