CAPTAIN MARVEL: THE POWER OF SHAZAM.
Captain Marvel created by C.C. Beck, Bill Parker and Ralph Daigh.

"For better or for worse, I'm back -- and this time it's to stay!" - Captain Marvel (Legends #6, 1986)

Personal Details

Codename: Captain Marvel I
Alter Ego: William (Billy) Joseph Baston
Occupation: Radio Journalist / High School Student
Known Relatives: Mary Broomfield (sister), Sinclair Baston (Cousin), Ebenezer Baston (uncle), Clarence Charles and Marilyn Baston (parents, deceased), The Broomfields (adopted parents)
Group Affiliation: Formally the Justice League
Base of Operations: Fawcett City, USA
First Appearance: WHIZ COMICS #1 (February, 1940)
Height: 6' 1" (as Captain Marvel), 5' 4" (as Billy)
Weight: 195 (as Captain Marvel) 107 lb. (as Billy)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Codename: Captain Marvel II / Mary Marvel
Alter Ego: Mary Broomfield
Occupation: High School Student
Known Relatives: Billy Baston (brother), Sinclair Baston (Cousin), Ebenezer Baston (uncle), Clarence Charles and Marilyn Baston (parents, deceased), The Broomfields (adoptive parents)
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Fawcett City, USA
First Appearance: CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #18
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 120 lb.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

Codename: Captain Marvel Jnr.
Alter Ego: Frederick (Freddy) Freeman
Occupation: High School Student
Known Relatives: Unnamed grandfather (deceased)
Group Affiliation: Teen Titans
Base of Operations: Fawcett City, USA
First Appearance: WHIZ COMICS #25
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 164 lb.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Overview

Young Billy Baston by pronouncing the name of the wizard SHAZAM is transformed into the world's mightiest mortal, Captain Marvel. With 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 he defends Fawcett City against the forces of darkness. Billy also shares the "Power of Shazam" with his younger sister Mary who was adopted after their parents were killed and Billy was left out in the streets by a vicious uncle. Now reunited she soars the skies as Mary Marvel.

Freddy Freeman was crippled in a fight between Captain Marvel and Captain Nazi. In an effort to help their pal Mary and Billy granted him part of their power transforming him into Captain Marvel Junior whenever he says Captain Marvel.

Background

It all began millennia ago in the land of Canaan when a young child returned to his parents camp after tending the birth of a lamp to find that they had been slaughtered by bandits. Angrily the child cried out against the gods. Displeased with the child's anger the gods manifested themselves and challenged the child to what they should do. The quick thinking boy struck a deal with the gods that they might lend him a portion each of their defining powers so that he might protect the innocent and weak. With the strength of Voldar, wisdom of Lumiun, speed of Arel, power of Ribalvei, courage of Elbiam and the stamina of Martzoah he was transformed into the Champion. Fighting against bandits and evil doers he made the lands around a safe place to live. But he became complacent as the local people treated him as a god and was easy prey to a demoness who blinded him with lust. From their union was produced the twin evils of Satanus and Blaze. Punished by his gods he set out once more in his mission and with their help he used giant rocks from both heaven and hell to contain the Three Faces of Evil.

Eventually the Champion or Shazam (as he had become known) became a mighty wizard and allied himself with the pharaohs of Egypt. He selected Teth-Adam to become his successor but during the process of granting him power Blaze intervened with the god Set and gave him powers stolen from the Egyptian gods instead. At first Adam was a force for good but eventually he was turned to evil and Shazam was forced to draw the energy from him into the Scarab necklace. He then entombed the body of Adam and the Scarab out of harms way. Then for centuries Shazam wondered the world until he came to Fawcett City with the help of the Baston family whom he had met on an archaeological dig.

Still looking for a successor he set himself up in a deserted subway station. However he put off his search as he battled the forces of evil with the help of the cities many war time defenders, including Ibis, Bulletman, Minute Man, Spy Smasher and many more. When Blaze set free the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man Shazam defeated them with help from the allies and then imprisoned the evils inside ridiculous shells as punishments. Then Ibis returned to his sleep and at the behest of the wizard used his Ibis-Stick to slow the march of time around Fawcett keeping the architecture unaltering, slowing ageing and preventing demonic influence in Fawcett. Shortly afterwards Shazam was taken by surprise by a thug and knocked out. With amnesia he wandered the city until he was taken in by Clarence Charles Baston. His memory restored he set about creating the spell that would transform Baston into his successor.

The Egyptian government decided to dam the Nile at Aswan with the effect that the Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel would be engulfed by the water. Multi-millionaire Thaddeus Sivana funded an expedition comprising the husband and wife team of Clarence Charles and Marilyn Baston along with Theo Adam (actually the latent reincarnation of Teth Adam) who was Sivana's hired thug. The idea that the Baston's would supply detailed guidelines to reproduce the temple at the World's Fair that Sivana was organising in Fawcett City while they got funding for their archaeological digs, however unknown to them Sivana was using Adam to steal and loot and finds for his own private collection before they were handed over to the proper Egyptian Authorities.

The trio discovered a hidden tomb within the temple and a fabulous jewelled Scarab contained inside. While touching the Scarab Theo Adam was awakened briefly to his real identity as Teth-Adam aka Black Adam. Adam killed C. C. Baston (preventing Shazam recruiting him) while his wife managed to make a run for it with part of the neck lace that was part of the Scarab. He tracked her down and murdered her as well but not before she hid the rest of the necklace in a stuffed toy owned by her daughter Mary. Adam kidnapped Mary and had her put up anonymously for adoption to remove her as a witness. Then he returned to the US to deliver the Scarab to his employer Sivana.

With the death of the Bastons their son Billy was kicked out onto the street by his step uncle Ebenezer Baston who took the inheritance for himself. Homeless, Billy resorted to selling newspapers on street corners to make a living in the evenings while attending school in the day time. He was contacted by the spirit of his deceased father who led him to the wizard Shazam who transformed Billy into Captain Marvel to be his replacement. Initially Billy was horrified by being transformed into an adult but he found that he was able to use his powers to capture Black Adam. Captain Marvel was unwilling to seek vengeance on Adam and it was left to the wizard to strip him of the ability to seek, and therefore say the name SHAZAM and transform himself back into Black Adam.

Young Billy found himself manipulated by the villain Darkseid into giving up his Captain Marvel identity during the Anti-Hero Riots however with the help of a young girl he managed to regain his confidence after thinking that he had killed somebody (in truth an elaborate illusion by Darkseid) and he agreed to join Doctor Fate as a founding member of a new Justice League. Marvel stayed with the League until the point where they turned into the Justice League International when he found that he had to quit due to the increased responsibility on top of trying to keep a full school life. Captain Marvel continued protecting Fawcett City and Billy continued at his school and he found that he became quite famous as a superhero.

Captain Marvel was manipulated into fighting Wonder Woman by the Roman Gods during the War of the Gods caused by the sorceress Circle. The battle was stopped by the Son of Vulcan with the result that the spell that had created Captain Marvel was destroyed. During the course of the War the gods that granted abilities to Billy were killed and their essences placed into the shells on the Metal Men. Then Shazam combined fractions of these essences together again to create Captain Marvel once again. With the war over Billy once again returned to his normal day to day life.

The spell that kept Fawcett unchanging was threatened when the demoness Blaze used Sinclair Baston to create a new building drive in the city thereby countering the effects of the spell. While Shazam and Billy searched for Billy's sister Mary. They eventually found her quite accidentally during a spelling contest that Billy was hosting for Whiz Radio (the radio station that he worked for in his spare time). Mary had been adopted by the Broomfields and she received a mysterious package that contained a Tawky Tawny doll, to her surprise it came to life (actually it was a Pooka animated by Satanus as a weapon against his sister Blaze) and revealed to her that she too could be transformed into a female Captain Marvel by speaking the wizard's name.

The Captain's Marvel faced a serious threat when Nazi scientist Dr Wolf Krieger managed to awaken his brother Albrecht from cryogenic sleep to begin his reign of terror as Captain Nazi once more. While rampaging through a bank to finance his schemes Nazi was confronted by Captain Marvel, during the course of the battle young Freddy Freeman (general sports wise and all round nice guy) was crippled and his grandfather killed. In the end Nazi was captured because he had no resistance to the modern version of the flu. Freddy was transformed into Captain Marvel Jnr. when Billy and Mary lent him a portion of their own power so that he might at least spend some part of the time fit. However Freddy would have serious problems with Captain Nazi with a tendency to go after him at any cost, it would be sometime before he fully worked through his grief.

Blaze took the opportunity of the distraction of Freddy to capture Shazam and release Black Adam whom she manipulated by holding his sister's soul prisoner. With Shazam gone the Marvels tracked down Ibis with the help of Mr Tawny, Mr Dudley (who was transformed into a strange Uncle Marvel figure briefly) and Bulletman. Together they battled the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man and managed to recapture them before finally imprisoning Blaze with the Three Faces of Evil within the Rock of Eternity. In the aftermath Ibis took Shazam's place in the Rock so that he might see the real world for a time once more, Mr Tawny was granted true life by the Ibis stick and Black Adam was banished to a distant star in punishment.

Sarge Steel recruited Captain Marvel to go to Venus using a Mother Box to track down a lost space craft commanded by Magnificus Sivana that had disappeared. When he got there he found that they had crashed onto an asteroid inhabited by sentient worms who had struck a deal with Dr Sivana to take over the world. While Mary had to deal with a scout worm sent to Earth that was mind controlling Sinclair and then Ebenezer Baston, Billy managed to defeat the worms and destroy them all, but in the process he and Sivana were scattered across space and time. Billy was rescued by Shazam from the depths of space and the space craft and crew reappeared in Washington at the other end of a Boom Tube created by Mother Box as she sacrificed herself to save them.

Dr Sivana managed to alter time so that Mary and Billy's parents were not murdered and he retained his wealth eventually becoming Mayor of Fawcett City. In this alternate timeline it was C. C and Marilyn Baston that became the two Captains Marvel rather than their children. This alteration in the timestream was noticed by the wizard and with the help of the Linear Men they convinced C. C. Baston to restore the correct timeline to preserve causality even through it meant denying their family normality. In the aftermath Mary adopted the white costume used by her mother and a will was found allowing Billy to be also adopted by the Broomfields who also find out about the Captains Marvel in due course.

Now in the wake of Genesis Mary and Billy are in a stable family home with the Broomfields, who know about their magical transformations into the Captains Marvel leaving them free to fight injustice (outside of school time), battle evil (as long as the homework's done) and to be the proud defenders of Fawcett City.

Powers and Abilities

Whereas the Champion/Shazam drew his abilities from the ancient Canaan pantheon his newer champions have drawn their powers from a scattered group of mortals and gods. As Solomon died Shazam captured part of the essence of his wisdom, he called forth the courage of Achilles from the realm of Hades and petitioned the Roman and Greek pantheons for their blessing. He drew these grand elements together in a spell that would have transformed C.C. Baston and his wife into superhuman champions. However their premature deaths forced him to pick their children Billy and Mary to receive the power instead. Now when the say the word SHAZAM they gain 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. Freddy receives the same abilities when he says "Captain Marvel" but Shazam has stated that the extent of his powers are limited so if two of the friends are active at the same time then their individual power level is halved, and if three of them are active then the powers are split three ways weakening them all.

While they each have access to the same range of powers they tend to use them in different ways, Freddy is impulsive and quick to use his fists, Mary being the level headed girl is more inclined to use the wisdom of Solomon first while Billy being the most experienced has mastered a number of "tricks" that his powers allow including changing the appearance of Captain Marvel when he transforms. It is known that when transformed the three have access to mystical knowledge and possible spells but they rarely use these abilities.

Recommened Reading

Overpower Cards

Captain Marvel - Uncommon - Pete Krause/Mike Manley

Energy: 5 Fighting: 4 Strength: 7 Intellect: 2

The Marvel Family - Rare - Pete Krause/Mike Manley
Power of Zeus - Uncommon - Pete Krause/Mike Manley
Speed of Mercury - Very Rare - Pete Krause/Mike Manley
Stamina of Atlas - Very Rare - Pete Krause/Mike Manley
Strength of Hercules - Uncommon - Pete Krause/Mike Manley

Allies

Broomfields - The couple who adopted Mary after the death of her real parents they knew that she had a brother but never told her until Billy found her. After C.C. Baston's will was uncovered Billy went to live with them. Billy and Mary were forced to reveal their secret identities as the Captains Marvel to the Broomfields during the Godwave incident.

Bulletman - A golden age superhero and respected member of Fawcett City. He and Captain Marvel have had altercations in the past over his daughter who is attracted to Marvel. He was recently defended himself with the aid of Captain Marvel and the current Starman against media claims of aiding the Nazi's during WW II.

Mr Dudley - The Handyman at Billy's school. While Billy lived alone he helped cover for him and accidentally found out about Captain Marvel. For a time he was transformed into "Uncle Marvel" and was instrumental in helping defeat the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man.

Ibis - Another ancient sorcerer from Egypt. He received the Ibis Stick (perhaps one of the most powerful magical items in the US) from his god. He and his female companion entered suspended animation for thousands of years until awakened by Shazam in Fawcett City to help defend it. For a time he replaced Shazam on the rock of eternity as the old man wanted to see the streets of Fawcett once more.

Muscles McGibbis - From carefully worked out strategies and routines between him and Captain Marvel he built himself up to be one of the most powerful crime bosses in Fawcett. In truth he is actually an undercover police agent.

SHAZAM/The Champion - For hundred of years the immortal Champion protected the lands of Canaan and Egypt from supernatural evil after failing to create a successor in Black Adam. He wondered the world until he found the Bastons. He is the source of their powers and can take them back with a thought. Normally he occupies the extra-dimensional Rock of Eternity watching his charges via the Histarama.

Tawny Tiger - A child's toy animated by the demon Satanus in the war against his sister Blaze. He guided Mary, Billy and Dudley during the disappearance of Shazam. He was granted true life by the power of the Ibis Stick and now hangs out with Mr Dudley who has introduced him to the finer points of life.

Major Enemies

Black Adam - Teth Adam of Egypt. One of the many sons of Pharaoh he was picked by Shazam to be his successor but the demoness Blaze corrupted the spell and stole powers from the Egyptian Pantheon to give him instead. Corrupted he has sought revenge on Shazam after he was reincarnated, in the process killing Billy and Mary's parents.

Blaze and Satanus - The demon offspring of the wizard Shazam. They wage a war against each other using puppets on Earth. Often Satanus will aid the forces of good if it scuppers the plans of his sister.

Dr Sivana - The bald scheming multi-millionaire who financed the dig on which the Bastons were killed. He discovered the connection between Captain Marvel and Billy whom he holds responsible for destroying his fortune and has sworn revenge.

Miss Wormwood - Billy's school tutor.

Three Faces of Evil - An ancient evil being that in imprisoned within the Rock of Eternity by Shazam with the help of the Captains Marvel.

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