I feel like DC should've just renamed Billy Batson's hero persona Captain Thunder when they acquired him. Gives him a legally distinct name to work with, and also avoids the issue of Billy both having the same name as the Wizard and also being actually able to tell people his hero name without turning into/out of said form.
They owned the name when they bought the character ythe prblem was they shelved him and forgot about Captain Marvel If you don't publish a book under that name the rights to publish a book under ythat name (not the character confusing I know) so the people at Marvel saw the oportunity to puiblish a book called captain Marvel (mar-vel ) ans essentialy stole the name because DC got lazy, Dc used his name for a while but rebranded him as shazam eventually to avoid legal trouble, If they had published a book under Captain Marvel's name in the 20 or so years they shelved him they would have kept the name but disn't .
Why black characters with lightning powers? I think it's the colour scheme. The brightness of electrical powers really works well with the darker skin tones, gives a sharp contrast when you give them bright coloured hair, and honestly really looks good with shading and the like.
I blame the electric powers thing on the Superfriends. They couldn't get the rights to Black Lightning, so they made Black Vulcan. Black Vulcan later inspired Static Shock, and recently Black Lightning got his own TV show.
I do hope the video on the Electric Powers/Black characters does an aside to remind people Static is the character, Static Shock is the title of the show and title of his book from time to time.
The legal problems, confusion & weirdness of Shazam continues to this day, too! The MCU Captain Marvel movie and the Shazam! movie both debuted roughly a month away from each other in the same year! Shazam! is my favorite character, btw.
This is one story I now know by heart from years of coverage, now when I need to explain it to casual fans, I can put it in bullet points lol (Black characters with lighting powers seems to be a color theory. Contrast something dark, with light to stand out)
I’ve seen a lot of videos about the legal battle of Shazam/Captain Marvel, but you weren’t lying, you explain things that other haven’t done. But I still wonder why the call him The Big Red Cheese
I don't know exactly how it started but Dr Sivana, his nemesis, calls him that as an insult. Sivana's children also call Captain Marvel Jr the Blue cheese, and Mary Marvel the little red cheese.
There are plenty of kinds of cheeses that have a red wax coating and have the cheese, well, yellow since almost all cheeses are yellow. Which is the same colorscheme as Captain ShaMarvel.
@@LetsTakeWalk most cheeses are white. Cows dont produce yellow milk. The color comes from the flavorless Annatto seed. i just missed half the video researching cheese. 😂
The second part is gonna be the Miracleman stuff? That gives me a headache every time I remember all the crazy angles of that story and how it ended up with Marvel after YEARS of 2 main names in the industry fighting for it.
As someone who has been researching the history of all the Captain Marvels for over a decade, I must say that this is a very entertaining and informative video that covers a lot of historical ground and makes some good points. I am particularly glad that you brought up Marvelman/Miracleman, and I look forward to watching that video. However, you do have a few inaccuracies abut the whole Captain Marvel/DC thing here, and a few other things that I would like to inquire about or elaborate on. 1. Fawcett's "Master Man" was created after their Captain Marvel. CM was their first Superhero and Whiz #2 their first comic book. 2. The issue about "Captain Thunder" as the hero's name is debatable, but not about trademark. Some sources say that the name was thought "too clamorous." Ralph Daigh said in court that it was his idea to change the name because he didn't like it. But other sources suggest that the name was changed because a month before Whiz #2 came out, a character named "Captain Terry Thunder" appeared in Jungle Comics #1. 3. Legal technicality department: The judge stated that similarities and differences of characters are not the defining factor in determining copyright infringement, but copying stories and pictures are, and between testimony and exhibits, he found that there was copying.. 4. Not a correction, but an inquiry dept: What is your source on Carl Burgos' motivation for creating the MF Enterprises' Captain Marvel? I have been trying to find more info on that. I do know that Burgos worked for Myron Fass, who published that comic, and that the credit in the first issue was :based on a character created by Carl Burgos." The nebulousness of that credit really has md me wondering how much input Burgos actually had. Remember, also, that 1966 was the year Batman, Green Hornet, and the Marvel Superheroes came on TV and Superman had a Broadway musical, so there was a boom in superhero comics. Even former Fawcett writer Otto Binder and artist CC Beck put out "Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer" that year. Myron Fass was a publishing opportunist/schlockmeister, so there may have been more elements in play with the timing and naming of this character. 5. Elaboration Dept.: There are two competing histories of how and why DC decided to revive the original Captain Marvel. Carmine Infantino, publisher of DC at the time, said that he was a big fan of Captain Marvel and just decided to see if Fawcett would let them bring him back. So he called Fawcett and asked what it would take and they said "make us an offer." A good move on Fawcett's part, since they owned a property8 they otherwise could not make any money on. The other version is told by Mark Evanier who worked with Jack Kirby. When Kirby was with DC i in the early 1970's, he suggested that DC revive a number of old heroes, and he would edit their new stories. One of them was Captain Marvel (of which he and Joe Simon had done one issue back in 1940). it was that suggestion that led to the call which got the licensing contract. Since pretty much no one who was involved with DC during the time of the lawsuit with Fawcett was still involved with DC in 1972, the idea that DC audaciously "stole" Captain Marvel seems a little strong. That is great work on explaining the difference between copyright and trademark, though. A lot of people just don't get it.
I know having a black character with lightning powers is kinda a cliché at this point and I personally don’t mind it at all. It’s probably one of my favorite super powers in general and if I had to choose what power to have that definitely would be one of them.
As usual, brilliant work Drake. Keep it up Also I didn't think that I needed to hear that Captain Marvel was also known as the Big Red Cheese but I am thankful that I heard it
As a Shazam fan yes, knew all this, but this is the most well-presented version that I can use to send my friends to this vid when they ask me about Shazam. Because I love my lightning/thunder characters XD But I saw I think it was Pandaredd's TikTok speaking of this and he dropped your name and I was like 'I have to find this persona and follow them.'
I love the nickname "Big Red Cheese", since you can tell that's what his villains nicknamed hin, like Sonic as "the Blue Blur", even an evil scientist with laser guns mounted by aiming-to-kill A.I. can't hit someone so fast, it'd be a trait that scientist might swear under their breathe later in retrospect.
Marvel Comics getting the Fawcett rights is a really fascinating "What if?" scenario. One of the problems that DC has always had with Shazam and his supporting cast is that the character missed out on decades of character development to bridge the Golden and Silver Ages. He never got to evolve the way that other characters had when the industry evolved, so writers struggled to make him fit. But now imagine a world where that doesn't happen--a world where Marvel Comics snatches up the rights before DC. How would the House of Ideas handle the character, and what kind of directions could the writers of the time take him?
Loved this vid! Great introduction to your channel. I really hope you do chase down that whole "black heroes with electricity powers" because I'm super curious about that.
Good video. As for the black hero with lightning powers cliche, part of it may be that for the longest time DC didn't know if the license for Black Lightning belonged to them or his original creator. So they made ripoffs of him, the most blatant being Black Vulcan from Super friends. It wasn't until the 80s,I think, that DC found that they did have the rights to Black Lightning. However, I did read this on TVTropes, so you may want to check these facts.
No Black Vulcan was used because Hanna Barbera couldn’t use the character not DC. DC has obviously always owned the character since it was a work for hire
They somehow managed to get joint trademark of the term Super-hero,even though them both using it should have shown it wasn't a unique term worthy of a Trademark
12:38 I just looked this up and discovered Flashpoint had another version of Captain Thunder that incorporated the team idea where they all merge into Captain Thunder. I've seen the merge thing in animation somewhere before too, I can't remember where.
That African American Captain Thunder would've been a great idea. But I think DC kinda payed that off by having a Black Captain Marvel in the Elseworlds reality where Supergirl and Batwoman were Earth's main heroes. Fantastic video by the way
Captain marvel was such a genius concept. Like of course the kids reading it would love to become a superman-like hero by saying shazam. It’s next level escapism. Very unfortunate about the name change. I understand why they picked shazam but how is billy gunna get his name out there if everytime he says it, he turns back to billy batson?
MAD Magazine did a satire on the National v. DC decision in its fourth issue called 'SuperDuperMan'. The story also drew a lawsuit from National, but EC publisher Bill Gaines ignored it, and the suit never happened. So even they did a batman spoof called "Batboy and Ruben" in MAD magazine #8, they let everyone know, including DC, that this is a lampoon throughout the whole comic. With lines like, "This is a lampoon, if you want to spend your dumb dime on cheap, rotten lampoons like this instead of the ever-loving genuine, real thing... GO RIGHT AHEAD, BOY!" Today, such parodies are protected legally as fair use in U.S. law.
The panel at 12:48 also contains references to Rick Jones and Mar-Vel’s shared existence (which was itself a call-back to the original “Captain Marvel”) and the Monica Rimbeau Captain!
Honestly I really wish they would go back to Captain Marvel. It’s just a better name and there is no way to give names to his extended family of supporting characters based on the Shazam moniker.
Drake, this was a great episode! 😃 I'm looking forward to seeing your take on Marvel Man in the future, its a fascinating/ frustrating part of comicbook history! The post-crisis Captain Thunder sounds like it was a real missed opportunity. More diversity of characters and stories within the DC universe, and solved the whole Captain Marvel/ SHAZAM naming issue decades ago! An episode about black characters with electric powers also sounds like it could be really interesting as well!
Oh my god, I paused at 16:29 to look over the characters and noticed one standing out that doesn't seem to belong, causing me to laugh for like 15 seconds straight
My biggest issue with calling him Shazam, besides the fact that it's the magic word, is that it's also the name of the wizard who gave him his powers. (So already overuse much) Also, Captain Marvel (or even Captain Thunder) sounds like something a kid would come up with as a superhero name. (Also, I actually got used to the name from his various appearances pre-flashpoint in the JSA and his own 'Trials of Shazam' series) I really didn't mind that both Marvel and DC had a character with the same name since they didn't really have too much in common besides the name.
Besides Marvel and DC already have name sharing history. Guardian (Joe Simon/Jack Kirby)/Guardian (Chris Claremont/John Byrne). Changeling X-Men/New Teen Titans
Great history lesson. I love the legal background of Superman and Shazam. I'd be interested in seeing where that Captain Thunder book could have gone. I don't mind the black person electricity trope. A character is only as good as its creative team. Great story and art can make or break a title.
you should do a vid on Otto Binder the creator of captain Marvel whe went on to be one of the most influencial Superman writers . He added Siupergirl. the Legion of superheroes krypto, briainiac etc.
As a big fan of the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, and a current law school student, I was pretty familiar with the legal saga, but I did learn a couple of new things. Well done!
Awesome video! Can’t wait for the next one! What’s funny about the Shazam name change is you can definitely see Geoff Johns backpedaling a bit in his most recent Shazam comic. Be interesting to see if the characters name remains the same or if they go back to Captain Marvel at some point.
Am I the only one who appreciates the background logos, they're a cool background and I really like the additions of the anime ones (Bleach, Yu Gi Oh and FMAB are the ones I could find) and Radiant Black
When the Captain Marvel name thing comes up I often see people say how Marvel should give the name back to DC. Never makes sense to me given how DC acquired it the company doesn't have any sort of moral right to it and they lost the legal one.
Marvel is kinda the innocent party here. DC sued to kill Captain Marvel's original company then forced that cast into their universe. All Marvel was doing was protecting a trademark that fits their company name after the OG Captain Marvel was already killed by DC.
@@denniswilliams6519 not exactly. After The Fawcett IP went dormant. Marvel then called Atlas Comics wasn’t the first one trying to revive the trademark. Myron Fass creates his own Captain Marvel which was different from the Fawcett and Marvel one. Marvel a year later created their own Captain Marvel. Myron Fass sued Marvel and went to court with them. Marvel ended up just paying around $ 5,000 in settlement fees and trademarked the Captain Marvel name
@@sladewilson377 If we are gonna be technical that Captain Marvel only existed to be a spite character to the comics industry being a blatant rip off mash of other characters. Not exactly fair to say they "deserved" this trademark given the character and books belong in the "totally original OC do not steal"
ur vids are always so informative and awesomely made!! im not a comic reader (unfortunatelly), but i love watching your vids to get an insight on this quirky yet interesting and beautiful world
It’s crazy as a child, I’ve always called Captain Marvel as Shazam because he shouted that name. It wasn’t until I was a teen when I learned he was Captain Marvel. So when DC officially changed his due to the lawsuit, it didn’t bother me at all.
And then Marvel went to transform Captain Marvel into a Shazam copycat with the whole Rick Jones thing, seriously, they are outrageous haha I was expecting you to comment on that
If I were to guess, I'd say it was coincidence. Marvel Studios started development for the Captain Marvel solo film in 2013, while New Line Cinema stated work on their Shazam film in the early 2000's. It just so happened that both films finally came together at the same time.
It was a coincidence, in fact Captain Marvel was supposed to release in July 2018, it only ended up in 2019 because of two factors 1. Marvel-Sony deal which resulted in several MCU films from Thor: Ragnarok onwards getting delayed to make room for the new Spider-Man film and 2. Marvel announcing Ant-Man 2 which again resulted in another wave of delays to make room for that film, as pre-Spidey, CM was supposed to come in July 2018, but once Spidey got added it got pushed to Novembe 2018, while BP took the July 2018, but then Ant-Man 2 got added to the schedule and took the July 2018, resulting in BP moving to February and Captain Marvel being pushed to 2019 in order to not have 4 MCU films in 2018.
@@vullord666 From what I read in the Wikipedia article, the New 52 reboot came AFTER the movie was already in a state of development limbo after 2008. Essentially, screenwriter John August quit after WB bought New Line and asked him to make the film darker and more serious to piggyback off the success of "The Dark Knight"; and active development would not pick back up until 2014, with the film being inspired by the the Shazam backup feature in Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Justice League run. So, yeah, you're right; but it's worth noting that Dwayne Johnson was attached to the 2000's version and the film that eventually came out as either Shazam or Black Adam. He didn't appear in the 2019 film because was decided he would appear in a solo Black Adam film.
@@ChuckBrowning Ah, yes. Make the kid superhero who transforms with a silly magic word dark and gritty so he can be the next Dark Knight. God if that isn't just, like, peak Hollywood executive.
Shit I want to see the universe where Marvel gets Captain Marvel/Shazam. Like, first, it would solve the 'who is the main superman analogue in Marvel' question right away. Second, Billy's nature as a kid that has to be a hero would be gold for Marvel's more character focused writing. An anti Spiderman, if you will. With a beloved by the media hero face, and a 'do no good' face as a civilian. Also I have the mental image of Shazam calling down his lightning into Thor's hammer for a combo attack and now I want someone skilled to draw it.
That would been pretty interesting sight to see also does that mean that we Billy Batson reporter of Daily bugle. Also I think it would been fun if Cap Marvel and Spider-Man developed friendship Ala booster gold and blue beatle
This is so dumb. 1.Why just why would Marvel even go for Billy? Why would they go for a character that DC sued to the ground? There’s no way DC would have allowed anyone else to revive Captain Marvel since it would mean that DC would have to sue another company. All Captain Marvel/Shazam shares with Atlas (now known as Marvel Comics) is the name. Fawcett’s Captain Marvel has nothing to do with Marvel’s Captain Marvel. And Why would Marvel go for Fawcett Captain Marvel when they already had their own. In fact, There is actually a 3rd Captain Marvel from MF enterprises. Marvel never tried to get that Captain Marvel but they failed to. 2) Shazam and his gang would never have fit into the Marvel Universe. Shazam is a golden age hero. Marvel is mostly Silver age heroes.
Man, things like these is what makes comic history all the more entertaining that the stories themselves. I hope that when you get to part 2 you mention the whole situation of Todd McFarlane vs Neil Gaiman. That extends itself to another issue with Neil creating the 1602 series to fund the legal battle, getting Angela and Todd dissing the entire thing by creating the character Man of Miracles because he thought he owned the Miracle Man property
This was a great video! I’ve been confused about the captain marvel debate for years and this simplified it into something I could easily consume. Props!
Captain Marvel was so popular that he made his way to here in Finland already in the 40s. 'Captain Steel', they called him. Superman was named and is still called the 'Steelman' here, so maybe they really liked the concept of 'man of steel' back then, or they too saw the obvious connection.
The original Dr. Sivana was far superior to Luthor in both humanity and intellect. Unlike Luthor, he actually understands magic's connection to science and he has a pretty happy family. New Sivana is an interesting foil to Billy, but I miss his Walk Through Walls level nonsense
PLEASE make a video on Black people with lightning powers. I’m so curious about why and how such a (seemingly) random thing became such a well known trope
Bro the immediate hype I had for wheelchair-bound Willie Fawcett becoming Captain Thunder was immediately dashed by remembering Black Lightning and Static haha still could have been cool though
Well, in the New 52 comics, he needed to mean to transform. But in continuities where he's Shazam and just a slip of the word triggers the transformation, it's more complicated. In the DCEU movie, Billy's still picking a hero name!
@@SeanWheeler100 actually they changed that alr. Now billy has to shout shazam. So if he speaks it its ok. He has to shout it to transform. Btw in the SHAZAM movie, he did have a name. Its captain sparklefingers.
16:27 Wait, does Jakeem Thunder count? I mean Yz _does_ have electric blast powers and you included Raoul, ThunderMan's operator. Unlike Count Zap with his electric rods, Raoul has no electric powers of his own (he doesn't even cross fuse in the anime).
The Capt. Marvel stories were FAR superior to the Superman stories of the same era (so much so Superman later was to be written, to a great extent, by the writer of so many of the CM tales).
Oh, now I wish that Marvel Comics did grab the Fawcett properties. Especially if Jack Kirby put his spin on the Big Red Cheese, probably being re-introduced in the Fantastic Four before getting his own series.
I feel like DC should've just renamed Billy Batson's hero persona Captain Thunder when they acquired him. Gives him a legally distinct name to work with, and also avoids the issue of Billy both having the same name as the Wizard and also being actually able to tell people his hero name without turning into/out of said form.
Agreed. Captain Thunder is a cool codename.
Captain Thunder FTW! Make it happen DC! [>
"Hello people of random city, my name is Shazam!"
*Becomes normal
Since then, Roy Thomas created a character published outside of DC or Marvel by that name, Presumably trademarking the name also.
They owned the name when they bought the character ythe prblem was they shelved him and forgot about Captain Marvel If you don't publish a book under that name the rights to publish a book under ythat name (not the character confusing I know) so the people at Marvel saw the oportunity to puiblish a book called captain Marvel (mar-vel ) ans essentialy stole the name because DC got lazy, Dc used his name for a while but rebranded him as shazam eventually to avoid legal trouble, If they had published a book under Captain Marvel's name in the 20 or so years they shelved him they would have kept the name but disn't .
Why black characters with lightning powers? I think it's the colour scheme. The brightness of electrical powers really works well with the darker skin tones, gives a sharp contrast when you give them bright coloured hair, and honestly really looks good with shading and the like.
*color
@@racager both are right color is american and colour is english
@@racager He’s from the UK
I love how you have a Luxray pfp
@@apollyon4761 I'd like to believe it lends me a certain degree of authenticity regarding this topic XD
I blame the electric powers thing on the Superfriends. They couldn't get the rights to Black Lightning, so they made Black Vulcan. Black Vulcan later inspired Static Shock, and recently Black Lightning got his own TV show.
And again, if I recall correctly, the Static Shock animated series couldn't get the rights to Black Lightning so they created Soul Power.
Pure electricity... In my pants
It was actually to avoid paying Black lightning's creator
@@SuprousOxide Soul Power.... in my pants.
I do hope the video on the Electric Powers/Black characters does an aside to remind people Static is the character, Static Shock is the title of the show and title of his book from time to time.
The legal problems, confusion & weirdness of Shazam continues to this day, too! The MCU Captain Marvel movie and the Shazam! movie both debuted roughly a month away from each other in the same year!
Shazam! is my favorite character, btw.
The story of the Caption Marvel is that of self perpetuating legal pettiness that has lost all meaning but is endlessly fascinating too watch
2019 and 2023 is Captain Marvel’s years…
This is one story I now know by heart from years of coverage, now when I need to explain it to casual fans, I can put it in bullet points lol
(Black characters with lighting powers seems to be a color theory. Contrast something dark, with light to stand out)
🤘🏻😎👍🏻
What a legal rollercoaster. Dude, this might be my new favorite video of yours. The editing, script, research, and delivery were all perfect.
Just wait! Part two is going to knock this one out of the park. 😏
@@ComicDrake qaaa1 to me to
The funny thing about all this is that Superman is weak to magic, which means that with enough training, Batson could totally beat him in a fight.
I’ve seen a lot of videos about the legal battle of Shazam/Captain Marvel, but you weren’t lying, you explain things that other haven’t done.
But I still wonder why the call him The Big Red Cheese
I don't know exactly how it started but Dr Sivana, his nemesis, calls him that as an insult.
Sivana's children also call Captain Marvel Jr the Blue cheese, and Mary Marvel the little red cheese.
There are plenty of kinds of cheeses that have a red wax coating and have the cheese, well, yellow since almost all cheeses are yellow. Which is the same colorscheme as Captain ShaMarvel.
@@LetsTakeWalk Oh, thank you very much!
@@LetsTakeWalk most cheeses are white. Cows dont produce yellow milk. The color comes from the flavorless Annatto seed. i just missed half the video researching cheese. 😂
His nemesis Dr Sivana used to call him all sorts of convoluted insults like that, and one day called him Big Red Cheese and it stuck.
The second part is gonna be the Miracleman stuff?
That gives me a headache every time I remember all the crazy angles of that story and how it ended up with Marvel after YEARS of 2 main names in the industry fighting for it.
The fact that even Elvis Presley was a huge fan of Captain Marvel Jr alone tell how massive the impact of Captain Marvel comics were
You can bet that he managed to get a copy of EVERY single marvel family appearance, and his collection has never been showed. beyond a book or two.
As someone who has been researching the history of all the Captain Marvels for over a decade, I must say that this is a very entertaining and informative video that covers a lot of historical ground and makes some good points. I am particularly glad that you brought up Marvelman/Miracleman, and I look forward to watching that video. However, you do have a few inaccuracies abut the whole Captain Marvel/DC thing here, and a few other things that I would like to inquire about or elaborate on.
1. Fawcett's "Master Man" was created after their Captain Marvel. CM was their first Superhero and Whiz #2 their first comic book.
2. The issue about "Captain Thunder" as the hero's name is debatable, but not about trademark. Some sources say that the name was thought "too clamorous." Ralph Daigh said in court that it was his idea to change the name because he didn't like it. But other sources suggest that the name was changed because a month before Whiz #2 came out, a character named "Captain Terry Thunder" appeared in Jungle Comics #1.
3. Legal technicality department: The judge stated that similarities and differences of characters are not the defining factor in determining copyright infringement, but copying stories and pictures are, and between testimony and exhibits, he found that there was copying..
4. Not a correction, but an inquiry dept: What is your source on Carl Burgos' motivation for creating the MF Enterprises' Captain Marvel? I have been trying to find more info on that. I do know that Burgos worked for Myron Fass, who published that comic, and that the credit in the first issue was :based on a character created by Carl Burgos." The nebulousness of that credit really has md me wondering how much input Burgos actually had.
Remember, also, that 1966 was the year Batman, Green Hornet, and the Marvel Superheroes came on TV and Superman had a Broadway musical, so there was a boom in superhero comics. Even former Fawcett writer Otto Binder and artist CC Beck put out "Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer" that year. Myron Fass was a publishing opportunist/schlockmeister, so there may have been more elements in play with the timing and naming of this character.
5. Elaboration Dept.: There are two competing histories of how and why DC decided to revive the original Captain Marvel. Carmine Infantino, publisher of DC at the time, said that he was a big fan of Captain Marvel and just decided to see if Fawcett would let them bring him back. So he called Fawcett and asked what it would take and they said "make us an offer." A good move on Fawcett's part, since they owned a property8 they otherwise could not make any money on.
The other version is told by Mark Evanier who worked with Jack Kirby. When Kirby was with DC i in the early 1970's, he suggested that DC revive a number of old heroes, and he would edit their new stories. One of them was Captain Marvel (of which he and Joe Simon had done one issue back in 1940). it was that suggestion that led to the call which got the licensing contract.
Since pretty much no one who was involved with DC during the time of the lawsuit with Fawcett was still involved with DC in 1972, the idea that DC audaciously "stole" Captain Marvel seems a little strong.
That is great work on explaining the difference between copyright and trademark, though. A lot of people just don't get it.
En teoría se le puede seguir diciendo Capitán Marvel dentro de una Serie y Run de cualquier Escritor pero,no se le puede Publicitar con ese Nombre??
I was not aware of all the history Shazam had, thank you for this video!
Lol
I know having a black character with lightning powers is kinda a cliché at this point and I personally don’t mind it at all. It’s probably one of my favorite super powers in general and if I had to choose what power to have that definitely would be one of them.
Least it is a cool power to be stock identified with. "Oh yeah just another token black lightning user. Wait why am I complaining that kicks ass."
But when a black man applies to join a super team and his power turns out to be telekinesis, they always look disappointed.
Doesn't Billy taking the name Shazam also mean he's fully succeeded the wizard?
That was in the pre-New 52 universe.
As usual, brilliant work Drake. Keep it up
Also I didn't think that I needed to hear that Captain Marvel was also known as the Big Red Cheese but I am thankful that I heard it
As a Shazam fan yes, knew all this, but this is the most well-presented version that I can use to send my friends to this vid when they ask me about Shazam. Because I love my lightning/thunder characters XD But I saw I think it was Pandaredd's TikTok speaking of this and he dropped your name and I was like 'I have to find this persona and follow them.'
4:02 World's Mightiest Mortal is also his nickname.
16:26 Electro and Shocker are both turned black too HAHHAHA
I love the nickname "Big Red Cheese", since you can tell that's what his villains nicknamed hin, like Sonic as "the Blue Blur", even an evil scientist with laser guns mounted by aiming-to-kill A.I. can't hit someone so fast, it'd be a trait that scientist might swear under their breathe later in retrospect.
Drake, there's no way Pikachu is African-American.
He's Japanese. Still black, though.
Marvel Comics getting the Fawcett rights is a really fascinating "What if?" scenario. One of the problems that DC has always had with Shazam and his supporting cast is that the character missed out on decades of character development to bridge the Golden and Silver Ages. He never got to evolve the way that other characters had when the industry evolved, so writers struggled to make him fit.
But now imagine a world where that doesn't happen--a world where Marvel Comics snatches up the rights before DC. How would the House of Ideas handle the character, and what kind of directions could the writers of the time take him?
Loved this vid! Great introduction to your channel.
I really hope you do chase down that whole "black heroes with electricity powers" because I'm super curious about that.
Good video. As for the black hero with lightning powers cliche, part of it may be that for the longest time DC didn't know if the license for Black Lightning belonged to them or his original creator. So they made ripoffs of him, the most blatant being Black Vulcan from Super friends. It wasn't until the 80s,I think, that DC found that they did have the rights to Black Lightning. However, I did read this on TVTropes, so you may want to check these facts.
No Black Vulcan was used because Hanna Barbera couldn’t use the character not DC. DC has obviously always owned the character since it was a work for hire
DC and Marvel both have lot of really good lawyers.
Yea like daredevil…
NO DARE DEVIL IS MARVEL LMAO!!!
Like Matt Murdock
@@smiley3047 And She-Hulk.
They somehow managed to get joint trademark of the term Super-hero,even though them both using it should have shown it wasn't a unique term worthy of a Trademark
16:21
“Cole McGrath remains as the only white guy with lightning powers.”
-GodzillaMendoza
12:38 I just looked this up and discovered Flashpoint had another version of Captain Thunder that incorporated the team idea where they all merge into Captain Thunder. I've seen the merge thing in animation somewhere before too, I can't remember where.
Its in flashpoint paradox
@@wizard2545 Well that checks out lol.
@@samphadhavihara4035 or wonderwoman
@@samphadhavihara4035 No. That's two people, not five and not even to mention _entirely_ unrelated to SHAZAM.
@@wizard2545 ....What?
10:40 Oh yea, I heard of DC's The Ray from Arrowverse's Crisis on Earth-X crossover event.
That African American Captain Thunder would've been a great idea. But I think DC kinda payed that off by having a Black Captain Marvel in the Elseworlds reality where Supergirl and Batwoman were Earth's main heroes. Fantastic video by the way
I love how Pikachu is shown next to all the black characters with electric powers
Captain marvel was such a genius concept. Like of course the kids reading it would love to become a superman-like hero by saying shazam. It’s next level escapism.
Very unfortunate about the name change. I understand why they picked shazam but how is billy gunna get his name out there if everytime he says it, he turns back to billy batson?
IT was written so that he only changes if he really wants to change.
Like the light bulb in the psychiatrist's office.
3:57
Alternate universe where Billy Batson leads a team of multi-coloured Space Pirates
Captain Thunder is also the Flashpoint version of Shazam.
I love how one second very few people know Miracleman, and now everyone in the whole universe knows who Miracleman is.
16:35 don't forget all the latinos with fire powers
16:30 Pikachu is BLAAACKKK!!!!!
MAD Magazine did a satire on the National v. DC decision in its fourth issue called 'SuperDuperMan'. The story also drew a lawsuit from National, but EC publisher Bill Gaines ignored it, and the suit never happened. So even they did a batman spoof called "Batboy and Ruben" in MAD magazine #8, they let everyone know, including DC, that this is a lampoon throughout the whole comic. With lines like, "This is a lampoon, if you want to spend your dumb dime on cheap, rotten lampoons like this instead of the ever-loving genuine, real thing... GO RIGHT AHEAD, BOY!" Today, such parodies are protected legally as fair use in U.S. law.
The panel at 12:48 also contains references to Rick Jones and Mar-Vel’s shared existence (which was itself a call-back to the original “Captain Marvel”) and the Monica Rimbeau Captain!
Honestly I really wish they would go back to Captain Marvel. It’s just a better name and there is no way to give names to his extended family of supporting characters based on the Shazam moniker.
Drake, this was a great episode! 😃
I'm looking forward to seeing your take on Marvel Man in the future, its a fascinating/ frustrating part of comicbook history!
The post-crisis Captain Thunder sounds like it was a real missed opportunity. More diversity of characters and stories within the DC universe, and solved the whole Captain Marvel/ SHAZAM naming issue decades ago!
An episode about black characters with electric powers also sounds like it could be really interesting as well!
Oh my god, I paused at 16:29 to look over the characters and noticed one standing out that doesn't seem to belong, causing me to laugh for like 15 seconds straight
My biggest issue with calling him Shazam, besides the fact that it's the magic word, is that it's also the name of the wizard who gave him his powers. (So already overuse much)
Also, Captain Marvel (or even Captain Thunder) sounds like something a kid would come up with as a superhero name. (Also, I actually got used to the name from his various appearances pre-flashpoint in the JSA and his own 'Trials of Shazam' series)
I really didn't mind that both Marvel and DC had a character with the same name since they didn't really have too much in common besides the name.
It's not the Wizard's name either.
the wizards name isnt shazam its mamoragon
Besides Marvel and DC already have name sharing history. Guardian (Joe Simon/Jack Kirby)/Guardian (Chris Claremont/John Byrne). Changeling X-Men/New Teen Titans
16:30 Ah yes Pikachu, my favorite Black Superhero 😂
Great history lesson. I love the legal background of Superman and Shazam.
I'd be interested in seeing where that Captain Thunder book could have gone.
I don't mind the black person electricity trope. A character is only as good as its creative team. Great story and art can make or break a title.
Drake: here's my ad for blue light filtering glasses
Also Drake: enjoy this blue background that fills most of your screen while you watch this video
😅
I always forget that Shazam was the first super hero movie
you should do a vid on Otto Binder the creator of captain Marvel whe went on to be one of the most influencial Superman writers . He added Siupergirl. the Legion of superheroes krypto, briainiac etc.
As a big fan of the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, and a current law school student, I was pretty familiar with the legal saga, but I did learn a couple of new things. Well done!
16:11 probably because the lightning has a nice contrast too the skin colour, which let's it look more powerful
I love how Drake changed his outfit for the different segments of the video xD
Awesome video! Can’t wait for the next one! What’s funny about the Shazam name change is you can definitely see Geoff Johns backpedaling a bit in his most recent Shazam comic. Be interesting to see if the characters name remains the same or if they go back to Captain Marvel at some point.
Am I the only one who appreciates the background logos, they're a cool background and I really like the additions of the anime ones (Bleach, Yu Gi Oh and FMAB are the ones I could find) and Radiant Black
*manga 😉
When the Captain Marvel name thing comes up I often see people say how Marvel should give the name back to DC. Never makes sense to me given how DC acquired it the company doesn't have any sort of moral right to it and they lost the legal one.
Marvel is kinda the innocent party here. DC sued to kill Captain Marvel's original company then forced that cast into their universe. All Marvel was doing was protecting a trademark that fits their company name after the OG Captain Marvel was already killed by DC.
@@denniswilliams6519 not exactly. After The Fawcett IP went dormant. Marvel then called Atlas Comics wasn’t the first one trying to revive the trademark. Myron Fass creates his own Captain Marvel which was different from the Fawcett and Marvel one. Marvel a year later created their own Captain Marvel. Myron Fass sued Marvel and went to court with them. Marvel ended up just paying around $ 5,000 in settlement fees and trademarked the Captain Marvel name
@@sladewilson377 If we are gonna be technical that Captain Marvel only existed to be a spite character to the comics industry being a blatant rip off mash of other characters. Not exactly fair to say they "deserved" this trademark given the character and books belong in the "totally original OC do not steal"
ur vids are always so informative and awesomely made!!
im not a comic reader (unfortunatelly), but i love watching your vids to get an insight on this quirky yet interesting and beautiful world
I’m so glad you’re making a video on marvel man/miracle man because I’ve always been a little confused on that
16:28 I'm pleasantly surprised that Drake knows Darui and Yoruichi.
I mean I've had a Bleach logo on my background for a good long while.
@@ComicDrake
Hell! I’m surprised you put a character from Shotaro Ishinmori’s Cyborg 09.
Oh wow, Hoppy the bunny made a return in The New Champion of Shazam recently!
so are we just ignoring the implication that pikachu is black?
It’s crazy as a child, I’ve always called Captain Marvel as Shazam because he shouted that name. It wasn’t until I was a teen when I learned he was Captain Marvel. So when DC officially changed his due to the lawsuit, it didn’t bother me at all.
19:15 in the background he used a picture of pikachu i'm dead
12:38 On the upper left-hand side of the panel, we also see Captain Marvel slamming his bracelets together like Captain Mar-Vell did.
I will forever love the trope of black folks with electric powers.
And then Marvel went to transform Captain Marvel into a Shazam copycat with the whole Rick Jones thing, seriously, they are outrageous haha I was expecting you to comment on that
I wonder if there’s any correlation the Captain Marvel film and Shazam came out relatively close to eachoter. Or if that was just coincidence.
If I were to guess, I'd say it was coincidence. Marvel Studios started development for the Captain Marvel solo film in 2013, while New Line Cinema stated work on their Shazam film in the early 2000's. It just so happened that both films finally came together at the same time.
It was a coincidence, in fact Captain Marvel was supposed to release in July 2018, it only ended up in 2019 because of two factors 1. Marvel-Sony deal which resulted in several MCU films from Thor: Ragnarok onwards getting delayed to make room for the new Spider-Man film and 2. Marvel announcing Ant-Man 2 which again resulted in another wave of delays to make room for that film, as pre-Spidey, CM was supposed to come in July 2018, but once Spidey got added it got pushed to Novembe 2018, while BP took the July 2018, but then Ant-Man 2 got added to the schedule and took the July 2018, resulting in BP moving to February and Captain Marvel being pushed to 2019 in order to not have 4 MCU films in 2018.
@@vullord666 From what I read in the Wikipedia article, the New 52 reboot came AFTER the movie was already in a state of development limbo after 2008. Essentially, screenwriter John August quit after WB bought New Line and asked him to make the film darker and more serious to piggyback off the success of "The Dark Knight"; and active development would not pick back up until 2014, with the film being inspired by the the Shazam backup feature in Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Justice League run.
So, yeah, you're right; but it's worth noting that Dwayne Johnson was attached to the 2000's version and the film that eventually came out as either Shazam or Black Adam. He didn't appear in the 2019 film because was decided he would appear in a solo Black Adam film.
@@ChuckBrowning Ah, yes. Make the kid superhero who transforms with a silly magic word dark and gritty so he can be the next Dark Knight.
God if that isn't just, like, peak Hollywood executive.
@@nathanl8622 it's certainly peak WB who have repeatedly demonstrated how clueless they can be with anything other than Batman.
Shit I want to see the universe where Marvel gets Captain Marvel/Shazam.
Like, first, it would solve the 'who is the main superman analogue in Marvel' question right away. Second, Billy's nature as a kid that has to be a hero would be gold for Marvel's more character focused writing. An anti Spiderman, if you will. With a beloved by the media hero face, and a 'do no good' face as a civilian.
Also I have the mental image of Shazam calling down his lightning into Thor's hammer for a combo attack and now I want someone skilled to draw it.
That would been pretty interesting sight to see also does that mean that we Billy Batson reporter of Daily bugle.
Also I think it would been fun if Cap Marvel and Spider-Man developed friendship Ala booster gold and blue beatle
This is actually quite brilliant.
This is so dumb.
1.Why just why would Marvel even go for Billy? Why would they go for a character that DC sued to the ground? There’s no way DC would have allowed anyone else to revive Captain Marvel since it would mean that DC would have to sue another company. All Captain Marvel/Shazam shares with Atlas (now known as Marvel Comics) is the name. Fawcett’s Captain Marvel has nothing to do with Marvel’s Captain Marvel. And Why would Marvel go for Fawcett Captain Marvel when they already had their own. In fact, There is actually a 3rd Captain Marvel from
MF enterprises. Marvel never tried to get that Captain Marvel but they failed to.
2) Shazam and his gang would never have fit into the Marvel Universe. Shazam is a golden age hero. Marvel is mostly Silver age heroes.
@@shadowclaw7210 that was a very dumb idea
Looking forward to the next part. I knew some of this but not all. It's crazy that it took so long for it to all smooth out.
Man, things like these is what makes comic history all the more entertaining that the stories themselves. I hope that when you get to part 2 you mention the whole situation of Todd McFarlane vs Neil Gaiman. That extends itself to another issue with Neil creating the 1602 series to fund the legal battle, getting Angela and Todd dissing the entire thing by creating the character Man of Miracles because he thought he owned the Miracle Man property
Love the extra editing you are doing these days! Great video as always!
This was a great video! I’ve been confused about the captain marvel debate for years and this simplified it into something I could easily consume. Props!
Company creats character named Captain Marvel to copy who is now Shazam. Gets mad at Marvel for doing it.
Captain Marvel was so popular that he made his way to here in Finland already in the 40s. 'Captain Steel', they called him. Superman was named and is still called the 'Steelman' here, so maybe they really liked the concept of 'man of steel' back then, or they too saw the obvious connection.
This case has always fascinated me.
Can't wait to see you tackle more of it!
The original Dr. Sivana was far superior to Luthor in both humanity and intellect. Unlike Luthor, he actually understands magic's connection to science and he has a pretty happy family. New Sivana is an interesting foil to Billy, but I miss his Walk Through Walls level nonsense
I love how this whole deal ended up biting DC in the ass. Talk about karma...
16:28 apparently Pikachu is Black now. I’m down.
I would really like to know why most black characters have lightning powers
i love the implication that pikachu is black
PLEASE make a video on Black people with lightning powers. I’m so curious about why and how such a (seemingly) random thing became such a well known trope
Naturally Pikachu is black. Not many people know that, but Comic Drake does his research.
Bro the immediate hype I had for wheelchair-bound Willie Fawcett becoming Captain Thunder was immediately dashed by remembering Black Lightning and Static haha still could have been cool though
16:28 wtf is pikachu doing there?
I love the little details you do like swapping from coffee to tea and the new symbols in the background
6:09 Oh hey look, it's Comic Drake, Ace Attorney!
He will always be captain marvel to me
Can we take a moment to appreciate that Drake copied the "superman" haircut for this video
I always wondered how he would be able to tell everyone that his superhero name is Shazam without turning back to normal.
Well, in the New 52 comics, he needed to mean to transform. But in continuities where he's Shazam and just a slip of the word triggers the transformation, it's more complicated. In the DCEU movie, Billy's still picking a hero name!
@@SeanWheeler100 actually they changed that alr. Now billy has to shout shazam. So if he speaks it its ok. He has to shout it to transform. Btw in the SHAZAM movie, he did have a name. Its captain sparklefingers.
@@arkhamknightrevenge I already explained how they changed it in the New 52.
And Billy rejected the Captain Sparklefingers name.
Great video. I’ve been waiting for you to give your take on this content. I can’t for part 2!
16:27 Wait, does Jakeem Thunder count? I mean Yz _does_ have electric blast powers and you included Raoul, ThunderMan's operator. Unlike Count Zap with his electric rods, Raoul has no electric powers of his own (he doesn't even cross fuse in the anime).
I love it when you do comics history!
The Capt. Marvel stories were FAR superior to the Superman stories of the same era (so much so Superman later was to be written, to a great extent, by the writer of so many of the CM tales).
Imagine if marvel bought Shazam instead
Lol I'm surprised no one has commented on Pikachu during the black superheroes with lightning powers screen.
Black characters with lighting powers: Pikachu
*⚡SHAZAM!⚡*
I can't wait to see your Marvelman/Miracleman video. P.S. why is Pikachu in that photoset of black people with lightning powers? 😅
We need that follow up video, sounds mad interesting
Oh, now I wish that Marvel Comics did grab the Fawcett properties. Especially if Jack Kirby put his spin on the Big Red Cheese, probably being re-introduced in the Fantastic Four before getting his own series.
Drake, look up the "Magical Negro" trope, and that'll basically explain why there's so many black characters with electric powers.
Every time he says because comics take a shot
Comic Drake: Shazam most famous nickname is the big red cheese.
earth's mightiest mortal: am I a joke to you
8:50 I can wait for that video drake! As a Brit I desperately want to know more about the history of the comic book industry in my contry
SHA-DAMN! That's a whole lot of lawsuits over Captain Marvel.