Now that DC has finally given in and stopped calling Billy Batson's alter ego Captain Marvel - giving him the name of the Wizard, Shazam - I wonder what that will mean for his partners when their super powered selves are brought into the New 52 DCU. Shazam Jr.? She-Zam? Those don't really work for me so I hope they can come up with something better!
"Proud Mary!" Ha! Good one!
ReplyDeleteThe Marvel Girls!
Captain Marvel is a jumble of missed opportunities and DC shooting itself in the foot to spite it's own face...or something like that.
If Barry Allen could be inspired as The Flash by Jay Garrick, well then, why couldn't a young Clark Kent be inspired by a sci-fi television show about a boy who becomes a hero based on Greek mythology? Instead of Warrior Angel on Smallville, why couldn't they introduce Captain Marvel?
Lack of vision and foresight?
I just read where the Man of Steel sequel has bumped a Captain Marvel film farther away from film development! Oi!
The only thing broken about Captain Marvel is what DC did. It came back around to bit them in the butt...
Pity.
I agree with AirDave. There are lots of missed opportunities here. But changing his name to Shazam is a big mistake that started in the 70's when they called his saturday morning television show Shazam.
ReplyDeleteIt would have helped if Marvel hadn't had the exclusive Trademark rights to use "Captain Marvel" as a title; DC had to get creative when titling the comic that brought back the Big Red Cheese, and the television show it spawned.
ReplyDeleteStill, I fully agree that breaking down and calling the character "Shazam" was a bad move on many levels. Like most, I prefer calling the character Captain Marvel, with that phrase "The Original" on comic covers to differentiate him from Mar-Vell, Monica Rambeaux, and others who have held that name.
(Speaking of which... I'm still waiting on seeing the android, Ross! SPLIT!)
I also agree that the title here is fantastic. "Proud Mary" indeed!
Moving on to Carol: I thought Ms. Marvel's character was dark blue. Did she have a change that I missed? I seem to recall that she did take on the name of Captain Marvel for a while; is this from that period?
And speaking of Monica, I don't think we've seen her thus far in here. Maybe she could be the one who teams up with the android Captain Marvel?
Monica has shown up as Photon and as a member of the avengers, and she has a few more appearances waiting in the wings...
ReplyDeleteThis is Ms. marvel in her first costume, she later changed to the blue outfit and then was Binary for a while when Roque took her powers. Eventually she Became Ms Marvel again, and recently Captain Marvel.
Ms. Marvel is not Captain Marvel and there is a new Ms. Marvel that Marvel is releasing with an Arab Teen. Monica is currently going by Spectrum. Also we got a tease of the Captain Marvel family in the New 52 when Billy used his powers to disperse his abilities to his adopted siblings. Of course it was more of an accident and therefore didn't stick but still it was cool to see.
ReplyDeleteAnother amalgam done by Red Rum-18 on deviantart: he merged these two to make "Carol Marvel".
ReplyDeleteLast I heard, DC had no plans to bring back Mary Marvel. Which I'm torn on, as she was a wonderful character who was well realized up until the "dark Mary Marvel" version that her run ended on, which is not the note to go out on.
ReplyDeleteIf they did bring her back, which may may not happen until a period of time longer than the years the wizard Shazam has been alive has expired, they would have to use another name entirely thanks to Marvel wrestling the trademark away from DC. With what they are proposing to do with their "Marvel" characters, their marks will likely be active for quite some time.