Captain Marvel was created by writer Bill Parker and artist C. C. Beck. Bill Parker had come up with a story involving six heroes, each with a different ability given to them by a mythological character. It was Ralph Daigh, Fawcett Comics' executive director, who made the decision that it would be better to combine the six heroes into one character, who would posses all six special abilities. Bill Parker then created a character called "Captain Thunder".
It was artist C. C. Beck who illustrated Bill Parker's initial Captain Thunder story. Mr. Beck would later admit that he based the character's appearance on actor Fred MacMurray. Fawcett Comics planned for the new anthology title in which Captain Thunder would debut to be titled either Flash Comics or Thrill Comics, and even produced ashcan copies using those titles. Unfortunately for Fawcett Comics, they soon learned they could use neither of those names. All-American Comics had already trademarked an anthology comic book by that title (one that proved to be historic--Flash Comics #1, January 1940 featured the debuts of both The Flash and Hawkman). While Thrill Comics was not in use, it was too similar to Thrilling Comics, the title of a new anthology comic book published by Standard Comics. As to Captain Thunder, one of the characters featured in Fiction House's Jungle Comics was Captain Terry Thunder of the British Army.
It was then that the title of Fawcett's new anthology comic book became Whiz Comics. This title drew upon the history of Fawcett Publications, Captain Billy's Whiz Bang being the first magazine ever published by the company. As to their new superhero, the former Captain Thunder, it was artist Pete Costanza who suggested the name "Captain Marvellous." This was then shortened to simply "Captain Marvel."
Captain Marvel made his debut in Whiz Comics #2, February 1940 (Fawcett counted the ashcan copies of their Flash Comics and Thrill Comics as issue #1). That first issue featured the origin of Captain Marvel, in which 12 year old orphan Billy Batson encounters an ancient Egyptian wizard named Shazam. Shazam tells him that his name is an acronym of six mythological characters and that he possessed the powers of each of them--Solomon (wisdom), Hercules (strength), Atlas (stamina), Zeus (power), Achilles (courage), and Mercury (speed). He also tells Billy that he is old and will soon die. As a result, he passes a portion of his powers to Billy. When Billy Batson shouts the magic word "SHAZAM!", he transforms into the adult superhero Captain Marvel.
It would also be in Whiz Comics #2 that Billy Batson would get a job as an on-air reporter for the radio station WHIZ, and that Captain Marvel first faced his archenemy, Dr. Sivana. Dr. Sivana was a mad scientist intent on evil. Worse yet, he was so intelligent that he figured out that Captain Marvel was really 12 year-old Billy Batson.
The origins of Adventures of Captain Marvel actually owe something to Captain Marvel's archrival in the comic book business, Superman. It was on April 20 1940 that Republic announced that they had obtained the rights to make a Superman serial. Unfortunately, the deal would not last long. National Allied Publications (one of the companies that would become the modern day DC Comics) demanded more control over the serial than Republic was willing to grant. Republic then simply took the script for their "Superman" serial and turned it into the serial entitled The Mysterious Dr. Satan, featuring a hero called Copperhead. Of course, Superman continued to appear in theatrical animated shorts produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount.
Republic still wanted to make a superhero serial, however, so they obtained the film rights to Captain Marvel. Adventures of Captain Marvel proved to be highly successful at the box office. Since its initial release there have been many who have referred to it as the greatest serial ever made. Sadly, for Fawcett Comics, Adventures of Captain Marvel would have one rather undesirable consequence (more on that later).
The success of Captain Marvel would also lead to various spin-off characters. The first of these were the Lieutenant Marvels. The Lieutenant Marvels were other boys named Billy Batson who Billy befriends. He then revealed to them that he was Captain Marvel. When Dr. Sivana's goons mistakenly kidnaps Billy as well as the boys who share his name, the boys shout, "Shazam!" and transform into variations of Captain Marvel: Tall Marvel, Hill Billy Marvel, and Fat Marvel. Fortunately Captain Marvel and his Lieutenants are able to defeat Dr. Sivana. The Lieutenant Marvels first appeared in Whiz Comics #21, September 1941. They continued to appear periodically during the Forties and Fifties.
The next spin-off character was Captain Marvel Jr. Captain Marvel Jr. originated from editor Ed Herron's desire for a character spun off from Captain Marvel, who at the same time would be distinctive. It was artist Mac Raboy who designed the new character. Captain Marvel Jr. was Freddy Freeman, a boy injured by the supervillain Captain Nazi. Captain Marvel took Freddy to a hospital where he learned he was not expected to live. Captain Marvel then consults with the wizard Shazam, who tells him that he can pass Freddy some of his powers so that the boy might live. Not only does Freddie live (although he is lame), but he also has the ability to transform into Captain Marvel Jr. simply by exclaiming "Captain Marvel!" Strangely enough, while Captain Marvel was an adult superhero, Captain Marvel Jr. was a teenager just as Freddy was. Captain Marvel Jr. first appeared in Whiz Comics #25, December 1941 before receiving his own series in Master Comics and still later his own title (Captain Marvel Jr.).
There would be yet other spin-off characters from Captain Marvel, so that there was an entire Marvel Family. Uncle Marvel was a non-powered character who initially appeared as a supporting character in Mary Marvel's series and then later stories involving the Marvel Family as well. Eventually Fawcett Comics published a comic titled Marvel Family Comics, that featured the Marvel Family.
There would be even be a funny animal spin-off of Captain Marvel, although it might be more accurate to describe the character as having been inspired by Captain Marvel. It was in 1942 that Fawcett Comics decided to expand into funny animal comics. Chad Grothkopf, who had worked at the companies that would become DC Comics and Marvel Comics, was charged with creating funny animal characters for Fawcett. Among those characters was Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, essentially a funny animal version of Captain Marvel. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny first appeared in Fawcett's Funny Animals #1, December 1942 and would later receive his own short-lived, self-titled comic book. By the early Fifties any ties to Captain Marvel disappeared and the character became just "Hoppy." When Fawcett Publications closed their comic book line, Funny Animals would be bought by Charlton Comics, complete with Hoppy. For reprints of Fawcett's old "Hoppy the Marvel Bunny" stories, Charlton renamed him "Hoppy the Magic Bunny," changed his costume, and changed the magic word he used to turn into a superhero from "Shazam!" to "Alizam!".
In addition to a movie serial and several spin-off characters, Captain Marvel would also inspire a short lived radio show. In 1943 there was a short-lived Captain Marvel radio show. The series starred Burt Boyar as Billy Batson. Sadly, neither recordings of the radio show nor any scripts have survived, although it does appear in radio listings of the era.
Yet another mark of Captain Marvel's popularity is that the character had his own fan club. In many respects this was nothing unusual, as several comic book publishers ran fan clubs for their most popular characters. National Allied Publications had the Supermen of America. All-American Comics had the Junior Justice Society of America. MLJ Comics (later known as Archie Comics) had the Shield G-Men Club. That having been said, the Captain Marvel Club was extremely successful. According to Roscoe Fawcett (who was circulation manager of Fawcett Publications in the early Golden Age) in later interviews, after the club was started in August 1941 they had to acquire a whole building for the Captain Marvel Club alone. Around 30 to 35 employees at Fawcett Publications were charged with handling the fan club. In 1944 the club had 573,119 members. In fact, the Captain Marvel Club would even play a role in a feature film in the Forties. The Good Humor Man (1950) starred Jack Carson as an ice cream man who belongs to a local chapter of the Captain Marvel Club along with some of the neighbourhood kids. Fawcett Comics would even publish a movie tie-in, Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man.
Along with the fan club, Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family were heavily merchandised in the Forties and early Fifties. There were such items on store shelves as a Captain Marvel doll, a Captain Marvel felt pennant, Captain Marvel-Mary Marvel Illustrated Soap, Captain Marvel Lightning Racing Cars, Captain Marvel Tattoo Transfers, a Mary Marvel wrist watch, and Marvel Family statuettes, along with t-shirts, paper planes, a toy flute, and even Captain Marvel tie-clips.
Curiously given how swiftly National Allied Publications had reacted with regards to Wonder Man and Master Man, they did not sue Fawcett upon Captain Marvel's first appearance or even a few months later. Instead National waited until after the release of the serial Adventures of Captain Marvel to file a cease and desist letter against both Fawcett Comics and Republic Pictures in June 1941. When Fawcett and Republic ignored the cease and desist letter, National filed a lawsuit against Fawcett and Republic in September 1941. It would be years before the lawsuit would even make it to trial, during which time Republic Pictures was dropped from the lawsuit and National had merged with Detective Comics, Inc. and All-American Comics to become National Periodical Publications (the modern day DC Comics).
The core of National's argument was that Captain Marvel was derivative of Superman, including his powers (super-strength, invulnerability, super-agility, et. al.), a skin-tight costume, and his alter-ego as a reporter. While Fawcett admitted that the two characters were similar, there were sufficient differences between them that Captain Marvel did not infringe upon Superman. The end result of the initial trial was that the judge decided that Fawcett had plagiarised Superman with Captain Marvel, but that National and the McClure Syndicate had failed to give proper copyright notice on several of the Superman newspaper comic strips. Fawcett then won on a technicality.
National appealed the decision, and it was tried in 1951 before the famed Judge Learned Hand and two other judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Judge Hand and his fellow judges ruled that National's copyright on Superman was indeed valid, despite the McClure Syndicate having failed to place the proper copyright notice on some newspaper strips. Judge Hand and his fellow judges also ruled that National would have to provide specific instances of infringement with regards to stories or heroic deeds in those stories. The matter was then sent back to a lower court to be decided.
While Captain Marvel was gone, he was hardly forgotten. The character was still well known enough in the early Sixties that Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show (and later in the Sixties his own spin-off, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.) not only regularly used "Shazam!" as an exclamation, but even mentioned Captain Marvel by name on occasion. Captain Marvel was among the characters Jules Feiffer discussed in his 1965 book The Great Comic Book Heroes. The serial Adventures of Captain Marvel would return to theatres in 1966. In the 1970 book All in Color for a Dime, there is an essay dedicated to Captain Marvel by Dick Lupoff.
Indeed, the name "Captain Marvel" was well-known enough in the Sixties for other comic book publishers to co-opt it for their own. Not having published Captain Marvel for years, Fawcett Comics let the trademark on the character lapse. It was then in 1966 that M. F. Enterprises published their own comic book titled Captain Marvel. Created by Carl Burgos (best known as the creator of Marvel Comics' original Human Torch), M. F. Enterprises' Captain Marvel was an alien android with laser eyes, super-strength, and the ability to detach his hands, arms, hands, and legs and launch them flying. M. F. Enterprises' Captain Marvel wasn't particularly successful, lasting only four issues. The following year Marvel Comics introduced their first Captain Marvel in Marvel Super-Heroes #12, December 1967. Marvel Comics' first Captain Marvel was Mar-Vell, a Kree warrior assigned to Earth who comes to identify with its inhabitants and thus became a superhero. Mar-Vell would be killed off in the 1982 graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel, but he would be followed by several more Marvel Comics characters using the name, including Carol Danvers (the current Captain Marvel and protagonist of the movie of the name).
While Shazam! did not prove very successful, it did lead to a live-action, Saturday morning television show that ran on CBS from 1974 to 1977. The series starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson and Jackson Bostwick (first) and John Davey (second and third seasons) as Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) would later appear Hanna-Barbera's notoriously bad, live-action specials titled Legends of the Superheroes that aired in 1979. The first of these specials featured Howard Morris as Dr. Sivana (the first live-action appearance of the character). Still later an animated version of Captain Marvel would air on NBC as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!.
DC Comics would eventually buy the rights to the old Fawcett Comics characters and since then have attempted several revivals of Captain Marvel. These included the Eighties mini-series Shazam! The New Beginning, a brief run in Action Comics Weekly (issues #623–626) in 1988, the 1994 graphic novel The Power of Shazam!, which was followed by the regular title The Power of Shazam! (which ran from 1995 to 1999), and yet other attempts to revive the characters. In addition, Captain Marvel would also appear in such DC Comics titles as Justice League of America, JSA, and others. In 2012, after years of Marvel Comics holding the trademark to the name "Captain Marvel", DC Comics simply renamed the character "Shazam", a move which remains controversial among fans to this day.
Since the Eighties Captain Marvel has also appeared in media beyond comic books. Over the years he has appeared in various DC Animated Universe TV series including Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, and Justice League Action. In 2014 Captain Marvel also appeared in one-minute DC Nation interstitials that aired on Saturday morning during Cartoon Network programming. Captain Marvel also appeared in several of the DC Animated Universe direct-to-video releases.
Of course, most recently the original Captain Marvel appears in the feature film Shazam! (2019). Released on April 5 2019 in the United States, it earned $67.4 million in the United States and Canada. It has also done well outside the United States and Canada. Shazam! has also received largely positive reviews. While the character was originally named "Captain Marvel" and DC Comics later renamed him "Shazam", in the movie the character is not given a superhero name.
In another respect Captain Marvel would have an impact on Superman and yet other superheroes in having a family of spin-off characters. Beginning in the Fifties DC Comics would follow the lead of Captain Marvel by giving Batman an extended family that included Batwoman, Ace the Bathound, Bat-Mite, and Bat-Girl. While many of these characters would fall by the wayside, in the Sixties such characters as Batgirl and Man-Bat would be added. Superman would also develop his own equivalent of the Marvel Family. In the Fifties both Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane would receive their own titles, while the character of Supergirl would first appear in 1959. Yet other superheroes would also develop their own families of superheroes, including such characters as Aquaman and Green Arrow.
Captain Marvel would also have an influence on comic books in terms on the quality of the Golden Age Captain Marvel comic books. The artwork in Fawcett's Captain Marvel titles was often far superior to that seen in many other contemporary comic books. What is more, many of the stories appearing in Fawcett's Captain Marvel titles were more sophisticated than those in other contemporary comic books. Certainly "The Monster Society of Evil," which unfolded over two years, was superior to most anything out being put out at the time. Fawcett's Captain Marvel stories combined humour and a good deal of whimsy with action and adventure in such a way that even adults today could enjoy them.
Of course, the $64,000 question is whether Captain Marvel was an infringement of Superman. Having discussed this with many comic book fans over the years (including my late best friend Brian), I would say that he was not. It is true that both characters were quite similar. Both of them were super-strong. Both of them were super-fast. Both of them were invulnerable. That having been said, they both differed in significant ways. Superman's alter-ego was the adult reporter Clark Kent. All Clark had to do to change into Superman was take off his street clothes. Captain Marvel's alter-ego was twelve year-old Billy Batson. To become Captain Marvel he had to shout the word, "Shazam!" While Superman's origins were rooted in science fiction (originally he was the only survivor of the planet Krypton), Captain Marvel's origins were rooted in mythology. Even their powers differed a bit. For a few years Captain Marvel could fly, while Superman could not. Rather early in his history Superman developed such powers as x-ray vision and yet other abilities that Captain Marvel would never possess. Although the characters were quite similar, I think there was enough difference between Captain Marvel and Superman that I can say the former did not infringe upon the latter.
Captain Marvel would leave his mark on comic book history. For a time in the Golden Age of Comic Books he was the best-selling superhero around, outselling even Superman. He was the first superhero to appear on film. He would have a lasting influence on other superheroes, even Superman. While there have been other characters named "Captain Marvel" and Marvel Comics currently holds the trademark for the name, I believe that for many people Captain Marvel will always be the alter ego of Billy Batson.
