Captain Marvel is now Shazam

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Shazam! With one lightning-infused magic word, DC Comics has relaunched one of its most iconic characters, reviving the superhero known since 1939 as Captain Marvel and renaming and supercharging him with a heavy double dose of mysticism and magic.

"We changed his name [to Shazam] for a lot of reasons," said Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. "One of them is that Shazam is the word most associated with the character, so we just felt it made sense — a lot of people already thought that was his name, anyway."

With a new origin, a cowl, a lightning bolt on his chest, and a penchant for causing electrical appliances to explode, Shazam still bears similarities to the original hero, including the power to change from feisty teen Billy Batson into a superhero by uttering the magic word that is now his name.

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REAL MARVEL: Captain Marvel is now Shazam.

The new Shazam debuts March 21 as a side story in Justice League No. 7.

"His place in the world will be far more rooted in fantasy and magic than it ever was before," Johns said.
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Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/shazam_electrifies_again_puMbHg6BYwirdrl3U9BYwL

The cowl is stupid.
 
Yeeeaaaah, sorry Geoff, you lost me.

I hate to say this, as a Cap/Mary Marvel fan; DC just needs to put the character down.
 
Zombipanda said:
Oh thank god he's more extreme now.
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Yeah. It's good with how DC is making most characters rather dark and mysterious but the cowl goes too far.
 
I thought Captain Marvel was changed to Shazam in the past, because Marvel gained the rights to the name Captain Marvel and gave their own character that name.

Also I think a problem is a lot of people say Captain Marvel is just a poor man's version of Superman and I heard the Superman comics aren't even doing well sale wise at this point.
 
Still the best Captain Marvel. Ever.

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I own that version.

I always thought of Captain Marvel as a children's title, full of magic, hope and wonderment. I don't understand why he needs to be extreme.
 
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Jaggyd said:
Still the best Captain Marvel. Ever.

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Monster Society of Evil?

Yeah. That was a great book.

The Overlord said:
Also I think a problem is a lot of people say Captain Marvel is just a poor man's version of Superman and I heard the Superman comics aren't even doing well sale wise at this point.
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You make my nose bleed.
 
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Zombipanda said:
Monster Society of Evil?

Yeah. That was a great book.



You make my nose bleed.
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Now how I am supposed to to respond to that?

See I didn't say Captain Marvel was a Superman knock off, but that is how a lot of people see him.
 
So i've thought about it and i'm OK with the hood. He just looks like captain Marvel with a hood. Its not like they gave him a lightning bolt tattoo over his eye or anything like that. I'd like sto see a well light version of him standing up straight so we can get a good look at the whole design.

Of course I think they should just do a normal Captain Marvel book too instead of constantly trying to rebrand the character into something new. We haven't had that since the Ordway Power of Shazam series in the 90s. With Black Adams popularity i'm really supprised we never got a proper revival.
 
The Overlord said:
I thought Captain Marvel was changed to Shazam in the past, because Marvel gained the rights to the name Captain Marvel and gave their own character that name.
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My understanding was that they could still call the character Captain Marvel, but they could not have a book by that name and could not use "Captain Marvel" in promotional for marketing purposes.

That said, I wonder how this development affects the limited use they are allowed with the name "Captain Marvel" with they inevitably want to change back in the future. No doubt Marvel is very pleased with this because DC is demonstrating they don't need the name. I think this is a bad move by DC.

Jaggyd said:
Still the best Captain Marvel. Ever.

shzmsoe-tpb.jpg
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I haven't read a ton of Captain Marvel stories but yeah, that is really good.

Ultimate Houde said:
I always thought of Captain Marvel as a children's title, full of magic, hope and wonderment. I don't understand why he needs to be extreme.
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Agreed.
 
The Overlord said:
Now how I am supposed to to respond to that?

See I didn't say Captain Marvel was a Superman knock off, but that is how a lot of people see him.
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and....? What implications does that have for this relaunch? How might it have informed the relaunch? What can we glean from the changes and would they imply a positive or negative transition in terms of this supposed misunderstanding of the character?
 
Zombipanda said:
and....? What implications does that have for this relaunch? How might it have informed the relaunch? What can we glean from the changes and would they imply a positive or negative transition in terms of this supposed misunderstanding of the character?
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I think its a reason why Captain Marvel/Shazam doesn't do as well as other heroes in terms of sale, there clearly are some problems with how the character is perceived by a wider audience, if DC resorted to this type of heavy handed reboot of the character.
 
It seems the reason for this is the fact that Marvel is coming out with a new Captain Marvel(Some say it will be Carol as Cap).
 
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