Carlo DiSalvo

Columnist

Following on the heels of “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Antman and the Wasp" comes the nationwide opening of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest entry, the 21st in their unprecedented endeavor of connected films, “Captain Marvel.”

For many moviegoers who are only casual fans of comic crusaders, this may cause some confusion. “Isn’t ‘Captain Marvel’ that kid Billy Batson that says ‘SHAZAM!’ and then turns into a grown man in red long johns, a white cape, and a gold lightning bolt on his chest?”

Nope. Not anymore.

To add further confusion to the matter, on April 5 in a coincidence that’s not really a coincidence but plainly planned by Warner Bros. studios, the DC Comics movie “Shazam!” opens, and this will be the Billy Batson character and his adult alter ego.

To try to untangle this mammoth knot we need to start with the first Captain Marvel. That was indeed Billy Batson, given super powers by the ancient wizard, Shazam — when he shouts that name, he becomes the mightiest of heroes.

This Captain Marvel debuted in Whiz Comics, a subsidiary of Fawcett Publications, in 1939 as a direct competitor to Action Comics’ hugely popular character, Superman. In fact, in those early days for a brief time, Captain Marvel comics actually outsold Superman comics.

However, in 1953 due to numerous factors like flagging sales and lawsuits, Fawcett ceased publication of superhero titles and even sold many of them off.

In 1974, DC Comics (which has copyright of Superman) licensed Captain Marvel and associated characters like Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Black Adam and Dr. Sivana, and then in 1994, bought them outright.

Here’s where the major snag hit. During the time Captain Marvel was out of publication, Marvel Comics snapped up the trademark for the name “Captain Marvel.” So any books DC Comics published with their character now became titled “Shazam!”, though he was still called Captain Marvel up until 2012, when his name officially became Shazam. No longer would Billy Batson ever become Captain Marvel.

Meanwhile, at Marvel Comics, they began publishing their own Captain Marvel comic books in 1967. This character was totally different and separate from the Fawcett/DC Comics' Captain Marvel.

This character never had strong comic book sales and while other Marvel characters like Spiderman, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and others all gained high popularity, Marvel’s Captain Marvel remained a mostly obscure character.

Making things even more painstakingly convoluted, if Marvel Comics didn’t publish a “Captain Marvel” comic book at least once every two years, they would lose their trademark and they knew DC Comics would be eager to reclaim it. So a parade of different Captain Marvels have been introduced through the years.

Captain Marvel has been a man, a woman, a human, an alien and a hybrid. Whatever they tried though, Marvel Comics didn’t seem able to create a Captain Marvel character of their own compelling enough to last.

In 2012, Carol Danvers, who until that point had been the superheroine Ms. Marvel, became Captain Marvel. This is the Captain Marvel we will see in the movie opening March 8 starring Brie Larson in the title role. The movie will be an origin story and set in the 1990s.

After last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” Captain Marvel was teased as a last ditch ace in the hole by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). On April 26, “Avengers: End Game” opens, and rumors are this will change everything in the Marvel universe and likely be the final outing of several long established characters, or at least the current versions of them, and Captain Marvel is to play a significant part in where the movies go from here.

Hopefully, both these movies will prove to be marvelous entertainment.

“Captain Marvel” opens with sneak previews on the evening of Thursday March 7th at Regal Salisbury Cinemas, look for “Shazam!” to be opening there on or around April 5th.

Carlo DiSalvo is a resident of Hebron.

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