Comics Explained: The Skrulls

The Skrulls have been present in Marvel comics since the very start of the Lee-Kirby run. Since then they have remained a present force in Marvel's cosmology, and have managed to make many non-comic appearances, including the recently released Captain Marvel. As the Skrulls have appeared so regularly in comics we cannot go through every appearance, so we'll go over the basics and some stories which are worth reading.

Comic Origins

The Skrulls were some of the earliest parts of the Marvel Universe to be introduced - they, at times barely, predate the debut of the Hulk, Spider-Man, Dr Doom, and Thor. The Skrulls debuted in The Fantastic Four #2 which was released in January 1962. Paranoia and fear of infiltration were gripping the United States at the time - in 1956 the famous sci-fi movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers was released - and the Skrulls reflected that fear. Skrulls could shape-shift and take the appearance of anyone, or anything. The Fantastic Four #2 opens with members of the team committing various crimes as another version of the team listens in horror from a remote lodge. The crime-committing team are revealed to be members of a reptilian race known as the Skrulls - with the Fantastic Four being the only super-powered individuals they offer the greatest threat to the invading Skrulls. By committing crimes disguised as the Fantastic Four the invading Skrulls hope for Earth to lose faith in the heroes. Instead, the Fantastic Four manage to capture the Skrulls and using comic books, in reality panels from Marvel's own Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery, convince the Skrulls that Earth actually has many defenders. With their plan thwarted Mr Fantastic hypnotises three of the Skrulls into thinking that they were cows as the last one left to tell the Skrull mothership what had happened.

History of the Skrulls

The Skrulls in their debut

A common criticism of the sci-fi genre is that all the alien species are humanoids - Marvel has a loophole to explain this. A species of humanoid aliens called Xorrians spread their DNA millions of years ago which caused humanoid species to evolve across the universe. One of those planets Xorrian DNA was spread to was Skrullos in the Andromeda galaxy which would become the Skrull homeworld. The Xorrians would not be the only alien species to impact the evolution of the Skrulls. There is a race of god-like beings known as the Celestials who travelled the universe performing genetic experiments on the species they found - their experiments on Earth are why people can develop superpowers instead of just dying when exposed to radiation. Their experiments on Skrullos lead to the creation of three branches of the Skrull species: the Prime or Latent Skrulls, the unmodified Skrulls; the Deviant, the shape-shifters; and the Eternals, given superpowers and longevity. A war broke out between the three branches and the Deviants ended up wiping out the other two branches. Following the war the Skrulls began advancing their technology and formed a centralised state under the rule of a monarch. However, as the Skrulls began expanding off of Skrullos they started abandoning their initial violent ways. Upon arriving on new planets which were already inhabited they were happy to share their technology with other species. That is until they arrived on Hala. Hala was inhabited by two intelligent species - the blue-skinned humanoid Kree and the tree-like Cotati. Fearing that granting both the technology would lead to conflict the Skrulls devised a test: each would be dropped on a barren moon and had a year to do something fantastic. The Kree, on Earth's moon, built a great city while the Cotati grew a great forest. The Cotati was chosen enraging the Kree who massacred the Skrull party, including the emperor, and the Cotati. Skrull technology was reverse-engineered and the Kree formed their own empire to rival the Skrull Empire. An endless war began and the Skrulls lost their peaceful ways once more - they would conquer worlds now.

Kree-Skrull War

The periodic arrival of the Skrulls and Kree to Earth in the past were part of a wider war where Earth was caught in the crossfire. In a story beginning in 1971 by Roy Thomas we finally got to see the Kree-Skrull War in action. Thomas got the idea from This Island Earth and described it as 'apacious, galaxy-spanning races ... would be at war in the far reaches of space, and that their conflict would be threatening to spill over onto the Earth, turning our planet into the cosmic equivalent of some Pacific island during World War II.' Earth was a beachhead that both empires wanted in order to easier fight their opponents. Beginning in Avengers #89 when the Kree Captain Marvel returns to Earth we found out that a leading member of the Kree Empire, Ronan the Accuser, had seized control of the empire and aimed to fully bring the war to Earth. Ronan wanted Marvel assassinated for insubordination and planned to 'devolve' Earth - that way it would be no threat to the Kree and they could use it as a way to battle the Skrulls. The Avengers manage to fight off Ronan and the Kree, but some are attacked by cows which turn out to be the same cows who originally impersonated the Fantastic Four. In The Avengers #97 the Kree-Skrull War came to an end. The Kree Supreme Intelligence, a quasi-AI that once ruled the Kree Empire, gave friend of both Captain Marvel and the Hulk Rick Jones amazing powers which immobilised the space fleets of both empires. Unable to fight the sides stopped fighting. However, the Kree and Skrulls would occasionally restart their war after.

Secret Invasion

In 2008 we saw a story where the Skrulls had fully infiltrated Earth in a story by the fantastic Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. This followed a series of story arcs which had already ruptured the superhero community - the Avengers had been disassembled, the Civil War had forced half the community underground, supervillains were gathering legal power through a team called the Thunderbolts, and most of the mutant population had lost their powers. During the Kree-Skrull War the Skrulls had gathered the DNA of major heroes as a Skrull diaspora emerged. Princess Veranke and her followers had been exiled from the Throneworld after predicting the planet's destruction; Galactus the World-Eater destroyed the Throneworld leaving Veranke as empress. Ninja Elektra was killed revealing that she was really a Skrull, and as Hank Pym and Mr Fantastic were performing an autopsy it turned out Pym was a Skrull who then attacked Fantastic. No hero or villain could tell if their allies were a Skrull or not. Vernake herself had taken over the identity of Spider-Woman and used that to undermine the Avengers. Skrull infiltration allowed simultaneous attacks on the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier, the Raft (the prison for supervillains), the base of the Thunderbolts, and the Baxter Building (the HQ of the Fantastic Four). During the final battle the Wasp is killed and tensions arise about who is fighting who. Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, went almost insane and relished the killing of several Skrulls who attempted to turn into Spider-Man. Using a weapon stolen from Deadpool Osborn shot and killed Veranke ending the invasion. The aftermath was not pleasant. S.H.I.E.L.D was dissolved, and a new organisation called HAMMER was formed under Osborn's rule. He formed his own version of the Avengers as the regular heroes went underground and he began solidifying his rule.

Some Skrulls

Super Skrull

The first Super Skrull was Kl'rt who debuted in Fantastic Four #18. He was a fierce Skrull warrior and Emperor Dorrek wanted him to battle the Fantastic Four after their earlier defeat. The Skrulls were adept at genetic manipulation so they gave Kl'rt new powers - the powers of the Fantastic Four. He managed to hold back the Fantastic Four, using their own powers against them, until Mr Fantastic realised that Super Skrull's powers were being augmented by an energy beam from the Skrull Empire. Invisible Woman managed to place a device on him disrupting the beam which stripped him of his powers. Since then Super Skrull has been a regular in Marvel and in Infinity #6 was even crowned emperor. Kl'rt has not been the only Super Skrull - any Skrull with modified powers has been classed as a 'Super Skrull'. For example, Veranke was a Super Skrull as she had been modified to also have Spider-Woman's powers - Skrulls normally cannot replicate superpowers.

Lyja

Lyja 'officially' debuted in 1991's Fantastic Four #357 but she technically appeared a lot earlier. Lyja was a female Skrull who impersonated the Thing's girlfriend, Alicia Masters, who then fell in love with, and married, the Human Torch. When her identity was revealed she decided to help the Fantastic Four save Alicia Masters from Skrull captivity and was willing to sacrifice herself to do so. Lyja and the Human Torch would have an off-and-on relationship until Secret Invasion. Due to her knowledge of the Fantastic Four she was tasked with eliminating them before the invasion began. As she had loved the Fantastic Four she refused to bomb the place, hence it was sent to a dimension to the Negative Zone instead. She travelled there as well and helped those trapped inside return to their regular universe. However, she wanted to remain in the Negative Zone to find who she was, and that was the last we have seen of her.

Talos

As Talos appears in the new Captain Marvel it seems right that we mention him in our section on notable Skrulls. Talos debuted in The Incredible Hulk #418 in 1994 and is unique among Skrulls. Thanks to a birth defect he was unable to change shape which would normally force him into a life of discrimination and prejudice. Talos made up for his inability to shape-shift by augmenting his body with machinery and earning a reputation for his brutal fighting earning him the title of Talos the Untamed. However, during the war against the Kree he was captured and he refused to commit ritual suicide vowing that he would only die in battle - the other Skrull disagreed, thought him dishonoured, and called him Talos the Tamed. Talos sought a new way to regain his honour and thought that by besting the Hulk he would regain his honour. However, the Hulk, at this stage, was intelligent and refused to fight and kill Talos - he even pretended to surrender so he wouldn't have to badly hurt Talos. The Skrull left outraged only to find that, as the Hulk refused to fight him, he had regained his honour. Since 1994 Talos has made a few small appearances here and there.

Reading Recommendations

Here are a few reading recommendations if you want stories featuring the Skrulls:

-The Fantastic Four #2

-The Fantastic Four #18

-The Fantastic Four #357

-The Avengers #89-97 - the Kree-Skrull War

-Skrull Kill Krew - a story where humans drank milk from the Skrull cows giving them superpowers and a desire to wipe out Skrull spies

-New Avengers #40 - where Spider-Woman is revealed to be a Skrull

-Secret Invasion

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)

As of writing this week Marvel released the trailer for Captain Marvel marking the debut of Captain Marvel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Carol Danvers has had a long, and complicated, history in the Marvel universe. For decades she has been an integral part of the Marvel universe constantly being regarded in the top spots of the most important Avengers being referred to as 'quite possibly Marvel's mightiest Avenger'. Due to her having a long history in Marvel we won't go over everything that has happened in her publication history so we'll go over the major parts of her history.

Debut

Carol Danvers appeared in 1968 in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 where she worked for the US Air Force coming into contact with the secret identity of the Kree hero Captain Marvel. The Kree Empire had sent Mar-Vell to Earth to check if the human race was a potential threat but while on Earth he became enamoured with the planet. Seeing him as a hero and mishearing his name the people of Earth named him Captain Marvel. Danvers had left the Air Force and became the head of security at NASA where this brought her into contact with the internal power feuds of the Kree Empire which spilled over onto Earth. In a short story in Captain Marvel #16-18 Captain Marvel fought his rival Yon-Rogg resulting in Carol being thrown into a device called the Psyche-Magnitron. The Kree's technology comes almost straight out of fantasy and the Psyche-Magnitron is an example of this - it can rewrite DNA on the fly and give people superpowers. As Carol had been in contact with Mar-Vell it rewrote her DNA so she became half-Kree, and later giving her superpowers. Until she finally became a superhero afterwards she would make bit appearances in the comics. 

Before we go onto how she became a hero we should go over her childhood and other aspects of her life. Most of her life was revealed in the Ms. Marvel comics, mostly volumes one (in the 1970s) and two (in 2007). Carol was born to a former US Navy officer and a current construction worker who was controlling, abusive to his three kids and very misogynistic. Despite being strong, independent, and smart he preferred her brothers to her, even though that didn't prevent him from beating her brothers, so much so that he paid to put her brother through college but not her despite Carol having superior grades. With no other choice she joined the Air Force on her eighteenth birthday as it was her dream to fly and see the stars. In several prequel comics it was revealed that she took up a few contracts with Nick Fury meeting the pre-X-Men Wolverine. Fastforward past her encounter with the Psyche-Magnitron. In Ms. Marvel 1-5 it was revealed that she did wrote an expose on NASA and started working for the Daily Bugle's feminist publication, Woman Magazine. 

Ms. Marvel

In 1977, during a new feminist wave, Carol Danvers became Ms Marvel - Ms. magazine was one of the most popular feminist publications so Marvel wished to create a connection. Written by Amazing Spider-Man's Gerry Conway and later by X-Men heavyweight Chris Claremont Ms. Marvel became a quick hit. The Psyche-Magnitron had not just changed Carol biologically. By mixing her DNA with that of the Kree Mar-Vell she developed a second personality: that of a superpowered Kree warrior. Carol would experience black-outs where she would become a Kree warrior with the ability to fly and have super-strength. She adopted the name Ms Marvel in reference to Captain Marvel who gave her the powers she now had. In later comics her black-outs would come under control with the help of the Kree Ronan the Accuser. In her other life she would be one of the major feminist figures in New York campaigning for equal pay and rights for women. In Ms. Marvel #16-18 in a story by Chris Claremont she would come to blows with a mysterious woman called Raven Darkholme who could change her appearance. We found out that Darkholme really had dark blue skin, amber eyes and red hair, and she would later become one of the X-Men's major opponents: Mystique. Issue #20 also changed Ms Marvel's costume to her iconic costume, her original costume was often voted the Worst Female Super Hero Costume. She did repeatedly team-up with other heroes until she became an official member of the Avengers in Avengers #183 when Scarlet Witch briefly went on a leave of absence. Ever since Carol Danvers has remained one of the most powerful and integral members of the Avengers. Ms. Marvel #23 would be the last entry in her solo publication until the 2000s through a mixture of sales dropping and the fact that she was now an Avenger.

The debut of her most well known costume

This brings us to one of Marvel's most controversial moments which they've tried to sweep under the rug. Comic book historian Carol Strickland described Avengers #200 as 'The Rape of Ms. Marvel' and there is no other way to describe it. A character called Marcus, implied to be the son of the villain Immortus, kidnapped Ms Marvel and took her to a different universe where he brainwashed, 'seduced', and then impregnated her before sending her back to Earth. Back on Earth she went through a rapid pregnancy and gave birth to a boy who rapidly aged into Marcus who revealed that this was his attempt to escape his realm. The two then returned to his universe. This was rightly criticised as Carol Danvers was literally raped and the Avengers did nothing. Chris Claremont loathed this so much that he tore apart the story as soon as he could. Avengers Annual #10 revealed that returning to his universe did not stop Marcus's rapid ageing and he aged so much that he turned to ash; Carol then used that to escape. Returning to Earth she ended up chastising the Avengers saying: You screwed up, Avengers. That's human. What is also human is the ability to learn from those mistakes. To grow. To mature. If you do that -- even a little -- then perhaps what I went through will have a positive meaning. It's your choice.

Powerless, X-Men, Binary and After

In Avengers Annual #10 the unconscious body of Carol Danvers fell from the Golden Gate Bridge until saved by Spider-Woman and given to the X-Men as all of her identity had been removed. At the same time the Avengers were attacked by Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants where manages to roundly defeat several of the team, Rogue. You may recognise Rogue from the X-Men movies but she actually started out as a villain; she was originally meant to debut in Ms. Marvel #25 but the comic was cancelled beforehand. Rogue had the ability to absorb an individual's powers and memories on touch, and too much contact could result in Rogue taking them all. However, when trying to use Carol's powers the memories of her victims clouded her mind allowing the Avengers to defeat the Brotherhood. Going to the X-Men Mansion the Avengers handwaved what happened to Carol rightly enraging her so she quit to remain with the X-Men. With Claremont writing Uncanny X-Men Carol became a key player in the X-Men despite being powerless since Uncanny X-Men #150. Carol would remain with the X-Men until #163 when she encountered a new alien race: the Brood. The Brood are an insect species that uses hosts for their spawn and the X-Men were given to the Brood for that reason. The Brood accidentally sparked the latent augmented genes in Carol's body granting her superpowers again: linked to a white hole she could generate heat, light, radiation and access all other forms of energy as well as control gravity, to an extent. In #174 she decided to leave Earth to join a team of space adventurers called the Starjammers.

The return of her own solo series

Eventually, Carol would lose her connection to the white hole and return to Earth with her old powers returned. Rejoining the Avengers she would adopt a new title in Avengers Vol. 3 #4 called Warbird. During this time she would also develop alcoholism as a way to cope with what had happened to her and her losing her powers once again. By the time of the Avengers Disassembled story in 2004 she was back to being Ms Marvel, and during that story she would help the Avengers try and resist the reality warping effects from an emotionally and mentally broken Scarlet Witch. Although she would not later join the New Avengers she would regularly fight alongside them. Then we come to House of M; in this story Magneto convinced the broken Scarlet Witch to warp reality where now mutants were in control. Despite this Carol became loved acting as Captain Marvel and being the world's most loved hero even though she was a human, not a mutant. An underground resistance against Magneto's rule 'awakened' her to the original reality so she joined the resistance. When reality was restored to normal, albeit with the world's mutant population largely depowered, she missed the prestige she had in the House of M world. As a result her new solo series, Ms. Marvel Vol. 2, revolved around her trying to be one of the world's major heroes. It was during this period that she went from one of Marvel's 'B-heroes' to its 'A-heroes'. During Civil War she would side with the government becoming one of the major pro-registration fighters and after she would lead the Mighty Avengers in New York. Again, she would prove to be a key figure in World War Hulk, Secret Invasion and Siege joining the New Avengers afterwards.

Captain Marvel

In Amazing Spider-Man #9 she would finally don the moniker of Captain Marvel. After seeing a resurrected Captain Marvel sacrifice himself she knew that she had to become the new Captain Marvel. Since then she has become one of Marvel's key characters alongside Captain America and Iron Man having her own title as well as being a major figure in several key stories, including Secret Wars. She also led one side during Civil War II. An Inhuman called Ulysses has the ability to predict the future with a certain degree of accuracy so Carol wanted to use Ulysses to neutralise threats before they emerged straight out of Minority Report. However, Iron Man disagreed viewing this as being dispensing justice before someone has actually done something wrong, and although accurate Ulysses's visions aren't entirely accurate. Things came to ahead and the superhero community became divided which escalated further and the two sides fought. She fought Iron Man and thanks to the fight he went into a coma. In July a new series entitled The Life of Captain Marvel started so I would advise keeping an eye on that.

As Captain Marvel has had a long publication history here's a reading list if you want to get into her stories:
-Ms. Marvel Vol. 1
-Ms. Marvel Vol. 2
-Uncanny X-Men #164
-Captain Marvel (2012-2014)
-The Life of Captain Marvel

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Shazam (Captain Marvel)

San Diego Comic Con has given us many things to talk about ranging from the new Godzilla movie to the new edgier version of the Teen Titans. However, one thing that has got people talking is the trailer for Shazam! Shazam, or Captain Marvel as he's been known as for most of his publication history, is a very interesting part of comic book history. Although a DC character he did not originate in DC and he was even more popular than Superman at one point! Captain Marvel got a radio drama before Superman did and in 1941 he was the first superhero from comics to get their own movie. Today we'll look at Shazam a.k.a Captain Marvel.

Origins - Real World and Fictional

Whiz Comics #2, his debut

Captain Marvel originated in one of the many new comic book publishers which emerged in the late-1930s and early-1940s thanks to the success of Batman and Superman, especially Superman. One such was founded in 1939 called Fawcett Comics who hired writer Bill Parker to make superhero stories for them. Parker planned to create a superhero group years before Justice League and the Avengers came along, (although the League's precursor the Justice Society made its debut the same year Captain Marvel did), where each member had a superpower granted by a mythical being. Fawcett's executive director intervened suggesting that one character should have all the powers, mostly to compete with Superman. Parker then made 'Captain Thunder' and got C.C. Beck to draw the new hero. Beck later said: "When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett’s first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were. We decided to give our reader a real comic book, drawn in comic-strip style and telling an imaginative story, based not on the hackneyed formulas of the pulp magazine, but going back to the old folk-tales and myths of classic times." Beck's cartoony style of drawing would greatly influence how comics were drawn for a long time afterwards. In 1939 their comic was first published to low sales and they hit an issue: they couldn't copyright their original title. A year later the comic itself was renamed Whiz Comics instead of Flash or Thrill Comics and their hero renamed 'Captain Marvelous' which became shortened to 'Captain Marvel'. This reprint, in 1940, became very popular and propelled Fawcett Comics to national fame.

Now to get into Captain Marvel's fictional origin. Unlike Batman and Superman Captain Marvel is a literal child which explains his popularity. With a young audience Parker decided to make him a child for the primary audience to empathise with. A homeless orphan (despite being seemingly well fed and dressed) called Billy Batson is living in the subway of New York, later retconned to be Fawcett City, ends up meeting a strange old man on a subway with strange runes on it. He is then transported to an underground throne room where the old man explains that he is the Wizard Shazam who gets his power from the six gods - Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Shazam wanted to give Billy his powers as he is soon to die but the reason why changed. Originally it was because he had a hard life being orphaned at an early age and turfed out by his uncle who stole his inheritance but in later retellings in Shazam! #1 it was due to him being 'pure of heart'. Now whenever Billy utters the words 'Shazam!' he can turn into the hero Captain Marvel who has the the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and Speed of Mercury. He also gets an adult body and in the alternate future story Kingdom Come we find out that this body is what Billy would look like when he gets older. Now Billy can become a hero seeking advice from Shazam who resides as a spirit in the Rock of Eternity. In a similar sense to Superman Billy in Whiz Comics #3 becomes a journalist, despite being about 12, which allows him to investigate crime which he later fights as Captain Marvel. 

Marvel Family #1 

Captain Marvel soon became an immensely popular character dwarfing Superman. For one, Captain Marvel could fly which Superman couldn't do at the time and after a year of being published he got his own movie. By 1944 Captain Marvel comics were selling over 1.3 million an issue and two comics were issued a week. He quickly gained a recurring villain, set to be the antagonist in the new movie, called Doctor Sivana he also made his debut in Whiz Comics #2. A bald headed mad scientist as a villain may sound awfully familiar... Doctor Sivana, not Black Adam, would for a long time be Captain Marvel's main opponent with him even taking over Venus at one time. Meanwhile, the popularity of the comics brought in new characters forming the Marvel Family. The first was 1941's Whiz Comics #25 introducing Captain Marvel Jr. in a truly eccentric comic which typifies everything cheesy and fantastic about Golden Age comics. When Captain Marvel was fighting a superpowered agent of Hitler literally called Captain Nazi the Nazi attacked an old man and his grandson, Freddy Freeman. The old man died but the grandson was rendered unconscious so Billy took the boy to see if Shazam could heal him. Shazam couldn't but revealed that Billy as Captain Marvel could by granting Freddy some of his power. He did and turned Freddy into Captain Marvel Jr. A year later in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 a new character, designed to look like Judy Garland, was introduced who turned out to be Billy's long lost twin sister, (of course!), called Mary. Mary Marvel soon became extremely popular immediately getting her own comic title years before Supergirl was even introduced! Soon enough in Marvel Family #1 the three appeared together smashing the comic book scene.

Legal Troubles

Now time to discuss the tricky part of Captain Marvel - the court battles. The immediate success of Captain Marvel and the many similarities to Superman enraged DC, or as it was then called National Comics. In 1941 National took Fawcett to court and years of litigation meant that it didn't go into court until 1948 in National Comics Publications vs. Fawcett Publications with National arguing that Captain Marvel was infringing on Superman whereas Fawcett argued that although similar it was not infringing. The judge argued that although Captain Marvel was infringing Superman as National had not properly copyrighted several Superman strips it was decided in 1951 that National had abandoned the Superman copyright. National appealed and it seemed to in favour of them this time so Fawcett decided to settle out of court for a reason not to do with the trial. After the end of the war sales of superhero comics plummeted and would not pick up until the start of the 1960s with a new wave of DC heroes and Marvel's rise under Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Despite being extremely popular during the War after their sales were cut in half. Fawcett decided that comics were done for so decided to offer National $400,000 and that they would stop printing Captain Marvel. By 1954 all Captain Marvel titles had ceased printing. The decline of Captain Marvel caused ripples. A British company, L. Miller and Son, had made their money reprinting black-and-white comics of American comics and Captain Marvel was just as popular among the British as he was in America. With Captain Marvel's end they were worried so they decided to make their own comic a bit too heavily influenced by Captain Marvel called Marvelman which ended up ceasing printing in 1963. Marvelman was one of the many comics who inspired a young man called Alan Moore who in 1982 would revive Marvelman in a violent, pessimistic and graphic comic which I highly recommend people read. Containing ideas of superpowered heroes to be feared, and exploration of mythology which would set the stage up for Watchmen. In the 1960s a company called M.F. Enterprises were publishing their own hero called Captain Marvel which upset Marvel who ended up copyrighting 'Marvel' and 'Captain Marvel' so Marvelman had to be renamed Miracleman when it was published in the US. As a twist of fate Marvel bought Miracleman and republished it as Marvelman.

Shazam!

Shazam #1 when he returned after twenty years

During the 1960s superheroes were back and Fawcett wanted to reintroduce Captain Marvel but couldn't due to the earlier agreement with National. Meanwhile, DC's sales were dipping as they went into the 1970s so the two previous enemies made an agreement: DC would license Captain Marvel splitting the profits. In 1973 Shazam #1 brought back Billy Batson in a series of stories being written by Dennis O'Neil with C.C. Beck returning for ten issues before leaving thanks to creative differences. They also had to name the comic Shazam! to avoid copyright infringement with Marvel who at the time was publishing their own comic by the same title. On the front cover they used to have 'The Original Captain Marvel' until this royally infuriated Marvel had issued a cease-and-desist resulting them changing it to say 'The World's Mightiest Mortal' from Shazam! #15. In this comic they revised his origin with a prime example being the reason why Billy was chosen to be Captain Marvel was because he was pure of heart instead of living a hard life. Unfortunately Shazam! never sold well despite it reinvigorating interest in the Marvel Family so DC regularly featured crossovers with Superman and the Justice League. However, it did properly reintroduce one villain who has replaced Doctor Sivana as Captain Marvel's main antagonist: Black Adam.

Black Adam is easily Captain Marvel's most infamous villain with him being a staple in the comics and he is set to be played by Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson in his own movie, and possibly Shazam! as well. Strangely he only appeared in one comic under Fawcett, 1945's The Marvel Family #1. In this it is revealed that Billy is not the first to hold the moniker of Captain Marvel; in Ancient Egypt a man named Teth-Adam had the power until he overthrew the pharaoh to install himself in power. I personally love what he says to the pharaoh as he's overthrowing him: For resisting me, you get a broken neck! Shazam then branded him Black Adam and banished him to the edges of the universe as Adam vowed to return. 5,000 years later he arrives on Earth to kill Shazam where he fights the Marvel Family until being tricked into saying 'Shazam' reverting him to his human form. Doing so causes 5,000 years of ageing to catch up with him reducing him to ash. In the Shazam! comics Black Adam was resurrected by Doctor Sivana and soon he went on to fight the Marvel Family.

The fabulous Golden Age Black Adam

Post-Crisis

In 1985 DC decided to reboot its universe and within a year in Legends #1 Captain Marvel was brought back leading into a revamped origin in 1987 with a four-part series entitled Shazam: The New Beginning. However, DC soon ignored this in 1994's Power of Shazam which updated the comics and really made Black Adam his main villain. In this new origin Billy's parents were archaeologists, his father was called C.C. to homage C.C. Beck, sent to Egypt with Theo Adam for the Sivana Foundation. Theo Adam finds out he is the resurrected but depowered Black Adam so he sacrifices Billy's parents to restore his power and has Mary kidnapped. Meanwhile, like in the original comic Shazam had Billy, now in Fawcett City, taken to him where he is given the power of Captain Marvel. In the pre-Crisis stories Billy had a different personality when he was Captain Marvel but now it was changed so Captain Marvel and Billy had the same personality. Captain Marvel's clashes with Black Adam and them being teammates in the new Justice Society meant that Adam's popularity soon grew. By 1991 DC had stopped leasing Fawcett's characters with them being outright bought by DC which explains the amount of appearances and titles which the Marvel Family had. They would frequently appear in comics including 1996's Kingdom Come. A brief summary of Kingdom Come is that in the future Superman retired as a new breed of violent heroes came about and he returned to put them in their place. I would highly recommend reading it as I cannot do it justice with it dealing with questions of justice, responsibility, gods, men and idol worship. Captain Marvel appears as a foil to Superman near the end and they fight - quite ironic considering their history. Superman is weak against magic so the fight is actually in Marvel's favour.

Marvel vs. Superman in Kingdom Come

In 2005's Infinite Crisis Shazam was killed by the Spectre (the embodiment of God's vengeance) so Billy is chosen to be the new protector of the Rock of Eternity starting from The Trials of Shazam! where he got a new look as well as being known as Marvel. Captain Marvel Jr. formally took over the Captain Marvel moniker becoming Billy's replacement as Mary lost her powers. She would later be turned to evil when Black Adam gave her some of his powers. The Trials of Shazam! was never really popular saw only lasted until 2008 when Billy returned as Captain Marvel where Black Adam even became the guardian of the Rock of Eternity briefly. 

New 52

The New 52 Shazam

In 2011 DC rebooted its universe once again in the New 52. After a brief reboot Geoff Johns and Gary Frank properly brought back the character in Justice League and their story seems to have been almost recreated in the trailer for the new movie at certain parts. Here Captain Marvel had been formally renamed as for years he had marketed as Shazam to avoid copyright with Marvel, so it was simple just to have the character be called Shazam. In this update Billy is a bit of a knucklehead who is a cynic after going from foster house to foster house until adopted by the Vasquez family. Here Mary and Freddy have already been adopted and are now his adopted siblings alongside three other children. Angry one day Billy runs away and when catching a subway is transported to the Rock of Eternity where he encounters the Wizard. The Wizard is disappointed that Billy is not entirely good and Billy retorted that 'perfect good' can't exist which convinces the Wizard; he can see that Billy has done good and has the ability to do good so grants him the power of Shazam. As this was happening Doctor Sivana, who now has an eye that can see magic, freed Black Adam who now wanted to strip Billy of his powers in order for him to absorb the powers for himself. As Billy was abusing his powers for self gain, like getting money to buy beer, he was attacked by Adam. Eventually Black Adam kidnapped Billy's adopted family resulting in Billy granting them some power. Black Adam is only defeated when Billy in his mortal form goaded Adam into transforming himself which caused him to rapidly age. Since then Shazam has had some appearances with John Constantine even stealing his powers to defeat a demon at one point. Geoff Johns has announced that he will be writing a new Shazam comic title to be debuted in November 2018.

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