| Shazam | |
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The wizard Shazam in a portion of a panel from Action Comics #826 (June 2005), art by Ian Churchill. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fawcett Comics (1939–1953) DC Comics (1972–present) |
| First appearance | Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940) |
| Created by | C. C. Beck Bill Parker |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jebediah of Canaan |
| Team affiliations | Marvel Family Squadron of Justice The Quintessence |
| Notable aliases | The Champion, Jebediah O' Keenan |
| Abilities | Magically bestowed superhuman strength, speed, stamina and courage. Invulnerability. Nigh-omnipotent mastery of magic and mysticism. Omnipresent and omniscient. Telepathy. |
Shazam is a comic book character created by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. He is an ancient sorcerer (Whiz Comics #2 gives his age as 3,000 years) who gives young Billy Batson the power to transform into the superhero Captain Marvel. Because DC Comics has billed Captain Marvel's adventures under the name Shazam! since 1973, the superhero is often mistakenly referred to by his mentor's name.
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Shazam informs Billy that he is an ancient Egyptian wizard who has been using his powers for many centuries to fight the forces of evil, but that he is now old and not long for this world. He therefore passes along part of his power to Billy, who shouts his name — "SHAZAM!" — to transform into Captain Marvel. Although Shazam is killed, as prophesied, by a giant granite block falling on him, Billy/Marvel can summon the ghost of Shazam for guidance by lighting a special brazier in Shazam's lair (the Rock of Eternity). More superheroes soon joined Marvel in carrying on the legacy of Shazam, including Marvel Family members Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. Shazam tells that once, 5000 years before, he gave powers to Black Adam, but banished him to the furthest star in the universe for trying to use them to take over the world.
When Billy first meets him, Shazam tells Billy that his name is an acronym for six ancient heroes. Each letter empowers him with certain attributes:
Originally, the wizard's name was Shazamo, the last letter standing for the hero of magic, Oggar. However, Oggar became corrupt and tried to take power from Shazamo. The wizard defeated Oggar and cursed him to live amongst the world of mortals. He was given cloven hooves as a sign of his inner evil, and could cast each magic spell only once. Shazamo then dropped the last letter of his name.
In a story written by E. Nelson Bridwell for World's Finest Comics #262 (cover date April/May 1980), Shazam's origins are further explored. This gave him a backstory in which he was a young shepherd who becomes the Champion, one of the world's first superheroes in ancient Canaan, over 5,000 years ago. By speaking the magic word "VLAREM!" Vlarem (an anagram of "Marvel"), he gained the power of the following fictional gods:
| V | for the strength of Voldar | The Champion has incredible amounts of super strength, and is able to easily bend steel, punch through walls, and lift massive objects. |
| L | for the wisdom of Lumian | As the Champion, Shazam has instant access to a vast amount of scholarly knowledge, he can understand all languages. |
| A | for the speed of Arel | By channeling Arel's speed, the Champion can fly and move at unlimited speeds. |
| R | for the power of Ribalvei | Ribalvei's power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transformed the Champion, also enhances the Champion's other physical and mental abilities, provides physical invulnerability, and grants magic resistance against most magic spells and attacks as well as allowing for interdimensional travel. |
| E | for the courage of Elbiam | Like wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological and gives the Champion superhuman amounts of inner strength on which to draw. It also makes him highly resistant to mind control. |
| M | for the stamina of Marzosh | Using Marzosh's endurance, the Champion can withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults. Additionally, he does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe and can survive unaided in space when in his Champion form. |
At one point, the Champion is seduced by a demoness disguised as a beautiful woman, and the two of them conceive two half-demon offspring, Blaze and Satanus, much to the displeasure of the gods. The Champion later creates the Rock of Eternity from two large rock formations — one from Heaven and one from Hell — to hold the Three Faces of Evil, a dragon-like demon, captive. Shazam trapped demons of the Seven Deadly Sins in statues of themselves and imprisoned them at the Rock of Eternity.
Many centuries later, the Champion, now going by the name of Shazam, feels the need to pass along his powers to a successor. He selects the pharaoh's son Teth-Adam to receive the power to become the superpowered Mighty Adam by speaking the word "SHAZAM!". However, Blaze interferes with this succession and Adam is given powers from the following deities instead:
As her mother did, Shazam's daughter Blaze takes on the form of a beautiful woman and seduces Adam, convincing him to kill the pharaoh and take over the kingdom. An angry Shazam draws Mighty-Adam's powers out of him and into a large jeweled scarab, thereby killing Adam as he ages to death. Shazam then seals his remains and the amulet in a tomb. A wicked reincarnation of Teth-Adam named Theo Adam would steal the scarab many centuries later, and use the power of Shazam to become Black Adam. Shazam was upset by this, and did not consider passing on his powers for millennia.
The wizard resurfaces as an aide on the 1940 Malcolm Expedition, one of many archaeological expeditions into the tombs and pyramids of ancient Egypt. The sarcophagi of Ibis the Invincible and his mate Princess Taia are uncovered and brought to the United States. Shazam follows the sarcophagi and, once they are on display at the Fawcett City Museum, uses ancient spells to resurrect Ibis. Ibis then joins Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Minute-Man, and others to fight evil during the World War II era.
In 1955, a thug knocks Shazam across the head with a crowbar and causes him to lose his memory. A clueless Shazam wanders around Fawcett for the next forty years until C.C. Batson, a young man Shazam had met on the Malcolm Expedition, recognizes the old man and brings him to the museum to restore his memory. Shazam feels that he has truly found his successor in the upstanding Batson, but before he can act on this, a possessed Theo Adam murders Batson and his wife Marilyn for the magic amulet. He therefore decides to enlist C.C. Batson's young son, Billy, as the successor to his power. In the Marvel Family series he was shown in some early issues carving the Marvel Family adventures into the Rock of Eternity.
In Superman (vol. 2) #216, Shazam calls upon the Spectre to free Superman from being controlled by the demon Eclipso. This action breaks a covenant between Eclipso and the Spectre, and sets Eclipso permanently at odds with the wizard. Possessing the body of Jean Loring, the Atom's ex-wife, Eclipso corrupts the confused Spectre into joining forces with her, and begins a war against all magic-powered beings in the DC Universe.
Because of his previous action, Shazam is one of the duo's primary targets. In the Day of Vengeance mini-series, Shazam enlists Captain Marvel to keep the Spectre at bay, while the wizard gathers all of his power to battle him. With the assistance of the newly formed Shadowpact, a band of magic-based heroes, Captain Marvel fights the Spectre nearly to a standstill, but the Spectre escapes and makes his way to the Rock of Eternity to confront Shazam directly. While Shazam is preparing for his bout with the Spectre, he is confronted by Mordru, who has just escaped the Rock of Eternity. Mordru and the wizard fight for a short time while the Spectre begans to approach, despite being delayed by fighting Captain Marvel. Mordru, more concerned with escaping and staying out of the Spectre's way, leaves a slightly wounded and tired Shazam to fight the Spectre, who is already more powerful than him at full power. The Spectre overpowers the wizard, absorbs his magics, and kills him. As a result, the Rock of Eternity disintegrates above Gotham City into "a billion pieces" and explodes, freeing the Seven Deadly Sins along with many other demons and sending a depowered Billy Batson falling into the city.
In Infinite Crisis #1, Billy finds he is still able to transform into the Captain before he strikes the ground by saying the wizard's name as usual. It is also revealed that the entire affair was orchestrated by Alexander Luthor and the Psycho-Pirate to reduce magic to its raw form, the death of Shazam turning his name into a tether for the rest of the raw magic that Alexander could harness to power his tower by acquiring one of Shazam's champions, eventually forcibly 'enlisting' Black Adam for that purpose after failing to capture any of the other Marvels.
In Day of Vengeance: Infinite Crisis Special, the Shadowpact teams up with the majority of the DC Universe's surviving magical characters to rebuild the Rock of Eternity and reseal the Seven Deadly Sins. The final piece of the reconstruction, revealed by Zatanna, is that a new wizard has to be appointed to guard the Rock. Billy, as the only real candidate, is chosen to succeed Shazam as the Rock's new caretaker.
In the comic series 52, Captain Marvel is revealed to be currently headquartered at the Rock of Eternity, acting in Shazam's stead. He has already imprisoned the Sins again, although claims they cause trouble at full moon.
A year after the events of Infinite Crisis, The Trials of Shazam! mini-series features Captain Marvel, now with a white costume and long white hair, taking over the role of the wizard Shazam under the name Marvel while a powerless Freddy Freeman attempts to prove himself worthy to take on the powers of Shazam. Mary lost her powers a year after Shazam's death and fell from a great height, placing her in a coma. She later wakes up and accepts power from Black Adam.
Also attempting the Trials is Sabina who, with the assistance of The Council of Merlin, manages to gain several of the Powers of Shazam before Freeman can, including half the healing power of Apollo, who takes the place of Atlas after Sabina kills the Titan using the dagger of three points. Freddy is briefly trapped under Atlas's burden, but Marvel frees him, reminding him he can only be away for 24 hrs at a time.At the series finale, Sabina and the Council of Merlin seek audience with Merlin himself, and convince him to aid them in an assault on New York City that would send the magical world out of balance. Merlin opens a portal through which several demons appear and begin converting humans to their ranks, the intention being that if one million souls are taken, Zeus will be forced to give his power to Sabina as Merlin will have a foothold on Earth. The Justice League arrive to join the fight and Freddy battles Sabina herself, but is seemingly beaten. However, during the fight, Freddy Freeman proves that he is willing to sacrifice himself by attempting to force both Sabina and himself back through the portal that the demons emerged from; an act that would end the assault, destroy the powers of Shazam, and kill both of them. Witnessing Freddy's willingness to die so that magical balance can be restored, Zeus, who had been disguised throughout the series as Freddy's friend Zareb Babak, a retired necromancer, reveals himself and informs Freddy that he is the most worthy, granting him the full power of Shazam. Freddy says the word aloud and the lightning comes down, transforming him into Shazam. Sabina is forced through the portal and killed, and the demons disappear or turn back into humans.
In this new incarnation, Shazam looks essentially like the original Captain Marvel, only with Freeman's long hair.
Some time after Shazam's appointment, Black Adam and his resurrected bride Isis, along with the corrupted Mary Marvel, wrest control of the Rock of Eternity from Marvel, turning him back into Billy Batson at the same time.[1] The spirit of Billy and Mary's father recruits Jay Garrick to go on a mission to the netherworld domain called Rock of Finality where Shazam's spirit sealed in stone resides ever since he was slain by Spectre. Jay brings Shazam to Earth, where Black Adam is convinced to give back his powers to restore Shazam, so that the greatly corrupted Isis can be saved as she is planning to wipe out humanity. The restored wizard removes the powers from Isis and the Marvels, and turns Teth-Adam and Adrianna to stone. Shazam tells Billy and Mary that they failed him and that their access to his power is cut off. He also returns Stargirl to Earth as his final favor to them. Shazam also mentions Freddy, stating that his magic comes from elsewhere, and that he too will be dealt with as Shazam closes up the Rock of Eternity to go deal with Freddy.[2]
In July 2011 it was revealed that DC Comics would be relaunching 52 of it's exsisting titles not included was Shazam! so all of the characters would not receive a new title at that time. At New York Comic Con on October 15, 2011 it was announced that Shazam! would be getting a reboot with the title "The Curse of Shazam!" whether Freddy Freeman, Mary Batson, or other Shazam! related Characters would be included is currently Unknown. What is known is it will feature Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.[3]
Shazam has many superhuman powers and abilities as the result of his magical skills as well as powers bestowed to him as the representative of the various "gods" whose powers the Wizard gives to certain representatives of those gods as their champion as in the cases of Black Adam and Batson.
As the Guardian of the Rock of Eternity, he is one with the Rock as it is a part of him. He channels the energies of the primal God-wave and the Greek Lords of Magic through the Rock of Eternity. As such, he is infused with the duty to keep the power and the magic of the earth realm in balance. As keeper of the Rock of Eternity, he also holds the dark forces at bay. Due to being bound to the Rock of Eternity, Shazam's spirit can leave the Rock of Eternity for short periods of time. It should be noted that Shazam gets weaker the longer he is away from it.
Pre-Crisis, he once claimed to get his powers from his magic mantle which protected him from evil harm and enabled other powers. When it was removed he lost his powers and became just an old man, although it does not appear to work for others, when Sivana put it on he was not protected from Captain Marvel as it only protects the wearer from evil harm.[4] In other stories he is shown as being weaker, being captured even while wearing the mantle, and it is once shown that the brazier being lit will summon him even if he is not in Eternity.[5] He also possessed a device with which he could observe the past, present and future, and can throw lightning bolts from the Rock, which transform the Marvels. In another story it is claimed Shazam's powers come from a Shazamium bacelet which enables him and anybody else wearing it to become etheral and travel back and forth from the Rock of Eternity. If Shazam has it off for 24 hrs he dies.
In Flashpoint reality, the power of the six Elders is divided up between six children who say Shazam together to transform into Captain Thunder, similar to the Lieutenant Marvels. They claim to have got on the subway car to Shazam's lair.
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