Created in 1939, the alter ego of young Billy Batson is decades older than an identically named hero created by Marvel Comics. Fawcett Publications ran Captain Marvel stories from 1939 to 1953 when a copyright infringement suit brought by DC Comics combined with declining sales to effectively kill the character.
Drawing Captain Marvel's Power
Technically, the first animation related to the Captain Marvel character was used during the 1970's live action Saturday morning show, SHAZAM! Instead of an old wizard named Shazam bestowing power upon Billy Batson, six mythological figures, Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury were responsible for giving Billy his power. Dubbed the "Immortal Elders", these six anagramatic characters were animated, rather than filmed in live action.
The Marvel Family
In 1981, Captain Marvel returned to Saturday morning in a fully animated form. The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam was an hour long show that featured the animated adventures of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. Characters from the Shazam portion of the show would occasionally make guest appearances on the other animated portion of the show, Hero High, where teenagers with superpowers faced various problems each week.
The Marvel Family as seen on the show was generally true to the comics of the era, including Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., the unpowered Uncle Dudley and Mr. Tawney the talking tiger. As in the comics, the Marvels faced villains like Dr. Silvana, Black Adam and Mr. Mind, usually while trying to protect Uncle Dudley who laboured under the mistaken belief that he too possessed the power of Shazam.
Clash of Titans
While Billy Batson had a brief cameo during an episode of Superman - The Animated Series in the mid 1990's, Captain Marvel would have to wait until the Twenty-First Century to return to television.
In the third season episode of Justice League Unlimited, Clash, Captain Marvel is recruited into the ranks of the Justice League while Superman is off on a mission in space. The two superheroes wind up on opposite sides of an argument over the intentions of a supposedly reformed Lex Luthor and the ensuing battle is choreographed in an homage to a similar fight from the pages of the Alex Ross masterpiece, Kingdom Come. By the end of the episode, the Captain is no longer part of the league, resigning in frustration over what he sees as the group's less than heroic actions.
A New Frontier
Most recently, Captain Marvel made a brief cameo appearance at the tail end of Justice League - The New Frontier. Although the character isn't involved in the events that lead up to the montage that lays over John F. Kennedy's famous "New Frontier" speech, the Big Red Cheese can be seen smiling in the background of one portion of the film sequence.
James Richardson - James Richardson is a freelance writer of fiction and non-fiction. He is the resident critic and recap writer of the television show LOST ...
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