Captain Marvel in Live Action
By Uttering "SHAZAM", Billy Batson Brought the Big Red Cheese Alive
Dec 5, 2008
Created in 1939, the alter ego of young Billy Batson is decades older than an identically named hero created by Marvel Comics. Fawcett Publications ran Captain Marvel stories from 1939 to 1953 when a copyright infringement suit brought by DC Comics combined with declining sales to effectively kill the character.
Ironically, by the time that DC Comics had acquired the rights to the character and started to integrate the Big Red Cheese into their comic book universe, Marvel Comics had licensed the name Captain Marvel for themselves, forcing DC to use the word "SHAZAM" to identify their version of Captain Marvel. While many people identify the name Shazam with the superhero in the red tights, white cape and gold boots, the only character ever to go by that name was the old wizard who bestowed the superpowers on young Billy Batson.
The First Superhero on Film
Republic Pictures proposed a serial based on the Superman character who's popularity was soaring, but for various legal and financial reasons, they wound up making the movie with Fawcett's Captain Marvel as the main character instead. Captain Marvel beat all the other superheroes to the silver screen. It would be two more years before Batman and Robin went Hollywood and nearly a decade before Superman flew into theaters.
Starring Tom Tyler, then a minor star of westerns, The Adventures of Captain Marvel is widely regarded as the best example of a superhero movie made before the Superman films of the 1970's. Even by today's standards, the brilliantly filmed combination of stunt doubles and cabled dummies provide a convincing illusion of a superhero in flight.
From the Silver Screen to Saturday Morning
Starring Michael Gray as Billy Batson, Captain Marvel thrilled young fans in the 1970's for three seasons of SHAZAM! Jason Bostwick played Captain Marvel in the first season and was replaced by John Davey for the remainder of the show's run.
Captain Marvel didn't fight supervillains in the show. Instead, Billy and his mentor, the aptly named Mentor, drove around solving social problems or fighting human criminals. The show spawned a spin-off, The Secrets of Isis which ran right after SHAZAM! each Saturday. Captain Marvel made three guest appearances on The Secrets of Isis and Isis reciprocated three times on SHAZAM!
The Big Red Cheese made one further appearance on live television in the 1970's, showing up in the two episodes of Legends of the Superheroes, portrayed this time by Garrett Craig. Two of his comic book villains, Dr. Silvana and Aunt Minerva, also appeared on the shows.
Back to the Silver Screen
Currently, Peter Segal is attached to direct a big screen adaptation of Captain Marvel. The working title, Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam, is intended to avoid a conflict with Marvel Comics Captain Marvel property. Dwayne, 'The Rock', Johnson has indicated that he would be interested in portraying the villainous Black Adam in the film.
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