Thread 149044192

Zoomer here. Why did DC change his name from "Captain Marvel" to "Shazam"? He can't even say his own name.

>>149044192 (OP)
Because Marvel Comics wants to hog the name for themselves.

DC did an oopsie and let copyright on the name lapse and Marvel swiped it up
Good comeuppance for how they got him in the first place

>>149044219
So DC was still allowed to use the character name but, there was an agreement that as long as Marvel was publishing a Captain Marvel book DC couldn't. So when rebooting, DC decided to just call him Shazam, because at the same time Ms. Marvel was upgraded to Captain Marvel.

>>149044242
>DC decided to just call him Shazam
Why didn't they call him Captain Marvelous or something? Shazam is fucking stupid.

>>149044266
Because that’s what people already called him since that’s what he says to transform. It’s doesn’t help that his previous books were always called “The Power of Shazam” or something like that since they couldn’t use the Captain Marvel name as a title of a book

>>149044192 (OP)
I don't read those comics. How does he tell anyone his Superhero name without also revealing his secret identity?
"Hold on, let me just stand under this convenient lightning rod. They call me Shazam!" *Lightning Strike*

>>149044219
>>149044192 (OP)
this Captain Marvel was originated by a company called Fawcett Comics, which was a division of Fawcett Publications, in an ashcan (not for sale) title called Thrill Comics #1, published in January 1940 (at this time the third or fourth issue of Marvel Mystery Comics, then published by Timely Comics which would later rename itself Marvel Comics after this, its first comic book title, was already on sale)

Fawcett Comics renamed a character - Captain Thunder - from Thrill Comics #1 as Captain Marvel and published him in Whiz Comics #2 in February 1940

DC Comics - then known as National Comics - sued Fawcett over the similarities to Superman, their big seller; this lawsuit continued until 1953 when it was eventually settled by Fawcett and National, with Fawcett pulling out of comic book publishing entirely and closing Fawcett Comics for good

in 1961, Timely Comics (which had been known as Atlas Comics since 1951) became Marvel Comics, relaunching as a primarily superhero-focused publisher as sales of other types of comic were in serious decline; Fawcett had pulled out of comics at a time when superheroes were also poor sellers, but Marvel largely reversed this trend and National (and the other surviving comic book publishers) tended to follow what Marvel did, as it was the market leader for most of the 1960s and 1970s

in 1967, Marvel Comics launched their own Captain Marvel - Fawcett's was never coming back and Fawcett had not bothered to retain the trademark and did not contest any copyright on the name, which would have been pointless since they were not publishing and had no intention to publish

>>149044192 (OP)
Marvel's held the trademark and his comic has been called SHAZAM for so long that most non-readers assumed that was what his hero name was. So they just went with it.
He's gone back to 'The Captain' now, though.

>>149044518
in 1972, National, by then owned by Warner Bros which at the time was owned by the mob, leased the rights to the old Fawcett catalog and started production of a tv show, and sued Marvel Comics over their by now popular and well-established Captain Marvel; National soon discovered that they had no naming rights precisely because they'd sued Fawcett into oblivion 20 years earlier

in 1974, Warner Bros/National made the show but called it Shazam!; it ran for two years and three seasons, eventually spinning off into The Secrets of Isis, about a character called Isis (after the Egyptian goddess, not the as-yet-unborn terror state)

in 1975 or 1977 (or whenever), National finally bought the Fawcett back catalog (instead of leasing the rights)

both the show and National's comics (which became DC Comics in 1977, but had been informally known as DC for some years before that) used Captain Marvel's name for the character by agreement with Marvel, whose EiC/Publisher (Stan Lee) and various staffers all thought highly of the Fawcett character (their own Captain Marvel's powers are an homage to the original, as is his swapping with Rick Jones) and felt the Fawcett creatives had been given a real shafting by National in the 1950s (they had); DC is technically allowed to use the character name but has chosen Shazam as this is the name they use for the show, movies and comics, because they lack the trademark and thus the right to trade under that name (sell things named "Captain Marvel"); this is entirely DC's fault, not Marvel's, and the modern character has little in common with the Fawcett version

the show by the way was a cheaply-made disaster area - midway through season 2 they fired and replaced their Captain Marvel actor because he didn't turn up for work; this was because he was at the doctor seeking treatment for an eye injury he'd sustained doing stunts on set the previous day; they ended up paying him for the full run of the show, in addition to the new guy

>>149044403
Probably have to say it with intent.

>>149044518
>>149044529
It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a way to revive the old Fawcett version of Captain Marvel. That was an awesome series; his modern incarnations just don't hold a candle to the wacky magical superheroics from back then.

I suspect you'd have to buy the rights to the character and name from both DC and Marvel and publish it as an indy title; but that's probably uneconomical.

>>149044626
absolutely, yeah: it's likely that Marvel even made a cash offer to DC in the 1970s before the suit was settled, but were turned down

by then the show was in production so they probably felt they'd get them eventually

I don't think anybody back then had any idea what it would be like in 2000, let alone 2025

>>149044626
>It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a way to revive the old Fawcett version of Captain Marvel.
Some people have argued that a very big chunk is in the public domain.

>>149044192 (OP)
Because DC was, is, and will always be, a company run by idiots.

>>149044695
They are; the first appearance of Captain Marvel and Sivana is, and so are the first appearances of Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. Black Adam isn't though.

Where it's hard to work with is that it's not a consistent run of public domain comics. Like Whiz Comics #2 is public domain but #3-6 aren't but #7-63 are, and so on. On the other hand there's not too much story/character changes to go on from issue to issue but you'd have to research to find out which can be used.

>>149046579
Gunn is idiot?

>>149044192 (OP)
I could never remember his name but the word was captivating

Sucking on Grace's big boobies.

>>149044521
>He's gone back to 'The Captain' now, though.
That's even fucking gayer

>>149044192 (OP)
I like him in all forms.