Who is Shazam? Billy Batson is The World’s Mightiest Mortal
Billy Batson is a young man with the ability to magically transform into a fully-grown superhero. This classic comic book character has a long and incredibly unique history. However, publishing hiatuses, name changes, and a number of legal issues have prevented him from gaining the attention he deserves. Today we’ll be exploring the modern backstory behind Shazam and also taking a brief look at the character’s behind-the-scenes history.
History
The hero now known as Shazam debuted in 1939 as Captain Marvel. The character, published by Fawcett Comics and created by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck, was an instant success and sold over half a million comics in his first appearance. This popularity continued for a while and his comics even went on to outsell Superman.
However, this success would not last long. Detective Comics (later known as DC Comics) sued Fawcett Comics for copyright infringement, claiming that Captain Marvel was too similar to Superman. Though the issue was tied up in litigation for a while, decreasing interest in superhero comics caused Fawcett to settle the case out of court. By 1954, Fawcett Comics had stopped publishing Captain Marvel-related comics and agreed to never publish them again.
In 1972, superhero comics were popular again and DC Comics purchased the rights to publish Captain Marvel. However, during the character’s hiatus, Marvel Comics had created and introduced a brand new hero also going by the name Captain Marvel. This disallowed DC Comics from using “Captain Marvel” in titles and advertising. Thus, the DC version of this character still went by the name Captain Marvel but all of his comics were solicited under the name Shazam.
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Modern Origin
In 2011, DC Comics rebooted their universe and officially changed Captain Marvel’s name to Shazam. They also gave us a new, more definitive, interpretation of his origin story. This new origin is told in Shazam! (Review).
In this new origin, Billy Batson is an orphan who has just been adopted by a new family. Billy has no plans to stick with this family, as he has been secretly looking for his real parents for years and plans to reunite with them one day. This leads him to be initially disagreeable to his new siblings, though he softens up to them as time progresses.
Eventually, Billy boards a subway that whisks him away to a magic underground fortress. Within this fortress, Billy meets a dying wizard, who has been searching for a hero to pass on his power to. The wizard chooses Billy and gives him the power of the “living lightning” and all the magic that comes with it.
Billy’s new powers allow him to change into a fully-grown superhero upon saying the word “Shazam!”. While in this form, Billy can channel the wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles, and speed of Mercury (gods whose names, when put together, spell out SHAZAM). This allows him to easily fly across the country, take punches from Superman, and preform incredible feats of strength. He also has the ability to wield the “living lightning,” which acts as a conduit for Billy’s new magic abilities. The power of this magic ranges from randomly affecting electronics to summoning a ping pong table.
As Shazam, Billy Batson is able to fight against a number of evil forces and prevent their plans for world domination. Shazam also goes on to become a member of the Justice League and helps them in fighting some of their greatest enemies.
Overall, Shazam is a wonderful character whose adventures are a thrill to see play out. For more about Shazam check out our modern age “Shazam Reading Order” or our “Shazam Timeline“.
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