He gets treated like a Fucking Mid-Major by DC, and frankly I'm sick of it.
DC time and time again fails to promote him even though he has one of the best superhero and origin stories along with a unique perspective that no other superhero can really boast.
I feel like the DC writers put almost no effort into his books, they give him no good villains except Black Adam who is a Top 5 overall DC villain, but that is all he gots!
He's not just a face, and he needs to start getting a push, especially if he has a movie on the way. The Rock just can't carry him. And he is NOT A FUCKING COPY OF SUPERMAN! You MotherFuckers you!
the real question is why isnt mary marvel more popular?
Cameron Garcia
Because DC worked to bury him for decades only for new nostalgic writers to bring him back anyway but now theres a whole generational gap of people who didn't know who he is so there isn't the same level of "iconic" other heroes have.
If he had a TV show in the 80s or early 90s with a toyline he could have been an A lister.
Jackson Foster
>Shazam His name is, and will always be, Captain Marvel. Fuck that ugly dyke. Fuck marvel. Billy is a more interesting and developed character as a child then she is as a full grown woman.
David Cruz
Why would you expect the Wizard to be popular?
Jason Peterson
>I feel like the DC writers put almost no effort into his books, they give him no good villains except Black Adam who is a Top 5 overall DC villain, but that is all he gots! Huh? Mr. Mind, Black Adam and Sivana have been huge villains in the DCU for a long time. Marvel Jr, Mary Marvel, Black Adam, Isis and Osiris were all major characters up until Final Crisis.
And Cap hasn't had that many books but they've always put their top talent on him: Roy Thomas, Alex Ross, Jeff Smith, Jerry Ordway, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, there's not a single Captain Marvel work post-Crisis that didn't have a big name on it.
Probably the only weird thing is that he got a big push around the time of the Injustice fighting game, which was when the movie finally got into pre-production, and then it immediately petered out. The popular theory is that Johns and Gary Frank currently have "dibs" on him but haven't had time to actually get a project out, and they don't trust anyone else to do it.
They need to just put Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner on it and let him get big again.
Isaiah Williams
I got some reasons. 1. writers focus on his "flying brick" powerset instead of his wisdom,lighting powers more. 2. he has no notable villians besides black adam and docter sivanna.
Blake Sanders
>blaming Marvel when it's DC who stopped Fawcett from making anymore Captain Marvel comics in the first place and allowing Marvel to grab the trademark
Charles Brown
I don't understand why you're getting so upset over Carol when she didn't even exist at the time that DC lost the trademark to Marvel.
Daniel Brown
Jeff Parker seems like a good fit for most of the "just launch it already" DC books.
Captain Marvel, JSA, and Legion of Super-Heroes would all be great under him.
Benjamin Smith
Isn't Parker just doing Future Quest right now? It pains me so much that he isn't being hired for more.
I wish he was doing the Terrifics instead of Lemire.
Christopher Moore
They're also all things Johns is notoriously protective of. Coincidence?!
James Hall
Parker on anything usually feels like Johns at his best. Aquaman made that really clear.
Johns's Aquaman was pretty cool, then Parker takes his place and the whole thing is instantly kicked up a notch. Fucking absurd that they replaced him with Bunn, and so soon.
Henry Bell
It's DCs fault for suing and killing Fawcett because they were butthurt that Billy sold more than Supes and then sitting on the name and not printing his book until the trademark ran out
Jonathan Harris
Because Marvelman is better in every way.
Get out of the way faggot, real hero coming through!
Logan Powell
>And he is NOT A FUCKING COPY OF SUPERMAN! You MotherFuckers you! No, he pretty blatantly was intended as such. Luckly his comics had new ideas from the start and went in a fairly different direction from the start and he was basically a silver age character born in the golden age.
Zachary Hall
Nobody fucking cares anymore, Marvel.
Easton Jenkins
I thought it was Miracleman
Liam Allen
Moore's interpretation of him made for a stellar self-contained story with a clear beginning and end, but beyond that you can't do much without getting into edge-for-the-sake-of-edge trash like "look mom, no face!" Sentry/Void, who himself was just a poorman's Marvel Man handled by a worse writer.
Marvel got spooked by the Cannibal Corpse cover art scenes and wanted to distance themselves from the comic, so they changed his name.
Justin Flores
Calm down, he's getting a DCEU movie in 2019 before other characters.
Levi Campbell
REAL question of the thread:
Why the fuck did they rename him 'Shazam'? That's the name of the wizard. Why not name him Captain Thunder, like he was in Flashpoint? I thought that was a pretty good moniker
Joshua Cox
Have you guys read Alan Moore's twilight of the superheroes? Is it available anywhere? I know Dc doesn't want anyone to read it, but I know it should be somewhere.
Mason Diaz
People don't like magic
Gavin Green
Because they'd already been releasing all of his comics under the "Shazam" names for decades and thus it has more brand name value.
Adam Edwards
Easy question, they couldn't use Captain Marvel but Shazam was a name/word people were already familiar with and strongly associated with the character. Captain Thunder? Means nothing to the masses.
Captain Shazam would've been better though.
Asher Baker
>Captain Thunder thats a shitty name, it sounds like something a kid would- wait no that actually works. I kinda like it
Ryan Adams
Or just keep calling him Captain Marvel.
Kids in the 70's had no problem with it. My mother still remembers his name from watching the TV show that ended four decades ago.
Carson Jenkins
Not enough cartoons about him nowadays. That's what gets you popularity.
Adrian Kelly
I'm pretty sure "Captain Thunder" was his original name anyways, at least in the concept stage of his development. I've always kind of had a soft spot for that moniker too, just in the fact that it kinda highlights his whimsical golden age roots, and like said; I could plausibly imagine a kid thinking up that name themselves.
Sebastian Davis
They probably don't want him to outshine Supes like how Wally isn't allowed to outshine Barry.
Nathan Richardson
Well, that's fucking wrong since Gaiman continued the series.
Gavin Anderson
I absolutely fucking love Captain Marvel. Especially in Young Justice and other incarnations where its hilariously obvious its just a kid piloting a Superman body.
That and I love how he yells "SHAZAM!" with like the echoing effect and everything. And he attacks with his transformation sequence!
>He transforms by being hit by lightning >Sometimes he picks people up and letting them get hit instead.
Its like if Sailor Moon picked up her backdrop and beat someone with it.
Justin Adams
I'm just waiting for the /ss/ situations he might get in.
Easton Jones
1. hes canonically stronger than superman, and DC higher ups dont really want their main draw being shown as weaker 2. theyve been moving away from magic for a while now, and moving more onto space stuff 3. hes more important to the canon than he was before, but shows up a LOT less 4. black adam is being shown as more of an anti-hero recently so theres nobody to really stand up to him so it would require actual original content that would be interesting to draw him back in 5. theres no room for him on any of the main teams, and hes far too strong to be on a B. list team
Josiah Clark
Any good comics with this guy? I loved his introduction in the 2011 Justice league comics and thought he was neat.
Jordan Walker
He was Captain Marvel until the new52.
Oliver Sanchez
the wizard is dead you apes, he's the new guardian of the rock and the name was passed to him
Ian Perez
There's some big shit coming up and Captain Marvel will play a major role in. I'm not an insider of anything but it's gon b gud
Cooper Gomez
the fact theyre bringing out a shazam movie AND a black adam movie, i believe it
Jonathan Moore
His name was but DC didn't hold the trademark. So if they made toys or movies of him they could never put his name on the cover. It was changed with the New 52 because they realized with superhero movies being the new hotness they couldn't afford to market a character they didn't own the trademark to.
DC would have changed the name at that point even if Marvel hadn't had a living character called Captain Marvel in decades.
Cameron Anderson
Yeah. I love Captain Marvel but this guy has the right of it; he's a kid who turns into Superman. That was the entire premise and it (quickly) spun into something to separate it from the source, especially with the angle of Billy gifting his powers to others. Add in a talking tiger, a shitheaded mad scientist that you will *never* have a problem rooting against, magical hijinx and all the classic elements leaves Shazam/Marvel/Billy standing on their own. Shit, don't they even have a bunny Marvel?
I think Captain Thunder as a moniker's nice, since like some other user said it's something a kid would come up with, but unless it's failed in the past and I don't know about it, I really kinda think that going back to the original point --he's a kid who can become Superman-- would *remain* a great way to bring in an audience even today.
Xavier Ward
>no Golden Age Shazam omnibus
Ian Hughes
>Why isn't Shazam more popular?
- He grates with the modern DC shared universe. - Writers that want to write the character just want to recapture the nostalgic atmosphere of his classic tales. - The 30+ year gap in his publication history from the 1940's tot he 1970s means that the character never grew or evolved outside of his golden age storytelling, making him difficult to fit into a modern shared universe because no one knows how Captain Marvel "works" in a shared universe. - Writers that try to reinvent the character are usually rejected by fans. - He got renamed "Shazam" and that is one of the most awful superhero names ever. - Geoff Johns's retake on the character, which is the mandated canon version, would be perfectly charming as an ongoing, but the giant Marvel Family Power Rangers team WHO ALL LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE is a nightmare to write and other writers don't know how to deal with them and are afraid to innovate solutions because they're Johns's baby. - Captain Marvel Junior's classic stories were all revenge fantasies with heavily racist overtones. ALL OF THEM. WITHOUT EXCEPTION. - Captain Marvel is in the public domain which means that management isn't really behind making the concept work without heavy revisioning so they 'own' it. - Existing Captain Marvel fans don't want him revisioned.
It's a chicken-and-the-egg problem. No one knows how to start changing the character, so no one does it.
Xavier Rodriguez
>Armageddon has arrived
Charles Hernandez
I would love to buy a print version of the Monster Society of Evil arc.
Mason Howard
It has failed in the past, twice: before DC had the rights to Captain Marvel they actually had a Captain Marvel standin named Willie Fawcett AKA Captain Thunder, this was actually what the Flashpoint version was based on and parts of it were carried over into New 52 Shazam.
Then in the early 80's they were planning on changing Captain Marvel's name to Captain Thunder.
The biggest problem is that Captain Thunder a really generic name that is similar to a multitude of pulp characters and film serial characters and even DC characters like Johnny Thunder, but it's probably too generic to trademark, if it's even available as a trademark. I'm sure every possible variation of "Captain ____" has been trademarked or attempted to be trademarked at this point.
So you have a problem here of whether you should put the character's actual name on the cover but that you still don't own the trademark to, or to put a word that isn't the character's name but that you DO own the trademark to and that at least has some name recognition value with the Shazam/Isis show that was popular in the 70's.
Ultimately DC decided to compromise and change his name to Shazam, thereby making his name something you CAN trademark. This is actually a very good business decision in an age where movies, toys, merchandise etc. is more important than the comics themselves, it's just bad for fans of the character and his history.
Justin Ward
Because his name is Captain Marvel.
Alexander Rodriguez
I remember as a kid I really wanted to see her on the Young Justice team since World without Grownups but she was never used like that. DC prefers using her as sexual prey.
Carter Jackson
He is simply overshadowed by Supes.
He can never be the hero he is destined to be while on Earth (1? A? Prime? I dont even know anymore). Put Captain Marvel back on his own earth as that earth's premiere superhero
Angel Johnson
Not to mention he's supposed to be a big part of the magic side of the DCU yet gets relegated to just "Thunderbolt using superstrong hero" very frequently
Jack Gutierrez
Jeff Smith's miniseries is GOAT tier
Jose Ward
Same here
Brayden Price
>he has one of the best superhero and origin stories along with a unique perspective that no other superhero can really boast. And he is NOT A FUCKING COPY OF SUPERMAN!
(YOU) (YOU) (YOU)
Benjamin Nelson
>Captain Marvel Junior's classic stories were all revenge fantasies with heavily racist overtones. ALL OF THEM. WITHOUT EXCEPTION. How bad are they? Also Captain Marvel Jr. is a terrible name
Lucas Robinson
archive.org/stream/TwilightOfTheSuperheroes/TwilightOfTheSuperheroes_djvu.txt >It had all started with little Billy Batson and his problem. There he was, unwilling to give up being human, still spending a lot of time in a child's body. The unfortunate thing was that though little Billy's body didn't age, his mind did. Trapped in a child's body but afflicted with adult needs, Billy went quietly... well, bats, I suppose. A lot of the problems were sexual. Physically, Billy was not capable of normal sex and thus pretty soon began
Alexander Howard
>Captain Marvel is in the public domain
so how does that work? can i write and draw stories about him, but can't call him shazam?
Not enough kids wanted to self insert as a superhero I guess. They wanted to read about Superheroes, not read about being a Superhero.
Gavin Roberts
Ok, so I havent read something of Shazam ever; Can someone recommend me something? Preferibly recent and with Adam
Joshua Jenkins
You can't use the names "Captain Marvel" or "Shazam" on the cover and DC will still probably sue you. You'd also have to hew close to the 40s designs that are PD
Kevin Brown
Multiversity: Thunderworld and pic related
Luke Rogers
That's what Jr was for anyway. Nobody wants to magically transform into their dad.
Carter Brown
Well for starters you put a picture of Captain marvel and not Shazam.
Chase Jenkins
This. When a character disappears for a generation it's gonna cause problems.
Kevin Murphy
The funny thing is he is only shazam on earth-0 Everywhere else he is still called captain marvel.
Henry Scott
He was more popular than superman until DC sued his publisher
Ryan Howard
DC didn't stop Fawcett you dumb wikifag, Fawcett went down on its own at the same time the rest of the Golden age died Captain thunder was his alternative name since the 70's. Captain marvel fans would had accepted it, Shazam on the other hand is the choice of lawyers and wb's bitchboy.
Joseph Ortiz
Good point. Now that we've got that figured out: Why isn't Shazam more popular?
Logan Reyes
>so how does that work? can i write and draw stories about him, You can do that now because of fair use. Even if you used Shazam, you could get away with it. The only problem is that you couldn't make money off of the names, for obvious reasons.
Aiden Williams
Because copyright bullshit.
William Bennett
i would absolutely be okay with making shazam black if shaq played adult billy
Justin Murphy
Yes, they couldn't, they couldn't just put him as the name of the book. Fuck off Johnsfag
Elijah Brown
What are the new names for Mary Marvel and Marvel Jr?
I remember Marvel Jr. calling himself King Shazam in the nu52 but everything else was barely expanded upon. We haven't seen the Shazam family since their debut story
Bentley Reed
>DC didn't stop Fawcett you dumb wikifag, Fawcett went down on its own at the same time the rest of the Golden age died DC literally sued Fawcett and stopped them from publishing Captain Marvel comics, you ignorant fuck. Brush up on your history.
David Bennett
>We haven't seen the Shazam family since their debut story And it's bullshit I liked that family
Mason Clark
this DC knows he'd be more popular than Supes if he has given more exposure so the do their best to keep him out of the limelight
Dominic Mitchell
That's Kazam, ya idjit
Hunter Phillips
Not Shazam, those are captain marvel stories.
Adrian Peterson
Didio said the comic con they were still finding the correct team for Shazam and that he's a priority
Jose Gutierrez
English is clearly not your first language, or you're too lazy to even read the post. Either way, fuck off.
Eli Cox
No, DC never accomplished that and Captain marvel was published until 1953, DC sued in 41, captain marvel was never more popular, it got a few great months (when the serial came out) and that's it. DC managed to bully Fawcett, but it was dumb business decisions and the collapse of the Golden age market what killed fawcett, feel free to continue to be a wikifag.
Christian Lopez
DC can make movies and toys with the name captain marvel. Also reminder that DC almost lists its name to a fucking shoe company.
Sebastian Reyes
That's Kazam. For the record there's only one story about billy as Shazam and its that garbage called curse of Shazam.
Hunter Gray
Isn't Black Adam hella stronger than Shazam?
Logan Robinson
>So if they made toys or movies of him they could never put his name on the cover The key part is "on the cover".
This is not even a debatable fact since Marvel is making a movie literally called "Captain Marvel" so they clearly own the trademark.
Jonathan Campbell
>No, DC never accomplished that and Captain marvel was published until 1953, DC sued in 41 Yeah, they sued in '41 and then there was barely any progress in the case until the 50s when DC won and Fawcett was forced to pay them as well as stop publishing Captain Marvel comics. This is literally history. There are books that talk all about this. Why the fuck are you trying to argue this and dismiss it with "WIKIFAGS!"?
Luis Wood
in that case, Sup Forums should put out a 'shazam' comic.
/lit/ published a novel Sup Forums got trump elected
this is Sup Forumss time to shine!
Hudson Rivera
Because kids suck. Little children should be massacred.
Cooper Ross
Don't be an edgelord
Nathan White
He is a old property that they let set for too long. Kind of like the thread stated it skipped a generation. The only Shazam I have ever read is (pic related, Shazam #1 Feb 1973). To me he is just another supercape in a sea of supercapes so other than nostalgia the character will have a hard time getting popular in the modern market.
Jeremiah Gutierrez
Isn't Shazam a copy of Supreme?
Jaxson Jones
>- Captain Marvel Junior's classic stories were all revenge fantasies with heavily racist overtones. ALL OF THEM. WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
Ayy, it was war time. Why wouldn't they depict the Japanese as the slanty eyed bucktooth barbarians the public thought they were? Everyone was doing it.
William Foster
Kazaam vs. Steel when?
Carter Hernandez
>Why isn't Shazam more popular? Marketing and the writers who would write him well either don't want to or are busy with other things.
You basically have a Mahou Shoujo with a boy and that shit writes himself.
Same shit with Amethyst. You have TWO magical children in the DC Universe running around and they don't really get used well save for a cartoon or a good story here or there.
Carson Roberts
>Mahou Shoujo with a boy Mahou Shounen.
Lincoln Flores
listen, I know said genre exists, but really we all know it better from sailor moon.
Jose Bell
WB can make a movie named captain marvel, or toys, but dc can't publish comics.
Joseph Hill
>DC prefers using her as sexual prey.
Uh, really? Examples, please, in picture form? There is something about Mary Marvel, especially her classic look, that gets my motor going.
Jason Nguyen
>accepting Nu52 bullshit
Ryder Phillips
Mary Marvel seems like an incredibly moral person, that does not do things like engage in premarital sex or give blowjobs.