It's Confusing, Is Shazam's Powers Same As Captain Marvel?

Is Shazam's Powers Same As Captain Marvel?

If you're still trying to wrap your head around yet another superhero movie premiering this year, you may be wondering what exactly is the deal with D.C.'s latest, Shazam! What are his superpowers? What's his history? Well, you're in for quite the doozy. 

It's hard to even keep track of the sheer quantity of superhero movies being released these days. The number for 2019 currently stands at eight-Captain Marvel, Shazam!, Hellboy, Avengers: Endgame, Brightburn, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Dark Phoenix, The New Mutants, and JOKER. So before we even start getting into the long and confusing history of a pair of these characters that are now making their silver screen debuts within a month of one another, we just have to accept that yes, there is a lot going on here.

First, we're going to have to get some things settled right up front. Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson as the titular hero, was released last month and is the 21st entry in the expansive and ever-profitable Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's the last entry before Avengers: Endgame, which will wrap up what Marvel refers to as 'Phase Three' of their films; the movies theoretically are released in bunches that all inter-relate at thematic levels both directly and indirectly, from minute to major.

Shazam! meanwhile, is the latest entry in the D.C. Extended Universe (which has included Aquaman, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Batman V. Superman, and Man of Steel), of course the chief competition to Marvel. Shazam! stars Zachary Levi, and has received near universal critical acclaim thus far- not exactly a regular feat for the D.C.E.U. films to date.


What are Shazam's powers?

The movie tells the story of a teenage foster kid, Billy Batson, who sticks up for his friend, and is granted with-you guessed it-an unexpected gift, giving him superhuman abilities. The kid eventually gains the ability to transform himself into a totally ripped adult, simply by shouting "SHAZAM!" above normal volume. As he and his friend experiment and discover his new powers, and take on villains, it's essentially a re-working of Big for the crowd thirsty for whatever superpowers they can find on their nearest big screen. As Manhola Dargis of the New York Times says in her review , "Once Billy says that magic word and his supersized alter ego appears, the movie goes to its happy place and comfortably embraces its own identity as a light, jocular, modest entertainment."

Are Shazam and Captain Marvel... the same?
Here, now, is where it gets tricky. The character now known as D.C.'s titular Shazam! was originally known as, yes, Captain Marvel. You read that correctly. The character was first written, all the way back in 1940, with the name 'Captain Marvel' by Fawcett Comics. That version of the character didn't last. In an ironic twist, Fawcett ceased publication in 1953 after a copyright suit from D.C. said that the character was too similar to Superman. (Marvel came up with their own trademarked version of 'Captain Marvel' in 1967, but more on that in a bit.)

When D.C. acquired the licensing of the character back in 1972, they had to re-title the book to Shazam! , but the character's name remained the same. In an attempt to completely rebrand and avoid future confusion, D.C. dropped their Captain Marvel name in 2012, going all in with Shazam!-it would be both the name of the story and its hero.

At the same time, the Captain Marvel present in Captain Marvel wasn't always this same version of the character either. The version of the character played in the film by Larson-Carol Danvers-has only held the title of Captain Marvel since 2012. She previously existed in Marvel's world as 'Ms. Marvel,' a title that was also passed on elsewhere. Captain Marvel, for its own first 44 years (after launching in 1968) existed as several male iterations of the character.


Thankfully, it seems like all of this confusion won't go totally unnoticed. Lets just say were going to have a bit of fun with that in the movie, director David Sandberg told Entertainment Weekly last year. But hes basically known as Shazam, which makes sense because of the confusion. So, Captain Marvel was Shazam! which is a D.C. comic, but now they're two seperate heroes owned by two separate entities. It's like when there's a Jamie and a Jaime, and ones a guy and one's a girl. But now at least you won't mistake Brie Larson and Zachary Levi anytime soon.




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