So to become Shazam, does he have to say “Captain Marvel”?

First off if anyone decides to ask: yes, I’ve heard about a series of Watchmen prequels. No, I couldn’t care less. Let’s move on.

I was already concerned when the new “Shazam” comic was going to be called CURSE of Shazam, because I don’t think the tale of Billy Batson becoming a superhero should EVER be a curse. (Someone should have told Stan Lee that.) Now comes word of another major change, I don’t mean Captain Marvel getting his own Jim Lee-ified costume. (I shudder to think…) No, it’s the fact that he won’t be Captain Marvel anymore. They’re going to just call him Shazam from now on, and while the reasoning makes sense, I’m still allowed to hate it.

From a recent interview with Geoff Johns, who will (God help me) be writing the back-up story starting in Justice League #7

Newsarama: Are you calling him Shazam now? Have you gotten rid of “Captain Marvel?”

Johns: Yeah, we’re going to call him Shazam.

Newsarama: Why the change?

Johns: Well, there are a lot of reasons for the change. One is that everybody thinks he’s called Shazam already, outside of comics. It’s also, for all sorts of reasons, calling him Shazam just made sense for us. And, you know, every comic book he’s in right now has Shazam on the cover. So I think just by embracing that and calling him Shazam.

And you’ll see it actually make sense in story, why he’s called Shazam rather than Captain Marvel. That’s just what he’s going to be called for us from now on.

Pretender to the name (Image via Wikipedia)

The problems began when Marvel Comics, in a rather jerk movie, created their own Captain Marvel (because that name is in no way stupid for a company called Marvel) and have worked to ensure that DC can’t use the name by continuing to publish some kind of Captain Marvel comic, thus keeping the rights to the name. Not that any of the characters they’ve created with that name haven’t been anything less than rubbish, mind you (one of them appeared ONCE that I can recall outside of the comics, on The Super Hero Squad Show, and nothing any of them have done IN comics has been especially memorable), they’re just doing it because DC and Marvel have a rivalry that makes the video game console wars or Yankees fans vs. Red Socks fans look like a minor discussion in comparison. Apparently you can’t be fans of both.

However, turning the magic word into the character’s name brings a few problems. Namely the same problem Freddy Freeman had–not being able to say your hero name! If that’s going to be part of the hilarity they’re planning to add, I don’t think I want it. Also, Johns said that this story would be an all-ages tale. I suppose they think Justice League is an all-ages title because that’s the comic it’s going to be in. Since I couldn’t make it past issue #1 I really can’t comment.

As far as “everybody thinks he’s called Shazam already outside of comics”, I call foul. I grew up with the live-action series in the 70’s and the cartoon in the 80’s. Both were called Shazam!, and neither time did I think the character was called Shazam! I knew his name was Captain Marvel when he wasn’t Billy Batson. I’m also a fan of the serial, back when his tales could be named after him. In one episode of The Monkees, Peter is tied up and tries to use the magic word to escape, but it only breaks a mirror. His response: “Another seven years bad luck for Captain Marvel“. (Emphasis mine.) Sure, some people think Michael Knight was called the Knight Rider, but the only time the name was used in-show was in the spin-off Team Knight Rider, and I don’t think the more recent sequel even acknowledged that show, or the Knight Rider 2000 TV movie or Knight Rider 2020. Actually, nobody should acknowledge 2020 as even existing, but now I’m going off track.

They should have just kept this comic going.

The point is that using the magic word as the title may have hit a snag but I don’t think this is a good solution unless they’re changing the magic word or how Billy transforms into his super-powered alter-ego. Maybe going with some fans’ suggestion of Captain Thunder, an alternate universe version of Captain Marvel, might be the way to go, but whether Johns is right or not about people thinking he’s names after Goober from The Andy Griffith Show‘s catchphrase, the fact that DC Entertainment believes it means that’s unlikely. For fans of the character, he will always be Captain Marvel to us and maybe someday someone at Marvel Comics will realize what #$#$@%# they’re being and let DC (and the fans) have their hero with the right name.

(Besides, Marvel has the rights to “Marvelman/Miracleman“, the knockoff* of the Captain Marvel family. They should be pleased with that.)

Related articles

• First Look at the Curse of Shazam! (We Got Issues)

*That’s right, I said knockoff. I know the angry comments will come in, but I stand by my term.