DC Comics Reveals New Super-Hero Name Borrowed From Marvel For Dawn Of Shazam Series, But It’s Not Captain Marvel?!
Newsarama interviewed writer Marke Waid and reports.
…I mean, there were a million other names to be considered. But you know, the two biggest ones weren’t available. Captain Marvel is obviously off the table, and Captain Thunder is also under trademark by someone else.
So he just needed a name he could use to refer to himself without saying the magic word. We’re not making a big deal of it, it’s not gonna be on merchandise, you won’t see toys with ‘The Captain’ name on them. It’s more of a conceit for this title and in continuity, just so he has a name he can say out loud…
So, Shazam is the word that Billy Batson and his foster brothers and sisters use to call down their super-powers from the gods, so, using that as their super-hero name doesn’t make too much sense.
While Fawcett Comics originated the character and name of Captain Marvel, due to legal issues between Fawcett and the company that would become DC Comics, Marvel was able to acquire the Captain Marvel name license in 1967.
I’m not clear who owns the Captain Thunder name, but Shazam is owned by DC Comics.
In any event, the Captain as a nickname for Billy Batson’s adult Shazam persona is also a name used by Marvel back beginning in the “Captain America No More” arc of Captain America that saw Steve Rogers stripped of his name and role which was given to John Walker leaving Rogers to super-hero as “The Captain”; the collected edition was called Captain America: The Captain.
Shazam #1 lands in stores on May 2, 2023.
