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Captain Marvel Officially Becomes ‘Shazam’ In DC Comics
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Hunter Camp   |  

Captain Marvel by Alex Ross

Geoff Johns and DC Comics have announced that the legendary boy turned hero Captain Marvel will officially have his name changed to Shazam.

Captain Marvel has been a staple in the history and continuity of DC Comics for decades, but has also been a hot topic of debate both inside and outside the comics fandom. There’s been massive amounts of legal issues with Marvel Comics over the name as well, due to Marvel holding intellectual property over the name as a title for a comic book. So, the comics in which he appears have traditionally been under some sort of variation of Shazam, and the phrase was used for young Billy Batson to turn into the all powerful magic hero. But legal problems aren’t also the only problem with Captain Marvel as the non-comics reading public misunderstands the character’s actual name, as the majority are convinced that the character has always been known as Shazam, partially as a result of the 1974 television series.

So, it’s in the face of this and many other reasons that DC has finally pulled the trigger and is calling the hero Shazam with the re-debut of the character with the back-up story Curse of Shazam! within the pages of Justice League #7 that is set to be released in March.

In an interview with Newsarama, Johns explains some of the reasons why the name change will occur.

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.

Now, I don’t like this change at all. Captain Marvel, as I said, was a staple of DC’s history, and I’ve come to love the character. It’s like officially changing Batman’s name to The Dark Knight and losing all reference to the name Batman, right? Maybe it’s not, and maybe it’s not a big deal, but I’m willing to bet that readers aren’t going to love this. Either way though, there is precedence for this move within the story of the new DC Universe. You see, with Flashpoint, DC’s recent time altering event, the group of children that made up the hero were in fact named S!H!A!Z!A!M! prior to turning into Captain Thunder. So, if you’re buying into DC’s fuzzy continuity post-Flashpoint, the timeline’s got mixed and matched, so there’s your cop out excuse right there. Now, I’m not saying that this will be the reasoning on DC’s part, but if I can come up with some BS reason to excuse the name change, then I’m certain that one of DC’s head writers will come up with something that suits fans.

The Curse of Shazam! will be written by Geoff Johns and drawn by artist Gary Frank, who have previously recently collaborated on Superman: Secret Origin and will be working on the upcoming Batman: Earth One original graphic novel.

[Source: Digital Spy via Newsarama]

12 Comments »

  1. BOOOOOO!
    He is (and always will be) CAPTAIN MARVEL!

    Comment by Allen Pinney — January 31, 2012 @ 4:56 am

  2. It’s an unnecessary name change.

    Comment by Ralph Contreras — January 31, 2012 @ 1:43 pm

  3. I honestly don’t care if he’s called Captain Underpants. So long as it’s written well. But in all honesty, calling him Shazam isn’t the end of the world. It’s smart marketing. So, you could be a stick in the mud and shake your fists… or if it’s written well (not that John’s is doing that these days…) just accept that it’s done, and understand it doesn’t take away from your enjoyment of the character.

    Comment by Marc Alan Fishman — February 1, 2012 @ 11:05 pm

  4. does anyone even read marvel anymore? i lost touch after the stupid captain america death, rebirth, alien invasion, iron man take over. 

    Comment by Fire — February 13, 2012 @ 11:42 pm

  5. screw that.  The Big Red Cheese will always be Captain Marvel.

    Comment by Rwisenbaker — March 18, 2012 @ 4:48 pm

  6. Captain Marvel was always a hokey name. Let’s just forget it ever happened. Shazam is way better! Next…..ditch the cape rope.

    Comment by TeddyOrwell — January 22, 2014 @ 5:58 pm

  7. Shazam sounds stupider.

    Comment by Rorshach Sridhar — September 7, 2014 @ 5:13 pm

  8. Pretty sure it had to do with copyright problems with Marvel.

    Comment by Rorshach Sridhar — September 7, 2014 @ 5:14 pm

  9. What a load of bollocks. He is Captain Marvel. Anyone who knows comics knows that, and people who don’t know comics don’t know the character at all!

    Comment by Mickey Logan — December 21, 2014 @ 7:06 pm

  10. oh, I know! Let’s have him run around in jeans and a t-shirt!

    Comment by Mickey Logan — December 21, 2014 @ 7:07 pm

  11. Honestly your grown people arguing over a comic book character’s name change surely yous have a job to go to or a baby’s nappy to change ive read comics be it dc or marvel but this debate is childish cmon guys grow up

    Comment by Steven French — January 30, 2015 @ 8:36 am

  12. Get a grip man the guy pnly ment for him to drop his uncle dudleys drapes

    Comment by Steven French — January 30, 2015 @ 8:38 am

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