"We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times.

[16] In addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero (super-strength and speed, science-fiction stories, a mild-mannered reporter alter ego) and incorporated them into Captain Marvel.

Beck remained as lead artist, and he and Binder steered the Captain Marvel stories towards a whimsical tone that emphasized comedy and fantasy elements alongside the superhero action.

While Captain Marvel Adventures had been the top-selling comic series during World War II, it suffered declining sales every year after 1945, and, by 1949, it was selling only half its wartime rate.

Along with new and exclusive art by Beck and Newton, the issue included an opinion piece by the staff strongly criticizing the copyright infringement lawsuit by Detective Comics.

With this four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Dr. Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story.

Set 20 years in the future, Kingdom Come features a brainwashed Captain Marvel playing a major role in the story as a mind-controlled pawn of an elderly Lex Luthor.

The Superman/Shazam: First Thunder miniseries, written by Judd Winick with art by Josh Middleton, and published between September 2005 and March 2006, depicted the first post-Crisis meeting between Superman and Captain Marvel.

The series chronicled Adam's attempts to reform after falling in love with Isis, only to launch the DC universe into World War III after she and Osiris are killed.

[7] In updating Shazam!, Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero and the concept of family, rather than starting him from that point as with earlier retellings.

[75] The series features an older and wiser Billy Batson and his foster siblings Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla exploring their powers as the Shazam Family.

As the six kids venture beyond the nexus of the Rock of Eternity to explore the mysterious Seven Magic Realms, Doctor Sivana teams up with Mister Mind and a reluctant Black Adam to form the Monster Society of Evil, and Billy's long-missing father C.C.

A magic subway car painted in unusual shapes and colors escorts them to an underground throne room, which is inhabited by a very old man with a long beard and a white robe.

[87] Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.

The first members of the family, introduced in Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 1941) and used sparingly afterwards, were the Lieutenant Marvels: three other boys from various parts of the United States who are also named "Billy Batson" and discover that, if they all say "Shazam!"

ongoing series features Billy, now 14,[98] meeting his long-lost sister Mary and best friend Freddy Freeman[99] and establishing the Marvel Family as in the Fawcett comics.

[102] In 2012, writer and then-DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns revised Billy Batson's origin for DC's New 52 universe, also renaming the character's alter-ego as "Shazam" at this time.

When Dr. Sivana resurrects the ancient warrior Black Adam from his tomb, the dying Wizard Shazam selected several candidates to inherit his power, all unsuitable until his spell summons Billy to the Rock of Eternity.

A timely intervention from his foster siblings their empowerment from him tips the situation in his favor and Billy goads Adam into transforming into his human form, where he becomes dust due to being thousands of years old.

The secret identity of Captain Marvel (now currently Shazam) is William "Billy" Batson, a young superhero whose blessed abilities includes him bein able to transform into an appearance befitting an adult at will.

[108] More recent stories casts Billy as instead a more jaded and troubled youth abandoned by his parents to the foster care whom was chosen as a champion of the Wizard Shazam due to his potential for goodness.

In the dark alternate future of the Elseworlds comic Superman: Distant Fires (1998) by Howard Chaykin, Gil Kane, Kevin Nowlan, and Matt Hollingsworth, most of humanity has been destroyed in nuclear war.

An adult Billy Batson becomes obsessed with Wonder Woman when they become part of a small community of survivors of the holocaust, with most of the surviving superhumans having lost their powers or dealing with altered abilities.

When the now-powerless Clark Kent joins their community, starting a relationship with Wonder Woman that includes them having a child together, Batson's resentment of Superman becomes insanity, as he provokes his transformation into Captain Marvel despite use of this power causing damage to Earth.

Nevertheless, Batson's potential as a being powerful enough to rival Superman causes many others to react in fear and unease when he mingles with them, believing it is a non-costumed Captain Marvel that serves Luthor.

[159] He is freed by Ares to join the Regime in combating the Amazon army and Greek gods, but just when they seem to be winning Zeus strips him of his powers, reverting him to Billy permanently.

The story ends with the orphaned baby having absorbed both the Omega Effect from Lex Luthor as well as the Anti-Life Equation from Justice League associate Steve Trevor, transforming him into a resurrected—yet still infantile—Darkseid.

In the early Fawcett stories, Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had a sidekick named Steamboat, an African-American valet character who was removed from the comics by 1945 because of protests over racial stereotyping.

show ended its network run, Captain Marvel (played by Garrett Craig) appeared as a character in a pair of low-budget, live-action comedy specials, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions under the name Legends of the Superheroes in 1979.

Existence of the show was confirmed by historian Jim Harmon via recollections of old-time radio fans who recalled hearing it during original broadcasts, plus locating period program listings.