(Whiz Comics 002, 1940)
When I fist made this blog it was mostly as a way to keep up a twitter thread that I was really enjoying but which was not enough to keep me on a rapidly-curdling social media platform. This is why all of the early entries are so short: because they're just beefed-up tweets. This is also why I focused so heavily on obscure super-villains at first and only expanded my purview to include obscure super-heroes and more prominent super-villains gradually and haphazardly over time. Well, it's time for another expansion of scope, because there are all kinds of interesting things about the big-name super-heroes and I just gotta mention them when I see them. Thus, the Super-Hero Files, which, if all goes to plan, are going to act as landing pages for all of those interesting things. And as he's the first major super-hero to cross my computer screen since I decided to do this, our initial subject is Captain Marvel!
Any super-hero origin story has its weird and charming elements that are later revisited and iterated on throughout the years, but Captain Marvel's might just have the most of those? Let's count them as we go.
Billy Batson, the most downtrodden and good-hearted boy in the world (1) is approached by a mysterious shadowy man (2) and taken on a ride in a magical subway car (3).
(1) Future retelling of this origin try to double down on both the misery and the goodness but it's there from the start. He sleeps in a subway station, but he's upbeat about it.
(2) Remains mysterious until 1994, when Roy Thomas establishes that this is the ghost of Billy Batson's father.
(3) I don't know if the subway car is ever revealed to actually be Zeus' chariot or something but I am pretty happy that it keeps on showing up and hasn't been relegated to the "Too Silly FOR COMIC BOOKS" pile.
Billy enters a colossal cavern (4) and walks past statues of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man (5). He is greeted by the wizard Shazam and given a brief tutorial on the meaning of his name (6). Also note the big globe and book flanking the wizard's throne (7).
(4) Eventually, this space is revealed to be located in the extradimensional Rock of Eternity, but as of 1940 it's just a big magic cave that you can just wander into if you start wandering around in the tunnels below the city.
(5) Pride, Envy, Greed, Hatred, Selfishness, Laziness and Injustice. The names get remixed occasionally - notably the more modern version read more like the Catholic Seven Deadly Sins - but this bunch will eventually get their own entry as minor super-villains after they come to life and battle Captain Marvel.
(6) Also a quick rundown of the powers of Captain Marvel! Solomon, wisdom of; Hercules, strength of; Atlas, stamina of; Zeus, power of; Achilles, courage of; Mercury, speed of.
(7) I don't know if these are ever given a real explanation - I see some claims that the book is Shazam's Historama but that's a retcon at best.
Shazam uses his Historama (8) to reiterate the miserable nature of Billy Batson's life: orphaned and then chucked out on his ear by his greedy uncle Ebenezer (9).
(8) See? The book is clearly closed in the same panel as the Historama is active.
(9) Billy's terrible uncle is an occasional recurring antagonist, but doesn't recur as often as I'd expect.
Billy is given the power to become Captain Marvel by shouting the word SHAZAM (10), upon which the wizard, his work on Earth complete, is smushed by the symbolic granite block that has until that point hung above his throne on a slender thread (11).
(10) Just a classic super-hero bit. Copied ad nauseam.
(11) I always forget that the wizard Shazam dies in his very first appearance, possibly because he continues to appear as a spectral advisor to Captain Marvel and the entire Marvel Family.
Returning to his life in Fawcett City (12), Billy manages to finagle a job as an occasionally-roving radio announcer (13) by making a deal with radio magnate Sterling Morris before foiling the schemes of Dr Sivana (14) for the first time.
(12) Technically Golden Age Captain Marvel stories pretty clearly take place in New York City and Fawcett City doesn't really come into being until the DC Comics days, and while I'm normally a dumb stickler for that sort of thing, it just feels right to go with the retcon flow on that particular point.
(13) Just a great super-hero job, up there with reporter or newspaper photographer in terms of being in the know about developing situations. Too bad it's not as relevant today as back in the 40s - is Billy an Extreme Vlogger or something nowadays?
(14) Stay tuned for that guy.
In conclusion: yes there are a lot of touchpoints in Captain Marvel's origin, and that's without all of the later stuff like Mary that would be included right off the bat in later retellings. It's a rich text.
UPDATES:
Update 1941
HONOURS:
Honours - Captain Marvel
TROPHY ROOM:
Trophy Room - Captain Marvel
